(para)site, zack mennell, 2022. Images courtesy of Thames Festival Trust. Photo by Milo Robinson.
a project by zack mennell
(para)site: a sea change explores the intersection of ecology, class, mental health, disability & queerness, including the impact of industrial legacies on marginalised communities. Undertaking psychogeographic explorations of post-industrial coastal sites, mennell will scavenge for objects & sounds, drawing out the working-class, disabled & queer histories of these places.
Future Ritual is pleased to announce (para)site: a sea change, a new performance project by the artist zack mennell. zack has been awarded a Live Art commission by DaDaFest International to realise a new work as part of their 40th anniversary festival ‘RAGE: A Quiet Riot’. The festival takes place in Liverpool in March. Further details will be announced shortly.
(para)site is produced by Future Ritual and, alongside the Liverpool performances, will involve further performances in London and Southend and workshops throughout 2025.
(para)site is produced by Future Ritual and, alongside the Liverpool performances, will involve further performances in London and Southend and workshops throughout 2025.
zack mennell
zack mennell (b. 1994) is a self-taught emerging artist using writing, photography, performance, and film to explore queerness and neurodiversity in relation to presence and visibility. In 2022, they made their first solo work (para)site: a discharge of cultural sewage, commissioned by Thames Festival Trust. zack frequently collaborates with performance artist Martin O’Brien, notably in his recent works at Whitechapel Gallery as writer-in-residence (2023), Sanctuary Ring (SPILL Festival, 2016) and The Last Breath Society (ICA, 2021). WHISTLING AS THE NIGHT CALLS, a series of photographs exploring their long-term collaborative relationship with O’Brien will be exhibited in autumn. zack often works in documenting performance and live events through photography using only analogue 35mm film. Much of this documentation work can be seen on VSSL Studio and Future Ritual websites - they have been selected as a photo documenter for this year's Venice International Performance Art Week.
zack frequently incorporates textual elements into their performances and also practices as a writer. Recently, their contribution to Dolly Sen's Birdsong From Inobservable Worlds, a commission supported by Unlimited and Wellcome Trust was published by Cuckoo’s Nest Books. Their work sal(i)vation was published in FDBN...MOURNING by Sticky Fingers Publishing. They were an invited contributor and cover artist for the Addiction Recovery Arts Network’s magazine Performing Recovery.
zack is a member of the Liberty Advisory Group, which provides collective oversight of Liberty, the Mayor of London’s flagship festival for D/deaf, disabled and neurodivergent artists. They are a studio holder at Triangle LGBTQ+ Cultural Centre, a member of the Metal New Artist Network, and the Working Class Creatives Database. They are also a member of TOMA (The Other MA) 2024/25 cohort, a professional artist development programme based in Southend-on-Sea. zack was granted an Arts Council England DYCP grant in November 2023, and has recently finished New Dialogues, a visual art creative research commission for the British Art Network and Outside In exploring archives of art created historically in mental health settings.
zack frequently incorporates textual elements into their performances and also practices as a writer. Recently, their contribution to Dolly Sen's Birdsong From Inobservable Worlds, a commission supported by Unlimited and Wellcome Trust was published by Cuckoo’s Nest Books. Their work sal(i)vation was published in FDBN...MOURNING by Sticky Fingers Publishing. They were an invited contributor and cover artist for the Addiction Recovery Arts Network’s magazine Performing Recovery.
zack is a member of the Liberty Advisory Group, which provides collective oversight of Liberty, the Mayor of London’s flagship festival for D/deaf, disabled and neurodivergent artists. They are a studio holder at Triangle LGBTQ+ Cultural Centre, a member of the Metal New Artist Network, and the Working Class Creatives Database. They are also a member of TOMA (The Other MA) 2024/25 cohort, a professional artist development programme based in Southend-on-Sea. zack was granted an Arts Council England DYCP grant in November 2023, and has recently finished New Dialogues, a visual art creative research commission for the British Art Network and Outside In exploring archives of art created historically in mental health settings.