As part of annual events run by The Irish Heritage Club of Seattle, London Group member MOCKSIM is doing two talks at The Armory, The Seattle Center. 15 to 16 March.
Micheál O’Connell a.k.a. Mocksim has been invited by the Seattle Irish Heritage Club to give the talk ‘To Hell with Trad! Irish Digital and Tech Art Now’ at events during March, inspired by his essay ‘Digital Art, Ireland, Future’. While pointing to diverse practices like glitch art, VR, and AI-based works, the talk critically examines whether all such activity could or should engage with the pressing questions raised by Ireland’s role in global technology terms.
With a curated ‘digital art display’ to coincide: pieces by Bassam Issa Al-Sabah @this.isnowhere, Katie Nolan @katienolanart, Daniel Murray https://loom.cafe, and Elinor O’Donovan @elinorodonovan.
Digital Art Display:
Sat 15th March 12:00 – 6:00PM. Loft Room 1
Sun 16th March 10:00AM – 6:00PM. Loft Room 1
TO HELL WITH TRAD: Irish Digital and Tech Art Now!
Sat 15th & Sun 16th March 4:00 PM. Loft Room 1
ARTIFICIAL STUPIDITY and a bit of history
Sun 16th March 1:00 PM. Loft Room 2
Further details:
Talk 1: To Hell with Trad! Irish Digital and Tech Art Now
‘Technology artist and researcher Micheál O’Connell, also known as Mocksim, provides a critical survey of Ireland’s contemporary digital art scene, situating it within the broader context of the nation’s rapid technological and economic transformation. Ireland’s emergence as a base for tech giants like Apple and Google has reshaped its landscape and identity to an extent, with terms like “server farm,” “wind farm” and “solar farm” reflecting a curious continuity with its agrarian past.
As elsewhere, Irish and Ireland-based digital artists work across diverse practices – glitch art, generative design, speculative AI and VR – producing imaginative and sometimes provocative responses to these new realities. This talk considers whether and how such practices engage with deeper cultural, political and ethical implications. Some work, as philosopher of aesthetics John Roberts suggests, risks being too easily absorbed into the very technosystems that artists might claim to critique. Roberts’ concept of “unfitting” will be given some attention.
The talk/lecture highlights the diversity of Irish digital art (a contested term in itself) and will be accompanied by the exhibition featuring selected works…
Talk 2: Artificial Stupidity and the Overlooked History of Ireland’s ‘Tech Bros’, Sisters, and Disruptors.
