On August 29^th, the seven artists of the ensemble Drop Table came together with art, food, workshops and talks about the relationship between data centres and environment.

The event had 38 attendees across the day, and was warmly received by attendees. This marks the mid-point of the project Another Infrastructure which will run until 6^th February 2027.

Above is a photograph from the workshop by Alisha Doody and the Stairlings Collective for the artwork Fragments of a Queer Machine, a game and system of cards created to show LGBTQIA+ experience of data systems and bias. Photogrpah by Cían Flynn.

Another Infrastructure (AI): art, environment, data centres and us

symposium & workshops

aug 29^th 2026

North Clondalkin Library, Rowlagh, Dublin

an invitation for an event called another infrastructure, in black and white design

On August 29^th, the seven artists of the ensemble Drop Table will come together at North Clondalkin Library to present artworks, workshops, talks and discussions on speculative infrastructures ranging from care infrastructures to local food infrastructures.

A day of events will include food and community engagement, with all of the ensemble artists taking part. A full timetable and ticket booking is available at this link.

we need creative help to understand and reverse human-induced climate change

newspaper article

jul 18^th 2026

Sylvia Thompson in The Irish Times

a photograph of the irish times article by sylvia thompson

My work is featured in an article about art as a part of system change, published in The Irish Times, July 2026.

Journalist Sylvia Thompson wrote the article, citing several projects and including my Furze Pavilion after she visited it the weekend of the launch, July 3-5. The article is available online at this link.

leverhulme wildfires summer conference 2026

conference exhibition

jul 21^st-22^nd 2026

Imperial College London, London, UK

banner image for the annual leverhulme wildfires conference at imperial college london

art print of a large charcoal drawing in a busy university corridor

Three of my artworks feature at the conference exhibition for the 2026 Leverhulme Wildfires Conference at Imperial College London.

Two prints and a video are showing along with work from ten other artists. The exhibition accompanies talks, workshops and other presentations about wildfires. The work I am showing is part of the ongoing project aiteann.

furze: fuel fodder thatch tools toys

social events, talks, workshops

jul 3^rd-5^th 2026

Knockree Hostel, Enniskerry, Wicklow

project led by Mermaid Arts Centre, Bray, Wicklow

a group of people standing outside a temporary timber structure decorated with gorse

The weekend of 3-5 July 2026 saw the Furze Pavilion officially launched with a series of events, workshops, talks and performances at Knockree, Wicklow.

The events were attended by over 180 people in rural east Wicklow, beside the Knockree Hostel on land owned by An Óige.

This work is part of the ongoing project aiteann. Photograph above by Serhii Shapoval (instagram link)

furze workshops

charcoal making, biodiversity, being-with furze and mapping for community

jul 4^th-5^th 2026

Knockree Hostel, Enniskerry, Wicklow

project led by Mermaid Arts Centre, Bray, Wicklow

close-up of a hand holding home-made charcoal on a grassy outside area

Workshops that took place for the Furze launch included charcoal making with furze, being-with furze (exploring and learning from the nonhuman), both by Shane Finan.

Also on the weekend were a biodiversity walk with Ecologist Mary Tubridy, and a communirty mapping workshop with planning academic Elgar Kamjou. The workshops were all fully booked and well attended.

furze: fuel fodder thatch tools toys

public artwork launch, talk & performance

jul 3^rd 2026

Knockree Hostel, Enniskerry, Wicklow

project led by Mermaid Arts Centre, Bray, Wicklow

yellow and black designed poster with name, dates and times of furze event

On Friday, July 3^rd, the furze pavilion will officially open at Knockree Hostel with a launch at 6pm. The launch includes a public talk and performance that I will deliver about the artwork, its inception, and its conceptual background.

This launches a weekend of events including workshops, talks and walks. More information at Mermaid Arts Centre's website.

This work is part of the ongoing project aiteann.

furze: fuel fodder thatch tools toys

public artwork, events

jul 3^rd-5^th 2026

Knockree Hostel, Enniskerry, Wicklow

project led by Mermaid Arts Centre, Bray, Wicklow

In July, I will present a new pavilion and body of work about a plant known locally in Wicklow as furze. Working with a wonderful team of collaborators, the pavilion will feature tools, fencing and thatch made from furze, and a programme of workshops and events that will take place over the weekend.

The pavilion and events will be located at Knockree Hostel, Enniskerry, as part of Mermaid Arts Centre's programme of off-site public art. A new publication will accompany the launch. This project is supported by the Arts Council through Wicklow Arts Office Strategic Projects Awards. More information and to book events, visit Mermaid Arts Centre's website.

Poster design and brand by Padraig Cunningham, Pure Designs. This work is a follow-on from my 2025 residency with FIRECULT, and is part of the ongoing project aiteann.

gstaadfilm festival 2026

film festival

apr 24^th 2026

studio 44, Stockholm, Sweden

the outside of an artist led space in stockholm with the banner for gstaadfilm overhead

I renewed my biannual management of the Gstaadfilm festival with the latest edition touring to Stockholm, Sweden.

2026 was the 20^th anniversary of the festival, so we had a special screening including the 2026 jury and team selections, and an assortment of favourites from the past 20 years of Gstaadfilm.

drop table collective workshop

project gathering

apr 21^st 2026

another infrastructure (AI), North Clondalkin, Dublin

artists sitting around a table, sketching ideas and discussing and laughing together

Four months into the In Context project another infrastructure (AI), the artist team met to develop an artistic plan collaboratively, and to structure what we hope to give to an audience in North CLondalkin.

Seven artists are creating work about the environmental and social effects of data centres in an area that has many, and are working together with the local community on creating artworks and events in the second half of 2026. More information here.

SEED Knowledge Exchange

panel and workshop

apr 16^th & 17^th 2026

Dublin City University, Dublin City University, Nursing Building H, Ground Floor, Dublin

banner image with graphic for the SEED knowledge exchange

On April 16-17, the five artists from SEED (Sensory Exchanges of Environmental Data) will present their research and planned artworks for the project at the SEED Knowledge Echange, Dublin.

The artists will also run workshops; I will be running one about soft skills for developing a research process as a visual artist, where we will create a mock project and funding application.

The Dock Residency

artist residency

mar 2026-mar 2027

The Dock Arts Centre, Carrick-on-Shannon, Co. Leitrim

the dock arts centre from outside, a grey austere courthouse building from the 19th Century

I've been awarded a one-year artist residency with Leitrim's county arts centre, The Dock. As resident artist, I will work on projects in the studio in The Dock, and will also participate in the artist programme for 2026-27.

'The award includes fully subsidised studios for one year, a seed fund to support each artist’s practice, and access to additional resources and supports as required. This programme continues The Dock’s commitment to fostering artistic development and supporting artists working in and connected to Leitrim.'

SEED Residency

artist residency

nov 2025-apr 2026

SEED Project, Dublin City University (DCU), Dublin

a 2-page spread of a sketchbook showing notes and drawings of a planned art installation

In 2025, I was invited to be one of five artists in residence for SEED, a project based in DCU, Dublin. The project explores how complex environmental data can be presented through artistic methods.

For this work, I have been investigating the Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR), a device used to count plankton numbers in the sea. I am documenting the ongoing research process on my Mastodon acocunt here.

Another Infrastructure (AI)

collaborative project

nov 2025-dec 2026

Drop Table, South Dublin County Council, North Clondalkin, Dublin

Through 2026, I will lead a collaborative project with four visual artist, one food artist and a photographer developing new artworks with the community in North Clondalkin, Dublin, about the environmental, social and political entanglements with data infratructure. This is the first project by new ensemble Drop Table, which I established in 2025. The other participants on this project are Alisha Doody, Dasha Ilina, Paul O'Neill, Living Rhythms, Amy Bunce and Cían Flynn.

This is a public art project supported by South Dublin County Council. We will have a first meeting on site with community members on Tuesday, December 16h in North Clondalkin Library from 11:00 to 13:30. All are welcome to attend and speak to us. More information on the project at this link.

Waking the Land

collective exhibition

nov 22^nd 2025-feb 14^th 2026

The Dock Arts Centre Carrick-on-Shannon, Co. Leitrim, Ireland

figures in costume made from flag iris leaves walking down a road in a rural town

The collective ^ were invited to present the current work three years of time spent developing art with the community and land around Manorhamilton, Ireland, with a focus on Benbo Mountain. While past work focussed on grievability and the ritual of a 'wake', this event focusses instead on the second meaning of wake: an awakening.

The exhibition environment includes hand-made works from dried yellow flag iris leaves, textile, light and other natural material. The programme includes a ritual (Nov 22^nd 2025), an afternoon event for collectives (Dec 6^th 2025), a meeting of the Leitrim Experimental Animation Kollective LEAK (Jan 19^th 2026), and a symposium/gathering (Jan 24^th 2026).

Photo: Anna Leask (2025)

tír éist: landlisten

publication

Nov 17^th 2025

Proceedings from the Forum for Artistic Research Research Catalogue (available open access online)

the background image of the forum for artistic research, a drawing of a creature that's a little like a jellyfish

This publication is the written documentation of a talk that I gave at the Forum for Artistic Research in 2024, presenting three different case studies for approaches of working in collaboration with nonhuman creatures that have taken place on projects that I have worked on or run.

Published as part of the proceedings, which are all available open access through Research Catalogue.

Politics of Water

panel discussion

Nov 7^th 2025

Beta Festival 2025, Digital Hub, Dublin)

shane finan in white shirt and grey hair speaking into a microphone

I participated as part of a panel discussing the politics of infrastructure at the 2025 edition of the annual art and technology festival Beta in Dublin. As part of the panel I gave a performance using the artwork Don't Recollect created from my research into subsea communications infrastructure.

From the panel text (see conference lineup here): Water connects every living system on Earth, yet it is increasingly a site of political, technological, and ecological tension. This panel brings together artists and researchers exploring the infrastructures (visible and invisible) that govern our relationship with the liquid world.

Photograph by Ruth Medjber - @ruthlessimagery

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