shane finan
BA in Fine Art from IT Sligo 2008
MSc in Interactive Digital Media from Trinity College Dublin 2013
Certificate in High Impact Leadership, Irish Management Institute 2018
Certificate in Irish language, bonnleibhéal, TEG, University of Maynooth
Shane is an interactive digital media artist and project manager based in Ireland.
Project management experience include: European Manager, Gstaadfilm International Festival for Short Art Films (Switzerland, including tours to Ireland, UK, Uruguay, Brazil and Germany; 2014-date), Project Manager Projects: Slándáil (European Union FP7), FÍOSÍN (Enterprise Ireland Commercialisation Fund) and Éadáil (Atlantic Bridge Proof of Principle Fund), Trinity College Dublin (Ireland, 2014-19).
Artworks explore contemporary theory on technology, place and transience. Recent exhibitions include: Over Nature, six venues (Ireland & UK) curated by Valeria Ceregini (2019-20); The Repeated Refrains of Nature, Trinity College Dublin (2019) and faigh ar ais as an fharraige, Rye Creative Centre, UK (2018).
Proud to be a member of Visual Artists Ireland, the representative body for artists in Ireland, and a constant source of support and information.
Active supporter of open source projects: Mastodon profile
.
latest news
11th February 2020
New Video: reappropriation
Video documentation of the new artwork Reappropriation in situ at the Regional Cultural Centre, Letterkenny, Ireland, from February 6th-March 7th 2020.
Artwork #4 from the series Antikythera Etc.
4th February 2020
New Artwork: reappropriation
A new artwork has been built for the upcoming fourth leg of the Over Nature exhibition, titled reappropriation (2019-20). The video and mixed media installation rests as an analysis of the role of plastic in capitalist society. Its first exhibition is at the Regional Cultural Centre, Letterkenny, Ireland, from February 6th-March 7th 2020. The video, set into an area that appears dug out from the gallery floor, features people transporting plastic underground in a post-capitalist society, holding on to the one resource that really matters.
Made with assitance from Marc Rome and the Regional Cultural Centre Letterkenny, and in collaboration with Amy Bunce. Artwork #4 from the series Antikythera Etc. Part funded by the Regional Cultural Centre, Letterkenny.
1st February 2020
Funding awarded: Arts Council of Ireland Travel and Training Award
The Arts Council of Ireland have announced they will support the upcoming research residency as part of the ENTWINED residency programme working with Visual Arts in Rural Communities, Northumberland, England in April 2020.
The residency will feature research into mycorrhizal networks, digital networks, and the importance of multifaceted entities in social or natural groups. More information will follow on this website and on the ENTWINED website and social media.
13th January 2020
Critique: Over Nature
Visual Artists Ireland have produced a critique of the Over Nature touring exhibition, written by art writer Philip Kavanagh. The critique can be read online, which features sections about the artwork faigh ar ais as an fharraige. Read the critique here.
11th December 2019
Catalogue: Over Nature
The catalogue for the Over Nature touring exhibition is available for sale at each exhibition venue, and through the Library Project, Temple Bar, Dublin.
The catalogue includes images of the artworks from each of the six contributing artists, and a curatorial response to the artists and the exhibition by curator Valeria Ceregini.
A preview of the catalogue can be viewed online here.
5th December 2019
Residency Award: ENTWINED
In December 2019 I have been awarded a one-month funded residency at Kielderhead Wildwood Project, Kielder, UK, as part of the ENTWINED Residency Programme run by Visual Arts in Rural Communities (VARC), Northumberland, UK.
I will spend the month of April 2020 conduicting research into the fungal (mycorrhizal) networks at the wildwood project, in collaboration with VARC and their partners, including Northumberland Wildlife Trust, Newcastle University and Northumbria University. This will form part of the Antikythera, Etc. and Solatalgia projects.
The residency will conclude with a plan for interactive artworks about the 'Wood Wide Web', a concept coined by Canadian scientist Suzanne Simard in 1998, which will be exhibited as part of the residency exhibition programme in 2021.
1st November 2019
The touring exhibition Over Nature, curated by Valeria Ceregini, is travelling to its final destination for 2019, before beginning the next three legs of the 2020 tour. The third stage takes place in Rathfarnham Castle, Dublin.
Six artists exhibit in the exhibition.
The exhibition runs until December 22nd, 2019.
7th October 2019
The touring exhibition Over Nature, curated by Valeria Ceregini, has moved to its second stage at St. Luke's Crypt, Sample Studios, Cork (Ireland), opened on October 17th 2019.
Six artists exhibit in the exhibition.
This stage of the exhibition ran until October 28th, 2019.
9th September 2019
The touring exhibition Over Nature, curated by Valeria Ceregini, opened at Roe Valley Arts & Cultural Centre, Limavady (UK) on September 7th 2019.
Six artists exhibited in the opening exhibition. The Cultural Facilities Development Manager, Desima Connolly spoke at the opening, which was officially launched by Alderman Yvonne Boyle.
The exhibition ran until September 28th, 2019.
8th September 2019
I am currently working as European Manager for Gstaadfilm International Festival
for short Art Films as the festival tours to Leipzig, Germany.
The selection of films has been completed and the jury and currently being brought together to make decisions on prize winners.
The 2019 festival took place in Kinobar Prager Frühling
on Friday, 16th August 2019. Prize winners for the Golden Cow of Gstaad and the Golden Calf of Gstaad will be announced on the night of the launch.
A second screening of the festival screened in Warwick Bazaar, Carlisle, UK on September 12th 2019.
5th july 2019
new artwork: kratos 1
New artwork, a degrading painting, and the first in a series of such paintings, krastos is acrylic on canvas.
The name derives from the ancient greek for rule (kratos) by the powerful (oligarchy or plutocracy)
3rd january 2019
Interview in Painting in Text
I recently gave an interview to Painting in Text, which can be read here.
14th december 2018
the pierre auger observatory, argentina
In October 2017 I worked on a research trip, travelling to Pierre Auger Observatory, Malargue, Argentina. On this
trip I was invited on tours of the centre and the surrounding area to explore the technical developments in the observation of cosmic
rays in earth's atmosphere. The research has led to an artwork currently in development, relating to the history of the planning and implementation
of the observatory and its obscure links to Dublin.
I have collaborated with Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies on follow-on research and am currently developing a plan for exhibition in 2020.
latest exhibitions
over nature iv
as part of the ongoing group exhibition Over Nature curated by Valeria Ceregini.
over nature iii
november 14th-December 21st 2019 Rathfarnham Castle, Dublin (IE)
as part of the ongoing group exhibition Over Nature curated by Valeria Ceregini.
over nature ii
as part of the ongoing group exhibition Over Nature curated by Valeria Ceregini.
over nature i
as part of the ongoing group exhibition Over Nature curated by Valeria Ceregini.
over nature touring exhibition
september 2019-june 2020; multiple venues
In 2019/2020, I will be one of the exhibiting artists in an upcoming exhibition about contemporary thoughts on nature and landscape, Over Nature, curated by Valeria Ceregini. The works that will feature in the exhibition will include interactive digital works and paintings on landscape and place. The exhibition will tour to five venues in the Republic of Ireland.
The venues that will be exhibiting the works are as follows:
- Over Nature #1, Sep 2019, Roe Valley Arts & Cultural Centre, Limavady (UK)
- Over Nature #2, Oct 2019, Sample-Studios, Cork (IE)
- Over Nature #3, Nov – Dec 2019, OPW – Rathfarnham Castle, Dublin (IE)
- Over Nature #4, Jan – Feb 2020, R.C.C. – Regional Cultural Centre, Letterkenny, Co Donegal (IE)
- Over Nature #5, Mar – Apr 2020, The Courthouse Gallery & Studios, Ennistymon, Co Clare (IE)
the repeated refrains of nature
june 25th-august 31st 2019; zoological museum, trinity college dublin
A new interactive video based artwork, the repeated refrains of nature, was exhibied in the Zoological Museum, Trinity College Dublin (June 26th-August 31st 2019). Based on nature writing including that of Rachel Carson and Robert MacFarlane, the piece is a response to the decline in bird species populations currently being observed internationally. The artwork is exhibited in the Auk Room, beside an exhibiton of extinct birds and animals that once called Ireland home.
This artwork is part of the series solastalgia.
More information
faigh ar ais as an fharraige
march 2018; rye creative center, rye, england
This mixed media installation, exhibited at Rye
Creative Centre from March 3-17 2018. It was created to respond to Rye, and to contemporary
trends in technology and language.
Taking influence from writing on language, technology and society, this artwork was exhibited as a single exhibition.
faigh ar ais as an fharraige is a new project developed for Rye Creative Centre. The exhibition features an interactive digital artwork inspired by history, contemporary culture, place and technology. Using a transposed recreation of JMW Turner’s painting ‘Rye, Sussex’ (1794-7) with a digital touchscreen containing terminology from Sussex, faigh ar ais as an fharraige invites the audience to participate in altering, shifting or changing their visual landscape.
This is the third artwork in the series Antikythera, etc. that began in 2016. The series explores the relationship between technology and transience, telling stories about lost histories through contemporary media.
Supported by Culture Ireland as part of GB18: Promoting Irish Arts in Britain.
See shows for more details.