Andrew Kearney/ Multidisciplinary Art Practice
Andrew Kearney's four decades of art practice is characterized by its exploration of everyday phenomena, queer culture, a world of communities under surveillance. His installations emphasize the mediating role of the work within the space it inhabits. The works serve as disturbances, presenting themselves as incidents as much as physical objects, and in doing so, they reveal numerous underlying and unfolding narratives.
Kearney's artistic process incorporates various mediums, including sound, lighting, sculpture, photography and ceramic creating multiple modular components all within the installation, along with a range of technologies. This diversity allows for unpredictable rhythms and brings an ephemeral quality to the human aspects of the artwork. He often utilizes external microphones, GoPro cameras, or video cameras to collect live data. Merging this data with the manipulation of light, colour and sound to create a new synthesis within the installation space, blurring the boundaries between the familiar and the unfamiliar.
His work is also influenced by ideas of modernity, human exploration of outer space and the impact of space technology and science fiction on our daily lives. Dystopian concepts and synthetic materials are recurrent themes, alluding to contemporary industrial processes, sites of production, systematic surveillance, and data collection. This sense of otherness is a constant reference in Kearney's work, symbolizing a journey beyond oneself or towards the unknown, that counteracts the historical context of the environment where the artwork is presented, involving the audience as their movement triggers a compositional shift in light or sound, prompting them to reassess their own relationships with the narratives presented.
Kearney's art spans vastly different scales, from the intimate to the monumental, and each intervention offers a unique perspective on how these artworks coexist with their respective spaces. They have the ability to alter the flow of visitors within these environments, rekindling and bringing to life memories, real or imagined, desires and/or dreams. His work invites viewers to engage with the art on multiple levels and to reflect on the complex narratives embedded within.
Mechanism/ Norwich University of the Arts, UK 2024/25
Troubled Land/ London Studio 2022/23
Disturbance/ Valdegovia, Basque Country, Spain 2022
Third Area/ Valdegovia, Basque Country, Spain 2020/21
Remote Sample Access / Hong Kong 2019
Mechanism/ Cork, Ireland 2019
Mechanism/ Carrick -on-Shannon, Ireland 2017
Mechanism/ Centre Culturel Irlandais, Paris 2017
On Arriving/ Watts Gallery Artist Village, Surrey, England 2016
Moment to Moment/CCI Paris 2015
Untitled/ installation, Centre Culturel Irlandais Paris, France 2015
Studio/ 3 month Residency, Centre Culturel Irlandais Paris, France 2015
The Third Bridge/ Ormstion House Gallery, Limerick, Ireland 2015
The Meaning of Nothing/ Limerick Gallery of Art, Ireland 2014
Tell Me Something/ Limerick City of Culture, Ireland 2014/15
SKYLUM/ European Council, Justus Lipsius, Brussels, Irish Presidency/ Nuit Blanche, Toronto 2012/13
Man Size/ The Phatory Gallery, New York USA 2012
Liquid Mountain/ Wexford Opera House, Ireland 2009
Title Unknown/ Galway Arts Centre, Ireland and The Phatory Gallery, New York, USA 2007/8
Spaces Buildings Make 2005/8
Spaces Buildings Make/ Second Publication 2005/8
Phase Two/ A Laboratory for Critical Spatial Practice, 2008
Botanical Research Terrace/ Spaces Buildings Make/ 2005/8
Farther to the East/ 2004/ 2019
Illumination/ Ballymun Regeneration Project, Dublin, Ireland 2002
Killing Time/ Galway Art Centre, Ireland 2002/ The Phatory Gallery, New York 2007/8
Bungalow Blitz/ Installation and book/ 2001/2006
Silence/ Limerick City Gallery of Art /Kilkenny Arts Festival and touring Ireland, 2001-10
With Intent/ Limerick City Gallery of Art, Ireland 2001
Isn't it Normal?/ 0044/ P.S.1, Institute for Contemporary Art New York USA 1999
The Policing of Pleasure/ Camden Arts Centre, London UK 1997
A Long Thin Thread/ 1997/98 Heathrow Airport, Terminal 1 Pier 4A, UK
Temporal Change/ 1994/5 The Douglas Hyde Gallery, Ireland
Untitled/ 1993, PS1 MOMA, Institute for Contemporary Art, NY, USA
Untitled/ Barclays young artist winner 1992, Serpentine Gallery, London / Temple Bar Gallery, Dubin.
Photographic Time Line
Untitled/ Lux Europa, Edinburgh Scotland 1992
Untitled/ RHA/ Dublin 2022, Pride in Diversity/ Dublin 1997, Belltable Arts Center, Limerick 1992
Sexuality and Gender/ Douglas Hyde Gallery/ Dublin 1992
Arc/ , Belltable Art Center, Limerick 1990
Mercury's Doc / Arts Council of Ireland Permanent Collection 1989
Archive of Installations in the 1980s
Let’s Work Together
We’re always looking for new opportunities and are comfortable working internationally. Please get in touch and one of our project managers will contact you about beginning the proposal process.