Justine McDonnell is a Visual Artist, writer and performance artist. She is a graduate of the University of Ulster, Belfast, where she studied the Masters of Fine Art programme (2015-2017) and the Dublin School of Creative Arts (DIT) where she graduated with a first class BA honors degree in Fine Art (2015). In 2017 McDonnell was selected for The MAC Curatorial Directions Programme, Belfast, that focused on the importance of text, narration, and story-telling in relation to the curatorial process with workshops and talks in Belfast and Milan.
She is a recipient of the Flax Arts Studios Graduate Residency Award (2017) and received the British Council, Steward Fellowship Award at the Venice Biennale, where her work Inside.Outside.Alone was selected to exhibit in A Month At The Venice Art Biennale at RAW Labs and Bow Arts, London (2018). She has been selected to exhibit in numerous group and solo exhibitions. In 2017 she was commissioned by curator Clare Gormley, to make a new work for her exhibition We Speak Silent at PS2 Gallery, Belfast. For the exhibition McDonnell created a video and sound work Narrative Against Itself which was later selected to be screened for Stabilimento Ostiense, a new exhibition of video art on the walls of the buildings of the Ostiense District, Rome (2020).
Her solo exhibition A composition of she at the Golden Thread Gallery, Belfast (2018) was reviewed in the Emerging Artists section of the Visual Artists News sheet, Ireland. In (2019) she presented a new live performance and sound installation at The Lab Gallery, Dublin.
McDonnell was recently selected as the international artist in residence at Het Wilde Weten, Rotterdam and she is the recipient of the Arts Council of Ireland Agility Award, 2021, and the Bursary Award, 2022 and 2023
Education:
2011-2015, BA Fine Art, (DIT) Dublin School of Creative Arts
2015-2017, Masters of Fine Art, University of Ulster, Belfast School of Art.
Awards:
2023, Arts Council Ireland, Visual Arts Bursary Award.
2023, Fingal County Council and Draíocht Artist in Residence Award.
2022, Arts Council Ireland, Visual Arts Bursary Award.
2021, Arts Council Ireland, Agility Award.
2020, Freelands Foundation Bursary.
2018, Digital Arts Studios, Home Residency Award.
2017, Venice Art Biennale, British Council Steward Research Fellowship Award. Spending One month in Venice. Invigilating the British Pavilion four days per week and use the remaining time to undertake a research project inspired by the British Pavilion exhibition as part of a wider response to the Biennale theme Viva Arte Viva.
2017, Flax Art Studios, Belfast, Graduate Residency Award.
Residencies:
2017, British Council, Steward Fellowship Award, Venice Biennale.
2021, Artist in Residence, Het Wilde Weten, Rotterdam, Netherlands.
Solo:
2022, Live performance (solo) DLR Arts Centre, Dublin.
2020, Breaking The Rule of Silence, Live performance commission/ public art conference, for The lives we live, public art conference, Grangegorman development agency, Dublin.
2019, ‘Scaling the Void’ The Lab Gallery, Dublin.
2019, ‘Fragments of a Conversation’, Flax Art Studios, Havelock House, Belfast
2018, ‘A composition of She’, Golden Thread Gallery, Project Space, Belfast
2015 ‘You and Me’ Live performance as part of ‘Democracy’ ArtBox, Dublin
Group:
2021, Interruptions, Holden Gallery, Manchester.
2020, Narrative Against itself, Cine-Stabilimento Ostiense Festival, Rome, https://stabilimentostiense.wixsite.com/ostiense.
2019, Digital Arts Studios, Annual Review, Golden Thread Gallery, Project Space.
2018, Green Rooms, London
2018, RAW Labs, Bow Arts, London
2017, 'We Speak Silent', Curated by Clare Gormley, PS2, Belfast
2017, MFA Final Year Show, University of Ulster.
2016, Transmit, MFA, final year interim show, Platform Arts Belfast.
2016, PXVI, Members Exhibition, Platform Arts, Belfast.
2016, Live performance with sound collective Oscillate, Pssquared, Belfast
2016, Live performance for the launch of ‘Stance’ Pollen Studios, Belfast
2016, Belfast International Performance Festival, University of Ulster, Belfast.
2016, Oscillate, Live Performance, Belfast Open Studios, University of Ulster.
2016 'Split' Live performance as part of MFA show 'Gallimaufry' Platform Arts, Belfast
2016 ‘Split’ Live performance in collaboration with Amanda Coogan and Sonic Arts, Lyric Theatre, Belfast.
2015, ‘You and Me’ live performance, Fix Festival, Platform Arts Belfast.
2015, ‘Spit, Spit, Scrub, Scrub’ Live performance in collaboration with Amanda Coogan ‘I’ll Sing you a song from around the Town’ Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin.. www.rhagallery.ie
2015, ‘Smoking in Bolero’ Live Collision Festival, Live performance in collaboration with Amanda Coogan, Project Arts Centre, Temple Bar Gallery, Dublin.
2015, ‘Breaking The Rule of Silence’ live performance for ‘The Lives We Live’ Culture Night, Grangegorman, Dublin 7
2015, ‘Lift Off’ Graduate Exhibition, Dublin School of Creative Arts, Grangegorman, Dublin.
2015, ‘Bundles of Mysteries’, Performance with Livestock, The Mart Gallery, Dublin.
2014, ‘Perceive’ Broadcast Gallery, Dublin Institute of Technology, Portland Row, Dublin
Residencies/Projects:
2020, Writer/Contributer to RUTH, a site dedicated to grey literature, unpublished projects and experimental writing, founded and curated by writer and curator Manuela Pacella, Rome and launched in partnership with Nero Editions, Rome. https://www.neroeditions.com/who-is-ruth/
2020, Distant Dialogues, Selected by Harriet Cooper (Head of Visual Arts, Jerwood Arts, London) as one of six early-career artists from across the UK considered to be making outstanding work and that would benefit from critical dialogue at this moment in their practice. Each artist is partnered with a curator based elsewhere in the UK to develop an open ended dialogue across a period of ten weeks resulting in a studio visit. I have been partnered with Zoe Watson, Holden Gallery, Manchester.
2019, Ps2 Belfast, Short Residencies https://www.pssquared.org/short%20residencies.php
2017, ‘Curatorial Directions Programme’, The Mac, Belfast: Selected as one of eight emerging curators to engage in a week of lectures, discussions, workshops and excursions examining certain key issues and ideas regarding contemporary curatorial practice.
2017, Chasing Boundaries Belfastproject created by Rome based artist duo Zaelia Bishop and Emanuale Napolitano that was showcased at: ARTVERONA, Verona; Galerie Delire, Paris and ALBUMARTE, Rome, alongside: Alastair MacLennan; Peter Richards; Liam Critchon; Anne-Marie Taggart; and Martin Boyle.
Board Positions:
2017, Chair of the Board, Platform Arts, Belfast.
2016, Co-Director, Platform Arts, Belfast
Facilitator:
2015- ‘An Exercise in Seeing’ by Clodagh Emoe, Dublin School of Creative Arts, Dublin.
Curatorial Experience:
2017, Curatorial exchange, Platform Arts, Belfast with Engage Studios, Galway.
2016, ‘A Place To Go’ Oh Yeah Music Centre, Belfast Culture Night, curated on behalf of Platform Arts Belfast.
2014, Dublin Institute of Technology, Graduate Exhibition, Portland Row, Dublin.
2014, ‘6ix Degrees’ by Naomi Sex held at IMMA residency, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin.
2014, ‘Perceive’ Broadcast Gallery, Dublin.
Artist Talk:
2021, Inchicore College, Dublin.
2017, Inchicore College, Dublin.
2016, Conor Lecture Theatre, University of Ulster.
2014, Irish Museum of Modern Art Studios, Dublin.
Teaching Experience:
2014, Irish Museum of Modern Art Studios, Dublin.
Artist Assistant:
2015, Assistant and photographer for Naomi Sex performance “Cheek by Jowl”, Dublin School of Creative Arts, Dublin..
2015, Assistant for Naomi Sex, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin.
Articles/ Online/Publications:
2021, International Women’s Day by Grangegorman Development Agency, Public Art #ChooseToChallenge. Curator and writer Sara Muthi reflects on ‘Breaking The Rule of Silence’ https://ggda.ie/international-womens-day-2021-sara-muthi-on-justine-mcdonnells-breaking-the-rule-of-silence
2020, the lives we live, Grangegorman Public Art (book) with text by writer and independent curator Sara Muthi
2018, Review of my solo exhibition ‘A composition of she’ at the Golden Thread Gallery, 2018 by Colin Darke in Visual Artists Ireland News Sheet. https://visualartistsireland.com/justine- mcdonnell-a-composition-of-she
2016, Written response of my experience performing as part of ‘I’ll Sing you a song from around the town , Amanda Coogan Retrospective, Royal Hibernian Academy, for Dr. EL Putnum blog ‘in : Action’, https://inaction.ie/2016/02/17/spit-spit-scrub-scrub/
2015, Qualia Dublin Magazine & featured as cover artist for their issue “Identity”
2015, DIT, Dublin School of Creative Arts Degree Exhibition, Lift Off.
Media:
2015, Featured in RTE, The Works as part of I’ll Sing you a song from around the town, Amanda Coogan Retrospective, Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin 3
Collectives:
2020, Founder and Writer for writing platform Act of Response
2016, Co- Founder of ‘Stance’, Live art platform, Belfast.
2016, Founder of sound collective Oscillate, Belfast.