2024
Exhibition Residencies
29/06/2018 - 31/07/2018
Sire, my most recent body of work, considers the use of genomics in modern-day catle breeding. Working with genetc scientsts and a bull stud farm in Ireland, the outcomes are a series of sculptures, large scale photographs and a video installaton.
The images depict pedigree bulls wearing the pop-coloured sculptures on their backs. Structurally based on genetc signifers and macro-molecules, the sculptures are made from semen straws - storage receptacles for bull semen used in the artfcial inseminaton process. The straws are woven with an age-old technique of straw-binding once used to make pagan corn dollies - fgurines that have since been popularly interpreted to have been part of fertlity worship in pre-Christan Europe.
There is consistency in the human impulse to try and infuence nature - from ancient rituals performed in relaton to the harvest, to making breeding decisions for livestock based on economically benefcial genomes.
We have shaped all that surrounds us through increasingly sophistcated means. Controlling the development of animal and plant species for our own ends has long been achieved.
Understanding the intricate atomic crafs performed by genetcs is presently becoming a reality. What are the wider cultural implicatons of this is not yet clear, but it will drastcally change our percepton of who and what we share our world with.
Maria McKinney
Born in 1982, Maria McKinney is from Donegal and based in Dublin, Ireland.
McKinney has made a number of solo exhibitions including the RHA, Dublin, Ireland (2016) Lokaal 01, Antwerp, Belgium (2016) La Permanence, Clermont-Ferrand, France (2015), the MAC, Belfast UK (2012) the Lab, Dublin, Ireland (2010) and the Context Gallery, Derry, UK (2008). A selection of group exhibitions include The Glucksman Gallery, Cork, Ireland, The Void Gallery, Derry, U.K., eva International, Biennale of Visual Art, Limerick, Tulca Visual Arts Festival, Galway, Kilkenny Arts Festival, The Douglas Hyde Gallery 3 program, all Ireland, and The Smithsonian Institute, Washington, U.S.A She was shortlisted for the MAC International Prize 2014, selected by Hugh Mulholland, Judith Nesbitt and Francesco Bonami. Her work is part of the collections of Europol, Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Office of Public Works and Bank of Ireland. Residency awards include: Skowhegan, Maine, USA, 2017, Temple Bar Gallery + Studios, Dublin, Ireland 2017-‐2020, Parity Studios, science resident UCD, Dublin, Ireland 2015-‐2016, Fire Station Artists Studios, Dublin, Ireland 2012-2015, Banff Centre Residency, Canada, funded by Arts Council of Northern Ireland 2010, The Red Stables, Dublin City Council, Ireland 2009. Sire is included in the exhibition Somewhere in Between at the Wellcome Collection, London in 2018. In 2019, Sire will travel to the Museum of English Rural Life in Reading UK.
Past Residencies
2024
Professional Development Residency
2024
Technical Development Residency
2023
Landscape, Ecology & Environment Research Residencies
