(b.1992 Northern Ireland)
Christopher Steenson's work uses sound, photography and writings as methods for listening to the future. Drawing on the methodologies of John Cage, and the idea of ‘correspondences’ proposed by anthropologist Tim Ingold, Steenson’s sound-based artworks attempt to operate as a collaborative process, emerging as a field of potentialities between listeners and (speculative) environments.
Often taking the form of installations and interventions that operate within, and through, the armatures of public infrastructure, Steenson’s artworks attempt to locate audiences within a ‘dreamtime’ – a space in which pasts, presents, and futures are negotiated on a continuum.
The long grass, 2023.
Image courtesy of the artist.
After studying for a PhD in psychology and movement science, Christopher Steenson began his artistic practice in 2017, with his work manifesting as several site-specific sound works, installations and performances. His work has been presented by Flat Time House, London, United Kingdom (2023); VISUAL Centre for Contemporary Art (2022), curated by Emma Lucy O’Brien and Benjamin Stafford; Pallas Projects/Studios, Dublin, Ireland (2022); Project DivFuse, London, United Kingdom (2022); Sonorities sound biennale (2022); CCA Derry~Londonderry (2021), curated by Locky Morris and Catherine Hemelryk; CCA Glasgow’s Radiophrenia (2020); The Old Jesuit Monastary, Syros, Greece (2019); NCAD Gallery, Dublin (2019); and EastSide Arts Festival, Belfast (2017).
Steenson has participated on several residencies including: Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, Omaha, Nebraska, USA; Flat Time House, London, United Kingdom (2023); Interface, Connemara, Ireland (2022); Cow House Studios, Wexford, Ireland (2022); Sounding Paths, Syros, Greece (2019). He has received funding from the Arts Council of Ireland (2019–2023), the Arts Council of Northern Ireland (2019, 2020 & 2022); Kerry Arts Office (2020) and the ESB Brighter Future Fund (2022–2023). His work is held in the Arts Council of Ireland’s Visual Art Collection.
Recent solo exhibitions include Soft Rains Will Come at VISUAL Centre for Contemporary Art, Carlow, Ireland (26 February – 22 May 2022). His national public sound artwork On Chorus (2020) broadcast the sounds of the spring dawn chorus across Ireland by utilising Iarnród Eireann/Irish Rail’s network of train station PA systems (16–29 November 2020). On Chorus was awarded a Business to Arts Award in 2021 and exists as an artist’s LP.
Group exhibitions include the biennale survey exhibition Urgencies (2021), curated by Catherine Hemelryk and Locky Morris; The Office for Common Sound at NCAD Gallery, Dublin (2019) and Arrangements at Pallas Projects/Studios, Dublin. Steenson’s work has been broadcast by CCA Glasgow’s Radiophrenia and Dublin Digital Radio (ddr) and has been covered by publications including Paper Visual Art, Irish Times, The Quietus, RTÉ and BBC Radio.
In summer 2023, Steenson presented a new geolocated sound artwork for Derry’s city walls, titled Almanac for a Walled City. For the period of 2022–2023, he carried out a new research project with Ormston House, Limerick, Ireland, titled Crex crex, crex crex, crex.... that connected artists and field experts (i.e. conservationists, community activists, and farmers) to learn about the corncrake and its place in Ireland’s cultural heritage.
Website: www.christophersteenson.com
Instagram: @chris_steenson
Twitter: @chris_steenson