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29^th Aug 2026

SYMPOSIUM

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

The seven artists of the ensemble Drop Table came together at North Clondalkin Library to present artworks, workshops, talks and discussions on speculative infrastructures ranging from care infrastructures to local food infrastructures.

Another Infrastructure (AI), North Clondalkin Library, Rowlagh, Co. Dublin, 29^th August 2026

"We are anchored at North Clondalkin Library, and looking at speculative infrastructures such as small-scale data servers, care infrastructures, community money systems, LGBT+ built online platforms, and local food systems as connected alternatives to large-scale (data) infrastructure."
-Shane Finan, introduction to the symposium
18^th Jul 2026

PRESS
newspaper feature

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

A newspaper feature on art as part of system change, featuring my work as an example from an interview

We need creative help to understand and reverse human-induced climate change Sylvia Thompson, The Irish Times, Environment, July 18th 2026

"Artists are often shape-shifters of cultural norms and belief systems, as by viewing society through an outsider lenses, they are not afraid to push against the status quo and stimulate behaviour change."
-Sylvia Thompson, from the article
5^th Jul 2026

WORKSHOP
outdoor art pavilion

being-with furze

A workshop on how to engage with furze as a nonhuman creature, drawing from the philosophy of Vinciane Despret and environmental research of Max Liboiron

Furze: Fuel Fodder Thatch Tools Toys Knockree Hostel (offsite project run by Mermaid Arts Centre), Knockree, Wicklow

"All materials have some level of harm – this is about trying to do as little harm as possible."
-Shane Finan, from the workshop
4^th Jul 2026

WORKSHOP
outdoor art pavilion

charcoal making with furze

I gave a workshop in making drawing charcoal from furze (gorse) as part of the furze pavilion, Knockree Hostel (via Mermaid Arts Centre).

Furze: Fuel Fodder Thatch Tools Toys Knockree Hostel (offsite project run by Mermaid Arts Centre), Knockree, Wicklow

"It's about bringing new life to a plant that had a rich folk tradition..."
-Shane Finan, from the workshop
16^th & 17^th Apr 2026

TALK AND WORKSHOP
symposium

this siphonophore

I delivered a lecture performance about my research into the history and contemporary use of the data gathering tool, the Continuous Plankton Recorder, and the following day delivered a workshop on how to develop a research practice.

SEED knowledge sharing DCU (Dublin City University), Dublin

"I was told that phytoplankton create 50% of all oxygen in the atmosphere, so every second breath is thanks to them."
-Shane Finan, from the talk
17^th Nov 2025

PUBLICATION
conference proceedings

tír-éist: landlisten

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.

Proceedings of the 1st symposium Forum Artistic Research: listen for beginnings Research Catalogue, Open Access (article and proceedings available online)

"This problem can be approached as a challenge of boundaries, a challenge to think not in duality but in multiplicity. The boundary around a fixed truth is perhaps not as fixed as it first appears."
-Shane Finan, from the paper
7^th Nov 2025

TALK
conference panel

Politics of Water

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.

Beta Festival 2025 Digital Depot, The Digital Hub, Dublin

"By the mid-20th Century, over 40 sperm whales had tangled themselves in the subsea cables. The assumption was always that the whales had mistaken the cables for their prey, giant squid. It never seemed to occur to them that they knew exactly what they were doing."
-Shane Finan, from the presentation preceeding the panel
7^th Oct 2025

TALK
webinar

Gríosach: Fire, Tradition and Art in the Irish Uplands

The first webinar for the annual Irish Uplands Forum autumn series of online talks 2025, on fire, art and uplands management.

Irish Uplands Forum Annual Webinar Series, Palmerstown, Dublin

"An bhfuil an daonna-cliarlathas I láthair san teanga gan aon focail chun ‘human’?"
-Shane Finan
8^th Sep 2025

TALK
lecture

Visual Artists Ireland Get Together

Talk on community-led social networks and open source technologies to an audience of artists at the annual Visual Artists Ireland conference.

Visual Artists Ireland Get Together TU Dublin, Grangegorman, Dublin

"We can choose community led technologies"
-Shane Finan
6^th Sep 2025

PUBLICATION
book chapter

Full Circle

Artwork and text published in book by Visual Arts in Rural Communities.

Visual Arts in Rural Communities Northumberland, UK

"Seeds, trees, plastic, fungi, wire, skin and soil entangle me with the wildwood. We are individual and network."
-Shane Finan
20^th Aug 2025

TALK
artist talk

from furze to flame: drawing stories from our uplands

An artist talk and presentation of films and research about the project aiteann, considering (wild)fire, cultural heritage and technology, using research from the project aiteann.

Wicklow Uplands CouncilRoundwood Parish Hall, Main Street Roundwood, Co. Wicklow, Ireland

"In the book [Furze by AT Lucas], Lucas writes about the importance of aiteann for communal ovens, ritual burning, and home hearths, forage, fencing, and many other things."
-Shane Finan
5^th Jul 2025

RITUAL
talk, performative ritual, card game

don't recollect

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, and 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 at this link

antidefuturing, whiddy summer school, whiddy island, co. cork

"I thought it was great to bring in the nonhuman perspective and think from their side"
-participant response
17^th Jun 2025

TALK
artist talk

FIRECULT Artist Talk

I presented work, methods and motivations for using fire as a creative medium, with research from the project aiteann.

online, hosted by The Maltings Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland, England

"The name in the Irish language. Aiteann. Fire and thorn An amalgam from two ancient tongues that live on like weeds in a cultivated language. Two out of a slew of words, hiding incognito"
-Shane Finan
17^th Jan 2025

MASTERCLASS
2-day workshop

interactive media player with raspberry pi

I ran a workshop in using Raspberry Pi to create synchronised and interactive media players for art installations in the Leitrim Sculpture Centre in June 2025.

Leitrim Sculpture Centre, Manorhamilton, Ireland

"It's eye-opening to see how much goes into setting this up"
-participant
17^th Jan 2025

TALK
symposium presentation

Because The Exchange is Complete

Presentation and screening of film from the project FIELD.

^TEND Symposium, The Glens Centre, Manorhamilton, Co. Leitrim

"We can't understand anything until we speak to it on its own level."
-Shane Finan
Jun 2024

JOURNAL PUBLICATION

Making a mark on the farm: the marks and traces of farm animals and infectious diseases in northern England

A co-authored journal article led by Niamh Mahon on how marks become visible in farms

Scottish Geographical Journal (2024)

"While an engagement between human and nonhuman that takes place in unfamiliar settings over a short timeframe is not directly comparable to long-term ethnographic research, SF’s objective was to understand the aesthetic relationships between human and sheep unfamiliar to one another, including how vulnerability toward a visitor might trigger flight responses. The familiarity of sheep to the farmer was presented in stark contrast to the familiarity of sheep to artist. In particular, animals which were suffering from lameness would approach the farmers but would keep further distance from the artist. SF reflected this issue in his work, including online artistic documentations of the farm visits."
-Mahon, N. et. al, Making a mark on the farm
27^th-29^th Jun 2024

INTERVENTION
conference presentation

tír-éist: landlisten

Conference presentation about experimental forms of artistic collaboration, with work from four projects presented.

Forum for Artistic Research Symposium, Gustav Mahler Private University for Music (GMPU), Klagenfurt, Austria

"Words such as "collaboration" come with their own histories, assumptions and etymologies. "Collaboration" is a blend of "com" (together) and "labour" (work). A together-working may describe how a bridge gets built or how a community garden is planted, but may not describe the strange moments when we just learn from being present. Humans in groups are not always together for work, and when they share work they are not always gathered together."
-Shane Finan, abstract
11^th-12^th Apr 2024

WORKSHOP

Sensors and Systems for interactive art

A 2-day workshop in interactive technologies, as part of Creative Heartlands' programme of professional development. Attendees learned how to use open source technologies, sensors and electronics to control video and image in a flow from human->snesor->microcontroller->microcomputer->screen.

Creative Heartlands, ^, Manorhamilton, Co. Leitrim, Ireland
17^th Nov 2023

TALK
artist talk

Stories in Machines

Spoke with members of the collective ^ about the project Waking the Land to an arts and mixed audience

Design Week 2023, The Dock Arts Centre, Carrick-on-Shannon, Co. Leitrim, Ireland
16^th Nov 2023

WORKSHOP
as facilitator

Artist-led servers

Facilitated workshop at ^ for artist-led servers. The workshop was run by Rotterdam-based collective varia

Design Week 2023, ^, Manorhamilton, Co. Leitrim, Ireland
27^th Oct 2023

TALK
artist talk

Púca in the Machine 2023

Artist talk on project Púca in the Machine to a local audience

Púca in the Machine, Blessington Library, Co. Wicklow, Ireland
26^th Oct 2023

TALK
artist talk

Swap Spaces Launch

A talk by prerecorded video on the research created on the project Swap Space

Swap Spaces, Grazer kunstverein, Graz, Austria
Oct 2023

ACADEMIC
book chapter

stepping in cracks

Book chapter (writing and photography) on experimental collaboration with human and more-than-human as part of my research with Swap Space, Graz, Austria.

Swap Space, University of Performing Arts and Music, Graz, Austria

"The togetherwork of the ants that are excavating the house will eventually lead to the destruction of their home, and of most of them. I watched them excavating this place, moving tiny pieces of stone. Their togetherwork was assured. They mined the cement and block and paint, piece by piece, seemingly unaware that they were bringing about their mutual demise.
I thought about the ants a lot when we worked together. I thought while I stood watching from above, knowing how the foundations of this house were likely lain, aware of how the structure will eventually collapse. From my perspective, this excavation was an obvious ticking time-bomb toward ant obliteration. In a world where we, as humans, are aware of many of our own destructive forces, it seemed an obvious point, and I wondered if any of the ants were protesting against their extinction."
-Shane Finan, stepping in cracks
12^th Aug 2023

TALK
lecture

considering material technologies in art

A lecture on artists using or responding to material technologies delivered to a professional arts and academic audience

How It's Made, Trinity College Dublin Connect Centre, Dublin
Jun 2023

PROSE
online and printed magazine

peripheries of mischief

An article about myth, technology and water

COMPOST Issue 3: Water, Hypha Worker Co-op/Distributed Press, Canada/International

"While the valley was flooding, the Irish Free State army fired artillery at the bridges that would soon be submerged. They destroyed them in an act of uncanny violence that can only be explained by a fear that some mythological or otherworldly monster might make a home for itself in the nooks and dark recesses of those old structures. The destruction of the bridges was a way of erasing one form of control over the landscape while introducing another."
-Shane Finan, peripheries of mischief
Jun 2023

CHAPTER
book chapter

The Wood Wide Web

A photographic response to the project 'Wood Wide Web' (2020-21)

Reseeding, Northumberland Wildlife Trust, UK
1^st May 2023

TALK
art project talk

Assembly

Talk to Bealtaine audience about artwork Assembly in Ballina, Ireland

Assembly, Jackie Clarke Collection, Ballina, Co. Mayo, Ireland
Mar 2023

ARTICLE
national newspaper

Rural Mythologies

An artist feature on my work for Ireland's national representative body for artists, Visual Artists Ireland

Visual Artists News-Sheet Mar-Apr 2023, Visual Artists Ireland, The Masonry, 151-156 Thomas Street, Dublin, Ireland

"In 2018, I began walking the shores of the reservoir almost daily, as I lived near some of its more secluded parts. Its banks betray erosion unlike a normal lake; the sandy soil would have been stripped away much earlier, had the lake been around for hundreds or thousands of years. The tree stumps that were cut down in the 1930s stand up out of the water on long, spindly roots that look like tentacles or legs, the roots now exposed from the shallow soil of the Wicklow Mountains."
-Shane Finan, Rural Mythologies
18^th Jan 2023

TALK
conference proceedings

myth-ecology and technology

Artwork and a conference presentation at the 3^rd EUT annual conference with a talk on technology, care and mythology influenced by the flooding of the Poulaphuca Reservoir in Wicklow, Ireland.

TeLA+, Techne logos, Care and the (neg) Anthropocene, European Technological University, TU Dublin

"People believed so much in the Poulaphuca Reservoir that it came to exist. At that time, the hydroelectric dam was one of two power generating stations in Ireland, capable of powering Dublin City. Now it provides only around 1% of Ireland’s electricity."
-Shane Finan, from the conference talk
26^th Nov 2022

TALK
curatorial talk

myth-ecology and technology

Exploratory presentation of research with Q and A to a mixed public audience at Mermaid Arts Centre.

Púca in the Machine, Mermaid Arts Centre, Bray, Co. Wicklow, Ireland

"At the time that Simone Weil wrote, in the 1940s, western scientists had long been convinced of two major ideas, both premised on moral philosophies but without any evidence. The first was that human beings are at the centre of what we understand the world to be. The second was that species are always in competition with one another.
The idea of a place always in competition is a convenient myth for people who want to hold power."
-Shane Finan, from the talk
5^th Nov 2022

TALK
curatorial talk

myth-ecology and technology

Exploratory presentation of research with Q and A to a mixed public audience at Roe Valley Arts and Cultural Centre.

Púca in the Machine, Roe Valley Arts and Cultural Centre, Limavady, Co. Derry, Northern Ireland

"Myth may have a role in exploring complex stories and ideas. I am not arguing that the people should have stayed in the valley. They lived hard lives. Nor am I suggesting that the púca is really in our machines. Although I can’t be sure. But I am asking that we consider the power of myth, through art as part of the worlds we build and the narratives we create."
-Shane Finan, from the talk
21^st-23^rd Oct 2022

TEACHING
artist masterclass

Computer Programming for Artists

A 3-day in-depth workshop for artists looking to use interactive digital media as part of an arts practice.

Masterclass Workshop Series, Leitrim Sculpture Centre, Manorhamilton, Co. Leitrim, Ireland

"Attendees will be encouraged to write new computer programs as artworks, either individually or collaboratively with other attendees. We will explore other programming languages and the possibilities of sensor technologies and Arduino and how they can be used in installations, and will consider how to select the right languages and technologies for a work."
-workshop outline
23^rd Sep 2022

TALK
artist presentation

What Will Remain

Presentation of artistic research and ongoing artwork build as part of Decade of Centenaries Residency for Culture Night 2022

Culture Night, Jackie Clarke Collection, Ballina, Co. Mayo, Ireland

"It matters what stories tell stories. "
-Shane Finan, chanelling Donna Haraway
10^th Sep 2022

TALK
panel discussion

Stories of Change

Participation in a panel discussion about how art can help change public narratives.

Stories of Change, St Patricks Community Hall, Artlink, Buncrana, Co. Donegal, Ireland

"A lot of responsibility is placed on artists to create new stories, but what we really do is present new perspectives."
-Shane Finan
2^nd Sep 2022

ARTLICLE
blog post

Artist Connect Panel Blog

As a member of the Artist Connect Panel I was invited to write a blog post on experimental collaboration.

togetherwork, Artist Connect Blog Series, Wicklow Arts Office, Co. Wicklow, Ireland

"After two years of pandemic lockdowns, it seems a good time to consider what is important about coming together. Humans are social creatures, designed to live together with one another and with our surrounding environment (contrary to a small number of our species' thinking). Like other critters, we thrive from these interactions."
-Shane Finan, togetherwork
28^th Aug 2022

PRESS
newspaper interview

New exhibition draws on Ballina’s stories

Interview with Paul O'Malley on residency at Jackie Clarke Collection

Western People, Ballina, Co. Mayo, Ireland

"The goal is to create a sort of future museum for people in 100 years’ time, a reflection of our time right now. It is relevant right now because 100 years ago the Civil War and War of Independence took place and a lot of what came out of that is quite contentious. It still causes a lot of pain for people. I wanted to look at the positive things happening right now to look towards a bright future"
-quote from interview, Western People
17^th Jun 2022

TEACHING
conversation

Debugging through collaborative experimentation

Conversation begun and presented with colleagues in two collaborations: Kinship Group 26 and Swap Space

Art Meets Radical Openness (AMRO), linz, Austria

"How can we find or create spaces to collaborate without a unified directive or objective, spaces that can lead to unexpected outcomes?"
-conversation text
9^th Jun 2022

ARTICLE
academic online post

Ecoversities

An online post about using technology with social and environmental thoughtfulness in contemporary education practice, which is accompanied by an online artwork about transistors.

Something Moved, Ecoversities, India/online

"The infrastructure that underlies our technologies is not as easily refused. The internet infrastructure is made up of fibre-optic cables, satellites and other machinery involved in transmitting information from one place to another. Regardless of what technologies we use, this infrastructure is owned by states or companies, so poses a challenge to any form of technological sovereignty."
-Shane Finan, Something Moved
April 2022

PROSE
diary essays

Swap Space

Month-long diary documenting the research experience working with Swap Space, University of Performing Arts and Music, Graz (led by Hanns Holger Rutz).

Swap Space, Research Catalogue, University of Performing Arts and Music, Graz, Austria

"I love that I am creating contamination and a place that adapts and changes based on presence, but I love even more that we are creating this all together, from our conversations and ideas. The things that I have read here, the discussions, the places that I have experienced are all part of a collective experiential that is even shared by Jackie, who has been driven on by our energy as she mentioned in our Monday meeting."
-quote from entry on 23/04/2022
26^th Apr 2022

TEACHING
guest lecture

Pedagogical Methods in Artistic Collaboration

A lecture to arts education students on experimental collaboration.

Pädagogische Hochschule, Graz, Austria
3^rd Mar 2022

BOOK
project documentation and artist book

Púca in the Machine

Book publication about the project Púca in the Machine

Púca in the Machine, Blessington Library, Co. Wicklow, Ireland

"Myth plays a part in how we understand these more-than-human connections. Local lore tells that the púca, a trickster character in Irish mythology, lives in the form of a metre-long pike in the King’s River, one of those that was flooded. The púca is mischievous, occasionally malicious, and on a rare occasion helpful to travelers. As a shapeshifting character of the “other realm”, the púca has little material interest in the day-to-day lives of humans. Today, the púca-as-pike’s area of roaming is the much larger expanse of Blessington Lakes, and perhaps with the otherworldly nature of electricity the púca can move further still through the wires and cables of the generating station, out into the national grid. We have no way of predicting what this free rein might cause, or might have caused."
-from the project statement
11^th Dec 2021

TALK
artist talk

The Wood Wide Web

An hour-long talk and tour of the ENTWINED exhibition at Newcastle Arts Centre, exploring the one-month residency with Kielderhead Wildwood Project about entanglements between trees, fungi, people and technology. Supported by Culture Ireland.

ENTWINED:Rural.Land.Lives.Art, Assembly House, Newcastle Arts Centre, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK
8^th Dec 2021

PROSE
book chapter

The Power of Inconspicuous Things

A short book chaper with photograps and text telling the story of a more-than-human act of tree planting.

ENTWINED:Rural.Land.Lives.Art, Visual Arts in Rural Communities, published by Art Editions North, UK

"Under the soil, a network of fungi will pass these stories on too. They came on the wind and found the soil, and grew until entwined with the roots of trees, flowers and grasses. They mingled with beetle, worm and ant. They will have met lichen and moss and a multitude of microscopic forms. They too are entwined. Their messages might also span entire planets."
-Shane Finan, The Power of Inconspicuous Things
29^th Nov 2021

TALK
conference proceedings

ART SCIENCE FUNGI NETWORKS

A 25-minute conversation with Professor Lynne Boddy, Professor of Fungal Ecology at Cardiff University UK.

ENTWINED Online Assemblage, Newcastle University Institute of Creative Arts Practice and Visual Arts in Rural Communities, Northumberland

"...from a scientific communication point of view, I think art has a really big role to play...
...there's just not enough of this cross-disciplinary interaction."
-Prof. Lynne Boddy, in conversation with Shane Finan
10^th Sep 2021

TALK
symposium

Beastly Landscapes

Film screening and conversation to mixed academic audience about human-sheep relationships enabled (and hindered) by technology.

Beastly Landscapes, Newcastle University Centre for Landscape, UK

"Sheep have travelled the surface of the planet, hoof to toe with human colleagues. In these journeys, we have learned from one another. We share vulnerability with one another, and so we also care for one another."
-from the symposium text
10^th Aug 2021

PRESS
newspaper interview

Getting Visual Art

Interview with Robbie Brennan about artistic process with Sligo Champion/Irish Independent

Sligo Champion, Independent Newspapers, Ireland

"I’m using nature and technology,” he says. “I don’t see those things as separate. Because time and geology went into the creation of microchips. These aren’t disconnected things. I don’t see nature as one thing and technology another."
-quote from the article
May 2021

ARTICLE
polemic

The Master's Device

An article about using free and open source software for artists, piublished in national news sheet.

Visual Artists News-Sheet May-Jun 2021, Visual Artists Ireland, The Masonry, 151-156 Thomas Street, Dublin, Ireland

"Artists … are known for challenging hegemonies, exploring environmental issues, … or voicing ethical concerns within their work. So, there is an unfortunate contradiction in using ethically, environmentally or socially unsound tools."
-Shane Finan, The Master's Device
29^th May 2021

ARTICLE
documentation

The Wood Wide Web

Documentation about working with the Kielderhead Wildwood Project and exploring more-than-human relationships with trees and fungi.

curatorspace, Leeds, UK

"The relationships aren't simple, and human language is not well equipped to describe them. So I am gradually trying to strip away language and focus instead on visual and interactivity."
-Shane Finan, The Wood Wide Web
20^th Apr 2021

PRESS
newspaper interview

Exploring the The Wood Wide Web

Interview with David Whetstone and shared with artist Catriona Gallagher about our work in Northumberland.

The Journal, Northumberland, UK

"Shane, who grew up in rural Ireland, trained as a painter but went on to study computer science. He talks as passionately about technology as about trees and fungi and refuses to distinguish between natural and non-natural."
-David Whetstone, Exploring the The Wood Wide Web
Mar 2020-Mar 2021

ACADEMIC
online series of articles

The Wood Wide Web

Six articles that accompany six video artworks about mycorrhizal, digital and social networks. These are exploratory research as part of the project Wood Wide Web, listed and linked below:

full project:

Visual Arts in Rural Communities, Highgreen, Northumberland, UK

individual articles:

The Wood Wide Web (Mar 2020)

Pandemic and Communication (Apr 2020)

Staying Together Apart (Apr 2020)

Monoculture Monoliths (Jun 2020)

Independent Interdependence (Sep 2020)

Repairing The Chain (Mar 2021)

"I am dividing networks into two types: mutualistic and parasitic. In the former, the nodes of the network act together to help one another to grow and flourish. In the latter, a node or nodes in the network thrive off the other nodes without returning anything symbiotically.
The examples of mutualistic networks range from forests to technology to human communities. In the forest, the “wood wide web” is the network of fungi and trees that work together to help one another survive in forests. In technology, social networks, particularly those online sources and openness of communication between research communities, are a key example. In communities, the public sphere is the network: The bringing together of people to share ideas and values."
-Shane Finan, The Wood Wide Web
30^th Mar 2021

ARTICLE
blog post

Five Things a Gate Can Be

Short article exploring the idea of gates from different perspectives.

FIELD Project blog, FIELD Wellcome Trust, University of Lincoln, UK

"[A gate] can rust and degrade, and become buried in gorse. It can be opened and passed through. It can be locked. It can be climbed over, with one leg dangling on either side, placing the climber halfway between two possible worlds."
-quote from article
19^th Feb 2021

ARTICLE
blog post

Callous Caring: The myth of dichotomy in farming

Post about dichotomy in farmers, and how they must navigate the care and callousness needed to live with livestock.

FIELD Project blog, FIELD Wellcome Trust, University of Lincoln, UK

"Animals have individual personality; they have behaviours and motivations that we can’t always understand; they are sentient, thoughtful and caring. Farmers have always known this, and see it constantly."
-quote from article
19^th Feb 2021

ARTICLE
blog post

The artist who stares at sheep

Blog post about being-with and learning-from sheep while working on the FIELD project, and how they have taught me to see vulnerability.

FIELD Project blog, FIELD Wellcome Trust, University of Lincoln, UK

"What eyes do we use to do our looking? We all have preconceptions and assumptions. I went into fields seeking ideas about farmers and disease, and I found vulnerability."
-quote from article
17^th Feb 2021

TEACHING
guest lecture

Art Talks 2021 #1

Guest lecture on my practice to Master's and Degree students of art at the University of Lincoln

Art Talks, University of Lincoln, UK
8^th Dec 2020

ACADEMIC
book chapter

We, the Mycorrhizae

Book chapter as academic essay exploring the complexity of art and interconnection.

Evolving The Forest, art dot eart publishers, UK

"With all of our technologies to communicate and demarcate, we try to distance ourselves from these species, these places, these 'others' that we see as unlike ourselves. And yet, time and again, we fail in this distancing."
-Shane Finan, We, the Mycorrhizae
9^th Sep 2020

TALK
conference presentation

Rediscovering Wildness

Online conference presentation during 2020 COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns

Rediscovering Wildness Conference, Kielderhead Wildwood Project, Northumberland Wildlife Trust, UK

"Taking influence from forest networks...How can social networks be beneficial or detrimental to the way that we form communities?"
-quote from video
14^th Aug 2020

TALK
conference presentation

We, the Rural

Recorded presentation for asynchronous conference held during 2020 COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns

We, the Rural, Newcastle University Institute for Creative Arts Practice, UK

"...em...em..."
-quote from video
Apr-Jul 2020

ACADEMIC
online series of articles

The Wood Wide Web

Three articles about rurality, technology and networks, listed and linked below:

Centre for Rural Economy blog, Newcastle University, UK

individual articles:

Soil, Fungi and Chthonic Communication (27^th Jul 2020)

Planting, Stewardship and Value (2^nd Jun 2020)

The City, The Country and Resources (7^th Apr 2020)

"The end result is a removal of responsibility, a separation between the “dirt” and the “clean”. This is important in any philosophy that suggests a closer connection to nature. This connection between rural and urban has been intentionally eroded in a dream of a pristine city reality. Although an illusion, the dream is, as Kant may have described it, a “Regulative Ideal”. It is an unattainable goal, but one that nonetheless guides the philosophy of the expansion of cities."
-Shane Finan, The City, The Country, and Resources
12^th Jun 2020

ACADEMIC
longform article

A Different Kind of Grief

Article about networks, technology, grief and place-making, and how these seemingly disparate things are interconnected.

Institute of Network Cultures Longform, Hogeschool van Amsterdam, Netherlands/online

"To build a network is to build a future. The idea of grievability, of grief in the future tense, requires enough imagination to see beyond today and to create a place that has value enough to be grieved."
-Shane Finan, A Different Kind of Grief
14^th May 2020

ACADEMIC
blog post

Complexity, Contradiction and the Symbiocene

Blog post about complexity, and how we understand or untangle it.

PGR Sociology, Newcastle University, UK

"Any dynamic idea is complex, and art is great at untangling complex ideas."
-quote from article
7^th Feb 2020

TALK
panel discussion

Over Nature

Discussion on the themes and topics explored in the exhibition Over Nature in a panel chaired by Bernadette Hopkins and featuring me, curator Valeria Ceregini and artist Beata Daly.

Over Nature, touring exhibition, Ireland and UK, 2019-20
7^th Dec 2019

TALK
artist talk

Over Nature

Talk about artworks featured in the exhibition Over Nature, with artists Mary O'Connor, Beata Pietreska Daly and curator Valeria Ceregini

Over Nature, touring exhibition, Ireland and UK, 2019-20
22^nd Nov 2019

TALK
panel discussion

Over Nature

Discussion on the themes and topics explored in the exhibition Over Nature in a panel featuring Kathy Herbert, curator Valeria Ceregini and me.

Over Nature, touring exhibition, Ireland and UK, 2019-20
Aug 2019

CATALOGUE
curatorial write-up

Shane Finan

Catalogue text from touring group exhibition curated by Valeria Ceregini

Over Nature, Government Publications, Stephen's Green, Ireland

"In Shane Finan's oevre the dialogue between art and nature, and what is means in a social context can be seen. His art encourages conversation, interaction or engagement to go over the physical or invisible border: both the borders of a country and its population, and the perceived "do not touch" borders of artworks."
-Valeria Ceregini, curator Over Nature
25^th Jun 2019

TALK
artist talk

The Repeated Refrains of Nature

Academic talk to audience of over 70 people about art project The Repeated Refrains of Nature

Auk Room, Zoological Museum, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland
8^th Dec 2018

ACADEMIC
book chapter

Social Computing and the Law

Book chapter and multiple contributions to first book published on implementing the EU General Data Protection Regulation in social media online. Edited by Prof. Khurshid Ahmad, Trinity College Dublin.

Social Computing and the Law, Cambridge University Press, UK

"technological developments in all areas of human endeavour involve a reconsideration of established ethical norms and an assessment on their impact on societal values and power relations."
-quote from chapter
25^th Jun 2018

TALK
research presentation

FÍOSÍN: Social Media and Emergency Management

Research presentation of work from ongoing projects on social media analysis to expert panel of emergency managers running regional emergency management operations.

FEMA Region VIII Headquarters, Denver, Colorado, USA
July 2018

ACADEMIC
article

faigh ar ais as an fharraige

Piece exploring some of the research used for the artwork faigh ar ais as an fharraige (2018).

Interartive, online/EU

"No language, whether technological, social, linguistic or artistic, appears without some baggage from a historical school of thought, and this is the reason for using painting as part of a visual metaphor in an interactive digital installation."
-quote from piece
27^th Apr 2018

ACADEMIC
article

How Sentimental Are We About Brexit?

Contributing author to article on political and social effects of sentiment analysed in news on economics. Co-authored with Cathy Gormley-Heenan, Khurshid Ahmad and Stephen Kelly.

RTÉ Brainstorm, RTÉ: Ireland's national broadcaster, Dublin, Ireland

"Our research shows that policy makers, researchers and politicians should pay heed to the 24-hour news cycles made even more noisy with Twitter."
-quote from article
23^rd Jan 2018

TALK
research presentation

FÍOSÍN: Social Media and Emergency Management

Research presentation of work from ongoing projects on social media analysis to emergency managers, municipal planners and other government authorities.

DataPiano, Denver, Colorado, USATown Hall, San Dona di Piave, Italy
27^th Dec 2017

PRESS
blog post interview

Impermanence and its Lasting Impact

Interview with curator Barry McHugh, founder of the online publication Painting in Text

Painting in Text, online/Ireland

"I tend to focus on transient ephemeral things that disappear over time – things that change the relationship between people and place. Technology is one of those things that is constantly shifts and is constantly in flux."
-quote from interview
15^th Dec 2016

TALK
artist talk

apo

Artist-in-residence presentations at gallery while resident with Digital Arts Studios (DAS) Belfast

Golden Thread Gallery, Belfast, Northern Ireland
31^st Aug-2^nd Sep 2016

TEACHING
workshop

MUININ 2016: Multi User Interaction in Social Media: Secure information flow for disaster emergencies

3-day workshop on developing trust in social media communications for emergency managers.

11th International Conference on Availability, Reliability and Security (ARES 2016), Salzburg, Austria

"The lessons learnt and systems developed during the execution the three year FP7-sponsored security project Slandail (Project No.# 607691, 2014-2017) will form the basis of the workshop. Slandail (Irish for security) and is an acronym for Security System for language and image analysis."
-workshop outline
May 2016

ACADEMIC
article

Mugwort, Wormwood, and how little we know about the end of the world

Piece exploring some of the research used for the artwork Antikythera, Etc. (2016).

Interartive, online/EU

"Creating mental maps of areas, sights, sounds and smells are all integral to this development of a sense of place. Leaving one place and entering another can also been seen as an experience; boundaries dictate the allowed behaviours inside one place or another."
-quote from piece
15^th Mar 2016

TALK
conference presentation

Trust, place and community

Presented research on trust and community resilience at joint final conference of two major EU-funded projects.

Pop-Alert and TACTIC final conference, Fédération des Entreprises de Belgique, Brussels
15^th Jan 2016

PRESS
critical response

Shane Finan, ADA

Critical response to artwork ADA by criticismism (Mark Sheerin)

criticismism, online/UK

"We are more connected than ever, but the quality of our online relations remains in question. Art, which generally requires your physical presence, might be the apotheosis of connection.
Perhaps that is why austerity governments value it so little. That makes archipelagoes a timely and potent image: a cluster of discrete entities joined up more closely than it seems at first."
-Mark Sheerin, from article
2011-2015

PROSE
blog

Moon Under Water

A blog that explored ideas in art, culture and technology from 2011-2015. Shortlisted for an Blog Awards Ireland award (2012) and winner of Wordpress' "Freshly Pressed" award for the 2012 blog post "Once Upon A Click - Hypertext and New Ways of Reading".

Moon Under Water, a fictional pub, a place for conversations and observations

">Links give internet users agency over what they are reading. Rather than turning pages sequentially, users are allowed to explore freely at their own will and their own pace. So the experience of reading online is thus a vastly different experience to its analogue counterpart."
-quote from article, Once upon a Click
18^thMay 2015

ACADEMIC
conference proceedings

Trust-building through Social Media Communications in Disaster Management

Contributing author to article on trust in social media communications. Co-authored with Prof. Maria Teresa Musacchio, Prof. Maria Grazia Busa and Cilian Fennell.

WWW '15 Companion: Proceedings of the 24th International Conference on World Wide Web, Florence, Italy

"The potential for developing confidence in authorities through the two-way reciprocal communication of social media provides an avenue for trust-building that arguably was not provided by previous authority/public communication media."
-quote from article
Jan 2015

ACADEMIC
journal publication

Transient Places: The Public Benefits of Short-Term Artist-Led Spaces

Academic article on artist-led spaces.

Irish Journal of Arts Management and Cultural Policy, Dublin, Ireland

"Community co-creation of a transient place like Granby Park allows for the development of a cultural place identity that is temporary, but continues to function as part of the space’s place-memory."
-quote from article
29^th Oct 2013

TALK
public outreach programme

Place, Gentrification, and artist-led Initiatives

Delivered a talk on artist-led spaces and the connection between these spaces at The Worker's Café, Temple Bar Gallery and Studios.

The Worker's Café, Temple Bar Gallery and Studios, Dublin, Ireland
Aug 2013

TALK
radio panellist

Reclaiming Disused Spaces

Invited panelist on national radio show about artist led spaces. The show's topic was "reclaiming disused spaces", focussing on the artist-led initiative Granby Park.

The Last Word, Today FM, Dublin, Ireland
Aug 2013

ACADEMIC
master's thesis

Rebuilding The Public Sphere: Community and Communication in Trinity College in the 21st Century

Academic article on the use of public spaces in an age of digital media.

Journal of Postgraduate Research<, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland

"networked publics are broadening the horizons for discourse by offering new audiences for engagement, debate and collaboration, and as a result they are changing the role of particular architectural places."
-conclusions from article
10^th Jun 2013

TALK
three minute article 3MA

Rebuilding The Public Sphere

Won first prize for a three-minute talk on academic research, awarded by the Dean of Graduate Studies, Trinity College Dublin.

3MA, Journal of Postgraduate Research, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland
May 2013

ACADEMIC
journal publication

This Must Be The Place: The importance of Place in Portable Digital Media

Thesis about pervasive digital media and its effects on culture

MSc Interactive Digital Media, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland

"It is possible to create a sense of place through a combination of devices and physical realities that, together, can reshape and redetermine the world that we live in and move through."
-conclusions from thesis
May 2012

ARTICLE
documentation

The Artist-Led Scene in Sligo

Article about artist-led spaces in Sligo, Ireland

Visual Artists News-Sheet May-Jun 2012, Visual Artists Ireland, The Masonry, 151-156 Thomas Street, Dublin, Ireland

"...the post-recession landscape altered the Sligo art scene significantly"
-quote from the article
12^th Apr 2012

TALK
artist talk

Vermont Studio Center artists

Delivered a talk on my artistic practice to an audience of artists, writers, and guests at Vermont Studio Center

Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, Vermont, USA
15^th May 2011

TEACHING
workshop

Reading Contemporary Painting

Delivered a talk on contemporary painting to a mixed audience considering individual perspectives on how to interpret art.

Nes Artist Residency, Skagastrond, Iceland.