Butler Gallery Garden Studio Residency - Sean Taylor

During my residency I will undertake one Acouscenic Listening, Creative Soundwalk workshop with members of the public in Kilkenny to create the Kilkenny City Creative Soundwalk graphic score. I will undertake an artist talk of my collaborative, socially engaged artwork. I will also conduct a series of audio field recordings in Kilkenny City in order to create a three-minute acousmatic sound composition entitled; ‘The Marble Registers’ which I will perform live in the studio at the end of my residency.

I am interested in the sonic resonances and possibilities of working with place names and identified sites within the city. In particular sites such as Shee Alms House, Hole in the Wall, The Butter Slip, McDonagh Railway Station, and John’s Quay to mention but a few.

The field recordings will encompass a variety of fragmentary sources, from found street sounds, ambient architectural atmospherics, vocal recordings from residents, and sound recordings from local businesses.

The sonic narratives behind street names and their historical associations to site, offers a rich starting point for research and development as well as the possibility of considering social interaction with the local community in the finished sound art composition.

About the Artist

Sean Taylor is a socially engaged artist and educator from Cork, living in Clonmel Co. Tipperary. He is a professional member of Praxis, Visual Artists Ireland and the Contemporary Music Centre, Dublin, Ireland

He holds a PhD exploring Acouscenic Listening and the Creative Soundwalk and its links to the social and sonic creative reimaging of place. He established the art and science collaboration Softday with software engineer Mikael Fernström in 1999 and continues to develop sound based public art projects with the Softday collaboration. 

He established the LennonTaylor social art collaboration (with artist Marilyn Lennon) in 2021. They have led the award-winning KinShip Art Project in partnership with Cork City Council and Creative Ireland in Tramore Valley Park, Cork since 2022.

Sean’s interdisciplinary social art practice bridges common ground between art and science. The core research methodologies he employs have a strong connection to community engagement, situation, phenomenology, ecologies of place and the urgent need for both environmental and social actions.