BULLYACHE: Rising Star in Performance Art 2026
London-based artist duo BULLYACHE, founded in 2021 by Courtney Deyn and Jacob Samuel, has emerged as one of the most compelling voices in contemporary performance art. Named among Frieze’s “Ten Artists to Watch in 2026,” the pair blends avant-garde dance, live music composition, queer cabaret, and pop culture critique into explosive, genre-defying works. Their multidisciplinary approach—often described as “Pina Bausch cosplaying as Dua Lipa”—explores themes of working-class identity, emotional overload, trauma, and power structures through high-energy choreography, original scores, and striking visual spectacles.
BULLYACHE’s breakthrough came with early pieces like TOM (2023-2024), a boundary-pushing queer thriller that fuses the myth of Orpheus with bureaucratic purgatory and auto-tuned pop, creating a vertigo-inducing commentary on class and expression. Their follow-up, Who Hurt You? (2024), presented at Bold Tendencies in London, drew from Kenneth MacMillan’s Manon and Paul Verhoeven’s Showgirls to stage acts of desperate validation and campery, earning praise for its uncomfortable yet riveting portrayal of queer performers at breaking point.
The duo’s latest achievement cements their rising status: A Good Man Is Hard to Find premiered at the Venice Biennale Danza in July 2025 and is set for a major run at Sadler’s Wells East in May 2026. Inspired by the Bohemian Grove’s secretive rituals and the 2008 financial crash, the piece features dancers in stained business suits frolicking to a soundtrack mixing Dmitri Shostakovich’s chamber symphony with contemporary techno. It questions elite privilege while embracing chaotic, visceral energy.
With sold-out international tours, collaborations including Abbey Road Studios and Paris Fashion Week commissions, and support from institutions like Arts Council England and the ICA, BULLYACHE continues to push boundaries. Their work resonates in a year when performance art intersects with visual culture, making them a vital force to follow.
For inaccuracies, contact Darren Smith.
