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), 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

The Sky is Falling!, Ormston House, Limerick, Ireland, 13 September – 16 November 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

The Office for Common Sound, NCAD Gallery, Dublin, Ireland

mixtape #IWD, Dundalk Institute of Technology, Dundalk, Ireland

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

2024

Each one started, each one started, each one started, – A Reader for The Long Grass (2022–2024). Spiral-bound publication. Hand-numbered edition of 100.

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 & Fellowships

2024

Conditions Online Programme

Creative Work Bursary, Kerry Arts Office, Kerry County Council

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

Michaela Cutaya, Apocalypse Anxieties, The Visual Artists’ News Sheet, Issue 3, July–August 2024

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 January 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