Fion Gunn

Odyssey: Ride
I find ideas of the maze/labyrinth so fascination and why they have had such a long-lived appeal generally. In the end I think it may come down to two key elements: firstly, managing uncertainty and secondly, getting to grips with changing perspectives. At this juncture in history both of these elements are profoundly relevant. In creating Odyssey: Ride I wanted to engage with the exciting and positive aspects of change and flux. It is is a complex and cyclical rollercoaster which allows the visitor to change pathways and make stops to hear a story, read a poem or watch a short film, all embedded in the virtual world. Incorporating a soundtrack heightens the tension and suspense. In collaboration with composer Gráinne Mulvey I have just created a short film clip to give an idea of what the final interactive sensory experience will be.
Roller Coaster 2021 https://youtu.be/uzljx-yItPs

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 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. Gunn is currently virtual artist in residence at the Museum of Childhood Ireland Project and is an associate at Tate Exchange Liverpool with whom she realised a multimedia project funded by Arts Council England last year.

Gunn initiated the A-Maze Artists Collective with Kendal, Chen, Parvez and Broughton in April 2020 and Grant joined them shortly afterwards. Boundless -Worlds in Flux is their first collaborative project.

Gunn’s diverse and international 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 available) as well as on YouTube. Her work features in private & corporate and state collections in UK, France, Poland, Ireland, USA & China, including Ministry of Justice, Ireland, Atkins Chambers, UK, Baltic Contemporary Gallery, Poland, Rosewood Residencies, Guangzhou, MAHA Beijing, Art W Foundation & CAPA (Center for Asian Pacific Affairs), USA.

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. With over 15 years of cross cultural/cross media collaborations which she initiated, many of her projects are based in Beijing and Shanghai where she has exhibited in and curated major exhibitions of Irish & Chinese contemporary art in an annual project called IRISH WAVE (2009-2016). https://www.facebook.com/pages/IRISH-WAVE/183290648486224

Gunn has extensive curatorial & project leadership experience and is committed to promoting deep & ongoing engagement with local communities & hard to reach groups. She has a history of successful delivery of projects with multiple outputs and legacy in high profile public venues. She co founded Streatham Women’s Sewing Group CIC with Somali -British craftswoman Ifrah Odawa 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.

She was the lead curator for The Intimate Transgressions Project, she was also a participating artist in this a touring exhibition. It was supported by the Center for Pacific Asia Affairs (CAPA) and highlighted the issue of war and genocide rape. This exhibition toured in New York, Beijing, Hangzhou and Taipei with significant media coverage and enthusiastic audiences. The ethos of the exhibition combined international and local perspectives and Gunn worked with a different local curator at each host venue.

Artist’s Residencies : Museum of Childhood Ireland Project 2021, 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.

Gunn is also collaborating with Broughton on ‘Sheltering World’ along with a composer/performer and a poet who live locally in emergency accommodation. That project has also been awarded Arts Council England funding.

WEBSITES: https://www.fiongunn.org/ https://www.odysseyexplorations.com/