Christopher Steenson (b. 1992) CV
Public Art
2023
Almanac for a Walled City, site-specifc sound artwork for Derry city walls (in partnership with Nerve Centre; supported by ESB Brighter Future Arts Fund) (forthcoming: 1 September 2023 – onwards)
2020
On Chorus, national public sound artwork broadcast via train station PA system network (with support of Iarnród Éireann, BirdWatch Ireland), 16 – 29 November 2020
Solo Exhibitions
2023
Breath Variations, Flat Time House, London, United Kingdom, 12–15 May 2023
Let it run all over me, Lagan Weir Underwater Tunnel, Belfast, Northern Ireland, 25 March 2023
2022
Department of Dreamtime, CCA Derry~Londonderry Project Space, Derry, Northern Ireland, 8 November – 3 December 2022
Translations, Project DivFuse, London, United Kingdom, 9–11 September 2022
Connemara Landscape (Wind Study), Sonorities Festival 2022, Belfast, Northern Ireland, 6 – 10 April 2022
Soft Rains Will Come, VISUAL Centre for Contemporary Art, Carlow, Ireland, 26 February – 22 May 2022
Group Exhibitions
2024
Apocalypse Anxieties, Luan Gallery, Athlone, Ireland (27 April – 27 June 2024)
Mother Tongue, The MAC (Metropolitan Arts Centre), Belfast, Northern Ireland (25 April – 30 July 2024)
inching towards, Freelands Foundation, London, United Kingdom (16 – 23 February 2024)
Penumbra, Circulo Cubano, Mexico City, Mexico (1 – 18 February 2024)
2022
Periodical Review 12: Practical Magic, Pallas Projects/Studios, Dublin, Ireland (9 December – 28 January 2023)
TULCA Festival of Visual Arts: The World Was All Before Them, Galway, Ireland, 4 – 20 November 2022
2021
Urgencies, CCA Derry~Londonderry, Derry, Northern Ireland (curated by Locky Morris and Catherine Hemelryk) (30 March – 22 May 2021)
2019
Small Night Zine: Arrangements, Pallas Projects/Studios, Dublin, Ireland
Catalyst Audio Tracks 002, Catalyst Arts, Belfast, Northern Ireland
Sounding Paths 2019 Residency Showcase, Old Jesuit Monastery, Syros Island, Greece
Umbrella in the Park, Soundscape Park Project, Belfast, Northern Ireland (with Una Lee, John D’Arcy, Richard Davis, Alex Lucas, Aidan Deery, Hadi Bastani, et al.)
The Office for Common Sound, NCAD Gallery, Dublin, Ireland (with Sven Anderson, Colm Keady-Tabbal, Mateja Šmic, et al.)
mixtape #IWD, Dundalk Institute of Technology, Dundalk, Ireland (with Chris Watson, Francisco Lopez, Barbara Ellison, Silvia Veravova, et al.)
2018
Catalyst Audio Tracks 001, Sonic Arts Research Centre, Belfast, Northern Ireland
Spectres of Place (as part of Framewerk Sleepover), St Martin’s Church, Belfast, Northern Ireland
The Art of Cycling, Framewerk Art Gallery, Belfast, Northern Ireland
Talbot St (soundscape contribution to The Public Pulpit by Ben Weir), Imagine Festival of Politics and Ideas, Belfast, Northern Ireland
Fjord Melt/Cold Hands, The Art Department, Belfast, Northern Ireland
2017
Digital Tropical, Club Curious, Belfast, Northern Ireland
In the Stairwell, Sonic Arts Research Centre, Belfast, Northern Ireland
I am Sitting in a Vault, EastSide Arts Festival (in The Old Ulster Bank Building on the Newtownards Road), Belfast, Northern Ireland
Artist Publications & Audio Releases
2022
Soft Rains Will Come. Risoprinted publication. Featuring texts by Ian Maleney, David Toop, Christopher Steenson and Benjamin Stafford. Hand-numbered edition of 100.
2021
On Chorus, artist LP. Gatefold record, pressed on 180-gram 12-inch vinyl, with 8-page booklet, featuring text response by artist Ann Maria Healy. Published by Fallow Media. Edition of 200.
Field Walk 040121 (2021). Contribution to NI Mental Health Arts Festival publication Loneliness. Digital audio (accessed via QR code) with 35mm photograph.
2020
Contribution (with Laura Fitzgerald) to The Ecliptic, Lidl Museum of Ancient and Contemporary Art Audio Tour. Cassette tape. Edition of 50
Radio Broadcasts & Screenings
2024
Betwixt Screening Programme, g39, Cardiff, Wales, 16 March 2024
Betwixt Screening Programme, Curzon Cinema, Camden, London, United Kingdom, 17 February 2024
2020
On Chorus (Connolly Station), ddr (Dublin Digital Radio), 8 December
On Chorus (Connolly Station), Radiophrenia 2020, CCA Glasgow (Online & at 87.9FM in the Glasgow area), 29 November
Curation
2019
RHA School Dublin, M*A*S*H (Many Artists Showing Hyper-Reality).Co-Curated with Fál Linntreog. Screening event featuring: Eoghan Ryan, Beth Collar, Callumn Hill, Ann Maria Healy, Barbera Knezevic, Charlotte Develter, Mathilda Ganacia, et al.)
Residencies
2023
Bemis Centre for Contemporary Arts, Omaha, Nebraska, USA, 13 September – 17 November 2023
Flat Time House, London, United Kingdom, 3 – 7 April 2023
2022
CCA Derry~Londonderry, Project Space Residency, 7 November – 4 December 2022
Crex, crex, crex, crex, crex...., Research Residency with Corncrake LIFE, Ormston House, Limerick, Ireland (various dates)
Interface, Connemara, Ireland, 28 February – 25 March 2022
Cow House Studios, Co. Wexford, Ireland, 21 – 25 February 2022
2019
Sounding Paths 2019, Ano Syros (Syros Island), Greece, 5 – 15 July 2019
Collections
Arts Council of Ireland Collection
Funding & Awards
2023
Visual Arts Bursary Award, Arts Council of Ireland
2022–2023
ESB Brighter Future Arts Fund, ESB in partnership with Business to Arts
PS² Freelands Foundation Artist Programme, PS², Belfast / Freelands Foundation, London
2022
Visual Arts Bursary Award, Arts Council of Ireland
Support for the Individual Artist Programme: General Art Award, Arts Council of Northern Ireland
2021
Visual Arts Bursary Award, Arts Council of Ireland
Agility Award, Arts Council of Ireland
Highly Commended Proposal for Wren Radio, VISUAL Centre for Contemporary Art Open Call
‘Best Use of Creativity in the Workplace’ for On Chorus (2020), Business to Arts Awards
Creative Work Bursary, Kerry Arts Office, Kerry County Council
2020
Professional Development Award, Arts Council of Ireland
Visual Arts Bursary Award, Arts Council of Ireland
Support for the Individual Artist Programme: General Art Award, Arts Council of Northern Ireland
Covid-19 Crisis Response Award, Arts Council of Ireland
2019
Support for the Individual Artist Programme: General Art Award, Arts Council of Northern Ireland
Support for the Individual Artist Programme: Travel Award, Arts Council of Northern Ireland
Travel and Training Award, Arts Council of Ireland
Press Coverage & Exhibition Texts
Thomas Pool, Freelands, The Visual Artists’ News Sheet, Issue 2, March–April 2024
Niamh Cositgan, ‘Almanac for a Walled City’, Blas, BBC Radio Ulster, 11 Janurary 2024
Sarah Kelleher, ‘Practical Magic’, Pallas Projects/Paper Visual Art, December 2022
Darren Caffrey, ‘Stories Taking Shape’, The Visual Artists’ News Sheet, Issue 3, May–June 2022
Ian Maleney, ‘Talk, talk, talk, talk, talk’, VISUAL Art & Ideas, May 2022
David Toop, ‘Am I the last person on earth?’, VISUAL Art & Ideas, March 2022
Niamh Campbell, ‘On Chorus’, Paper Visual Art, Volume 12, 2021
Tom Lordan, ‘Sound Out’, Totally Dublin, December Issue, 2020
‘Mooney Goes Wild’, RTÉ Radio 1, 23 November 2020
Donal Corrigan, ‘A Sound Artist Captured the Chirps of Birds along the Royal Canal for Commuters’, Dublin Inquirer, 18 November 2020
‘On Chorus - bringing birdsong to Irish train stations’, RTÉ Culture, 16 November 2020
Deirdre Falvey, ‘Birdsong fills the air in rail stations across the country’, Irish Times, 16 November 2020
Liz Dunphy, ‘Commuters to be tweeted to birdsong as they await their train’, Irish Examiner, 16 November 2020
‘Morning Ireland’, RTÉ Radio 1, 16 November 2020
‘Newstalk Breakfast’, Newstalk, 16 November 2020
Ηχητικές συνθέσεις με αναφορά στην Άνω Σύρο (Sound Compositions With Reference to Ano Syros), Κοινή Γνώμη (Public Opinion), 16 July 2019
Brian Coney, ‘Live Report: Framewerk Sleepover’, The Quietus, 13 August 2018
I am Sitting in a Vault, The Visual Artists’ News Sheet, Issue 4, September – October 2017
Arts Show Interview about I am Sitting in a Vault, BBC Radio Ulster, 10 August 2017
Memberships
IVARO (The Irish Visual Artists Rights Organisation). Joined 2021
Business to Arts – Arts Affiliate Member. Joined 2021
Umbrella Sound Art Collective. Joined in 2017
Selected Writing
‘Adam Gibney, Can_you_breathe_for_me?’, Paper Visual Art, December 2021
‘Self-Publishing: An Incomplete Guide’, The Visual Artists’ News Sheet, Issue 1, January – February 2021
‘Sound Collector’, The Visual Artists’ News Sheet, Issue 5, September – October 2020
Hearing Tenses,This Place, March 2020 (catalogue essay for Amanda Coogan’s exhibition at Millennium Court Arts Centre, Portadown)
Acoustic Bleed: Sound Art in Belfast, Paper Visual Art, Volume 11, 2020
Sounding Paths, The Visual Artists’ News Sheet,Issue 6, November – December 2019
State of the Medium, The Visual Artists’ News Sheet,Issue 5, September – October 2019
Good Listeners,The Visual Artists’ News Sheet,Issue 1, January – February 2019
Sounding Out,The Visual Artists’ News Sheet,Issue 3, July – August 2018
(Tree) House Music,The Visual Artists’ News Sheet, Issue 1, January – February 2018
Bringing Sounds into Use: Thinking of Sounds as Materials and a Sketch of Auditory Affordances, The Open Psychology Journal, Volume 8, Issue 1, 2015
Proceedings of the 13th European Workshop on Ecological Psychology, School of Psychology, Queen’s University Belfast (Co-Editor and Contributor)
Visiting Lecturer
Limerick School of Art and Design, Limerick, Ireland, 20 March 2023
EVA International Production Leadership Programme, Limerick, Ireland, 15 December 2022
School of Design and Creative Arts, Atlantic Technological University, Galway, Ireland, 4 November 2022
Yeats Academy of Arts, Design and Architecture, Institute of Technology, Sligo, Ireland, 20 October 2021
Artist Talks
Bemis Centre for Contemporary Art, Omaha, USA, 21 October 2023
Flat Time House (in-conversation with Sasha Engelmann), London, United Kingdom, 14 May 2023
School of Wild Listening, WildMind Festival, Fenit, Ireland, 20 April 2023
Freelands Foundation, London (Online), 10 April 2023
Interface, Connemara, Ireland, 19 March 2022
Void Visionaries, Void Gallery, Derry, Northern Ireland, 7 October 2021
Cow House Studios, Co. Wexford, Ireland, 8 November 2020
City of Participation (Office for Common Sound), NCAD Gallery, Dublin, Ireland, 9 May 2019
Office Politics (Office for Common Sound), NCAD Gallery, Dublin, Ireland, 2 May 2019
Education
2016
Queen’s University Belfast, Psychology PhD candidate
Thesis Title: Sounds Like We’re Moving: Using Auditory Information to Guide Human Movement.
2010
Queen’s University Belfast, Psychology BSc
Thesis Title: Communication of Emotion Through Musical Improvisation.
Additional Training
2022
Cow House Studios, Film Photography Development and Printing (with Frank Abruzzese)
2019
Fire Station Artists’ Studios, Ways of Hearing: Spatial Audio(with Moritz Fehr), 2 – 3 March, Dublin, Ireland
2017
A4 Sounds, Creative Technology for Artists and Makers, 19 November – 10 December, Dublin, Ireland
Visual Artists Ireland, Writing About your Work with Sue Rainsford, 15 November, Dublin, Ireland