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:
Other social media:
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latest news
1st July 2020
Exhibition: in áit
An exhibition of three "restricted" paintings took place on the side of the road in Wicklow, celebrating the end of lockdown restrictions. The paintings and the process will be documented in the coming weeks.
14th June 2020
Publication: A Different Kind of Grief
A longform publication edited by Miriam Rasch for the Institute of Networks Cultures.
This article is linked to the Wood Wide Web project.
It expores the idea of solastalgia and disconnection from environment, and also introduces the importance of connectivity and networks. Grief is put forward as an emotional response to alteration of place.
2nd June 2020
Publication: Planting and Stewardship
A new article publication on art and place that looks at the importance of planting, and how we view forests as stewards or as economic overseers.
This article is linked to the Wood Wide Web project.
2nd June 2020
Award: Arts Council of Ireland COVID-19 Response Fund
An award to create new online work while in lockdown measures during COVID-19. The new artwork, titled 'as if you could kill time without injuring eternity' is currently being built. The work is an interactive web-based art installation taking influence from the Wood Wide Web project. The title is a quote from Henry David Thoreau's Walden
26th May 2020
Online Course: Making Art with Computer Programming
A three-part workshop and presentation course in computer programming for artists, showing the basics of image, animation and interactivity.
The course will include critical theory on art and open source technology.
It is being run through CuratorSpace. Full details of the course are available on the course outline page.
19th May 2020
Video Essay: Never Just a Tree #4 - Technology
The fourth video essay for the potponed residency, The Wood Wide Web is now available online.
Each post includes a long-form blog-post outlining the research toward this video:
Shane Finan: Monoculture Monoliths.
This is part of the residency programme ENTWINED: Rural Land Lives Art.
19th May 2020
Project page: Wood Wide Web
A project page is now available for the 'Wood Wide Web' project.
All research, video and thoughts from this project to date appear here.
4th May 2020
Paintings: Restricted Views
A series of three landscape paintings painted in portrait format, playing on the idea of 'natural' and 'man-made' objects. The paintings are all made at the outert edge of the 2km physical distancing area from my hoemplace in Wicklow, Ireland.
21st April 2020
Arpillera: Conflict Textiles
As part of the lockdown activities for COVID-19, I made an arpillera doll for the Conflict Textiles exhibition at Roe Valley Arts Centre. Pictures here are my arpillera (left) and one by my partner Amy (right) in a bush at our home in April 2020.
The full exhibition of arpilleras from all over the world is online at the Roe Valley Arts Centre website.
21st April 2020
Video Essay: Never Just a Tree #3 - Community
The third video essay for the potponed residency, The Wood Wide Web is now available online.
Each post includes a long-form blog-post outlining the research toward this video:
Shane Finan: Staying Together Apart.
This is part of the residency programme ENTWINED: Rural Land Lives Art.
6th April 2020
Video Channel: Never Just a Tree
The series of videos, Never Just a Tree are being created and made available during the COVID-19 pandemic. The final videos will be made on-site at Kielderhead Wildwood Forest once travel restrictions are reduced later in 2020.
To subscribe to Visual Arts in Rural Communities Vimeo channel, please click the image below:
Each post includes a long-form blog-post outlining the research toward this video:
Shane Finan: Pandemic and Communication.
This is part of the residency programme ENTWINED: Rural Land Lives Art.
6th April 2020
Video Essay: Never Just a Tree #2 - Forests
The second video essay for the potponed residency, The Wood Wide Web is now available online.
Each post includes a long-form blog-post outlining the research toward this video:
Shane Finan: Pandemic and Communication.
This is part of the residency programme ENTWINED: Rural Land Lives Art.
23rd March 2020
Video Essay: Never Just a Tree #1 - Introduction
The first video essay for the potponed residency, The Wood Wide Web is now available online.
This is accompanied by a long-form blog-post outlining the research to date on the project:
Shane Finan: The Wood Wide Web.
This is part of the residency programme ENTWINED: Rural Land Lives Art.
23rd March 2020
New Exhibition: As Tree
I have been selected to manage a new exhibition to be staged in Sligo, As Tree featuring three artists working with new media technologies and themes based on nature. The exhibition will take place in St. George's Hall, Tubbercurry, in October 2020. More details to follow.
Supported by Sligo Arts Office and funded by Creative Sligo as part of the Creative Ireland programme 2017-22.
23rd March 2020
Postponements: COVID-19
Planned residency with Kielderhead Wildwood Project and Visual Arts in Rural Communities is postponed - new scheduled date to be posted here in the coming weeks.
16th March 2020
Postponements: COVID-19
This is a short notice - current planned exhibitions in Ireland as part of the Over Nature touring exhibition in Ennistymon Courthouse Gallery, Clare (March-May 2020) and Luan Gallery, Athlone (June 2020) are postponed or subject to postponement due to the public institution closures as a result of the international COVID-19 pandemic crisis. Updates will be posted here with new dates as news is updated.
latest exhibitions
june 24th-26th 2020, Valleymount, 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
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.