latest news
1st April 2022
Collaborative Research Residency: Swap Space, Reagenz, Graz, Austria
I was invited to be artist in residence on an experimental collaboration with research and artistic partners in Graz and Hotelpupik, Scheifling, Austria for April 2022.
The project is researching and documenting how collaboration occurs when artists work both collectively and individually on a collective concept. This iteration includes research into posthuman philosophy, trace, arrivals and liminal spaces.
It is a pilot for the 3-year project SimulArr at the Graz University for Performing Arts and Music.
The other colaborating partners are Nayarí Castillo (artist, Graz/Venezuela), Franziska Hederer (architectural researcher, Graz), Jackie Karuti (Artist, Nairobi), Alisa Kobzar (research assistanct, Graz/Ukraine), David Pirrò (sound artist, Graz/Italy), Consuelo Mendez (Venezuela) and PI Hanns Holger Rutz (sound artist, Graz/Germany).
17th March 2022
Residency: Artlink, Fort Dunree, Donegal
A new residency that will take place over four seasons, carried out at the equinoxes (March and September) and the solstices (June and December) 2022 before exhibiting research on a new project in March 2023.
The project will evolve over this period and new research will be posted on this site intermittently.
4th February 2022
Exhibition Website: Púca in the Machine, Blessington, Wicklow
Website and online ticket booking now available for the launch of Púca in the Machine.
The website features information about the project research and the three artists involved.
24th January 2022
Project: Púca in the Machine, Blessington, Wicklow
New artworks in progress and new exhibition soon coming at Blessington Library, Wicklow, Ireland. The project, coordinated by Shane Finan and featuring artworks from Finan, Niamh Fahy and Alannah Robins, will feature a publication and new artworks launching on February 17th.
The collaboration is about the more-than-human, mythological, ecological and technological stories surrounding the flooding of Poulaphuca Reservoir, Wicklow, in the 1930s.
More to follow in the coming weeks.
13th January 2022
Artist Talk: FIELD artists at Museum of English Rural Life, Reading
Artists Shane Finan, Michele Allen and Mark Richard Jones will speak at the Museum of English Rural Life about project FIELD on January 19th 2021, to be recorded and released online. This will be the first time that the three collaborating artists, hampered by the ongoing pandemic, will all meet in person.
Travel to the talk supported by Culture Ireland.
11th December 2021
Artist Talk: Shane Finan at Assembly House, Newcastle Arts Centre
Shane Finan gives an informal talk at Assembly House, Newcastle Arts Centre, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. This is part of the ENTWINED exhibition programme by VARC.
Travel to the talk supported by Culture Ireland. Photograph by Colin Davison, Rosella Studios.
9th December 2021
Documentary: Shane Finan Explores the Wildwood
A short documentary about my work with the Kielderhead Wildwood Project is now available online.
Recorded and edited by Alan Fentiman on behalf of Northumberland Wildlife Trust.
2nd December 2021
Site Visits: Púca in the Machine
Artists Alannah Robins and Niamh Fahy visited Wicklow to begin research for a new collaborative project initiated by Shane Finan about more-than-human entanglements above and below the water at Poulaphuca Reservoir.
Project supported by Wicklow Arts Office and partnered with Blessington Library, who will host an exhibition and series of events in 2022.
29th November 2021
Conference Presentation: Lynne Boddy & Shane Finan: ART SCIENCE FUNGI NETWORKS, Online Assemblage, Asynchronous Conference by Newcastle University Institute of Creative Arts Practice
ENTWINED Online Assemblage is an asynchronous online conference, hosted by Newcastle University’s Institute of Creative Arts Practice, and takes the form of a series of pre-recorded conversations and presentations.
This conference includes a 20-minute conversation with Professor Lynne Boddy, Professor of Fungal Ecology at Cardiff University UK.
28th November 2021
Publication: ENTWINED, Visual Arts in Rural Communities
A chapter, titled The Power of Inconspicuous Things appears alongside a documentation of work in the new publication by Visual Arts in Rural Communities (VARC), ENTWINED. The publication includes work from the six resident artists with ENTWINED and is also a celebration of the 21st Anniversary of VARC.
Cover image: Zoe Childerley, Janet on the Otterburn Ranges, 2016, photograph, 70 x 50 cm, collection of the artist.
22nd October 2021
Exhibition: Piksel 2021, Bergen, Norway (2021)
Two artworks have been selected for inclusion in the exhibition programme of the 19th annual Piksel Festival for Electronic Art and Free Technologies in Bergen, Norway. The works are It Seemed Like We Were Moving Closer Together (2021) and Macalla (2021).
18th October 2021
New Collaboration: Púca in the Machine, with Blessington Library, Wicklow
A new 3-person project has started as a collaboration with two other artists. This project is about the Poulaphuca Reservoir in Blessington, Wicklow. Collaborating with Alannah Robbins and Niamh Fahy this collaboration will lead to new work that will be presented as work in progress at Blessington Library in February 2022.
This project is supported by Wicklow Arts Office Strategic Project Awards 2022.
Updates will be posted here in the coming months.
6th October 2021
Festival Screening: 37th Agrofilm Festival, Nitra, Slovakia (2021)
The film Because the Exchange Is Complete is screening as part of the Agrofilm festival about food and agriculture.
Made as part of Project FIELD. The festival program is available at this link.
6th October 2021
Documentary: Shane Finan, by We Love Media
A short documentary has been released online about the work produced during the VARC ENTWINED residency with Kielderhead Wildwood Project.
Still and video by Robin Fearnon, We Love Media
4th October 2021
Award: Culture Ireland
Culture Ireland have awarded funding to help with travel and transport of artworks to exhibitions in the UK, including exhibition of work at the Vane Gallery (Newcastle) and the Everyman Cinema Lincoln.
1st October 2021
Exhibition open: FIELDS, Museum of English Rural Life, Reading, UK (2021)
Work is included in the exhibition FIELDS currently on show at the Museum of English Rural Life, Reading UK until January 31st 2022.
Photograph courtesy FIELD project
24th September 2021
New artwork documentation: Arguably, they have farmed us particularly well (2021)
A 1.5-minute video documenting the interactive artwork Arguably, they have farmed us particularly well, which was created on residency at Leitrim Sculpture Centre (June-August 2021) and was first exhibited with a solo exhibition there in August 2021.
Artwork #3 from the exhibition Detached Touch (2021)
20th September 2021
Festival Screening: Tāctus: 17th Athens Digital Arts Festival (2021)
A 5-minute short about being-with, learning-from and becoming sheep through experiencing shared vulnerability is screening at Tāctus, the 17th Athens Digital Arts Festival.
Made as part of Project FIELD. View online at the festival's website at this link.
11th September 2021
Intervention: FIELDS, Beverley, Market, York
Went on-site to Beverley Market with the FIELDS team as part of the public engagement for Project FIELD.
10th September 2021
Conference Presentation: Beastly Landscapes, Newcastle University
A new film will be shown documenting the experience of being-with sheep with lameness while working on the project FIELD. The film, Because the Exchange is Complete, will be presented as a provocation and presentation at the Beastly Landscapes Symposium, Newcastle University on Friday, September 10th, 2021.
4th September 2021
Exhibition Launch: ENTWINED: Rural Land Lives Art (2021)
Visual Arts in Rural Communities (VARC) have launched the first exhibition to mark the end of the ENTWINED residency programme. This programme included the work made for the project The Wood Wide Web in collaboration with Kielderhead Wildwood Project, Northumberland Wildlife Trust.
The exhibition launched to an audience of around 250 people, with six residents, two associate artists and three VARC artists all exhibiting in a dynamic programme at Highgreen on Saturday, September 4th.
2nd September 2021
Series of events: FIELDS (2021)
Work is currently on tour as part of the exhibition programme of FIELDS, the public outreach programme of the FIELD project.
The programme is touring to six markets in England, and includes an exhibition at the Museum of English Rural Life and three cinema screenings at Hexham Forum Cinema, Star and Shadow Cinema Newcastle and Everyman Cinema, Lincoln.
27th August 2021
New artwork documentation: Offering (2021)
A 1.5-minute video documenting the immersive 6-screen artwork Offering, which was created on residency at Leitrim Sculpture Centre (June-August 2021) and was first exhibited with a solo exhibition there in August 2021.
Artwork #2 from the exhibition Detached Touch (2021)
25th August 2021
New artwork documentation: it seemed like we were moving closer together (2021)
A 1.5-minute video documenting the interactive artwork it seemed like we were moving closer together, which was created on residency at Leitrim Sculpture Centre (June-August 2021) and was first exhibited with a solo exhibition there in August 2021.
Artwork #1 from the exhibition Detached Touch (2021)
13th August 2021
Solo Exhibition: Detached Touch
Three new interactive and technology led artworks about contact, technology and more-than-human connections. The exhibition will run until September 4th 2021.
More information at this link.
11th August 2021
New artworks: Leitrim Sculpture Centre (2021)
Three new artworks have been completed while on residency at Leitrim Sculpture Centre, using contactless RFID technology, interactive trackball technology and 6-screen video controlled by Raspberry Pis. These three works make up the exhibition detached touch launching 13th August at the centre.
Photograph by Tadhg Ó Cuirrín
10th August 2021
Interview: Getting Visual Art, The Sligo Champion (2021)
An interview with journalist Robbie Brennan about upcoming exhibition in Leitrim Sculpture Centre, and how I create art with nature and technology.
Read Online.
Photograph by Donal Lally.
latest exhibitions
Swap Space Graz
april 28th-29th 2022 Reagenz Ost, Graz, Austria
Presentation of research artworks from one-month residency in Graz, combining research and collaborations from the Swap Space team into an interactive artwork about the nonhuman and human traces that are created when we move into and through a place.
Púca in the Machine
february 17th-March 5th 2022 Blessington Library, Blessington, Wicklow, Ireland
Exhibition of artistic research and works in progress from a new project about the more-than-human at a flooded valley and reservoir, Poulaphuca, in west Wicklow, Ireland.
Supported by:
ENTWINED
december 1st-14th 2021 Assembly House, Newcastle Arts Centre, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, UK
Two artworks are showing at the second leg of ENTWINED as the exhibition tours to a Newcastle venue.
Supported by:
Reboot Me Softly, 19th annual Piksel Festival for Electronic Art and Free Technologies
november 18th 2021 - november 21st 2021 Piksel 21, Bergen, Norway
Two interactive artworks have been selected to be part of the 2021 exhibition programme for Piksel, an international network and annual event for electronic art and technological freedom.
The works are part of the broader programme of events. Two artworks exhibiting are Macalla (2021) from the The Wood Wide Web and It seemed like we were moving closer together from the 2021 solo exhibition Detached Touch.
FIELDS
Drawings and stories included in work on show at the Museum of English Rural Life. Three artists are exhibiting, including Michele Allen and Mark Richard Jones.
Other work on show includes academic writing, fieldwork and other public engagement pieces from the 6-university interdisciplinary research project FIELD.
Photograph courtesy FIELD project
17th Athens Digital Arts Festival
september 20th - october 31st 2021 tāctus, Historic Center of Athens, Greece
The film Because the Exchange is Complete will screen at the 17th Athens Digital Arts Festival 2021 edition, which is a blended online and in-person event.
FIELDS Farming on Film
september 28th, october 21st and november 18th 2021 FIELDS, various locations, England
The film Because the Exchange is Complete will screen at the Hexham Forum Cinema, Hexham (28 Sept), the Star and Shadow Cinema, Newcastle (21 Oct) and Everyman Cinema, Lincoln (18 Nov) as part of the FIELDS public outreach programme of FIELD, following a 6-month research residency.
ENTWINED
The two year, multi-partner ENTWINED:Rural.Land.Lives.Art. programme exhibits works by six resident artists curated by Cynthia Morisson Bell (artcircuit)
detached touch
august 13th-september 4th 2021 Leitrim Sculpture Centre, Manorhamilton, Ireland
Solo exhibition presenting three new interactive and technology-led installations about technology, contact, and more-than-human connections
FIELDS Markets
august 8th - october 16th 2021 FIELDS, various locations, England
Works about animal and human connections involving lameness and vulnerability presented as part of the public engagement programme of FIELD, following a 6-month research residency.
Sunday 8 August: Nuns Moor Park Bike Garden mini-market
Nuns Moor Park, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE4 5NU
10am - 2pm
Saturday 28 August: Louth Market
Cornmarket, Louth, LN11 9PD
9am - 4pm
Saturday 11 September: Beverley Market
Market Pl, Beverley, HU17 8EA
8am - 4pm
Saturday 25 September: Hexham Farmers Market
Market Pl, Hexham, NE46 1XQ
9am - 1pm
Saturday 16 October: Grainger Market
Grainger St, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 5QQ
9am - 4pm
open studio
april 26th 2021 VARC, Highgreen, Northumberland UK
VARC artists in residence Catriona Gallagher and Shane Finan showing work from the adventurous three-year programme ENTWINED. Rural. Land. Lives. Art. Shane will stage a new interactive performative installation.
as tree
october 2020 online (due to take place in St. George's Hall, Tubbercurry, Sligo)
Curated online exhibition (postponed offline exhibition) as tree, due to take place in Tubbercurry in 2021
over nature vi
september 26th-november 21st 2020 Luan Gallery, Athlone, Co. Westmeath (IE) - unfortunately closed early due to covid-19 lockdown restrictions
The sixth and final stage of the ongoing group exhibition Over Nature curated by Valeria Ceregini. Image of gallery courtesy of Wikimedia.
over nature v
august 7th-september 5th 2020 Courthouse Gallery, Ennistymon, Co. Clare (IE)
Part of the ongoing group exhibition Over Nature curated by Valeria Ceregini.
Photograph below credit: Mary O'Connor, artist.
in áit
june 24th-26th 2020, Lockstown, Wicklow (IE)
An exhibition of restricted paintings presented to neighbours and friends living in a close locale to celebrate the end of the COVID-19 restrictions
COVID-19 update
Postponements/cancellations
Exhibitions and events up to August 2020 are currently postponed or cancelled in response to the COVID-19 crisis. Any update will be posted here. Please stay home, stay safe.
over nature iv
Part of the ongoing group exhibition Over Nature curated by Valeria Ceregini.
Image below courtesy of Sammon chartered surveyors.
over nature iii
november 14th-December 21st 2019 Rathfarnham Castle, Dublin (IE)
Part of the ongoing group exhibition Over Nature curated by Valeria Ceregini.
over nature ii
Part of the ongoing group exhibition Over Nature curated by Valeria Ceregini.
over nature i
Part of the ongoing group exhibition Over Nature curated by Valeria Ceregini.
