Christopher Steenson’s work spans sound, lens-based media, text and digital systems. Through these processes, he makes work in which we can ‘listen to the future’, by bridging historical and speculative narratives that explore the politics of time, environment and more-than-human-relations.
ARTIST BIO
Christopher Steenson (b.1992, Northern Ireland) began his artistic practice in 2017, with his work manifesting as several site-specific sound works, installations and performances. Steenson’s recent solo presentations include: 'Breath Variations’, Flat Time House, London (2023); ‘Let it run all over me’, Lagan Weir, Belfast, in association with PS2 (2023); 'Soft Rains Will Come', VISUAL Carlow (2022); TULCA Festival of Visual Arts: The World Was All Before Them (2022). He has presented work at group exhibitions including: ‘The Sky is Falling!’, Ormston House, Limerick (2024); 'mother tongue', The MAC, Belfast (2024); 'inching towards', Freelands Foundation, London (2024); ‘Penumbra’, LAVA, Mexico City (2024); ‘Periodical Review 12: Practical Magic’, Pallas Projects/Studios, Dublin (2022); and ‘Urgencies’, CCA Derry~Londonderry (2021).
In 2020, Steenson presented ‘On Chorus’ a national public sound artwork utilising Ireland’s network of train station PA systems. In 2023, he created the geolocated sound walk, ‘Almanac for a Walled City’, for Derry’s historic city walls. He has participated in several national and international residencies, including Bemis Centre for Contemporary Arts, Omaha, USA (2023); and Sounding Paths, Syros, Greece (2019). His work is held in the Arts Council of Ireland Collection.
Above: Belfast Newsletter, 22 July 1995, p. 17, Christopher Steenson, 2024, screenprint on paper made from grass where the corncrake used to call. Edition of 3 + 3 AP. 19.5 × 13.5 cm (unframed). Installation view, ‘The Sky is Falling!’, Ormston House, Limerick, Ireland, 2024. Photograph by Jed Niezgoda, courtesy the artist and Ormston House.
Top left: The Long Grass, Christopher Steenson, Installation view, ‘mother tongue’, The MAC, Belfast (26 April – 1 July 2024), Photograph by Simon Mills, courtesy the artist.
Let it run all over me, Christopher Steenson, 2023, 4-channel site-specific sound work with horse skull, theatre lighting, field recordings and resonances. Installation view, Lagan Weir Underwater Tunnel. Photograph by Simon Mills, courtesy the artist.
Soft Rains Will Come, Christopher Steenson, 2022, Installation view, VISUAL Centre for Contemporary Art, Carlow, Ireland, Photograph by Ros Kavanagh, courtesy of the artist and the Arts Council of Ireland Visual Art Collection.
Using transmission signals, broadcasting equipment, architectural resonances and public and personal archives, Steenson’s artworks take various forms but always seek to locate audiences within a ‘dreamtime’ – a space in which pasts, presents and futures are negotiated on a continuum.
I never thought something like that could happen here, Christopher Steenson, 2022, hand-printed c-type print on archival photo paper. Installation view, VISUAL Centre for Contemporary Art, Carlow, Ireland. Photograph by Frank Abruzzese, courtesy the artist and the Arts Council of Ireland Visual Art Collection.
