Lunch on Fridays: Kelley O'Brien
Systems Everywhere

Spend a lunch hour learning about the latest in art and design during these Friday lectures. Each lecture features a variety of artists and designers from around the world, including CIA faculty and visiting artists. This event is free and open to the public. Pizza and beverages will be provided on a first-come, first-served basis.

Systems are everywhere. From economics and politics to meteorology, geology, and viruses of all different kinds; contemporary life is regulated by networks of communication and control beyond all our control. Kelley O’Brien’s research and artistic practice attempt to render some of these systems visible and give them aesthetic form. From sculptural interventions, performances, film, and collaborations across disciplines, she invites others to find beauty in odd little instances of connection, communication, and control. O’Brien will speak about the links between theory, her own practice, and her most recent collaboration, a six-week residency in Wexford, Ireland, called Rising From the Hill.

O'Brien is an interdisciplinary artist working in the Midwest and Ireland. With a background in architecture (University of Tennessee '11) and design (Cranbrook Academy of Art '14), her work negotiates boundaries defined between humans and the natural world. She has exhibited at the University of the Philippines, National College of Art and Design in Dublin, as well as SPACES, Roy G Biv, and Woman Made Gallery in the United States. She has been awarded grants from the Ohio Arts Council and a Fulbright Scholarship to the Philippines.

In addition, she has expanded her skills through residencies at Green Papaya Art Space in the Philippines, the Irish Museum of Art in Dublin, and the Scottish Sculpture Workshop in Lumsden. Her artistic practice extends into her academic and curatorial research through collaborative projects with Francis Halsall under the title "Mapping Systems." Collectively, they have held workshops, lectured courses, and curated residencies in Ireland and the Philippines.

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