Information — Karl Burke

Artist Statement

My subject is the tension inherent in human descriptions of reality. I use an instinctual approach to make paintings that engage the viewer at the intuitive level, often using the human figure. I am interested in the effect of technology on human behaviour and society, the military-industrial complex, the Anthropocene, history, and geopolitics. I paint in oils using primarily a traditional layered technique.

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Selected references

The Infinite Book: A Short Guide to the Boundless, Timeless and Endless, John D. Barrow, 2006
Le Directeur général des fortifications, Sébastien Le Prestre Vauban, 1678
A Review of Solid Electrolyte Interphase (SEI) and Dendrite Formation in Lithium Batteries, Borong Li, Yu Chao, Mengchao Li, Yuanbin Xiao, Rui Li, Kang Yang, Xiancai Cui, Gui Xu, Lingyun Li, Chengkai Yang, Yan Yu, David P. Wilkinson & Jiujun Zhang, 2023
Reality Check, Ed Zitron, 2025
FM 3-0, Operations, Department of the Army, 2025
Chaos: Making a New Science, James Gleick, 1987
The transactions of the first World Power Conference, London, 1924
The Master and His Emissary – The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World, Iain McGilchrist, 2009
Collapse, Jared Diamond, 2005
Introduction to Electronics, Signals, and Measurement, MIT, Prof. David Cory, Prof. Ian Hutchinson, Prof. Manos Chaniotakis, 2006
The Book of Sand, Jorge Luis Borges, 1979
The Narcissism Epidemic: Living in the Age of Entitlement, Jean M. Twenge, W. Keith Campbell
The Story of Mathematics, Richard Mankiewicz, Ian Stewart, 2001
The Greek Myths, Robert Graves, 1955
The Machine Stops, E.M. Forster, 1909
Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies, Nick Bostrom, 2016
The Great War for Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East, Robert Fisk, 2006
Marvels of the Modern World, Harold Wheeler, 1946
Periodic Tales: A Cultural History of the Elements, from Arsenic to Zinc, Hugh Aldersey-Williams, 2012
Metals in the Service of Man, Arthur Street , William Alexander, 1943
The Secret Lives of Colour: Kassia St Clair, 2018
The Origin of Satan, Elaine Pagels, 1995
Amusing Ourselves to Death, Neil Postman, 1987
The Periodic Table, Primo Levi, 1975

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Selected Exhibitions
2024     Mariner XI/Motherkraft, Project Arts Centre, Dublin
2022     Images Are All We Have, PhotoIreland, Dublin
2019      Surveillé·e·s, Solstice Arts Centre, Navan
2018      Surveillé·e·s, Centre Culturel Irlandais, Paris
2018      Gun Ballet: the Aestheticization of Violence in Video Games, VGA Gallery, Chicago
2017      Work in Progress, Centre Culturel Irlandais, Paris
2017      Culture Night, Bond Street Studios, Dublin
2017      Facts and Clarifications, Photomonth Riga
2016      The Postcard Show, Sirius Arts Centre, Cobh, 1st - 22nd December
2016      Landscape Rising, Solomon Gallery, Dublin
2016      Security Theatre, Or Gallery, Vancouver
2015      N-18, Kaunas Photo Festival
2015      Zwischenräume, Galerie Feld+Haus, Frankfurt
2014      Caravana Negra, Galerie de l'Ambassade de France, Buenos Aires
2013      The Postcard Show, Sirius Arts Centre, Cobh
2013      Fotofestiwal Łódź
2012      Post-Script, Camden Palace, Cork
2012      Landscape: The Eloquent Light, Black Box Gallery, Portland
2012      Instant Love, MadArt Gallery, Dublin
2011       UNHCR: 60 Years - Stories of Survival and Safe Haven, Dún Laoghaire, Dublin
2011       UNHCR: 60 Years - Stories of Survival and Safe Haven, PhotoIreland Festival, Dublin
2011       UNHCR: 60 Years - Stories of Survival and Safe Haven, CHQ, Dublin
2011       Open Walls, Black Box Gallery, Portland
2010      Open Season, The Dock Arts Centre, Carrick on Shannon
2010      The Little Picture Show, Crow Gallery, Dublin
2010      Talent For Haiti, Powerscourt Centre, Dublin
2009     Cluster Approving Association, Turn-Berlin Gallery, Berlin

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Books (Anthologies)
2020     Don’t Press Print: De/Re-Constructing the Collodion Process, (RPS, London)
2019      Photo Book Vol. 3, (Fisheye, Paris, ISBN 979-10-97326-04-3)

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Awards and Residencies
2024 Agility Award, Arts Council of Ireland
2022 Agility Award, Arts Council of Ireland
2019      Language Bursary, Centre Culturel Irlandais, Paris
2017      Artist Residency, Centre Culturel Irlandais, Paris
2013      Fotofestiwal Łódź, Grand Prix

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Masterclasses
2012 Simon Norfolk, Sirius Arts Centre, Cobh

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Press & Interviews
Fisheye, Nov. 2018, Anaïs Viand, Les mondes et les paysages virtuels - des dérivés de l'armement virtuel
Usbek & Rica, Sept. 2018, Pablo Maillé, Une exposition sur les milles et un visages de la surveillance
Petapixel, Apr. 2018, I use Cyberweapon Code to Creat Virtual Landscape Photos
The Irish Times, 12th July 2016, a review of Landscape Rising by Aidan Dunne
Prism Photo Magazine, Issue 22, Mariner XI
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Christoph Schütte, Frankfurter Galerien - Frauen und Eierspeisen an Sommertagen
British Journal of Photography, Lewis Bush, The line between war photography, acts of war and video games has almost gone
The New York Times Lens Blog, Niko Koppel, Game on - A 19th Century Approach to Modern Warfare
Polygon, Tracey Lien, Karl Burke’s ‘A Harvest of Death’
Games.cz, Pavel Dobrovský, Hon na mrtvoly: Virtuální válka na fotkách Karla Burkeho
Prism Photo Magazine, Issue 11, Grand Prix Fotofestiwal Łódź
Photo District News, PDN Photo of the Day
DOC! Photo Magazine, contra doc! #2
Bold Magazine, Tomasz Ferenc, Otwarcie i Grand Prix Fotofestiwal 2013

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Public talks, lectures & panel appearances
2023 Implications of text-driven A.I. Image Generators, Island Photographers, Dublin
2022 Think Tank: On Histories II, PhotoIreland, Dublin
2021 Social Dynamics of Civil Wars, Université Paris 1, Panthéon Sorbonne
2018 Living Under the CCTV Gaze, Centre Culturel Irlandais, Paris

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TV
Canalplus, L'Oeil de Links, Jeu vidéo et photographie

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Education
1994 Law Society of Ireland, Solicitor at Law
1990 Trinity College Dublin, Bachelor in Laws (LL.B.)