Ultraviolet Art Talks

On this episode, Caren Sullivan Talks to multidisciplinary artist Michelle Malone in 2022.

Michelle Malone’s multidisciplinary practice presents an autobiographical narrative of growing up in a variety of socioeconomically disadvantaged urban areas, mainly Oliver Bond Flats in Dublin’s inner city.

Through installations comprised of sculptural objects, image-making, audio and text, she aims to bring forward discussions of class, taste, belonging, identity and community. Using pop culture iconography relating to childhood and adolescent memory, as well as family and peer storytelling, Michelle Malone presents materials that are specific to site/time and that intend to evidence ethnographic, phenomenological and experiential meaning. In addition to her interests in developing installations and a body of work that discusses class concerns she is also developing a practice of creative writing that supports her projects.

Although the audio, text and sculpture parts of the installations can be experienced independently they exist to unfold a narrative that displays a material capital that converses both a personal and a collective Irish identity.

Michelle Malone graduated from Technological University Dublin with a first class honours BA in Fine Art. She was awarded the RDS Whyte’s Award 2020, Fire Station Artists' Studios Graduate Award 2020, Mont Kavanagh Graduate Award 2020, John Creagh Student of Excellence Award 2020. Michelle Malone self-organised a solo exhibition of her graduate installation titled Summer Project 1997in The Complex, 2020. 

Selected shows 

2024

• Installation for Frank Sweeney film , A Few Can See, at The Dock Arts, 2024 EVA international 
• Following Threads, Group Exhibition, Curated by Anne Boaedarrt Crawford Art Gallery 

2023  

• Níl Aon Tintean, Curated by Helena Tobin South Tipperary Arts Centre 
• Poor Auld Anna Livia, Studio 1, Temple Bar Gallery and Studios, 
• Love you my Sweaty, Curated by Sara Muthi, The Library Project  
• Black Church Emerging Curator exhibition Irelands Eye, Curated by Mark Joyce World Trade Center 2, Jakarta Indonesia 
• Poor Auld Anna Livia, RHA Annual Exhibition 

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For more information, follow Michelle Malone on Instagram @michelle_malone_

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On this episode, Caren Sullivan talks to artist Szymon Minias in 2022.

Szymon Minias graduated in 2022 from SETU Wexford School of Art & Design with a degree in art and specialises in paint and portraiture.

Largely an unfolding process of developments, Szymon sees painting as a study of “abstraction of the real”, where every element should have a life of its own when ruthlessly singled out.

On a personal level, Szymon said painting serves as an outlet to visualise his emotional reaction to the subject, where style — the appearance and relationship between elements inside the work – becomes the main language.

His fixations pay attention to rhythm, various angles of attack the painting can be observed from and the constant re-examination of the work’s presence.

Szymon was shortlisted in the RDS Visual Art Awards 2022, exhibiting artists from some of the best BA & MA visual art graduates from all over Ireland.

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For more information, follow Szymon Minias on Instagram @szymon.minias

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On this episode, Caren Sullivan talks to visual artist Fiona Gordon in 2022.

Fiona Gordon is a visual artist working in video and digital processes. She outlines her own version of female experience to embrace the surreal and bizarre, using her image to challenge perceptions of femininity and capture that all-consuming online and screen-based existence.

Fiona graduated from LSAD in 2021 and is currently based between Limerick and Kildare. Since graduating she has exhibited as part of six group shows including the 2021 RDS Visual Art Awards and the 39th EVA International. She is currently undertaking a residency with Digital Arts Studios, Belfast as part of their Future Labs Foundation Programme.

Most recently, Fiona has exhibited on Imma 

Living Canvas with the video VIRTUAL ARMOUR + EXCESSIVELY CHAOTIC UTOPIAN ESCAPE in March 2025.

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For more information, follow Fiona Gordon on Instagram @fnioagrdn

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On this episode, Caren Sullivan talks to writer, curator and editor Ilaria Sponda in 2022.

Ilaria Sponda is a freelance writer, curator and editor at Der Greif. Prior to this, she studied a BA in arts, media and cultural events at IULM University, Milan, and an MA in culture studies at Universidade Católica Portuguesa.

Her words have featured in C41 Magazine, Lampoon, Over Journal and Trigger. Her focus of interest lies in photographic art, media ecologies, globalisation and image circulations.

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For more information, follow Ilaria Sponda on Instagram @ilariasponda

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Opening Season 14, Caren Sullivan talks to artist Venus Patel in 2022.

Venus Patel is a performance artist, experimental filmmaker based in Dublin, Ireland.

Patel’s work concerns her experience as a trans femme of colour, trying to navigate the world. Through the use of costuming and loose gender expression, she encapsulates the campy blend of her queer identity. Venus questions the heteronormative society we live in, why the need to conform is so heavily enforced, and how that affects the perceptions of ourself, others, and the world around us. Although her work deals with serious subject matter, she utilises a unique mix of humour, absurdity, and abjection to create multi-faceted performances and experiences.

Education

2018-2022 BA Fine Art, First Honours

 TU Dublin

Grants & Awards 

2022- Taylor Art Award

     RDS Visual Art Awards

2022- Image Now Award

2022- Judge's Choice Award

      Dublin Fringe Festival

Exhibitions & Festivals

2023- Monsters of the Apocalypse

2022-3-Periodical Review 12

        Pallas Projects

2022- RDS Visual Art Awards

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For more info, follow Venus Patel on Instagram @msvenuspatel

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Closing Season 13 superbly, Caren Sullivan talks to visual artist, researcher Ofri Cnaani in 2022.

Ofri Cnaani an artist and resarcher who works across perfromance and media. Cnaani makes art and writes about data and coloniality in cultural instituions, somatic knowledge in the age of network spatiality, and performance as a model to create critical technology.

She is a visiting scholar at the Institute of Visual Culture, TU Wien, Austria and a research fellow at the internationally Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis (ASCA) at the University of Amsterdam. Until recently Cnaani was an associate lecturer at the Visual Cultures Department, Goldsmiths, University of London.

Prior to her move to London, Cnaani was based in New York City, where she was a faculty at the School of Visual Arts’s Visual and Critical Studies. At SVA she also ran the 'City as Site: Performance + Social interventions' program. In 2016 she co-founded, with Roxana Fabius, the ‘Unforgettables Reading/Working Group’ at A.I.R Gallery, NYC. 

Her work has appeared at Tate Britain, UK; Venice Architecture Biennale; Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC; PS1/MoMA, NYC; Inhotim Institute, Brazil; Museo de Arte Contemporáneo (MAC), Chile; Israel Museum; Tel-Aviv Museum of Art; Amos Rex Museum, Helsinki; Kiasma Museum, Helsinki; BMW Guggenheim Lab, NYC; The Fisher Museum of Art, L.A.; Twister, Network of Lombardy Contemporary Art Museums, Italy; Moscow Biennial; The Kitchen, NYC; Bronx Museum of the Arts, NYC; Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna, among others. Since 2021, Cnaani co-orgenizes Choreographic Devices, a three-days chorographic symposium at ICA, London.

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For more information, follow Ofri Cnaani on Instagram @ofricnaani

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On this episode, Caren Sullivan talks to artist Olivia Normile in 2022.

Olivia Normile is a visual artist working across installation, drawing, animation and film.

Her practice engages with fictional storytelling by considering human to non-human relationships through opportunistic and structured moments. Recent residencies and awards include: Digital Media Practice Award (2024), Firestation Artists’ Studios Dublin, Arts Council Agility Award (2022), (2021), Dublin City Council St. Patrick’s Lodge Residency (2019), Emerging Irish Artist Award, Burren College of Art (2018), Ormond Art Studios Graduate Award (2018).

Exhibitions include: Dog-Eared Paradise, screen service (2023), Matters of Table, Periphery Space, Gorey School of Art (2023), Remembering The Future, VISUAL (2023), Deliverables, Pallas Projects/Studios Artist Initiated Projects (2022).

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For more information, follow Olivia Normile on Instagram @olivia_normile

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On this Halloween Special Episode, Caren Sullivan talks to artist Alec Michael Wilson in 2022. you can watch the full performance on Ultraviolet Art Talks Instagram (link on).

Alec Michael Wilson (Alphi Demp) is an artist, musician of the bands VistaFutur, Irate Yeats

VistaFutur VistaFutur crafts a captivating musical experience by blending guitar-driven melodies with expansive soundscapes, evoking a cinematic atmosphere that resonates deeply with listeners. Their sound draws inspiration from the experimental edge of Radiohead and the genre-bending creativity of Gorillaz, while also incorporating elements reminiscent of The Caretaker's nostalgic depth. Subtly integrating pop sensibilities into their atmospheric textures, VistaFutur creates music that is both hauntingly familiar and emotionally immersive.

Their debut album, *...is the black box projector of a once-derelict cinema*, released in 2023, served as a bold statement of intent for the band. The album introduced their signature style, weaving intricate layers of melody and atmosphere to craft a visceral journey through memory and imagination. With its evocative title and richly layered compositions, *black box projector* established VistaFutur's artistic vision, marking them as a distinctive voice in contemporary music. Far from being just an introduction, the album set the tone for their creative direction, projecting a sonic narrative that is mesmerizing and profoundly impactful.

*Tinselcrown*, in late 2024. Spanning nearly 20 tracks, the album takes listeners into more abstract and, at times, brutal sonic terrain. Unlike its predecessor, *Tinselcrown* presents each track as an individual vignette, exploring fragmented yet cohesive narratives through experimental, raw soundscapes.

Irate Yeats are a Galway/Wexford based duo who have been writing and performing music together for over 10 years.

Taking inspiration from artists such as Sonic Youth, New Order, Soundgarden, Radiohead, The White Stripes and The Cure, Irate Yeats seek to combine their multiple grunge, electronica, garage-rock and post-punk influences into potent radio-friendly unit-shifters.

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For more information, follow Alec Michael Wilson on Instagram @vistafutur__

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On this episode, Caren Sullivan talks to artist Róisín White in 2022.

Róisín White is a visual artist based in Dublin, working primarily with photography, while incorporating drawing, sculpture, and collage into her practice. Róisín holds a BA (hons) in Photography from DIT, and certificates in Ceramics, Sculpture and Drawing from NCAD. 

Róisín White’s work draws from found objects, images, and archival materials, where she is interested in exploring lore and the fictional narrative that can be discovered in discarded imagery and objects. Storytelling and process are central parts of White’s practice. 

She is currently developing her photographic work into a more sculptural practice, using fabric, wood, resin, and furniture, all with a photographic root. She works with her hands, generally printing in the darkroom where possible, using sculpture and interventions in the gallery or the landscape as modes of experimentation and play within the project's delivery or development. 

White has exhibited her work in Ireland and across Europe, including the Finnish Museum of Photography, PhotoIreland Festival, and the Capa Centre. She was selected to represent PhotoIreland at Futures Photography platform, and was selected from an international open call to take part in Parallel European Photography Platform in 2018/9. Her project “Lay Her Down Upon Her Back” was selected for the third edition of New Irish Works in 2019, the Blow Photo Fuse Photobook Residency, and the Landskrona Photobook award, who will publish the book in late 2023.

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For more information, follow Róisín White on Instagram @how_fascinating

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On this episode, Caren Sullivan talks to artist, curator and arts educator Claire Halpin in 2022.

Claire Halpin is a visual artist, curator and arts educator born and based in Dublin, Ireland.

Her work explores themes and concepts around contested territories and histories through painting, video and installation.

She has exhibited widely in solo and group exhibitions in Ireland and internationally including The Narrow Gate of the Here and Now, IMMA, 38th EVA International, Limerick City Gallery; 189th RHA Annual, Dublin; Painting Then and Now, Highlanes Gallery, and Artisterium VI, Tbilisi, Georgia and Red Sheep Gallery, Sweden, Elysium Gallery, Wales.

Recent solos exhibitions at Cabaret Voltaire Rome, Olivier Cornet Gallery, Dublin and The LAB Gallery, Dublin.

Group Exhibitions: Panorama, Aisling Conroy | Claire Halpin | Mark Redden, Uxval Gochez Gallery, Barcelona, 13 - 31 March 2025.

Most recently, Claire has joined Hillsboro Fine Art.

Her work is represented in the collections of IMMA, TCD Art Collection, OPW State Art collection, UCC Art Collection among others.

Follow Ultraviolet Art Talks on Instagram @_ultravioletarttalks_

For more information, follow Claire Halpin on Instagram @clairehalpinartist

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