Acts of Gestation - Workshop for Pregnant Folk

On Friday 7 Feb at 12pm, multidisciplinary artist Grainne O’Carroll invites pregnant folk to participate in a free event at The Ark.


This workshop will include creative writing led by Jennie Taylor, curated food co-facilitated by Antonella Scanu, vocal-exploration with Robbie Blake and gentle movement/image making facilitated by Gráinne O´Carroll. The duration is approximately 3 hours, ending between 3-3.30pm.

Please note this is the first part of a series of 2 workshops. The lead artist who envisioned this workshop, Grainne will facilitate the second part of this workshop in Autumn 2025 with parents and babies. Grainne is interested in communally exploring the embodiment experience of pregnancy and early human life.

To document this work and support this research, by attending these workshops participants are giving consent to photography and documentation.

This workshop is subsidised by the Arts Council of Ireland and space has been provided by The Ark.

If you would like to bring a plus one to this session, please do! Partners can be a friend or family member.

Places are very limited so please let us know if you are registered but unable to attend at boxoffice@ark.ie

Gráinne O ́Carroll

Gráinne O ́Carroll is an artist, director, and performer specialising in physical theatre, textiles, visual culture, and collaborative processes. Her work integrates film, costume, installation and site-specific performance to create multi-sensory experiences. At the core of her practice is a commitment to embodiment, where expression and collaborative exploration serve as vital tools for storytelling and community engagement. Her projects often involve working with diverse, multidisciplinary ensembles to craft experiences that blur the lines between art and reality, fostering a sense of wonder, critical discussion, and shared creative process. She has studied in NCAD (Dublin), Khib (Bergen) and Centro Moveo (Barcelona).

Jennie Taylor

Jennie Taylor is a fiction and arts writer. Her practice draws from particle physics, auto theory and micro-histories. Areas of concern include theorising empirical knowledge and fictioning art history. A graduate of Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design & Technology, in 2014 she completed her MA, Art in the Contemporary World, National College of Art & Design. She has published her work in Critical Bastards Magazine, The Stinging Flyand Visual Arts Newsletter. She is a PhD researcher in Art Writing at the National College of Art & Design. Jennie lives and works in Dublin, Ireland.

Robbie Blake is a composer-performer, vocalist and creative producer based in the Gaeltacht of An Spidéal, Co. Galway. Robbie is the Artistic Director of Tonnta contemporary vocal ensemble and the General Manager of Galway Thetare Festival. A philosophy and music graduate, Robbie creates work in multidisciplinary and collaborative contexts with a key focus on embodied choral performance.