Helen Kirwan

Kirwan is an Irish-British conceptual artist. Born and partly raised in Ireland, she now lives in Cyprus. Her videos, installations and performances including ‘perpetuum mobile’ (2019), ‘Memory Theatre’ (2017), ‘Fragment and Trace,’ (2015) have been exhibited widely internationally including at the European Cultural Centre during the 56th, 57th and 58th Venice Biennales. She has also exhibited video installations at the Bermondsey Project Space London (2020), Pie Factory, Margate, UK (2020), Festival Internacional De Videoarte De Camagüey Cuba (2019 & 2017), Tbilisi Art Fair Georgia (2019), Close-up Cinema London (2018), P-21 Gallery London (2017), Towner Gallery Eastbourne (2017 & 2016), Bodrum Biennial Turkey (2015). Her multi-channel ‘Image of the Road,’ (2013) with Simon Pruciak has been shown widely internationally including in India, Switzerland and France.

Between January and May 2021 during her residency at the Cyprus Academy of Arts, in response to the global pandemic, she broadcasted seven regular live virtual performances which can be seen online at www. performanceartinthevirtual.com and during 2020 she recorded seven micro-documentaries on some of the theoretical and philosophical issues which inform her performances.

Kirwan has participated in various media and performance art festivals, including Experiments in Cinema v15.1 Albuquerque USA (2020), Rapid Pulse Festival Chicago (2016), Fonlad Festival Coimbra Portugal (2016), International Festival of Projections Univ. of Kent UK (2016). She has undertaken a number of residencies including at Arts-Iceland/ Outvert Art, Iceland, the Sirius Arts Centre, Cobh Ireland in 2019 and in 2020, at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre Iceland, Annaghmakerrig, Ireland and in Iran. Kirwan conducts various

live ‘performance-installation-experiments’ such as at Palazzos Tiepolo and Bembo, Venice during the 58th Biennale (2019) and Space Arts Centre, London, UK (2018); also outdoor performances in the sea during the Folkestone Triennial Fringe, UK (2017). Kirwan has worked for many years with the award-winning Dublin-based composer Tom Lane and cinematographer Simon Pruciak.

Kirwan practised law as a barrister in Dublin and London for nearly twenty years before becoming an artist full time. She has a B.A. (First Class Honours) in Fine Art from the University for the Creative Arts Canterbury (2000), an MA in Fine Art from the University of Middlesex (2002) and an MA in Aesthetics and Art Theory (2004) from the Centre for Research in Modern European Philosophy, London. She has contributed papers and film screenings to a number of interdisciplinary conferences and has lectured and taught contemporary fine art criticism and theory at UK universities including the University for the Creative Arts, Canterbury, UK.

Personal website: www.helenkirwan.com

Performance website: www.performanceartinthevirtual.com

Instagram: @kirwan_helen

Facebook: @KirwanHelen

LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/helen-kirwan

Twitter: @hahkirwan