https://www.shanefinan.org Updates from the studio: art, technology and networks https://shanefinan.org/images/homepage1.jpg https://www.shanefinan.org en-ie Art/Technology https://shanefinan.org https://shanefinan.org#news2608_1 Tue, 18 Aug 2026 20:50:00 GMT symposium and workshops, north clondalkin library, sat 29th august 2026 10am-4pm On August 29th, 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: https://droptable.org symposium https://shanefinan.org https://shanefinan.org#news2607_4 Mon, 27 Jul 2026 14:35:00 GMT newspaper article, the irish times, by sylvia thompson, july 18th 2026 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 here: https://www.irishtimes.com/life-style/people/2026/07/18/we-need-creative-help-to-understand-and-reverse-human-induced-climate-change/ article https://shanefinan.org https://shanefinan.org#news2607_3 Mon, 20 Jul 2026 09:00:00 GMT conference exhibition, jul 20-22 2026, Leverhulme Wildfires Conference 2026, Imperial College London Three of my artworks will feature at the conference exhibition for the annual Leverhulme Wildfires Conference at Imperial College London: https://centreforwildfires.org/leverhulme-wildfires-summer-conference-2026/ Two prints and a video will be shown. The exhibition accompanies talks, workshops and other presentations about wildfires. The work I am showing is part of the ongoing project aiteann. https://shanefinan.org/VAP/15_aiteann.html exhibition https://shanefinan.org https://shanefinan.org#news2607_1 Thu, 02 Jul 2026 17:25:00 GMT public artwork, events, jul 3-5 2026, Knockree Hostel, Enniskerry, Wicklow (offsite project as part of the programme of Mermaid Arts Centre, Bray) Tomorrow, July 3rd: the furze pavilion will officially open at Knockree Hostel, Wicklow, 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: https://www.mermaidartscentre.ie/whats-on/exhibitions/furze-fuel-fodder-thatch-tools-toys" (Mermaid Arts Centre's website). exhibition https://shanefinan.org https://shanefinan.org#news2606_1 Sat, 20 Jun 2026 13:55:00 GMT public artwork, events, jul 3-5 2026, Knockree Hostel, Enniskerry, Wicklow (offsite project as part of the programme of Mermaid Arts Centre, Bray) 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: https://www.mermaidartscentre.ie/whats-on/exhibitions/furze-fuel-fodder-thatch-tools-toys This work is a follow-on from my 2025 residency with FIRECULT, and is part of the ongoing project aiteann: https://shanefinan.org/VAP/15_aiteann.html exhibition https://shanefinan.org https://shanefinan.org#news2604_3 Mon, 27 Apr 2026 19:21:00 GMT film festival, april 24 2026, studio 44, stockholm, sweden I renewed my biannual management of the Gstaadfilm festival with the latest edition touring to Stockholm, Sweden. 2026 was the 20th 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: https://gstaadfilm.com festival https://shanefinan.org https://shanefinan.org#news2604_2 Sun, 19 Apr 2026 12:00:00 GMT project gathering, north clondalkin, dublin 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: https://www.incontext.ie/projects/in-context-5-strand-2-commissions/another-infrastructure-ai project https://shanefinan.org https://shanefinan.org#news2604_1 Mon, 13 Apr 2026 16:21:00 GMT presentation and workshop, april 16-17 2026, dublin city university 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. Tickets and timetable: https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/sensory-experiences-of-environmental-data-seed-knowledge-exchange-tickets-1982889020438 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. More on the project: https://seedproject.ie/ presentation https://shanefinan.org https://shanefinan.org#news2603_1 Wed, 18 Mar 2026 14:25:00 GMT artist residency, the dock arts centre, carrick-on-shannon, co. leitrim, mar 2026-mar 2027 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. More info: https://www.thedock.ie/artists/shane-finan-and-jack-collum '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.' residency https://shanefinan.org https://shanefinan.org#news2602_1 Wed, 25 Feb 2026 15:10:00 GMT artist residency, dublin city university, nov 2025-apr 2026 In 2025, I was invited to be one of five artists in residence for SEED, a project based in DCU, Dublin (https://seedproject.ie/ ). 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: https://mograph.social/@ephemeral/115973126963845842 residency https://shanefinan.org https://shanefinan.org#news2512_1 Wed, 03 Dec 2025 19:00:00 GMT new collaborative project, north clondalkin, dublin, nov 2025-dec 2026 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: https://www.incontext.ie/projects/in-context-5-strand-2-commissions/another-infrastructure-ai project https://shanefinan.org https://shanefinan.org#news2511_2 Mon, 24 Nov 2025 11:30:00 GMT collective exhibition, the dock arts centre, carrick-on-shannon, co. leitrim, ireland, 22nd november 2025-14th february 2026 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 22nd 2025), an afternoon event for collectives (Dec 6th 2025), a meeting of the Leitrim Experimental Animation Kollective LEAK (Jan 19th 2026), and a symposium/gathering (Jan 24th 2026). More information: https://www.thedock.ie/exhibitions/waking-the-land exhibition https://shanefinan.org https://shanefinan.org#news2511_1 Mon, 24 Nov 2025 11:25:00 GMT conference proceedings, forum for artistic research, 17th november 2025 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: https://www.researchcatalogue.net/view/3816908/3816909 publication https://shanefinan.org https://shanefinan.org#news2511_3 Mon, 24 Nov 2025 21:10:00 GMT panel discussion, beta festival conference, digital depot, the digital hub, dublin, 7th november 2025 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: https://2025.betafestival.ie/conferences/Conference%20Day%20(2) ): 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. talk https://shanefinan.org https://shanefinan.org#news2510_1 Tue, 07 Oct 2025 18:00:00 GMT online webinar, octboer 7th 2025, irish uplands forum I am delivering the first webinar for the annual Irish Uplands Forum autumn series of online talks on October 7th 2025 at 7pm. My talk considers folk traditions in uplands burning, and how I made art from these traditions for my series 'aiteann' (https://shanefinan.org/VAP/15_aiteann.html) as part of the research project FIRECULT. More information and a link is available here: https://irishuplandsforum.org/events/griosach-fire-tradition-and-art-in-the-irish-uplands/. talk https://shanefinan.org https://shanefinan.org#news2509_2 Tue, 09 Sep 2025 17:00:00 GMT lecture, september 8th 2025, visual artists ireland get together, tu dublin I gave a talk at Visual Artists Ireland's annual conference Get Together on the topic of 'grassroots technologies'. In a casual lecture, I opened space in the room to discuss community-led technologies, social networks and software. The talk was part of the Café Chats programme in the conference, a space for more informal and process-based conversations. More information: https://visualartists.ie/upcoming-vai-events/get-together-2025-creativity-sustainability-and-climate-action-inthe-visual-arts talk https://shanefinan.org https://shanefinan.org#news2509_1 Tue, 09 Sep 2025 14:15:00 GMT exhibition, september 2025, varc, highgreen, northumberland, uk Visual Arts in Rural Communities (VARC) concluded a 25-year residency programme with the event and exhibition Full Circle on September 6th 2025. Works from over 30 artists accompanied an event with ceilidh and talks. I had two works in the exhibition, a charcoal drawing and a hand-made book from my collaboration with Forestry England on residency in June 2025. More information on the programme here: https://varc.org.uk/artists/full-circle/ exhibition https://shanefinan.org https://shanefinan.org#news2508_1 Fri, 22 Aug 2025 16:45:00 GMT socially engaged artwork, august 2025, arthur's quay shopping centre, limerick A new socially engaged artwork as part of the 'Síolta Glasa' project, Limerick. Working with Friends of Lace Limerick, I developed an artwork to help people consider technology nad manufacture in clothing. On 14th-15th August 2025, I collected thoughts from passing people in the shopping centre. On 28th to 29th August I will develop string figures, joining together these thoughts in the same location. artwork https://shanefinan.org https://shanefinan.org#news2507_1 Wed, 09 Jul 2025 09:05:00 GMT ritual and workshop, july 5th 2025, antidefuturing, whiddy summer school, whiddy island, co. cork I was invited to be part of the programme at AGON-A, the first Whiddy Island Summer School, where artists, academics and designers came together to discuss futures. I collaborated on a session with futures literacy theorist Loes Damhof. I ran a ritual on how we perceive histories using resarch from my project 'don't recollect', from a residency about the transatlantic telegraph cable that I completed in Newfoundland in 2024. Then Loes used the ritual as inspiration for a futures literacy workshop with the attendees. Some of the resultant thoughts were recorded on an etherpad: https://pad.vvvvvvaria.org/loes_shane_dont_recollect workshop https://shanefinan.org https://shanefinan.org#news2506_2 Wed, 11 Jun 2025 09:05:00 GMT artist talk, june 17th 2025, online (hosted by the maltings berwick) On June 17th I will give a talk on my three-month residency aiteann (https://shanefinan.org/VAP/15_aiteann.html) as part of the research project FIRECULT. The project is exploring the relationship between fire and loss of cultural heritage. I will present the work that I created and some of the method and motivation for how I used fire as a creative medium. workshop https://shanefinan.org https://shanefinan.org#news2506_1 Mon, 09 Jun 2025 10:01:00 GMT residency, june 8th-24th 2025, visual arts in rural communities and forestry england I have arrived back in Northumberland to do a 2-week residency partnered with Forestry England revising the Kielderhead Wildwood where I was also resident in 2020-21 (see https://shanefinan.org/VAP/10_woodwideweb.html). I will be on site until 23rd June, and will create something for a final showcase at VARC in September 2025. This is part of the Full Circle programme: https://varc.org.uk/artists/full-circle/ workshop https://shanefinan.org https://shanefinan.org#news2505_2 Thu, 08 May 2025 10:01:00 GMT upcoming workshop, june 5th and 6th 2025, leitrim sculpture centre I will be running a workshop in using Raspberry Pi to do synchronised and interactive media players for art installations in the Leitrim Sculpture Centre in June 2025. The workshop costs €240 for two days, with a limit of six places. More information at https://www.leitrimsculpturecentre.ie/whats-on/workshops-masterclasses/interactive-media-player-with-rasberry-pi workshop https://shanefinan.org https://shanefinan.org#news2505_1 Wed, 07 May 2025 12:01:00 GMT residency, june 2025, VARC northumberland, england In June, I will return to Kielder in Northumberland, where five years ago I began a residency about interconnectedness between forests, communities and technologies. Revisiting the site of this residency, I will document the area where a community planted over 35,000 native trees in Kielder as part of the Kielderhead Wildwood Project. My work on this project can be explored at this link: VAP/10_woodwideweb.html workshop https://shanefinan.org https://shanefinan.org#news2504_1 Tue, 08 Apr 2025 22:01:00 GMT new artworks and project page, April 2025, online Having just completed a 3-month research residency on, I have now documented the new artworks and works in progress on a project page on this website. The page documents some of the resarch process and the collaborations with research and community partners. View it here: https://shanefinan.org/VAP/15_aiteann.html documentation https://shanefinan.org https://shanefinan.org#news2501_2 Fri, 31 Jan 2025 12:30:00 GMT research residency, Jan-Mar 2025, The Maltings, Berwick, UK; University College Dublin; Newcastle University I was selected to be the Irish artist in residence for the international collaborative research project FIRECULT, led by Newcastle University. Working with UCD and The Maltings Berwick, I will develop artworks about the risks to cultural heritage through fire: https://www.maltingsberwick.co.uk/about-us/updates/firecult-residency-programme-international-artists-appointed/ My research draws from traditions of use of gorse as a carrier of story and a cash crop. I am looking at how fire weaves into our relationship with plants, drawing from the National Folklore Archive at UCD. residency https://shanefinan.org https://shanefinan.org#news2501_1 Mon, 13 Jan 2025 15:30:00 GMT symposium and exhibition, 17th-19th January, The Glens Centre and ^, Manorhamilton, Co. Leitrim A 3-day event about tendoing, healing and care featuring artworks, talks and performance at ^, the Glens Centre and outdoors in Manorhamilton, January 17th-19th 2025, created by the collective ^ Information, schedule and tickets at this link: https://waking.land/tending/ event