Bbeyond New Commissions artists for 2023/24, Rebecca Strain and Zara Lyness, made their first award commissioned performances for the Belfast International Festival of Performance Art 2024.

BIFPA 24 held performances hosted throughout the Ulster University Belfast campus at in the The Ledger Studio, University of Atypical.

Both artists performed on the Friday performance day, 22nd March, with Rebecca Strain in the Glass Box Gallery and Zara Lyness in the Atrium.

This was the 13th performance art festival held in the college.

Zara Lyness was selected for the New Commissions Award as the Bbeyond Graduate Awardee 2023, graduating from the Belfast School of Art MFA course.

Rebecca Strain was selected for the New Commissions Award through an open call, sent out by Bbeyond in late 2023.

Rebecca Strain is an Irish artist based in Inishowen. She makes weekly public performances with BBDB performance art collective on Society Street, Derry~Londonderry. These regular improvised performances not only function as Action Research but provide a platform to instigate change in the regular pattern of city life.

Irish artist Zara Lyness has a performance and mixed media practice. By focusing on ordinary objects or experiences and the perceived or implied values placed on them, she considers how this affects our behaviour and the way we navigate through relationships. Often taking a playful approach to the presentation of her work, Lyness frequently invites performative interaction and for the viewer to physically engage with her made objects.