PERFORMANCE
Step into a world where sound, ritual, and surrealism converge. Here you’ll find a selection of Marianna Magurudumian-O’Reilly’s experimental performances - immersive journeys that weave memory, myth, and multimedia storytelling into living, breathing tableaux.
Incantation for Dead Avant-Gardes performance - premiered at the Maison André Breton during the centenary celebrations of Surrealism in 2024 - Marianna collaborated with longtime partner Daniel O’Reilly and visual artist Mohsen El Belasy to summon layered soundscapes, spectral projections, and ritual gestures. Cloaked and masked, she channels the voices of the past into the present, creating performances that hover between reverence and the uncanny.
Incantation for Dead Avant-Guards Performance at André Breton House, St Cirq Lapopie, France, 2024
Performance: Marianna Magurudumian-O'Reilly
Poetry & Video Projection: Mohsen El Belasy
Music: Daniel O'Reilly
Photo Credit: Latif Yilmaz
This image has been taken moments before stepping onstage for Marianna's first ever performance Incantation for Dead Avant-Gardes, conceived with her longtime partner and collaborator Daniel O’Reilly - who activates his archive of field recordings, poetry, and original music on digital turntables to conjure live ambient soundscapes on-the-fly, most notably during the inauguration of the Centenary of Surrealism at Maison André Breton in France in 2024 - and brought visually to life by Mohsen El Belasy’s ethereal projections. Clad in a handmade cloak and mask, Marianna invoked the spirits of the dead avant-gardes in this sacred place, the home of André Breton, author of the first Surrealist Manifesto. It was a great honor for Marianna to premiere the piece on the opening night of Échos Surréalistes Contemporains 2024.
At the heart of this performance was that uncanny convergence: summoned through layered sound, poetic incantation, and shifting imagery. Daniel’s turntable conjurings, Mohsen’s projection alchemy, and Marianna's ritual gesture created an atmosphere both reverent and unsettling.
Échos Surréalistes Contemporains 2024 at Maison André Breton, brought together contemporary surrealists from across the globe in a generative festival of exhibitions, workshops, nocturnal visits, and performances. This contribution - 'Incantation for Dead Avant-Gardes' live performance became part of that unfolding myth, a live poem in sound, light and spontaneous movement.
Incantation for Dead Avant-Gardes (14 min, 2024)
Performance & Video: by Marianna Magurudumian-O'Reilly
Music: Daniel O'Reilly
This Video incorporates live footage from the Opening Event of 'Echoes of Contemporary Surrealism' exhibition at Andre Breton House, St Cirq-Lapopie, France, 2024.
Incantation for El Carmel (3 min, 2025)
Video: Emma Plunkett / aka VJ Miss Plunkett
Music & Performance: Marianna Magurudumian-O'Reilly
This avant-garde video art is a collaboration between the artist VJ Emma Plunkett and multidisciplinary artist Marianna Magurudumian-O'Reilly. It's an evolution of 'Incantation for Dead Avant-Gardes' performance Marianna made for the opening night of 'Echoes of Contemporary Surrealism' exhibition at André Breton House, St Cirq-Lapopie, France in 2024 celebrating 100 years of Surrealism. Emma saw potential to build upon Marianna's vibrant artwork by introducing her VJ production skills and capturing Marianna's live performance within an everyday urban setting of Barcelona's neighbourhood El Carmel.