Linda O'Keeffe
Dr Linda O’Keeffe is a research led artist working and living in Scotland and has exhibited internationally with commissions from Europe, the UK, Brazil, Asia and the US. Her current body of practice is focused on the intersection of science & technology, ethics and communication, where she has produced a number of art works, published research papers and keynote presentations. In 2017 she was commissioned to develop a body of work for a touring exhibition title Sounds Like Her, the work, Hybrid Soundscapes I-IV has been shown in major UK art galleries from 2017 to 2020, and has been featured in publications exploring the role of women in sound. She is currently working on a project funded by Creative Scotland titled Evolving Ourselves with Unnatural Selection, a new collaborative project between artists and researchers that will explore and present some of the ethics and future implications of gene editing through a digital multi-arts approach.
Her work on gender inclusion in the sonic arts has led to the development of the organisation Women in Sound Women in Sound WISWOS, which has partnered with organisations in the UK, Latin America and recently Taiwan.
Statement
As an artist I work alongside scientists, theorists and community groups, focusing on a number of social and ecologically engaged issues. My practice is often located at the intersections of media and social theory, ecology and acoustic ecology, art and the physical sciences. My most recent bodies of work include exploring the impact of renewable energy technologies on rural communities.
Recent funding has allowed for an expansion of this research into the fields of bio-engineering through gene editing technologies, where, with a team of artists and researchers, we are exploring both the ethics and modes of communication when engaging with new, potentially dangerous, technology emerging into our environments, www.non-random.com. I am currently working on a commission for the Holocaust Museum in Huddersfield exploring the phenomenology memory through sound. The central tenet of my practice is located within multidisciplinary processes, and includes a focus on equality and diversity. The methods combine the fields of gender, race and class studies, as it pertains to exclusion of voices in the discourse of societal change.
