Artist Statement.
My practice is centred around a desire to create a shared space that can be both welcoming and radical.
Mixing disgusting and inappropriate content with an approachable performance style is a deliberate strategy.
The work I make can last anywhere from four minutes to four hours. It might be theatre, cabaret, intervention, film, installation, or participatory performance.
I straddle multiple genres and sites because I am interested in where live work takes place - context is everything!
Favourite press review of my work:
“Sat there half drunk in the musty-dark theatre room of an Edinburgh Fringe art-show, watching someone piss in a wine glass then drink it, I can honestly say that… I’ve… never… felt… more… alive” – VICE
I want the audience to be seen and feel part of something.
I like to use my body to create a space that questions, pokes and prods current dominant narratives on what is ‘acceptable behaviour’.
The thing I enjoy most about my performance is how many post-show conversations with my audience revolve around the joy of seeing themselves represented on stage for the first time.
My solo work highlights include: Re-imagining dildos at Wellcome Trust, creating a Poppers Boudoir at Fierce Festival, selling my clothes at Camden People’s Theatre, getting face filler injected at CUT Festival, and pulling bunting from my bum astride a car at The Yard Theatre for queer club night Knickerbocker.
It’s all about me.
Katy Baird (she/her) is a Scottish artist, activist and curator known for her provocative, boundary-pushing live performances. Her work explores class, gender, sexuality and the human pursuit of pleasure.
She has performed at live art festivals, art institutions, squat parties, clubs and raves across the UK and internationally.
In May 2024, Baird premiered her new work Get Off at the Internationales Sommerfestival in Ghent. Directed by Kim Noble and produced by CAMPO, the show offers a raw, unfiltered look at the need for distraction - digging into our desires and asking what really gets us off.
Her debut solo stage performance, Workshy, a show about work and the things we do for money, toured internationally to over 30 cities.
Alongside her performance work, Baird has played a key role in shaping the UK live art scene. Since 2018, she’s been Artistic Director of Home Live Art, an arts organisation supporting bold performance and community-led projects in Hastings.
She co-founded Steakhouse Live, a DIY platform in London for radical performance, and has worked with Fierce Festival, Manchester International Festival and the Live Art Development Agency, where she currently serves as a Trustee.
She has worked with students as a guest artist at numerous higher education institutions, including the University of Chichester, Central School of Speech and Drama, Rose Bruford College, Goldsmiths, University of East London, Queen Mary University and the University of Dundee
Baird proudly identifies as an "old, fat, queer, femme deviant" and is based in Hastings, East Sussex.