In 2022 I was approached by artist AlanJames Burns out of the blue to write a lament poem about ecological loss, and the rest is history! AlanJames Burns is a neurodivergent environmental artist and curator producing interactive, socially engaged and site-specific exhibitions. The focal points of their artistic practice are disability, climate change and the human mind.
I am excited to have been commissioned by Alan for their various projects, co-writing and creating scripts for their installation pieces. The common themes amongst these projects are investigating the intersections between climate change and neurodivergence, with a focus on queerness and grief. The physical manifestation of these projects play with art, technology, and nature.
I am excited to have been commissioned by Alan for their various projects, co-writing and creating scripts for their installation pieces. The common themes amongst these projects are investigating the intersections between climate change and neurodivergence, with a focus on queerness and grief. The physical manifestation of these projects play with art, technology, and nature.
The Waking Walls: a caoineadh of ecological and climate grief (2023)
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The iconic national monument of Cloughoughter Castle, sitting on its tiny island in the heart of Cavan’s lake lands premieres a collaborative event-based artwork The Waking Walls by AlanJames Burns. Echoing from the walls of Cavan’s Cloughoughter Castle the stirring cries of an Irish caoineadh reverberate over the rippling lake water. Together, gathered on boats and at the lakeside, we absorb this iconic monument’s lament for the environmental and biodiversity losses the castle has witnessed over its lifetime. The Waking Walls is a new collaborative, theatrical artwork that reawakens and equips us with age-old methods of coping with loss. The Waking Walls is an invitation to reframe environmental grief – not as a state of disconnection and isolation, but as a unifying experience to collectively process climate disruption.
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The Waking Walls has been developed by Cavan-born environmental artist AlanJames Burns in collaboration with writer Chandrika Narayanan-Mohan, NYAH (Cross Border Collective of Traditional Arts Musicians), Cavan Arts Office, Irish Hospice Foundation and Cavan Adventure Club.
More information about this piece can be found at www.alanjamesburns.com/waking.
More information about this piece can be found at www.alanjamesburns.com/waking.
Augmented Body, Altered Mind (2022)
Photos by Alan James Burns
For this project, I came on board as a co-writer for the installation audio script, along with Carys Coburn. For 2023 I am working on a new iteration of of the script to accompany the visuals.
Augmented Body, Altered Mind is an interactive exhibition weaving a brain-computer interface with an audiovisual environment. The artwork celebrates divergent cognitive abilities used for creative problem-solving and explores the potential to collectively reshape the world towards a more diverse and sustainable future. Delving into the climate challenge and tech-growth narratives, Augmented Body, Altered Mind examines correlations between the natural world, neurology, philosophy, and neurodivergence. Immersed in a projected environment and multi-channel soundscape, visitors co-create the artwork in real-time by wearing a brain-sensing headset that detects electric signals generated by different brain waves. By doing so, audiences control evocative visuals reminiscent of environmental and neurological imagery and patterns.
Climate change disproportionately affects people with disabilities, including from the lack of accessible information and vulnerabilities in extreme weather events. Underpinned by the theory of Complementary Cognition and the psychological aspects of the climate challenge, the artwork encourages new approaches to thinking about the accelerating environmental crisis and how it could be tackled. Highlighting the importance of accessibility, Augmented Body, Altered Mind welcomes all audiences to engage, collaborate, and shape the artwork.
Augmented Body, Altered Mind was commissioned by Carlow Arts Festival 2022 following a prototype Open Mind, Closed System for Carlow Arts Festival 2021. The work was developed further for the Earth Vision London 2022. Augmented Body, Altered Mind was been funded by Arts Council England, Arts Council of Ireland and Arts and Disability Ireland.
Augmented Body, Altered Mind is an interactive exhibition weaving a brain-computer interface with an audiovisual environment. The artwork celebrates divergent cognitive abilities used for creative problem-solving and explores the potential to collectively reshape the world towards a more diverse and sustainable future. Delving into the climate challenge and tech-growth narratives, Augmented Body, Altered Mind examines correlations between the natural world, neurology, philosophy, and neurodivergence. Immersed in a projected environment and multi-channel soundscape, visitors co-create the artwork in real-time by wearing a brain-sensing headset that detects electric signals generated by different brain waves. By doing so, audiences control evocative visuals reminiscent of environmental and neurological imagery and patterns.
Climate change disproportionately affects people with disabilities, including from the lack of accessible information and vulnerabilities in extreme weather events. Underpinned by the theory of Complementary Cognition and the psychological aspects of the climate challenge, the artwork encourages new approaches to thinking about the accelerating environmental crisis and how it could be tackled. Highlighting the importance of accessibility, Augmented Body, Altered Mind welcomes all audiences to engage, collaborate, and shape the artwork.
Augmented Body, Altered Mind was commissioned by Carlow Arts Festival 2022 following a prototype Open Mind, Closed System for Carlow Arts Festival 2021. The work was developed further for the Earth Vision London 2022. Augmented Body, Altered Mind was been funded by Arts Council England, Arts Council of Ireland and Arts and Disability Ireland.
Art | Disability | Climate Change Webinar
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The afternoon’s first session discussed the forthcoming national tour and artwork of Augmented Body, Altered Mind. An interactive exhibition weaving a brain-computer interface with an audiovisual environment inviting audiences to visualise the way they think and how their brains work. The artwork celebrates neurodiversity, and how human brains have evolved to process information in ways that are specialised and divergent from each other that encourages collective and creative problem-solving. Nowhere is creative thinking more needed than the environmental crisis. Speakers: Alan James Burns and Chandrika Narayanan-Mohan, moderated by Marek Wolynski.
Click here for more information and to watch the recording of the webinar.
Click here for more information and to watch the recording of the webinar.
