F I O N G U N N BIOGRAPHY & CV
Fion Gunn graduated from Crawford College of Art & Design, Ireland in and spent a post-graduate year at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts Supérieure de Nancy, France where she lived for four years, she now lives and works in London. She is the first Irish artist to have a public sculpture commission in China for the city of Zhangjiakou, in 2012. She is represented by Rise Art in the UK, Peking Art Associates in Beijing and collaborates with Art W in the USA. She is an associate at Tate Exchange Liverpool with whom she realised a multimedia project funded by Arts Council England, in 2019.
Gunn’s diverse practice comprises 2D, 3D, VR, film, installation, performance, curatorial and community projects. These can be viewed at http://www.fiongunn.org/ where her full CV is also available as well as on YouTube. Her work features in private & corporate and state collections in UK, France, Poland, Ireland, USA & China.
Gunn has won multiple awards for her work from Arts Council England, Arts Council Ireland, Culture Ireland, City Councils of London, Dublin, Cork & Belfast, Irish Literature Exchange and Walcot Foundation. She founded Streatham Women’s Sewing Group CIC and chaired the group 2009-15, working collaboratively with the group as lead artist. The Group comprised women from the Somali & Horn of Africa Community in Streatham as well as Asian, North African, Refugee and low-income communities and its purpose was to reskill, promote inclusion and well-being through arts & crafts.
Gunn is currently collaborating on two projects: ‘Sheltering World’ with a 3D animator and a composer/performer as well as a poet who live locally in emergency accommodation. In parallel she is collaborating with a group of artists and technologists on a project ‘Boundless – Worlds in Flux’, which will be both an artwork and the prototype for a digital navigational system within public spaces. She is lead artist in the project and has won an award from Arts Council England for the development of the interactive prototype.
Artist’s Residencies : Tate Exchange Liverpool, 2019, Baltic Art Center Poland 2014, RedGate Gallery Residency Programme Beijing 2005,
Gunn was granted access to the archives of the Museum Historyczyne Miasta Gdansk for an ongoing series of work ‘Displaced’ informed by the post WW2 images of Gdansk.
She was guest editor for the 2015 Spring Edition of ArtZip Contemporary Art Magazine (bilingual English/Chinese) writing on the theme of the artist as curator. She works with a wide network of international artists and has led panel discussions with high profile practitioners such as Shirin Neshat at the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center, Oct 2015.
She has a contributor to one and has co-written two academic papers on Artists moving into Immersive technologies which have been presented at the EVA (Electronic Visualisation in the Arts) Annual Conferences in London 2019,2020 & 2021.
Gunn has exhibited at numerous galleries in Europe and China - many of her projects are based in Beijing and Shanghai where she has also curated major exhibitions of Irish & Chinese contemporary art in an annual project called IRISH WAVE (2009-2016). https://www.facebook.com/pages/IRISH-WAVE/
Her work features in private & corporate collections in UK, France, Poland, Ireland & China including Ministry of Justice, Ireland, Atkins Chambers and CBX, UK, Baltic Contemporary Gallery, Poland, Rosewood Residencies - Guangzhou, MAHA Beijing, Art W Foundation & CAPA (Center for Asian Pacific Affairs), USA.
Selected Exhibitions and Projects
2022 (forthcoming)
- Virtual artist in Residence at the Institute of Irish Studies, University of Liverpool: March 2022-23
-Solo Show, Victoria Gallery & Museum, University of Liverpool June-October 2022
2021
- Virtual artist in Residence at Museum of Childhood Ireland project: January 2021-22
- Boundless - Worlds in Flux, Lead artist for an international collaborative project funded by Arts Council England
2020
- Sheltering World – a collaborative project supported by Arts Council England
- Aurelia Arts Festival, (online), September 2020
-Local Midsummer Arts Trail, 21 June, Stanthorpe Triangle, London
- Micro Solo Show ‘One Day at a Time’, 5-18 May in my front garden, Streatham, London
- ‘Tip Off’, On Paper Supreme touring exhibition 2020, curated by Chang Feng, Qingdao & Shenyang China
2019
- Solo Show at Candid Arts Trust, Angel, London
- Odyssey: Explorations - The Digital Journey showcased at Tate Liverpool and Open Eye Gallery Liverpool
- Odyssey: Explorations Interactive Exhibition in Tate Exchange Liverpool
- Odyssey: The Return, Dong Yue Art Museum, Beijing
2018
- Odyssey: Expedition - ASC Studios Space, London
- Artnight 2018: Odyssey-The Journey Home, group show, The Workshop, London (featured artist and curator)
- On Paper Supreme touring exhibition curated by Chang Fang, Shenyang & Qingdao, China
- Excavations, group show, Enjoy Museum, 798, Beijing (featured artist and curator)
- Solo Show Age of Exploration, He Gallery, Beijing
2017
- On Paper Supreme touring exhibition, Center for Contemporary Art, Guangzhou , Ordos Center for Art & Culture, Ordos, Inner Mongolia
- Views from Distant Shores’ 3 person show, South London Refugee Centre, London (featured artist and curator)
2016
- Female Artists Nominations, group exhibition, Da Yun Tang Art Museum, Beijing
- The Painted Thread, Yue Pavilion, 3 person show, Beijing
- Intimate Transgressions, international touring exhibition, (2015-16) Whitebox, NYC, InterArt Gallery, 798 Beijing, Hangzhou Library, Hangzhou, China and Chiang Kai Shek Museum, Taipei, Taiwan (featured artist and lead curator)
- Birth of a Nation, Ning Gallery 798 and Identity, EARC Space 798, Beijing (featured artist and lead curator)
- Struggle, Sanwei Art Center, Shanghai (featured artist and lead curator)
2009-16
IRISH WAVE, featured artist/lead curator for annual series of Irish/Chinese collaborative group exhibitions in Beijing & Shanghai at 798, M50, National Center for the Performing Arts and a wide variety of other public venues (total of 33 shows)
2015
- Intimate Transgressions, international touring exhibition highlighting war and genocide rape, Whitebox, NY and Inter Gallery, 798,Beijing (featured artist and lead curator)
- Hohhot Biennial, University of Inner Mongolia, Inner Mongolia
-‘Sailing to Byzantium’, artist/curator, Leyden Gallery, London
-‘Memoire Traumatique’ curated by Philippe Frydman at ‘Au Medicis’ Gallery, Paris, France
2014-15
-‘The Dress My Mother Wore’ installation, Lead artist in collaboration with Streatham Women’s Sewing Group CIC, at Streatham Festival, Museum of Childhood, Southbank Centre and Horniman Museum, London (ACE)
-‘Timeline Tourist’, Solo Show at Baltic Arts Center – Witches’ Tower, Slupsk, Poland
Websites: http://www.fiongunn.org/ http://worldsinflux.com http://www.odysseyexplorations.com
FILMS & Digital Artworks on YouTube:
Youtube Channel - https://www.youtube.com/c/FionGunn
2021 Get Wisdom https://youtu.be/XvPOD_PzH74
2021 We Breathe https://youtu.be/fgitOnZYO_E
2021 My dreams are mine alone - A Tribute to Mary Wollstonecraft' https://youtu.be/INQZyCtsRrE
2021 Roller Coaster https://youtu.be/uzljx-yItPs
2021 Age of Uncertainty https://youtu.be/bYd0sNK-xb4
2020 One Day at a Time, micro exhibition https://youtu.be/030X2yQI--k
2020 Plant More Trees! https://youtu.be/Zf1OoTkoaMs
2020 Child of our Time https://youtu.be/qyY_08RH3Ig
2019 Odyssey: Explorations – sketch for the new artwork https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zn4cKu8SrE
2019 Shorelines https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVvBJyi59p8
2019 Odyssey: The Return – Huang Du’s Speech https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIQmSc7trwk&t=24s
2018 Age of Explorations – solo exhibition https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byrPxGQz7h4&t=8s
2018 Excavations Exhibition https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJWtKMelca8&t=3s
2018 Age of Exploration: Spice https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rn-cqOih4ng&t=18s
2017 Writing in Water https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYox7h1YnHQ
2016 We're All in the Same Boat www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcCBzJoLScE
2015 INTIMATE TRANSGRESSIONS Project- www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8q0bD1QxtU&t=349s
documentary film by filmmaker Jane Clegg
2015 Sinovision Coverage of INTIMATE TRANSGRESSIONS www.youtube.com/watch?v=xf2pebv7dfk
The Dress My Mother Wore https://youtu.be/kr4W6IhL3oc
Film of the Panel Discussion hosted by the ELIZABETH A. SACKLER CENTER FOR FEMINIST ART
INTIMATE TRANSGRESSIONS: THE ACT OF DOING
Panel discussion moderated by Fion Gunn & Anita Glesta with panelists Shirin Neshat, Luisa Valenzuela, Eleanor Heartney https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/eascfa/video/videos/intimate-transgressions-the-act-of-doing
Fion Gunn graduated from Crawford College of Art & Design, Ireland in and spent a post-graduate year at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts Supérieure de Nancy, France where she lived for four years, she now lives and works in London. She is the first Irish artist to have a public sculpture commission in China for the city of Zhangjiakou, in 2012. She is represented by Rise Art in the UK, Peking Art Associates in Beijing and collaborates with Art W in the USA. She is an associate at Tate Exchange Liverpool with whom she realised a multimedia project funded by Arts Council England, in 2019.
Gunn’s diverse practice comprises 2D, 3D, VR, film, installation, performance, curatorial and community projects. These can be viewed at http://www.fiongunn.org/ where her full CV is also available as well as on YouTube. Her work features in private & corporate and state collections in UK, France, Poland, Ireland, USA & China.
Gunn has won multiple awards for her work from Arts Council England, Arts Council Ireland, Culture Ireland, City Councils of London, Dublin, Cork & Belfast, Irish Literature Exchange and Walcot Foundation. She founded Streatham Women’s Sewing Group CIC and chaired the group 2009-15, working collaboratively with the group as lead artist. The Group comprised women from the Somali & Horn of Africa Community in Streatham as well as Asian, North African, Refugee and low-income communities and its purpose was to reskill, promote inclusion and well-being through arts & crafts.
Gunn is currently collaborating on two projects: ‘Sheltering World’ with a 3D animator and a composer/performer as well as a poet who live locally in emergency accommodation. In parallel she is collaborating with a group of artists and technologists on a project ‘Boundless – Worlds in Flux’, which will be both an artwork and the prototype for a digital navigational system within public spaces. She is lead artist in the project and has won an award from Arts Council England for the development of the interactive prototype.
Artist’s Residencies : Tate Exchange Liverpool, 2019, Baltic Art Center Poland 2014, RedGate Gallery Residency Programme Beijing 2005,
Gunn was granted access to the archives of the Museum Historyczyne Miasta Gdansk for an ongoing series of work ‘Displaced’ informed by the post WW2 images of Gdansk.
She was guest editor for the 2015 Spring Edition of ArtZip Contemporary Art Magazine (bilingual English/Chinese) writing on the theme of the artist as curator. She works with a wide network of international artists and has led panel discussions with high profile practitioners such as Shirin Neshat at the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center, Oct 2015.
She has a contributor to one and has co-written two academic papers on Artists moving into Immersive technologies which have been presented at the EVA (Electronic Visualisation in the Arts) Annual Conferences in London 2019,2020 & 2021.
Gunn has exhibited at numerous galleries in Europe and China - many of her projects are based in Beijing and Shanghai where she has also curated major exhibitions of Irish & Chinese contemporary art in an annual project called IRISH WAVE (2009-2016). https://www.facebook.com/pages/IRISH-WAVE/
Her work features in private & corporate collections in UK, France, Poland, Ireland & China including Ministry of Justice, Ireland, Atkins Chambers and CBX, UK, Baltic Contemporary Gallery, Poland, Rosewood Residencies - Guangzhou, MAHA Beijing, Art W Foundation & CAPA (Center for Asian Pacific Affairs), USA.
Selected Exhibitions and Projects
2022 (forthcoming)
- Virtual artist in Residence at the Institute of Irish Studies, University of Liverpool: March 2022-23
-Solo Show, Victoria Gallery & Museum, University of Liverpool June-October 2022
2021
- Virtual artist in Residence at Museum of Childhood Ireland project: January 2021-22
- Boundless - Worlds in Flux, Lead artist for an international collaborative project funded by Arts Council England
2020
- Sheltering World – a collaborative project supported by Arts Council England
- Aurelia Arts Festival, (online), September 2020
-Local Midsummer Arts Trail, 21 June, Stanthorpe Triangle, London
- Micro Solo Show ‘One Day at a Time’, 5-18 May in my front garden, Streatham, London
- ‘Tip Off’, On Paper Supreme touring exhibition 2020, curated by Chang Feng, Qingdao & Shenyang China
2019
- Solo Show at Candid Arts Trust, Angel, London
- Odyssey: Explorations - The Digital Journey showcased at Tate Liverpool and Open Eye Gallery Liverpool
- Odyssey: Explorations Interactive Exhibition in Tate Exchange Liverpool
- Odyssey: The Return, Dong Yue Art Museum, Beijing
2018
- Odyssey: Expedition - ASC Studios Space, London
- Artnight 2018: Odyssey-The Journey Home, group show, The Workshop, London (featured artist and curator)
- On Paper Supreme touring exhibition curated by Chang Fang, Shenyang & Qingdao, China
- Excavations, group show, Enjoy Museum, 798, Beijing (featured artist and curator)
- Solo Show Age of Exploration, He Gallery, Beijing
2017
- On Paper Supreme touring exhibition, Center for Contemporary Art, Guangzhou , Ordos Center for Art & Culture, Ordos, Inner Mongolia
- Views from Distant Shores’ 3 person show, South London Refugee Centre, London (featured artist and curator)
2016
- Female Artists Nominations, group exhibition, Da Yun Tang Art Museum, Beijing
- The Painted Thread, Yue Pavilion, 3 person show, Beijing
- Intimate Transgressions, international touring exhibition, (2015-16) Whitebox, NYC, InterArt Gallery, 798 Beijing, Hangzhou Library, Hangzhou, China and Chiang Kai Shek Museum, Taipei, Taiwan (featured artist and lead curator)
- Birth of a Nation, Ning Gallery 798 and Identity, EARC Space 798, Beijing (featured artist and lead curator)
- Struggle, Sanwei Art Center, Shanghai (featured artist and lead curator)
2009-16
IRISH WAVE, featured artist/lead curator for annual series of Irish/Chinese collaborative group exhibitions in Beijing & Shanghai at 798, M50, National Center for the Performing Arts and a wide variety of other public venues (total of 33 shows)
2015
- Intimate Transgressions, international touring exhibition highlighting war and genocide rape, Whitebox, NY and Inter Gallery, 798,Beijing (featured artist and lead curator)
- Hohhot Biennial, University of Inner Mongolia, Inner Mongolia
-‘Sailing to Byzantium’, artist/curator, Leyden Gallery, London
-‘Memoire Traumatique’ curated by Philippe Frydman at ‘Au Medicis’ Gallery, Paris, France
2014-15
-‘The Dress My Mother Wore’ installation, Lead artist in collaboration with Streatham Women’s Sewing Group CIC, at Streatham Festival, Museum of Childhood, Southbank Centre and Horniman Museum, London (ACE)
-‘Timeline Tourist’, Solo Show at Baltic Arts Center – Witches’ Tower, Slupsk, Poland
Websites: http://www.fiongunn.org/ http://worldsinflux.com http://www.odysseyexplorations.com
FILMS & Digital Artworks on YouTube:
Youtube Channel - https://www.youtube.com/c/FionGunn
2021 Get Wisdom https://youtu.be/XvPOD_PzH74
2021 We Breathe https://youtu.be/fgitOnZYO_E
2021 My dreams are mine alone - A Tribute to Mary Wollstonecraft' https://youtu.be/INQZyCtsRrE
2021 Roller Coaster https://youtu.be/uzljx-yItPs
2021 Age of Uncertainty https://youtu.be/bYd0sNK-xb4
2020 One Day at a Time, micro exhibition https://youtu.be/030X2yQI--k
2020 Plant More Trees! https://youtu.be/Zf1OoTkoaMs
2020 Child of our Time https://youtu.be/qyY_08RH3Ig
2019 Odyssey: Explorations – sketch for the new artwork https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zn4cKu8SrE
2019 Shorelines https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVvBJyi59p8
2019 Odyssey: The Return – Huang Du’s Speech https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIQmSc7trwk&t=24s
2018 Age of Explorations – solo exhibition https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byrPxGQz7h4&t=8s
2018 Excavations Exhibition https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJWtKMelca8&t=3s
2018 Age of Exploration: Spice https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rn-cqOih4ng&t=18s
2017 Writing in Water https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYox7h1YnHQ
2016 We're All in the Same Boat www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcCBzJoLScE
2015 INTIMATE TRANSGRESSIONS Project- www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8q0bD1QxtU&t=349s
documentary film by filmmaker Jane Clegg
2015 Sinovision Coverage of INTIMATE TRANSGRESSIONS www.youtube.com/watch?v=xf2pebv7dfk
The Dress My Mother Wore https://youtu.be/kr4W6IhL3oc
Film of the Panel Discussion hosted by the ELIZABETH A. SACKLER CENTER FOR FEMINIST ART
INTIMATE TRANSGRESSIONS: THE ACT OF DOING
Panel discussion moderated by Fion Gunn & Anita Glesta with panelists Shirin Neshat, Luisa Valenzuela, Eleanor Heartney https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/eascfa/video/videos/intimate-transgressions-the-act-of-doing