'Troubles'-era photomontages |
later collage
works: irelantis.com |
collage and other links |
contact details |
to homepage and other works |
some information
on this work |
Contact
Seán
Hillen here
Download
a printable pdf document
of 48 'troubles' photomontage images (2.9Mb)
image downloads:
(right-click image or title and select 'download link to disk')
Or use contact mail above
to request any image from the GALLERY
Warning- large files!

"Who
Is My Enemy?"
photomontage, 1987 - 3,478
x 3,272 pixels 1.8MB

"Cosmonaut
Lands in Annalong Harbour"
photomontage, 1992. 2,843 x 3,480 pixels 2.72MB

"The
Goddess Appears in Newry, Easter 1993"
photomontage, 1992. 1,998x 2,532 pixels 1.44MB
Older
news below:
Recently
added: images of Seán's
video projection for Re-Joyce Festival (2004)
2002:
Seán
was one of several Irish artists commissioned for the ABSOLUT collection.
He made a lava lamp of the famous bottle:

2002:
Seán's
work
appeared in Yahoo! Picks in June in a review of the excellent
photomontage site Cut'nPaste
2001:
Seán made a video for Sony Music & the Super
Furry Animals, for their DVD album & single
'Rings
Around The World'.
Here's a review,
and another review. Here's
an article from a local newspaper.'
He used 'The Great Pyramids..' collage at the beginning and end of the
video and it became the cover image for the
single of 'Rings Around The World'
more
here at irelantis news
March 1999:
Seán
had 23 collages (half 'Irelantis', half 'Troubles') in an exhibition
in the Royal Festival Hall,
London, which then travelled to The Royal Photographic Society at Bath.
"The Goddess Appears in Newry.." was the image used in leaflets
and the poster:
"The
Goddess Appears in Newry"
appeared on the cover of
the June '99 "Photographic Journal", the magazine of the Royal
Photographic Society.
Many
other montages
were published in the press,
one across a full page of the London Times Metro.
"St.
Christopher Appears in London.." appeared on the cover
of LAM (a London 'listings') magazine:

1993:
"Jesus
Appears in The City"
appeared on the cover of
' Creative Camera' magazine. There was also a colour
spread inside.
In
1981, this
documentary photo of Seán's was used on the cover of the memoir
of the late Nora
Connolly O'Brien,
daughter of Easter Rising leader James Connolly.


Mosquito Press, 1981
|
|
FORTHCOMING:
May-June
2013: EXHIBITION: 'PICTURING DERRY'
Seán will contribute a number of works to the 'Picturing
Derry' exhibition, which is part of the City of Culture programme. Read
more.
May 2013:
'NORTHERN IRELAND: 30 YEARS OF PHOTOGRAPHY'
Sean will contribute a number of works to the forthcoming exhibition
organised by Belfast Exposed. Read
more
LATEST NEWS:
April
2013: MAJOR BOOK LAUNCH: 'MELANCHOLY WITNESS'
Roy Foster, professor of Irish History at Oxford launched The History
Press Ireland's "Melancholy Witness", a hardback
collection of 120 photos from the Seán
Hillen Collection at
the National Library of Ireland. The event took place in the Front
Hall of the National Library of Ireland in Kildare Street Dublin.
Foster's and Hillen's speeches have been posted on youtube and can be
seen here.
See the book
cover here.
The book can be ordered online here
and here
or inscribed copies are available direct from this website. Click here
to email enquiry.
"Melancholy
Witness is the published collection of Sean Hillen's lauded photography
documenting the years of The Troubles in Northern Ireland. Combining
art with documentary history, what emerges is a powerful and compelling
story of unrest, beauty and change."
"The photographs are like black
and white time machines that bring back the desolation and danger of
the Troubles. The images have a documentary accuracy, but it is the
aura of melancholy witness that marks them as the work of Sean Hillen."
- Seamus Heaney,
Nobel Laureate
"Striking, haunting sometimes bleakly beautiful,:a record of historical
importance but also much more."
- Roy Foster, Carroll Professor of Irish History, Hertford College,
Oxford.
There
is a slideshow prevew of the book at thejournal.ie here:
There is an article on the book in lecool Dublin, here:
March 2013: HILLEN WORK ON COVER OF NEW BOOK ON IRISH ART
"The Oracle at O'Connell Bridge, Irelantis" appears
on the cover of an important new book on Irish art: Reaktion Books has
published 'Art
in Ireland since 1910' , to
be distributed in the US by the University of Chicago Press.
March 2013: SEAN HILLEN INTERVIEW IN ARGON MAGAZINE
Seán was interviewed by Katy Fitzpatrick for Argon
online magazine: link
March 2013: PHOTO FEATURE AND INTERVIEW ONLINE
For the OFFSET festival LeCool Dublin commissioned SeanandYvette
to photograph Seán in his studio. Words byBrian Herron. See it
here.
February 2013: UPDATE: WORKS ON MORE THAN 30 BOOK COVERS
With the forthcoming cover image it
seems a good time to review (link) the many books and magazines
with Seán Hillen works on their covers.
January 2013: ONE-DAY SYMPOSIUM ON COLLECTING
Sean took part in a symposium on January 26th at the Irish Gallery of
Photography, which looked at issues around collecting photography.
Read more here
on GoP's facebook page:
January 2013: EN FRANCAIS: ONLINE ARTICLE ON SEAN HILLEN
Le Web Pedagogique blog 'Tips in English' carries a comprehensive article
covering a range of Sean's work, with links to other texts in French.
The original in French is here
and an online translation in English here.
December 2012:
BBC INTERVIEW SPECIAL PROGRAMME
BBC
Radio Ulster Arts Extra broadcast an interview with Sean with
Louise Muir as one of their Christmas Special programmes. Produced
by Paul Russell, the programme was
on iPlayer and and may become available again as podcast.
December 2012 PAPER ON IRELANTIS IN IMPORTANT JOURNAL
The eminent journal Ranam
published a fascinating academic paper by Valerie Morrison of the
University of Bourgogne, entitled "Sean Hillen's Irelantis- the
second life of parody". You can read the abstract here
which says: "..postmodern parodies that .. spur
the viewers to address the issue of referentiality as reality is turned
into a spectacle.. also parodies tourism photography and the staging
of heritage.. therefore a critical inquiry into Irishness, the invention
of traditions, and the construction of staged authenticity. It echoes
the revisionist trend in Irish history and signals the advent of the
postnational era."
UPDATE:
OPENING CHAPTER DISCUSSING IRELANTIS NOW AVAILABLE
The complete opening chapter from 'Theorizing
Ireland' (Palgrave, 2002) recently
became available online here: Ireland
in Theory',
(pdf) . By editor Claire
Connolly of Cardiff University, it devotes several pages to an interesting
discussion of Irelantis:
"Hillen's Irelantis provides an ideal viewpoint
from which the ebb and flow of cultural currents can be observed.. ...
...Multiple borders are invoked in the image: the land meets the lough,
which in its turn confronts the sea; the sea encounters sky and the
skyline dramatically gives way to outer space. Boundaries and edges
are the very stuff of Hillen's art, and here, as with all his collages,
the lines and joins are obvious, jutting out for all to see. The pyramids
are clearly pasted into the Irish landscape, itself overlaid into a
global skyscape. If Carlingford Lough's strategic position on the Irish
border is taken into account, the meanings of these boundaries become
clearer: they inscribe a political border that is not physically present,
the only clues to its existence being the juxtaposition of superimposed
scenes... "
Irelantis has also been written about interestingly in the past
by academics including Jennifer Way (Uni. Texas) here
for instance published
in the Journal of European Popular Culture, and here
in the Journal of Irish and Scottish Studies.
December 2012: HILLEN IN NEW BOOK ON 'NEW CONTEMPORARY' IRISH ART
Seán Hillen's work features over several pages in a new book
on 'New Contemporary' Irish art, a genre that admits 'Lowbrow, Pop Surrealism,
Comic, Graphic, Illustrative, Urban, Body Horror, and more'. 'Goblin
Market' by Alexa MacDermot, published by White
Lady Art includes work by artists including; Anarkitty, Gaetan Billault,
Harriet Myfanwy Nia Tahany, Solus, Verz, Rosemary Fallon, Kathrina Rupit,
Paul McGrane, Victoria Cody, Loreana Rushe, Carolyn Walsh, DMC, ADW,
Leah Hewson, Boz Mugabe and Loki Nom Art... more information here.
October-December 2012: ' SEAN HILLEN RE-VIEWED' EXHIBITION IN DONEGAL
The new exhibition of mega-resolution prints ran
in An Gealearaí in Gweedore , in Donegal. Also featuring
were two original collages from the 'WHAT'S WRONG? with The Consolations
of Genius" series. The show ran until 21st. December.
September 2012: EXHIBITION OPENED BY SEÁN
Seán opened 'Tales of Seduction' by artist & illustrator
Una Gildea at the Copper House Gallery- see more about the opening here
and her terrific work here.
September 2012 INSPIRATIONAL
ARTS AWARD PRESENTED
Seán was honoured to judge and present
the
2012 award. This year's shortlist showed very exciting work, see
the web-galleries of Karl
Martini and Laura
McCormack, and the highly
deserving winner Lynn
Rothwell.
September
2012 PHOTOS
IN NEWRY EXHIBITION
Six of the photographs recently acquired by the NLI were in an exhibition
as part of the Pride
In Newry Festival .
September
2012 WORKS
IN OMAGH LITERARY FESTIVAL EXHIBITION:
Seán has three works, including a new version of "WHAT'S
WRONG? with WTC7", the animation
work created for the Photographer's
Gallery London in May. "Memory, Imagination, Myth"
in the Strule Arts Centre, as part of the The Benedict Kiely Literary
Festival (website) (download
PDF). Curated by Terry Sweeney, the exhibition includes work by
JB Yeats and George (AE) Russell as well as contemporary Irish artists.
Aug-September 2012: NATIONAL LIBRARY ACQUISITION
& EXHIBITION
The National
Library of Ireland announced
at PhotoIreland 2012 that it had acquired and would exhibit what
will be known as The Seán Hillen Collection of around 600 photographs
taken by the artist between 1979 and 1990.
Read more here
See
a selection of the photos here
There was a major exhibition of almost 50 photos in the National
Library of Ireland Photographic Archive gallery in Temple Bar Dublin
as a Featured
Exhibition of PhotoIreland 2012 7 days a week until 30th September.
Update:16,500
people visited the NLI exhibition.
OPENING SPEECH:
The exhibition was opened with a
moving speech by author Don Mullan.
TALK- PART 1 POSTED ON WEB: Seán gave a 2-hr 'walking tour' of
the NLI exhibition which was filmed by TV Monaghan and a
first instalment has been posted on YouTube here, a sort of introduction
and discussion of the first group of photos in the show.
PRESS: There is a very moving review in Le Cool online magazine here.
PRESS: Two photos feature in an Irish Times online slideshow here.
PRESS: There was a page devoted to a photo in the July Totally Dublin
Magazine see
screengrab or
read the edition online here.
NATIONAL TV INTERVIEW:
Seán did an interview with Martin King of Ireland's TV3.
NATIONAL RADIO APPEARANCE:
Seán
gave a short interview on the National radio station RTÉ's 'Morning
Ireland' to talk about the NLI show and about 'Culture Night' when art
institutions across Ireland remain open until late night. 2856
people visited the NLI exhibition on the night.
TALK: GALLERY TALK 10th August NLI Photo
Archive Dublin
As
part of the Temple Bar 'High Tea Hop' day Seán gave a 45 minute
talk.
Seán gave a number of talks on
the exhibition to different groups.
May 2012: EXHIBITION OF NEW ANIMATION ARTWORK LONDON
Seán was invited to contribute a new artwork, in the form of
a GIF image animation, for exhibition on a video wall at
The Photographer's Gallery.
Here's
the GIF on their page
Here's more
about the project
which celebrated the history of the animated
GIF image, as part of activities celebrating the Gallery's reopening.
The new work; "WHAT'S WRONG? with WTC7.." was seen
again with two other Hillen works in an interesting exhibition in Omagh
in September.
Here is the full-resolution version of the
animation- will take a few seconds to load.
February 2012: EXHIBITION DUBLIN / NEW PRINT EDITIONS
A new exhibition presents new museum-scale print editions derived from
new ultra-high-resolution scans of Seán's collages . "ReViewed"
by Seán Hillen at Copper
House Gallery Synge St. Dublin,
was opened by Tanya Kiang, director of the Gallery of Photography.
READ
PRESS RELEASE
PRESS: FEATURES
Ros Drinkwater for the Sunday Business Post
Conor
McDevitt for Le Cool
'Going
Out' list in Metro Herald
October 2011: VISITING LECTURES MADRID
Seán visited to give lectures and teaching for the International
Photobook course for the very interesting European Master In Fine
Art Photography course at the IED Madrid. Download
PDF. Website.
The course has an international visitng staff including Simon Roberts
and Martin Parr.
September 2011: INSPIRATIONAL ARTS PHOTOGRAPHY AWARD
Seán had the task of choosing shortlists and winners from the
photography courses taking part in the 2011
Inspirational Arts Photography Award, with the final award given
on Culture Night 23rd September.
August 2011: NEW KINETIC SCULPTURE IN EXHIBITION
Seán contributed a new kinetic sculptural work to the prizewinning
Science Gallery at Trinity College's exhibition; ELEMENTS
See website
here and image here
July 2011: EXHIBITION DUBLIN / WEBSITE OF NEW PHOTO WORKS
A new body of photographs by Seán Hillen was shown:
"Ghost
Shops"
a major exhibition for PhotoIreland
2011
July 2011: PRESS:
ONLINE ARTICLE & SLIDESHOW
The Journal.ie: 'An
Empty Set Photographed'
April 2011: PRESS:
SLIDESHOW
One of Seán's Ghost Shop photos appeared as a
'postcard' in an Irish Times feature "Wish You Were Here?"
which can
be seen as a slideshow here
March 2011: PRESS:
ONLINE ARTICLES & SLIDESHOWS & VIDEO
The Journal.ie:
'Artist Seán Hillen brings new political statement to Dail's
doorstep'
Vulgo.ie: Audio
interview and slideshow by Deirdre Mulrooney
Short
video by Bryan Meade on 'Ghost Shops'
February
2011: PRESS: IMPORTANT REVIEW ARTICLE
'Culture
Shock'
by Fintan O'Toole: Irish
Times:
"The
darker side of IRELANTIS was lost on us.."
February 2011: EXHIBITION OF NEW COLLAGE WORKS
Seán exhibited for the first time a
new body of 18 photocollage works, 2010-2011:
"WHAT'S
WRONG? with The Consolations of Genius" at Oliver Sears
Gallery
and
website for the new collages
February-March
2011: PRESS: INTERVIEWS AND FEATURES ON THE SHOW
radio
Interview: RTÉ 'Arena'
radio
interview for Dublin City FM
review
and interview
at Le Cool Dublin
interview
on RTÉ Lyric FM Culture File (MP3)
Irish
Times article: 'Hillen Dale' screengrab
feature article in
Dublin METRO Herald: hires
scan
October 2010:
ONLINE EDUCATION PROJECT
Several of Seán's collages are
being published as part of the "Images and Identity" educational
project part-funded by the EU.
September 2010: MUSEUM ACQUISITION & EXHIBITION
Newry & Mourne Regional Museum showed
a major exhibition of Seán's 'Troubles'-era works including
several recently
added to their permanent collection.
July 2010: MAJOR EXHIBITION
'Fragments
From A Broken World' with kennardphilipps
for PhotoIreland
2010
curated by Anthony Haughey at National
Library of Ireland Photo Archive
Podcast
of a panel discussion (listenable, here) with Cat Phillips, Peter
Kennard, Seán Hillen and Anthony Haughey by CREATE
National
Photo Archive show in Le Cool online magazine
June 2010: TV DOCUMENTARY
FEATURE
10 minute TV feature on Newry Museum exhibition
on TG4 'Imeall'.
(Irish Times 'critic's choice' for the day)
April 2010: PRESS UPDATE
There was a full-page interview with Seán in Totally Dublin magazine,
available online.
The Alliance show got half-page articles in the
Irish Independent (link)
and the Irish
SUN and picked as 'Going Up' and 'Worth Seeing' by the Irish Times.
It was 'Critic'sChoice' in the Irish Independent.
The Irish Times printed a huge image of '..Collage Green' with their
review of the Dictionary of Irish Biography.
March 2010: EXHIBITION & TALK DUBLIN
Seán gave an illustrated talk on his work and its history in
association with the exhibition at the Alliance Francaise 1 Kildare
St. Dublin info here.
March-April 2010: EXHIBITION DUBLIN
'Return to Irelantis' at the Alliance
Francaise, 1 Kildare St. Dublin - including several of the original
collages, and a selection of archival prints. The show celebrates the
Alliance's 50th Anniversary.
A catalogue with 18 images was available.
Download
press release (pdf)
March 2010: EXHIBITION CAVAN
A large review show in the Bluewall Gallery in Cavan included some 'Troubles'-era
pictures never previously exhibited. Article in the Anglo Celt here.
February 2010: EXHIBITION ART CHICAGO
Ten of Seán's 'troubles' - era collages were shown in association
with
BlueLeaf Gallery at ART
CHICAGO
February 2010: EXHIBITION DUBLIN
'Wildly
Different Things: New York and Dublin' at 'The Observatory', 7-11
Sir John Rogersons Quay, Dublin 2.
Irish Times articles here
and here
February 2010: EXHIBITION NEW YORK
Three prints of Sean's collages were in
'Putting It All Together' at Climate Gallery, Long Island, NYC
Jan 2010: EXHIBITION YORK
CRUNCHTIME
2010 : 'Art and Global Issues' in York, UK, exhibited two of Seán's
2007 collages.
December 2009: MAJOR
MUSEUM PURCHASE
Wolverhampton
Museum purchased two of Seán's 1980's photomontage works
including the important picture
"Four Ideas For a New Town No.1.
for their semi-permanently exhibited 'Northern Ireland' collection
November 2009: 2006 DOCUMENTARY NOW ONLINE
"Hillen- Return To Newry"
online HERE on VIMEO . A 28 minute documentary, Made 2006-7 by Aidan
Bell, Saidhbh Ní Dhúlaing, Roma Roberts and Ross Murray,
as a final year project.
October 2009: CONFERENCE / EVENT
Seán took part in the "Belfast Sarajevo Initiative At Queen's
2009" event, in Queen's University Belfast.
More
information here.
October 2009: SEAN
STUDIO PHOTOS
Seán was
photographed in his studio by Aidan
Kelly.
September 2009:PHOTOGRAPHY BLOG FEATURE
Seán's
work was featured by MaryAnn Camilleri, founder of Magenta
Publishing, with her other picks from this year's Rhubarb-Rhubarb
folio review event and a PHOTO
August 2009:TV DOCUMENTARY ONLINE
Community TV channel NVTV
broadcast in Belfast
their documentary on the recent Arts Council of Northern Ireland's
'Art
& Conflict' conference, and Seán was interviewed,as well
as Zoë Lippett of Wolverhampton
Art Gallery, and Justice Albie Sachs. Glenn Patterson spoke with
Michael Longley. Internet
archive now available here
August 2009: PHOTO-FESTIVAL EXHIBITION
Seán's work was exhibited in '9 lessons on Photography as part of KAUNAS
FOTO the Baltic States' photo-festival. , and will be later in CRUNCHTIME
2010 in the city of York.
August 2009: ARCHITECTURE WORKSHOP
Seán gave a talk and took part in the now
what? workshop 10: MONUMENT TIME at Richview the School of Architecture,
Landscape and Civil Engineering at University College Dublin. Contributors
included Maurizio Scalera, Benedetta Alessi, Brian
Ward, Ide Moloney, and Gary
Farrelly
August 2009: RHUBARB-RHUBARB
PHOTOGRAPHIC REVIEWS
Seán attended the
International Portfolio Review at 'Rhubarb-Rhubarb', 'Europe's premier
portolio event' in Birmingham. He met and showed his pictures to several
eminent and significant reviewers and the work was very well received.
It is hoped that among other things, a new 'collected works' book project
will result.
August 2009: EXHIBITION: BIRR ARTS FESTIVAL
Six
of Seán's
collage originals were in 'Ritual Flux 51', curated by Eilis Lavelle
of the Mermaid
Arts Centre, and Carl
Giffney and Ruth Lyons
of The
Good Hatchery
June 2009: MAJOR 'ART & CONFLICT' CONFERENCE
Seán spoke at a
major conference in Belfast. "Art & Conflict" , organised
by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland in the Royal Opera House Belfast.
More information here
or download
flyer PDF.
UPDATE: Some of Seán's remarks got the attention of blogger 'Slugger
O'Toole' via Malachi O Doherty's arts blog.. More Here.
June 2009: UPGRADE TO OMAGH MEMORIAL SCULPTURE
Recent weather allowed work to upgrade the Omagh Bomb Memorial .A new
mirror near the pillar allows someone on the opposite pavement to look
into the cut-glass heart directly backlit by sunlight from the Memorial
Garden.
New photos at omaghbombmemorial.com
June 2009: BOOK LAUNCH
Seán launched a book for Dr. Maria Duffy of the Milltown institute.
"Paul Ricoeur's Pedagogy of Pardon" 'describes how memory
is structured, ... and addresses issues in his theory of forgiveness
and reconciliation'. Dr. Duffy's book includes a photo of the Omagh
Memorial.
May 2009: LODZ FOTOFESTIWAL POLAND
Seán was one of three Irish photographic artists who attended
Lodz Fotofestiwal. Curated by Peggy Amison of Sirius
Arts Centre and with the support of Culture
Ireland they attended presentations
of their work and participated in the Portfolio
Review sessions, an opportunity to meet curators, gallerists and
publishers. The other artists attending were David
Farrell and Eoin
O'Connaill and the work of Jackie
Nickerson and Mark
Curran was also shown.
April 2009: MUSEUM EXHIBITION
Three of Seán's 'troubles'-era works can now be seen on semipermanent
exhibition at the Imperial War Museum
IWM North in Manchester.
November 2008: NEW
COLLAGE WORKS: "Searching For Evidence..."
More than 12 new collages by Seánwere unveiled in an exhibition
at the Gallery
of Photography, Dublin. There was a reception on Friday 14th. with
a performance by the marvellous Kevin
McAleer.
There is a new
webgallery for the work.
For more info download the press release here.
UPDATE: Someone has kindly uploaded video of much of Kevin's performance-
Worth seeing! HERE.
Turn volume UP and make sure to play all the parts...
One of the images was simultaneously exhibited as a 48-sheet billboard
in three locations in Belfast as part of the
"Art, Media and Contested Space" events by the
'Interface' unit at the University of Ulster School of Art &
Design
August 2008: MAJOR MEMORIAL UNVEILED
The Omagh Bomb Memorial, by Seán and Landscape Architect Desmond
Fitzgerald, was unveiled at a 10th Anniversary event in Omagh.
more information at www.omaghbombmemorial.com.
August 2008:MAJOR ARTICLE PUBLISHED
Artinfo.com
carried a front-page article on Seán's work and the Omagh Memorial
commission.
Read
"The Art of Peace" by Oscar MacLennan
August 2008: EXHIBITION OF NEW COLLAGE
A new and previously unseen collage work by Seán appears in an
exhibition at the Irish Gallery of Photography, Dublin.
"No Evidence of A 757 Near the Ha'penny Bridge, Dublin" appears
in: 'Based
On Our Current Science', curated by Sally Timmons runs August 14
th until September 21st.
June 2008: EXHIBITION
Several IRELANTIS works (about 5 originals and 5 prints) were featured
in a major exhibition as part of the 6th
World Archaeological Congress in UCD Dublin.
The exhibition ran from 30th June until 31st July.
Click
here for more information.
May 2008: EXHIBITION OPENING
Seán opened an exhibition for students in BA (Hons.) Creative
Imaging from the SRC Lurgan, and Huddersfield University, at St. Patrick's
Trian in Armagh.
Click
here for more information on the work and show..
March 2008: ONLINE PUBLICATION
The CANDY COLLECTIVE published 20 pages of Seán's work, with
an interview.February
2008: MAJOR MUSEUM PURCHASE
The Imperial War Museum, London, have purchased two more of á
'Troubles' - era photomontage works for their Permanent Collection.
January 2008: NEW BOOK COVER
One
of Seán's
'IRELANTIS' collages is on the cover of a new book:
"Film, Media and Popular Culture in Ireland" by Martin
McLoone, author of the standard work on Irish Cinema
January 2008: NEWSPAPER PUBLICATION
One of án's 'Troubles' - era photomontage
works was published in "Le Monde- Diplomatique" to illustrate
an article on 'Troubles tourism'.
December 2007: SEMINAR BELFAST
Lens Based Practice and the Representation of Conflict: "Through
a lens, darkly"
READ MORE
November 2007:DOCUMENTARY SCREENING
"Hillen-
Return To Newry" (Dir. Aidan Bell) at the Foyle Film Festival
"Artist Seán Hillen grew up in Newry, surrounded by the
conflict of the'Troubles'. Nearly forty years later, he revisits the
place that influenced his work so heavily.. "
MOREOctober 2007:
TALKS
Thursday 11th October-Dublin.Sugar Club, from 7pm.SweetTalk
27 : "an audiovisual spectacular retrospective of the graphic
visionary Niall
Sweeney" with contributions from 'heroes & muses', included
a short presentation by Seán.
Seán gave
a presentation on his work, as a guest in "SweetTalk
26 " an evening with 'Factory' photographer Nat
Finkelstein, related to "The
Eternal Now" Andy Warhol exhibition in The Model in Sligo.
SweetTalk is a project by the Candy Collective.
September 2007:
One of Seán's IRELANTIS
collages;
"Newry Gagarin over Dublin" was in a show called
"[C]artography: map-making as artform" in the Crawford Gallery
in Cork.August
2007: PERMANENT MUSEUM EXHIBITION MANCHESTER
Two of Seán's photomontage artworks from the 1980's are on semi-permanent
exhibition in the 'TimeLine' at the Imperial
War Museum North in Manchester.
The IWM acquired several of the works for their Permanent Collection
in 1988.
May
2007: EDUCATION PROJECT
The
images Seán created with Deansrath College
for Amnesty Ireland (see more below)
have been published, with others, in a workbook which will be made
available to schools.
April 2007: EXHIBITION NEWRY
Seán exhibited a number of 'Troubles"- era montages, in
an interesting show in "The Gallery Newry" from the 13th to
27th of April
March
2007: EVENT
Seán took part in the SOURCE
AT 50 'PHOTO QUIZ' event being held in Dublin on 24th March, to
mark the relaunch of the photography magazine.
Febuary 2007: NEW WEBGALLERY
There is a new webgallery
of nearly 900 photographs from the period of the Northern Irish 'Troubles'.
This includes all the photos in the original gallery.February
2007: TV TITLE GRAPHICS
Seán's 'IRELANTIS' collages are used in the opening graphics
of TG4's series,
"Cártaî Poist"
in which guests re-create
classic 'John Hinde' Irish postcards.
January 2007: WEBSITE UPGRADE
All images in the main
gallery of photomontage works now zoom in to hi-resolution versions.
Click on the image to enlarge it and click again to return.
January 2007: WEB PUBLICATION
Seán's Dublin
Bicykills photos were written about in an
Irish Cycling blog.
December 2006: TV APPEARANCE
Seán
appeared on RTÉ TV's
'Capital D' talking about 'SEED' the new Art/Science group in Dublin.
November 2006: WEB PUBLICATION
There is now a 'wikipedia' entry for Seán click
here
October 2006: LECTURE
Seán gave a presentation, open to the public, at Limerick
School of Art & Design
September 2006: EXHIBITION & LECTURE
Seán exhibited and lectured at this year's Westport
Arts Festival
Seán contributed some works from his 'Dublin
BicyKills' project to the first Dublin
Bicycle Festival
July 2006: LECTURE TARRAGONA CATALONIA
Seán gave one of the plenary lectures, on his work, at the 7th
International Conference of the Utopian Studies Society,on the 8th
July in Tarragona, Catalonia (Spain).
The other lecture was given by British novelist Maggie
Gee.
May 2006: EXHIBITION
Seán was one of the invited artists at the 2006 Royal
Hibernian Academy Annual Exhibition
May 2006: EDUCATION PROJECT
Seán took part in Amnesty
International Irish Section's "Voice
Our Concern" project for Secondary School students.
Here
is a web-page
with the images.
He worked with a group of students in Deansrath Community College in
Dublin.
May
2006: LECTURE NEWCASTLE ENGLAND
Seán gave a presentation on his work to the Annual Conference
of A4,
the UK Association for Advice & Support in Art & Design,
in Newcastle on 13th May.
December 2005: MAJOR EXHIBITION DUBLIN
Seán's 'troubles' photomontages were the inaugural show in Dublin
City Council's new LAB Arts Centre.
The show, comprising over 40 images ran until December 3rd.
The exhibition was opened with a speech by Fintan
O'Toole
October 2005: PRESENTATION DUBLIN
Seán made the
inaugural presentation to Dublin's new
"SEED" art-science salon.
He presented an exhibition and talk to the group on his as-yet-unpublished
work in the area of 'lost technology', and some of the artworks
he is creating as a result.
September 2005: EXHIBITION: NEW WORK DUBLIN
Five new 'IRELANTIS' coIlages, the first since 1998 were shown in the
new Stone Gallery in Dublin.
The show
included new work by Seán and Antóin
O'Heocha and two prints by Andy Warhol.
update: Three of the collages were acquired for the AIB Bank and one
for a private collection.
July 2005: COMMISSION
Seán made a collage
for Dublin's"City Arts" organisation.
June 2005 TEXT BOOK PUBLICATION
"The Goddess Appears In Newry.." appears
as a full-page chapter opening in a new French schoolbook on 'war
and peace in religion':
"Geurres et paix- paix et conflit dans la religion"
Editions Palette, 2005 ISBN 2-915710-14-7
May - August 2005: EXHIBITION FRANKFURT
15 of Seán's IRELANTIS images were in an exhibition: "Contemporary
Art From Ireland" at the ECB
in Frankfurt.
April 2005: NEW REVIEW:
There was a new
review of the
Paris exhibition in"CIRCA"
, the Irish Art journal.
March-April 2005: EXHIBITION NEW WORK
A previously
unseen 'IRELANTIS" collage was in a
show at the RHA gallery in Dublin.
April 2005 NEW COLLAGES ADDED
Seven collages were added to the IRELANTIS web gallery.
February 2005: EXHIBITION & PUBLICATION
The "Leabhar Mór" exhibition was in the Glucksman Gallery
and Seán's image for the
project was on the page on their site
November-December 2004 MAJOR EXHIBITION PARIS
As part of the
'Mois de La Photo', there was a major
exhibition in Paris of Seán's 'troubles' work
in the Centre Culturel Irlandais.
The exhibition also included a slideshow of Seán's
original photographs from the period.
PUBLICATIONS
Seán's work was featured in several magazines and on the web:
A full-page image in "Beaux-Arts Magazine", features in
"Palace" magazine, "France-Soir", "Le Figaro",
"Paris
Voice" and in a three-page
spread in "Art Actuel" magazine (translated here).
There is an online
interview at 3declic.net and it was
the front page image and featured in"Art-Of-The-Day.com"
June-November 2004: MUSEUM EXHIBITION
Three Seán Hillen photomontage originals were on exhibition at
the Imperial War Museum,
London. The exhibition was called: "OPEN SECRET- Something old,
something new - redefining the boundaries of the Art Collection"
and ran until 28th of November '04
October '04 and Feb '05: WEB PUBLICATION
Seán's "Dublin
BicyKills" gallery of vandalised bikes was linked from the
front pages of VeloVision
Online : one contributor says "..the most bloody depressing
thing I've ever seen..."
October 2004: BOOK COVER
New book cover: the 'Bóthar' image from the 'Focail.com' project
with Ruán Magan is on the cover of "Collision
Culture: Transformations in Everyday Life in Ireland' by Kieran Keohane
and Carmen Kuhling "
July 2004: PERMANENT PUBLIC SCULPTURE DUBLIN
in Dublin City Centre; a new permanent public sculptural
work, in collaboration with Katharine
Lamb, in a percent-for-art commission for Dublin City Council.
June 2004: MAJOR TEMPORARY PUBLIC ARTWORK DUBLIN
Seán made a commission for the ReJoyce
Festival: click to see
more
Co-devising & directing:
Raymond Keane.
The biggest ever projection project in Dublin, in collaboration with
Raymond Keane of Barabbas
The Company , for whom he'd previously designed 'The
Whiteheaded Boy' . The show ran every night at the Millennium Bridge
in Dublin, at about 11pm every night until 1am, until 6th July.
Cast: Raymond Keane, Susie Lamb & Marcus Lamb.
2nd camera and additional editing & effects: Tony
Kenny.
Production manager for Sean: Katharine Lamb.
Costume: Marie Tierney
Makeup: Joanne Boyle.
Hair: Anna Gronerus
March 2004: COMMISSION DUBLIN
Seán made a 48 x 4 foot banner for the St.
Patrick's Festival "Talking Irish" Symposium.
using his photographs from the detritus of the Dublin streets.
The banner had a central row of discarded umbrellas, above a row of
alternating thrown-away coins and food, and below was alternating vandalised
bikes and infinity-twisted bike wheels (see the VACUUM cover below)
Above Right: The
whole banner re-formatted.
Below Right: The
banner in situ.
March
2004: TV INTERVIEW
Seán did an interview on RTÉ TV's afternoon programme
'Open House' to talk about the banner and his other work. He also showed
a prototype of his and Katharine Lamb's new sculpture work (below).
Open House put up a web
page article about Sean.
February 2004: COVER ART COMMISSION
Seán produced two cover images for a special Dublin edition:
"Down Mexico Way" of "The Vacuum" magazine, published
in Belfast by Factotum
One was based on a photo by Seán of a guy in a Dublin street,
the other a montage of 9 bicycle-wheels-twisted-into-infinity-symbols
from the ongoing but not yet published bicycle project of which an early
version is here.
(see June 2002 below)
February 2004: WEB PUBLICATION
One of Sean's IRELANTIS collages was on a front page at the new online
National Irish Visual Arts Library
January 2004: COVER ART COMMISSION
Seán made an
illustration- a montage over a photo of the Super Furry Animals'
Gruff, by Myles Claffey, for "Foggy Notions" magazine
August 2003: MAJOR CORPORATE SCULPTURE COMMISSION
Seán made a major sculpture,
for Citi-Group in Dublin. There's a webgallery for it here.
You can see the sculpture inside and from outside the atrium of the
Citi-Group building on the North Wall Quay in Dublin.
June 2003: BOOK COVER
"Trouble
in Paradise,#1" appears on the cover of a major new book: "The
Troubles in Ballybogoin: Memory and Identity in Northern Ireland"
William F. Kelleher, Jr.
University of Michigan Press
Cloth 0-472-11169-8
June 2003: CD COVER
Seán made the artwork for a new CD by Katell
Keineg. It uses photos by Katell, Clare
Langan and Seán.
March 2003: BILLBOARD CAMPAIGN
Seán collaborated with Ruán Magan on 'focail.com, a cultural
campaign' with a website and 40 billboards nationwide.
February 2003: IMAGE COMMISSSION
Seán made an contemporary pastiche of Richard Hamilton's "Just
What Is It About Today's Home..?" as a publicity shot for Rough
Magic Theatre Company's "SHIVER" at the Project Art Centre
2002: IMAGE COMMISSION
Sean made a photoshop & collage image to illustrate
a poem in The
Great Book of Gaelic, published by Canongate.
June 2002: TV PUBLICATION
A sequence of the Bicykills
photos was featured in Ruán Magan's film for the RTÉ TV
series 'The
Changing Face of Dublin' in May 2002
On 1st. June Dublin Corporation ran this
ad. in the Irish Times.
March 2002: WEB COMMISSION
For the Darklight New Media Festival, Seán made a
website gallery of 256 photographs he took of discarded umbrellas.
There's also now a new gallery:
people with broken umbrellas
2002: DESIGN
Seán contributed a design for a playing card to the Irish
Hospice Foundation's Art-Pack
project.
June 2001: ADVERTISEMENT DESIGN COMMISSION
Seán produced a set of images for advertisements with McCann-Erickson
for the Bank of Ireland.
Hybrid photoshop/collage works, they're pastiches of classic John Hinde
Ltd. postcard scenes, with ATM machines in appropriately inappropriate
places.
The ads ran again the following summer, in Cara magazine, in Dublin
Airport and sea ports.
Top: "Visitors
at The ATM At Blarney Castle"
Middle: "Stopping
Off at The ATM At a Neolithic Dolmen"
Bottom: "A View of
The Bay From a 12th Century Round Tower ATM2001:
CD SLEEVE DESIGN
Seán made a sleeve
design for his friends in Dacianos
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