Sharon Bennett and Dan McDermott are a collaborative duo who have an interdisciplinary practice that spans live, socially engaged and participatory art practices. They set up participatory scenarios, games and activities that facilitate conversation and create micro communities that are short lived but very energetic. Their minimalist approach to the use of materials allows human interaction and connectedness to take centre stage. Bennett & McDermott’s projects offer participants an opportunity to step outside of the expected mode of interaction within the space, be it an art gallery or public domain, and experience a different way of being together.
Funded by an Arts Council England project grant, their participatory installation Twenty Years toured UK arts venues including Southampton City Art Gallery, Old Fire Station, Oxford, The Herbert, Coventry and Museum in the Park, Stroud. Twenty Years was first presented at Aspex Gallery, Portsmouth in June 2019 and they were shortlisted for Best Visual Artist at the 2019 Portsmouth Guide Awards.
Other works include:
Town Time, a playful and contemplative participatory artwork that invites people to briefly uncouple from the constantly moving wheels of measured time and question the reasons behind society’s need for us to be cooperative and compliant in its precisely organised structures. Town Time premiered at Site Festival, Stroud 2022 and has since been presented at Offbeat Oxford 2022, Museum in the Park, Stroud and Leeds Art Gallery.
ConFab, an interactive art installation and event in which participants are facilitated to become ‘un-strangers’ and for a brief moment have a ‘confab’ before moving on into the rest of their day. ConFab premiered at Leeds Art Gallery and was commissioned for Offbeat Live Art Festival, Oxford in June 2023.
Map of the Day was commissioned for Offbeat 2024. Visitors to Offbeat and Gloucester Green Market were invited to create a map of Gloucester Green for each day of the Offbeat 2024 Festival. Together we observed and recorded details of the area. Everything was relevant be it large, small or seemingly insignificant. We used all our senses to orientate ourselves around the area, adding sights, smells, sounds, tactile sensations and tastes to the map.
Bennett & McDermott are based in Stroud, Gloucestershire where they live with their two daughters.