Dr Simon O'Sullivan
Address:
RHB (Room: 238)
Department of Visual Cultures
Goldsmiths, University of London
New Cross
London
SE14 6NW
United Kingdom
Academic qualifications
PhD 'Of Angels and Aliens: Meaning and the Art Object', Department of Fine Art, University of Leeds, 1999
MA in Cultural and Critical Theory, University of Wales, College of Cardiff, 1992
BA Hons in The History of Art and English Literature, University of Reading, 1990
Teaching
MA special subject 'Thinking the Sensuous', PhD seminar
Presentations and exhibitions
- September 2011, ‘Diagram of the Body Full of Holes (Thought without Subject): Welcome Black Hare Demon, the Anorexic Death Machine’, show and performance with David Burrows (part of ‘Multiverse Expanded’, Ole Hagen, curator), Arkeshus Kunstsenter, Lillestrom, Norway.
- August 2011, ‘Plastique Fantastique Golem', performance with David Burrows (part of an evening of performances, IMT Gallery, curators), Banner Repeater, London.
- August 2011, ‘Three Real Plastique Fantastique Communiqués’, performance with David Burrows (part of ‘Again, A Time Machine’, Gavin Everall, curator), The Showroom, London.
- August 2011, ‘A History of the Visitation’, comic with David burrows, Year (magazine), 2011, ed. Komplot and David Evrard, Brussels.
- July 2011, ‘Plastique Fantastique’, show with David Burrows (part of ‘The Long Avant-Garde’, Dave Beech, curator), Cartel, London.
- June 2011, ‘Plastique Fantastique Re-Naming Ritual to Summon (part-shell e-ject demon) Buz-Blud-Witz’, sound performance with David Burrows (in conjunction with ‘The Shape We’re In’), Zabludowicz Collection, London.
- May 2011, ‘Plastique Fantastique: Impossible Diagrams’, solo show with David Burrows, The Grey Area, Brighton.
- April 2011, ‘Plastique Fantastique TV’, solo show with David Burrows, Xero, Coma and Kline, London.
- February 2011, ‘Plastique Fantatique’, Show with David Burrows (part of ‘We are Grammar Group show’), Dave Beech and Paul O’Neil, curators, Pratt Institute, New York.
- July 2010, ‘Plastique Fantastique: The Visitation (and Castration Rituals to welcome Tat-Not!)’, show, comic and performance with David Burrows (part of the Tatton Park Biennale 2010, Danielle Arnaud and Jordan Kaplan, curators), Tatton Park, Knutsford nr Manchester (reviewed in Artists Newsletter, July 2010).
- June 2010, ‘Plastique Fantastique Diagram of the Plague Bacterium: Welcome Cun-verse’, show with David Burrows (part of ‘Avalon’, Neil Mullohand and Norman Hogg, curators), Embassy Gallery, Edinburgh.
- May 2010, ‘Plastique Fantastique Cat-Yage-Demon Inversion Shrine’, show with David Burrows (part of ‘Dead Fingers Talk: The Tape Experiments of William S. Burroughs’), IMT Gallery, London.
- December 2009, ‘Plastique Fantatique: Inversion Ritual (against the Plague that is Capital)’, performance with David Burrows (part of ‘1-2-3-4’, Grey Area, curators), Fabrica Gallery, Brighton.
- October 2009, ‘Welcome Cun-creet-hedd’ film showing, part of Performance Fictions Symposium, Electric Cinema, Birmingham.
- July 2009, ‘Mouth-Ports Bou-Har’, film showing and performance with David Burrows, Multiversity, Swedenborg Hall, London.
- June 2009, ‘Plastique Fantastique: Welcome Mouth-Ports Bou-Har!, show and performance with David Burrows (part of ‘Stranger Things are Happening’), Aspex Gallery, Portsmouth.
- June 2009, ‘Plastique Fantastique: Welcome Cun-creet-hedd’, show with David Burrows (part of ‘Multi-Verse’, Ole Hagen, curator), Danielle Arnaud Galley, London.
- June 2009, ‘Plastique Fantastique: We Lot Yesterday is Judas to the Vibiron’, comic produced with David Burrows for ‘Starmaker’ magazine (that accompanied show of same name, David Burrows, curator), E:vent Gallery, London.
- March 2009, ‘Plastiqiue Fantastique: Peckham Mirror Displacements’ performance with David Burrows (part of ‘Village Idiot’, Mark McGowan, curator), Peckham Town Square, London.
- November 2008, ‘Plastique Fantastique: Protocols for Deceleration (Night is also a Sun)’, show and performance with David Burrows, Outpost Gallery, Norwich.
- June 2008, ‘The Chymical Wedding’, film showing, New Media Res, curated by Jen Wu, part of New Art UK, Whitechapel gallery, London, June 2008
- June 2008, ‘The Chymical Wedding’, images and script, Fools Gold, ed. Lucy Kearney, Edinburgh: Edinburgh College of Art. (also at: www.foolsinprint.com)
- June 2008: ‘Product Clearing’, One Day comic collaboration with David Burrows and Henrik Schratt, curated by Gavin Wade, published by Eastside Projects, Birmingham. Two accompanying Billboards were also produced for Birmingham City Centre (see also www.productclearing.co.uk).
- May 2008, Plastique Fantastique film showing (24hr Puja, Ribbon Ritual and Chymical Wedding) and discussion, curated by ShawANDBoyle, Artprojx gallery, London.
- May 2008, ‘Plastique Fantastique: Shadowface and Glitterhead’, collaboration with David Burrows, Joe Dalton (magazine), no. 4, ed. David Evrard, Brussels.
- May 2008, ‘Plastique Fantastique present ‘Accelerator Ritual’, collaborative performance with David Burrows as part of ‘Plastique Fantastique in the Bug House: Clearing All Channels’ (day of performance/channeling with Bughouse, Kunst, Oreet Ashery, and Catherine Harrington), FA Projects gallery, London.
- April 2008, ‘Plastique Fantastique: You Lot Yesterday is Judas to the Vibiron’, cartoon/text collaboration with David Burrows, Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast, ed. Olga Adelanto, Vitoria-Gasteiz: Centro Cultural Montehermoso (downloadable at www.portabledocument.org).
- January, 2008, ‘Plastique Fantastique present “The Chymical Wedding”’, performance collaboration and film showings with David Burrows, Tate Britain, London, January 4 2008.
- June 2007, ‘The Return of Plastique Fantastique’, text/cartoon collaboration with David Burrows, Frozen Tears III, Birmingham: Article Press.
- May 2007, ‘Plastique Fantastique: Traitor Prophet and Others’, collaboration with David Burrows, Joe Dalton (magazine), no. 3, ed. David Evrard, Brussels
- April 2007, ‘Ribbon dance Communiques’, text/cartoon collaboration with David Burrows, Uncle Chop Chop (magazine), no. 3, eds. John Beagles and Ghrame Ramsay, Glasgow.
- April 2007, ‘Plastique Fantastique Ribbon Dance’, International Project Space (as part of ‘The Event’), performance collaboration with David Burrows, Birmingham City centre (reviewed in Artists Newsletter, June 2007) (film of performance shown at Serpentine Art Gallery, London, as part of Pimps and Hookers and a Salon, itself a part of ‘Local Operations’, June 2007. See also the web project).
- January 2007, Guest curator, ‘Associates’ show (invited by The Hut Project), Temporary Measures Gallery, London.
- November 2006, ‘Plastique Fantastique: Starbucks Fukkee is Your Enemy’, collaboration with David Burrows, Alice Day Gallery, Brussels (solo show with Aline Bouvy and John Gillis) (reviewed in Art Review, March 2007, no. 9 and Art Monthly, May 2006, no. 296) (reprinted in Mute, vol. 2, no. 8 (May 2008)
- November 2006, Staabucks Fukkee is Your Enemy’, text/cartoon collaboration with David Burrows, Magnetic Promenade and Other Sculpture Parks, ed. Chris Evans, London: Studio Voltaire.
- October 2006, ‘Plastique Fantastique Borromean Knot Ribbon Probe’ and ‘Plastique Fantastique Mythopoesis Shrine (to call forth Starbucks Foffee)’, collaboration with David Burrows, Temporary Contemporary Gallery, Zoo Art Fair, London.
- July 2006, ‘Plastique Fantastique 24 hour Puja to the People-yet-to-come’, performance collaboration with David Burrows (part of Séance: War on Ghosts’, Andy Hunt, curator, itself part of Mark McGowans Festival (14th July-11th August), Space Station Sixty Five, London, July 21-3 2006
- July 2006, ‘Plastique Fantastique Shrine (defacialisation)’, collaboration with David Burrows, Pimps and Hookers, 1000000mph Project Space, London (Esther Windsor, curator)
- April 2006, 'Plastique Fantastique Shrine', collaboration with David Burrows, Writing in Strobe, Dicksmith Gallery, London (Andy Hunt, curator) (reviewed in Art Monthly, May 2006, no. 296 and Frieze, July 2006, no. 100)
- March 2005, 'Shrine Drawings and Models (Plastique Fantastique)', collaboration with David Burrows, Works of Royal Destiny and Structural Integrity, Old Seager Distillery, London (The New Dome, curators)
- Nov 2005, 'Probe-Heads!', Slim Volume poster project (Andrew Hunt, curator)
- June 2005, 'Plastique Fantastique', collaboration with David Burrows, EAST, Norwich (Gustav Metzger, curator)
- I was one of the contributors to the Glasgow-based art fanzine 'British Mythic' (1998 - 2000)
For details of the above collaborations with David Burrows see www.plastiquefantastique.org
Grants & awards
Hoggart Fellowship, Goldsmiths, 2005 (Project title: ‘Art Encounters Deleuze and Guattari’)
AHRC Research Leave, 2005 (Project title: ‘Art Encounters Deleuze and Guattari’)
Professional activities
External Examiner, Chelsea College of Art and Design, MA Art Theory
External Examiner, University of Greenwich, MA Media Arts Philosophy and Practice
External Examiner, Edinburgh College of Art, MSc Contemporary Art and Art Theory (2006-2010)
External Examiner, Bradford University, BA Fine Art (2001-2004)
Referee for Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRCC)
Referee for ‘Creative and Performing Arts' (AHRB)
Advisory Editor, Actual/Virtual
Advisory Editor, 'Drain: Journal of Contemporary Art and Culture'
Editorial Board, Aesthetic Pathways
Editorial Board, Punctum Books
Referee for journals: Parallax; Angelaki: Journal of the Theoretical Humanities; Theory, Culture and Society; Deleuze Studies; Bulletin de le Societie Americane de Philosophie de Langue Francaise; Women: A Cultural Review, Cultural Critique
Book/Proposal referee for: Edinburgh University Press; Palgrave; Pluto
Papers presented
- July 2011: 'The Care of the Self versus the Ethics of Desire', Beyond Spinoza Conference, Goldsmiths, London.
- June 2011: 'Anti-Oedipus and the Production of the Subject', The Fourth International Deleuze Conference 'Creation, Crisis, Critique', Copenhagen Business School, Copenhagen.
- May 2011: Invited speaker (and seminars), ‘Mythopoetic Practice’ and ‘Diagrams’, Trondheim, Norway.
- March 2011: ‘Deleuze and Contemporary Art’, Invited speaker, Douglas Hynde Gallery, Dublin (followed by seminar for MA Art in the Contemporary World, NCAD, Dublin, on ‘Guattari’s Ethico-Aesthetic Paradigm’)
- February 2011: 'Performance Fictions: Case Study, Plastique Fantastique, Invited speaker, Critical Art Practice Lectures, Department of Art, Goldsmiths.
- February 2011: 'Performance Fictions: Towards a Mythopoetic Art Practice (Case Study: Plastique Fantastique)', Invited speaker, Teeside University.
- February 2011: 'The Care of the Self versus the Ethics of Desire', Postgraduate seminar series, Royal Academy of Arts Schools, London.
- November 2010: 'From Stuttering and Stammering to the Diagram: Towards a Minor Art Practice?', Keynote Speaker, Minor Photography: The Case of (Post)Surrealist Photography, University of Leuven.
- July 2010: ‘Towards a Mythopoetic Art Practice’, Plenary Speaker, The Third International Deleuze Studies Conference ‘Connect, Continue, Create’, University of Amsterdam.
- November 2009: ‘Art Practice between Henri Bergson and Felix Guattari’, Postgraduate seminar series, Royal Academy of Arts Schools, London.
- October 2009: ‘Performance Fictions: Towards a Mythopoetic Art Practice’, Performance Fictions Symposium (Birmingham City University: Art-Writing Network), Electric Cinema, Birmingham.
- December 2008: ‘The Care of the Self and the Production of the New’, Invited speaker, The National College of Art and Design, Dublin.
- November 2008: ‘Deleuze, Guattari and the Production of the New’, The Cultural Theory Institute, University of Manchester (paper published as film in A/V at http://www.eri.mmu.ac.uk/deleuze/journal10_2.php)
- November 2008: Invited speaker (and seminars), ‘The Care of the Self and the Production of the New’ and ‘From Stuttering and Stammering to the Diagram: Deleuze, Bacon and Contemporary Art Practice’, Trondheim, Norway.
- November 2008: ‘From Stuttering and Stammering to the Diagram: Deleuze, Bacon and Contemporary Art Practice’, symposium on ‘Folie a Deux: Bacon and Deleuze’, Tate Britain, London.
- August 2008: ‘The Production of the New’, The First International Deleuze Studies Conference “One or Several Deleuzes?”, Cardiff University.
- June 2008: ‘Seven Moments in a Fiction about Fiction’, PhD Guest lecture series, Chelsea College of Art.
- May 2008: ‘Writing on Art/Art as Writing’, part of ‘Fictionalising Practice and Politics’ panel, itself part of ‘Art Criticism Beyond Criticism’ Conference, ICA (conference included ‘Calling All Shrines’ text/image for fanzine, ‘Plastizine Fantazine’).
- November 2007: ‘Deleuze and Contemporary Art’, Postgraduate seminar series, Royal Academy of Arts Schools.
- October 2007: Panel discussion on ‘The Future of Art’ for Resonance FM, Freize art fair
- May 2007: ‘Art Encounters Deleuze and Guattari’, talk/interview at Stanley Pickard Gallery, part of Gest: Future Criticism, curated by Robert Garnett and Andrew Hunt, University of Kingston.
- April 2007: ‘The Production of the New’, Gilles Deleuze: Text and Images, University of South Carolina, Columbia.
- December 2006: ‘Deleuzian Aesthetics’, Invited Speaker (and week long seminar series), Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Copenhagen.
- November 2006: ‘Imaging Other Worlds: Mythopoesis and Art Practice’, Institute of Contemporary Arts, London.
- November 2006: ‘From Aesthetics to Probeheads: Deleuze and Art’, Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna.
- June 2006: 'Deleuze and Contemporary Art', Postgraduate Seminar Series, University of Reading.
- May 2006: 'Deleuze, Guattari and Art Practice', What is Philosophy? Seminar series, University of Warwick.
- May 2006: From Representation to Repetition: Archives and Affects', Triennial Symposium, Tate Britain, London.
- March 2006: 'Traitor Prophets: Mythopoesis and the Programmatic Character of Literature vs. 'Stuttering and Stammering' and the 'Affective-Event' at Deleuze and Literature Conference, University of Warwick.
- March 2006: 'Deleuze and Contemporary Art Practice', Aesthetics Lecture series, Royal College of Art, London.
- Nov 2005: 'Probeheads for Future Subjectivities' at 'The Living Thought of Gilles Deleuze' Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Copenhagen.
- June 2005: 'Dissenting Subjectivities' at 'The Ethics and Politics of Indexicaly and Virtuality', CentreCATH, University of Leeds.
- April 2005: 'From Aesthetics to Probeheads: Deleuze and Contemporary Art' at John Russell: Geniess symposium, Norwich School of Art.
- April 2005: 'Plastique Fantastique', at EAST Discourse, Norwich School of Art.
- March 2005: 'The New Moderns' at 'The New Moderns?' conference, The Showroom, London.
- May 2004: ‘From Minor Literature to War Machines: Notes Towards a Political Art Practice' at Experimenting with Intensities, 3 day international conference on Deleuze, Trent University, Toronto.
- Sept 2003: ‘Friendship as Community' at Communities conference, Trinity & All Saints, University of Leeds.
- Sept 2003: ‘War Machines' at Theory Now conference, Manchester Metropolitan University.
- May 2003: 'Virtualities at the Edge: Gilles Deleuze's Bergsonism vs. Robert Smithson's Mirror Travel' at the International Association of Philosophy and Literature conference, University of Leeds
- Jan 2003: 'The Aesthetics of Affect' at MA Fine Art lecture series, Central St Martins, London
- May 2002: 'Dissenting Machines' at Big Torino Art Biennale Symposium, Turin.
- March 2002: 'Figuring the Plane of Immanence' at Postmodernism and Spirituality, University of Preston
- Jan 2001: 'Aesthetics and Affects in Art History' at Visual Arts lecture series, Manchester Metropolitan University.
- April 2000: 'Cultural Studies as Rhizome, Rhizomes in Cultural Studies' at Cultural Studies and Interdisciplinarity, Trinity and All Saints College, University of Leeds.
- March 1998: 'Mind the Gap (in Painting)' at The Northern Critical Theory Seminar one day conference, The European Studies Research Institute, University of Salford.
- August 1997:'Angels and Desire' as part of the Mind/Culture/Theory Seminar Series at the Centre for Psychotherapeutic Studies, The University of Sheffield.
- March 1997: 'The Death of the Subject: Machines and Meaning' at Death and its Concepts two day conference, Centre for Cultural Studies, The University of Leeds.
- Sept 1996: 'Alien Objects' at Thinking Alien, two-day conference, The University of Leeds.
- July 1996:'Art as Machine: Lines of Force, Lines of Flight' at Post-Theory three day conference, School of Humanities, The University of Glasgow.
- Aug 1995: 'Of Angels and Aliens: The Meaning of the Art Object' at Culture and Identity: City Nation World four day conference (the second annual Theory, Culture and Society Conference ) held at the Berlin Hilton Hotel.
- May 1994: 'Derrida vs Lyotard: The Meaning of Painting' one day conference Theatre, Spectacle and Performance at Whitworth art gallery, The University of Manchester.