Andrew Kearney's approach to sculpture and installation making over the decades is deeply rooted in the concept of site-specific art. His work is not centered on materials or predefined forms, but rather on the specific location, the functions, and the networks associated with that place. This site-first approach allows his installations to blend with and transform their environmental or architectural context.
Kearney's installations are characterized by their responsiveness to environmental conditions and the audience. He employs a diverse range of materials, live sound feeds and responsive lighting. He integrates reactive programs, which enable the artwork to act dynamically to the environment or the people interacting with it. This interactivity creates a relationship between the installation and its surroundings, making each experience unique and temporally contingent.
The physical presence of Kearney's artwork in the spaces they inhabit is integral to their impact. They work by subtly modifying the existing environment or by emphasizing what might not be immediately apparent. They operate as disturbances within the site, functioning as events as much as physical objects. In this way, Kearney's work challenges conventional notions of art as static, isolated objects and instead creates immersive, evolving, and participatory experiences that are intricately linked to their surroundings.
RESIDENCES
2019 Artist in Residence, HKBU Residency, Kowloon, Hong Kong.
2016 Artist in Residence, Watts Artist Village and Studio, Guilford, England.
2015 Artist in Residence, Centre Culturel Iirlandais, Paris, France.
2004 Artist in Residence, Informal Architecture Residency Banff Centre for the Arts
and Creativity, Canada.
1995 Artist in Residence, IMMA, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, Ireland.
Artist in Residence, Camden Arts Centre, London, UK.
1992-93 Artist in Residence, MoMA PS1 Institute of Contemporary Arts, NY, USA.
EDUCATION
1990-91 MA Fine Art, Chelsea College of Art, London, UK.
1981-85 National Diploma in Sculpture, Limerick School of Art and Design, Ireland.
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2022. Troubled Land, London Studio Project, London UK
Disturbance, Valdegovia, Basque Country, Spain
2020/21. Third Area, Valdegovia, Basque Country, Spain
2019 Remote Sample Access HKBU, Exhibition, Kowloon, Hong Kong
2017/19 Mechanism, Centre Culture Irlandais, Paris, France,
The Dock, Carriage-On Shannon and Crawford Gallery of Art, Cork, Ireland
2016 On Arriving, Watts Artist Village and Gallery, Guilford, Surry, England
2014 The Meaning of Nothing, Limerick City Gallery of Art. Ireland
2014/15 Tell Me Something, Limerick City of Culture 2014, Ireland
2012/13 SKYLUM, Nuit Blanche, Toronto, Canada and
European Council, Justus Lipsius Building, Brussels, Irish Presidency 2013.
Mansize The Phatory, New York, USA
2010 Freedom Festival” four Installations within the built environment, Hull, UK
2009 Liquid Mountain, Wexford Opera House, Ireland
2007/08 Title Unknown” The Phatory, New York, USA and Galway Arts Centre, Ireland
2005 Silence Kilkenny Arts Festival, part of work from With Intent 2001, Ireland
2004 Killing Time, The Phatory, New York, USA
2002 Talking in Turns, 3-room multimedia installation
Galway Arts Centre, Ireland
2001 With Intent, 5-room multimedia installation Limerick City Art Gallery, Ireland
1999/2000 0044, P.S.1, Institute for Contemporary Art, NY, USA;
Albright Knox Gallery, Buffalo, NY, USA
The Thread Gallery, Belfast, N. Ireland and Crawford Art Gallery, Cork, Ireland.
1995 The Policing of Pleasure, Camden Arts Centre, London, UK.
1994/1995 Temporal Change Douglas Hyde Gallery and IMMA Dublin, Ireland.
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2015/16 Et Si On S’etait Trompé? (What If We Got It Wrong?), CCI Paris, France;
Wexford Arts Centre, Wexford and Leitrim Sculpture Factory, Leitrim, Ireland.
F.E. McWilliam Gallery, Banbridge, Co Down, N. Ireland.
2015 Third Bridge, Ormston House, Limerick Ireland.
2011 Embrace the Place, Tate Britain. London, UK
2010 Noughties but Nice, Limerick City Art Gallery, touring show, Ireland
2008 Phase Two: A Laboratory for Critical Spatial Practice, National Theatre, South Bank
2001/5 Bungalow Bliss, MoDA, London, Walter Phillips Gallery, Canada. Light House, Glasgow, UK.
2003 Art Wall, Commission by Bucholz McEvoy Architects for the New Civic Chambers,
Limerick County Council, Ireland
LECTURING, FELLOWSHIPS, RESIDENCIES and COLLECTIONS
2021 Farther to the East, National Collection of Ireland.
1986/2018 Annual Visiting Lecture in Fine Arts, Limerick College of Arts and Design, Ireland.
2013 Visiting Lecturer in Fine Arts, Emily Carr University for the Arts Vancouver Canada
2012 Artist Mentor for the Plug-In ICA Summer Program, Winnipeg, Canada
2005-08 Art & Humanities Research Council Funded, 3-Year Fellowship, Middlesex University, UK
2004-05 Part-time Teaching, Fine Art Department in Middlesex University London UK
2002-05 External Examiner for LSAD Fine Art Department, Limerick Ireland.
SELECTED CATALOGUES AND PUBLICATIONS
On Arriving, Andrew Kearney, Hunt, P. and Ofield-Kerr, S. (2016), Watts Gallery, UK.
Dictionary of Living Irish Artist, O’Byrne, R. (2010), Plurabelle Publishing, pp. 186-187.
Noughties but Nice: 21st Century Irish Art, Holland, S. (2009), 1455 Fine Art Printers, Belgium, pp. 42-45.
A Laboratory for Critical Spatial Practice in Spaces Buildings Make, Mac Namara, A./ Cuckle, T. (2008), Framework Press, London, pp. 4-59.
‘Peter’s Smoking Room’, ‘Assembled Landscape’, ‘Data Digest’, ‘Untitled’ in Phase Two: Art, Architecture and Curating, Mac Namara, A. (2007), Framework Press, London.
‘Bungalow Time’ in Bungalow Blitz: Another History of Irish Architecture, Mac Namara, A. Banff: The Walter Phillips Gallery, 2006.
“Conception 11+14” in The Happiest Country in the World, O Cuiv, R. (2005), Oireachtas na Gaeilge, Ireland. ‘Andrew Kearney’, Fitzpatrick, M. in Profiles Series, Mac Namara, A./Ofield, S. (2001), Gandon Press, Ireland.
0044, Murray, P. (1999), exhibition catalogue, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, New York.
The Policing of Pleasure, Lomax, J. and Leahy, M. (1995), exhibition catalogue, Camden Arts Centre, London.
SELECTED REVIEWS (Printed Media)
Greenan, A. Disturbances, Visual Arts Ireland Journal, March 2020, p 26.
Farrel, C. Tell Me Something, Irish Arts Review. VoL 31. No 1, March-May 2014, pp 62-63
Mac Goilla Léith, C. Andrew Kearney, Art Forum, No.7, March 2002, pp150-151.
Sheehan, D. Bungalow Blitz CIRCA No. 101, Autumn 2002, pp. 22-3.
Coyle, C. Bungalow Blitz, The Sunday Times, (Irish Edition) 23/09/01, Section 3, pp.1-2.
Paudice, A. review of Bungalow Blitz at MoDA, Bungalow Mania? in Vogue Italia, No.61, pp.261-262.
Williams, A. review of Bungalow Blitz at MoDA, Single-storey saga? The Architects Journal, Nov. 2001, pp. 44-45.
2001 Alan Powers, review of Bungalow Blitz at MoDA. A Touch of Nature? The Spectator, 29/09/01, pp. 11-12
Savage, J. Andrew Kearney, exhibition review, CIRCA: Visual Culture in Ireland, No.98, 2001, pp.44-45.
Coyle, C. Bliss or Blitz? The Sunday Times, (Irish Edition) 23/09/01, Section 3, pp.1-2.
