I’m a visual artist utilising psychogeography and other radical-cartographic methods to integrate extended ideas of landscape art practice through photography, moving image, locative media, drawing, sound, and immersive installation. I’m specifically interested in micro-geographies, fluid bodies, sensory entanglement with nature and technology, exploring more than human worlds, posthumanism and the animal turn. My current research explores human canine collaborative walking practices.
Education:
2019-2023 – Practice Based PhD – Nottingham Trent University
2016 – 2018 – MA in Fine Art, Birmingham School of Art (Distinction)
2016 – Fine Art, BA (Hons), De Montfort University, School of Arts (First)
2010 – 2011 – Foundation Studies in Art and Design, De Montfort University (Distinction)
Awards:
2019 – Midlands 4 Cities ARHC Doctoral Award
2016 – MFA Studentship – Birmingham School of Art
2016 – Clephan Scholarship, De Montfort University Faculty of Art, Design and Humanities
2014 – Leicester Lo-Fi Photography Award (Poison and Remedy Exhibition)
Selected Group Shows:
2020 – Two Queens Members Show, Two Queens Project Space, Leicester
2018 – BCU 175, Selected group show, Birmingham School of Art, Birmingham
2018 – Turn Out, MA Show, Birmingham School of Art, Birmingham
2017 – Margret, MA Show, Birmingham School of Art, Birmingham
2017 – What the Butler Saw, Curve, Leicester
2016 – Summer Art Trail, StudionAme, Leicester
2016 – Points of Departure, SVA Members Show, Queen Of Bradgate, Leicester
2016 – The Nature of Change, Attenborough Arts, Leicester, UK
2015 – Summer Art Trail, Queen Of Bradgate, Leicester
2014 – Poison Remedy, WTS Gallery, Leicester
2014 – Summer Art Trail, WTS Gallery, Leicester
2014 – No Working Title (1 day pop up exhibition), Tate Modern, London
2013 – Ambition, Newark House Museum, Leicester
Residencies:
2015 – Summer Art Trail Residency, Site Specific, Queen of Bradgate, Leicester
Commissions:
2018 – Stop Look Make, A 10 week exploration into sensory entanglement, Attenborough Arts, as part of De Stress Fest
2018 – Sonic Adventure, Canal and River Trust Hinterlands Project (East Midlands)
Work Experience, Projects and Collaborations:
2017 – Gallery Associate, De Montfort University (Postgraduate paid internship)
2016 – Artist Residency Co-ordinator, Summer Art Trail 2016, DMU Graduate Champion (Paid internship)
2016 – Keeper of Studies (Paid internship) De Montfort University School of Fine Art
2015 – Digital Arts Research Assistant (Paid internship) De Montfort University Institute of Creative Technology
2014 – Class Room Assistant (Volunteer) Attenborough Arts – 1-1 and Group Worker – Learning for the Fourth Age (Volunteer)
2014 – Founder, member of Silver Vine Arts, Artist Collective, Volunteer and Residency Co-ordinator, Co-curator (Summer Art Trail, Leicester)
Recent Conferences and Workshops:
M4C 2020 Festival of Research. Creative Showcase, Canine Soundscapes.
Fourth World Congress of Psychogeography (Online). It’s ok they’re friendly, Workshop on collective Deep Canine Topography and Q and A. 04-06/09/2020. https://www.4wcop.org/https://www.researchcatalogue.net/shared/252777aad9d6ef9a543c842cdaae4c5d
Uncommon Worlds II, Life With and Without Animals, University of Derby.Paper – Further Adventures in Deep Canine Topography, paper and Q and A. 07/11/2020.
M4C 2021 Festival of Research Creative Showcase, The Beach Beneath our Feet (Debut)
M4C 2022 Festival of Research Creative Showcase, Two Bodies Drawing.
WARP Walking Research Conference. Paper – Deep Canine Topography, Some Simple Steps, Performative Presentation and Q and A. 29-30/09/2022. University of Amsterdamhttps://asca.uva.nl/content/research-groups/warp/walking-as-research-practice.html
Posthuman Bodies & Embodied Posthumanisms. Paper – Deep Canine Topography, Reconstructing radical cartographies and sensory entanglement through the use of the canine mounted action camera. 12-14/10/2022. University of Warwick and Nottingham Trent University
Not Quite King, Not Quite Fish Exhibition and workshop, Doctoral Research Symposium at the Vilnius Academy of Arts, November 2023.
Publications:
The Dog Headed People, Video work: and Two Bodies in Motion – Surface Encounters Paper. Part of a multimedia presentation Becoming Feral 2 publication. November 2021.
Deep Canine Topography: Captive-Zombies or Free-Flowing Relational Bodies? MDPI Arts, Special Issue “Art and Animals and the Ethical Position” https://doi.org/10.3390/arts12020068
Deep Canine Topography, Some Simple Steps. Walking as Research Practice, Special Issue WARP and Soapbox Journal. Printed Journal, July 2023. https://www.soapboxjournal.net/
Prior to becoming an artist/researcher I had a long career in mental health, in both the NHS and Voluntary and Community Sector, followed a brief parallel career, working for a national walking a cycling charity. I have a strong interest in posthumanist philosophy and the animal turn in art and continue to explore how the creative act is vital to support our wellbeing and connections with the more than human world.
darren obrien 