Fionnáin @ephemeral@mograph.social

'it seemed like we were moving closer together' is a 2021 interactive art installation about contact, technology, transistors and critters.

Short video documentation:

https://tube.tchncs.de/w/jqC96Yxu3CnAEx6LqT4vTo

Updated #introduction (2021):

I make art.

Sometimes I write.

My work is about #networks , including technology systems and complex more-than-human relationships.

I create interactive art installations using wood, paint, drawings, light, electronics, code, sensors, film & sound.

I always collaborate, including with animals, fungi, humans, trees, mould & birds.

I try to make my work accessible and with low environmental impact (please tell me if I fail).

My body is in Ireland.

I'm hopeful.

I have crossed the national border on the island of Ireland more times than I can remember. I traversed it six times this week, feeling a little like a needle dragging a thread. A part of me is left in each place and a part of each place comes with me, every time.

Edges are porous.

This might seem trivial, but it is important. The impersonal rejection is very hard to take at times, and I think most artists can feel really deflated afterward. Usually, the reason for a rejection is "the work is very good, but doesn't quite fit our theme/budget/curatorial concept. Try again next year". These small human communications of encouragement are important.

All of my projects are artist-led by small teams with tiny budgets. Many of the organisations that refuse feedback are internationally recognised with core public funding.

On the projects that I have run where we have an open call, I always ask the selection panel to write a couple of lines about each decision while they are reviewing an artist's work. If someone asks for feedback, I use this text (quickly checked over). It's not that hard to plan ahead like this.

A lot of art organisations send a rejection letter to proposals with a line that reads something like "we received a lot of applications so please don't contact us for feedback as we can't respond to each request".

As an artist I find this dismissive after spending a lot of time creating an application. As an organiser of art projects I find it untrue – I have never had a problem giving feedback, even when there have been a couple of thousand applications; most people don't even request it.

Something moved: lots to cover in my latest e-newsletter.

Transistors, lichen, futures, ants, collaborations: three research projects, a publication and a conversation.

https://sh1.sendinblue.com/ad9slfms1xpfe.html

Map lichen are making me rethink boundaries of territory.

Map lichen scanned through a portable scanner, glitched by my hand movement, and obscured by a scratched acrylic sheet are making me rethink boundaries of perception.

So long #AMRO22, that was magnificent. Well done again to all the organisers.