Biography
Education:
1982-82 “Ecole des Arts et Metiers”, Luxembourg
1984-87 “Fachschule für Keramikgestaltung”, Höhr-Grenzhausen
1990-91 Cardiff Institute of Higher Education, MA Ceramics Course
2008-13 Huston School of Film and Digital Media, National University of Ireland, Galway, PhD programme
Qualifications include:
1984 “C.A.P. Potier” (Apprentice examination in Pottery)
1987 “Staatlich geprüfte Keramikgestalterin” (BA Ceramic Design equivalent)
1991 MA Ceramics
2013 PhD Film, practice-based
PhD thesis:
‘The Legacy (Das Vermächtnis): the role of cultural production in the reprocessing of collective experiences that are equivalent to trauma’
Sponsorship: Galway Film Studies Fellowship.
Training includes:
1992 ‘Picture This’ training course in 16 mm film-making, Bristol
2004 Masterclass in Animation with Juri Norstein, Jerzy Kucia , Ruth Lingford and Ulla-Carin Grafstroem, Vilnius, Lithuania
2005-08 Diploma in Intentional Healing with Ira Greenberg
Professional Experience includes:
Since 1991 own studio as ceramic artist and independent film-maker
Since 1994 living and working in Ireland
Since 1996 director of Crinklefilms studios, Cork
Exhibitions include:
1993/96 Ceramics Contemporaries, V & A., London, UK
1997 Irish Contemporary Ceramics, Dublin, Sligo, Limerick, Belfast
1997 Contemporary Ceramics, Prize Winners Exhibition, London, UK
2000 Irish Contemporary Ceramics, Dumfries, Sligo, Limerick, Belfast
2001 Solo-show at Gallerie Metzger, Johannesberg, Germany
2002 Mensen, keramische skulpturen, Tegelen, Holland
2006/07 Irish Contemporary Ceramics, Limerick, Clonmel, Dublin, Kilkenny
2014 Dublin Biennal, Ireland
2018 Visions - The Garden of Liquid Identities, International Art Show of photography, painting, video art, installation and performance art, Venice
Prizes include:
1996 Craft Potters Association Prize
Productions include:
1996 THE IMPERIAL MESSAGE, 16 mm, 6.5 min photo and puppet animation
1998 SEAMAI THE SEAL, 16 mm, 3.5 min, cut-out/clay animation, educational film for Cork County and Cork City Council.
2000 SEAMAI 2, Composting is Cool, 16 mm, 3.5 min, cut-out/clay animation, educational film for Cork County and Cork City Council.
2003 AUNT BRIDGET, 35 mm, 6 min, puppet/cell animation with Vlad Bairamgulov
2004 SEAMAI 3, Taking Care of Hazardous Waste, 16 mm, 3.5 min, cut-out/clay animation, educational film for Cork County and Cork City Council.
2006 ..JOY.. 16 mm, 5 min experimental silent film as part of a cine-concert
2012 THE LEGACY, 42 min experimental film as part of a live music event with light projections
2014 THERE ARE NO OTHER ‘OTHERS’: TOWARDS A SUSTAINABLE ETHICS, 25 min, audio-visual reflection using excerpts of THE LEGACY to quotations from Rosi Braidotti (2006, 2013)
Production awards include:
1996 Production award under the Frameworks scheme by the Irish Film Board, RTE, The Irish Arts Council and the Northern Ireland Film Council for THE IMPERIAL MESSAGE
2003 Production award under the Frameworks scheme by the Irish Film Board, RTE and the Irish Arts Council fro AUNT BRIDGET
2006 Project award by the Irish Arts Council for ..JOY..
Screenings include:
1994/95/96/03/06 Cork International Film Festival
1994/97/99 Galway Film Fleadh
1997/99 “Krok” International Animation Festival, Ukraine
1998/00 Trickfilm-Festival, Stuttgart
1998 Irish Film Festival, Montreal, Canada
1998 International Film Festival Halifax, Canada
2004 Irish Film Festival, Chicago
2004 International Film Festival, Vilnius, Lithuania
2013 Irish Arts Centre New York
2014 Dublin Biennial, Ireland
2018 Visions - The Garden of Liquid Identities, International Art Show of photography, painting, video art, installation and performance art, Venice
Teaching Experience include:
1992-99 Visiting Lecturer at University of Wales, Cardiff; Crawford College of Art, Cork; School of Art and Design, Limerick
1995 Tutor on the Masterclass in Animation, Cork Film Festival
1996 Tutor in Ceramics, 1st year subsidiary, Crawford College of Art and Design, Cork
2000 Tutor on the Masterclass in Animation, Filmakademie Badenwürthenberg, Trickfilm-Festival, Stuttgart
1996-03 Tutor in Ceramics, H. Dip. Course, Crawford College of Art, Cork
1996-13 Course Director and tutor in Ceramics, Sculpture and Film-making at CSN, Cork
2001-13 Course Director of the Higher Professional Arts Diploma, CSN, Cork
2015 Visiting lecturer at the ‘Film in Focus’ Seminar, UCC, Cork
2015 Visiting lecturer to the MA Course, CCEA (Cork Centre for Architectural Education), CIT/ UCC (Cork Institute of Technology/University College Cork), Cork
2017 Tutor part-time, UCC adult continuing education
2018 Visiting lecturer Second Year, CCEA, CIT/ UCC, Cork
CurrentlyTutor in sculpture and ceramics at CSN, Cork
Honorary positions include:
2000 Member of the International Jury, Trickfilmfestival, Stuttgart, Germany
2001 Member of the International Jury, Goldfish Animation Festival, Moscow, Russia
2011 Mumbai International Film Festival, India
Since 2013 Honorary member of the Film-maker’s Advisory Board, tiNai Ecofilm Festival, Goa, India
Academic Presentations include:
2010 ‘The confrontation of dissociation as an effect of trauma in the film ‘Germany Pale Mother’ by Helma Sanders Brahms’, Study seminar, NUIGalway
2011 ‘Film versus trauma’, Mumbai International Film Festival, India
2013 ‘Restoring the lost ‘regard’: the role of archive footage in reinstating victim visibility’, Genocide Studies Workshop: Sound, Image, Archive. Newcastle University
2014 ‘Retrieving Interrelatedness: the effect of trauma on the individual, social and collective context and its potential reversal’, TP4 Interdisciplinary Conference Trauma, Theory and Practice,
Prague, Czech Republic
2014 ‘A vulture has flown out...: the Peasant War in its opposition to the Graeco-Roman heritage of imperialist ideology’, Borderlines XVIII, UCC, Cork.
2014 ‘Paradise lost: Violence as the result of a lack of a sense of interrelatedness, an interdisciplinary perspective’, V5 Interdisciplinary Conference, Lisbon, Portugal
2014 ‘Performance versus trauma: the ‘Theatre of the Absurd’ and ‘Butoh’ as a response to trauma-like experiences in the macro-social context’, Consciousness and Cognition, Irish Society for
Theatre Research Conference, UCC.
2014 ‘Loss of interrelatedness and the ideological foundation of the Holocaust, an interdisciplinary perspective’, British Association for Jewish Studies Annual Conference, Trinity College Dublin
2014 ‘Das Vermächtnis: Facing a Legacy of Violence with Empathy’, Empathy 1, Interdisciplinary Conference, Prague, Czech Republic.
2014 ‘Paradise Lost: Violence as the Result of a Lack of a Sense of Interrelatedness, an Interdisciplinary Perspective’, V12 Violence: Probing the Boundaries, Interdisciplinary.net, Lisbon, Portgual.
2016 ‘‘Art Thou Troubled…’: The Therapeutic Effect of Music-Experiencing in the Context of Trauma Reprocessing’ Trauma 6, Interdisciplinary Conference, Budapest, Hungary.
2017 ‘From the haunted archive: restoring victim visibility to counter desubjectification’, BAHS, (British Association for Holocaust Studies) Conference, Sheffield, U.K.
2018 ‘From shame to outsider antagonism to violence: discourses on otherness in Austrian and Prussian literature of the late 18th and early 19th century and their relation to the Holocaust’, BAHS
Conference, Leeds, U.K.
Academic Publications include:
2015 ‘Das Vermächtnis: Facing a Legacy of Violence with Empathy’, Empathy 1, Interdisciplinary Conference, Prague, Czech Republic.
This article discusses the collective reprocessing of a violent history through experimental documentary as a form of cultural intervention.
2015 ‘Paradise Lost: Violence as the Result of a Lack of a Sense of Interrelatedness, an Interdisciplinary Perspective’, V12 Violence: Probing the Boundaries, Interdisciplinary.net, Lisbon, Portgual.
This article explores the causal link between trauma and violence using an interdisciplinary perspective.
2019 ‘Finding the Way Home: an Interdisciplinary Perspective on Trauma and Trauma Resolution Practices’ in Where to From Here? Examining Conflict Related and Relational Interaction Trauma,
E. McInnes and A. Mason (eds.), Leiden/Boston: Brill /Ropodi.
This article discusses cultural intervention for potential trauma resolution. Drama productions that use an element of absurdity and ‘Butoh’ Dance are given as examples.