Free Admission, Booking not necessary.
Artist Fiona McDonald will be joined by an expert panel to discuss her artistic practice and research for her current exhibition Inhale Exhale – Ecologies that refuse to behave . Fiona will be joined by Aisling Murray, Director Beta Festival; Dr Shane Regan, Research Directoriate NPWS, and Elena Anitovia, Peatland Scientist with TetraTech RPS.
Bio
Fiona McDonald is an interdisciplinary artist whose work has always been at the nexus of art, science and technology. She holds a BSc in Biological Chemistry from Coleraine University of Ulster, a BA & MA Fine Art from NCAD an MSc in Multimedia systems at TCD 2006. In 2025, McDonald was invited to present her work at SCI_ART 2025, The landmark EU-Canada Symposium of Art, Science and Technology SCI_ART at SAW center Ottawa Canada and Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies, Okanagan British Columbia.
Aisling Murray is a creative producer and curator with over 10 years’ experience covering exhibitions, festivals, literature, spoken word, theatre and dance. Aisling is the founder of Ireland’s art and technology festival, Beta Festival, which critically engages with technology’s impact on society through exhibitions, discussions and performance. She recently produced the Ireland pavilion exhibitions for Expo Osaka 2025 and was Head of Programming at Science Gallery Dublin (the founding Science Gallery in the international network) up until its closure where she produced creative programmes converging art, science, technology and society from concept to full realisation in Ireland and internationally. Aisling is interested in work at the intersection of art, society and technology with specific interest in immersive technologies, artificial intelligence, industry collaboration and socially engaged work. She was a mentor for Arebyte’s Hotel Generation programme 2025 for the next generation of digital artists in the UK and named one of Ireland’s top 100 Women in Tech in 2025 for her work at Beta Festival. In 2026 she will be a jury member for the prestigious Prix Ars Award and is currently part of the Kunstverein Aughrim Creative Producing Programme.
Dr Shane Regan is an Assistant Director in the Scientific Advice and Research Directorate of the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) and is Adjunct Associate Professor of Hydrology in the School of Earth Sciences University College Dublin (UCD). His main research interests are in the fields of hydrology and biogeochemistry, and he is managing ecohydrological and greenhouse gas monitoring programmes related to the ecosystem management of European sites of interest. He represents NPWS as an expert advisor on numerous national and international committees related to climate change, water resources and biodiversity.
Image: 01. Field research with Mark O Connor Scientific Adviser and Environmental Consultant 2023, Photography Shane Regan, Image courtesy of the artist.
02. Fiona McDonald, Inhale Exhale – Ecologies that refuse to behave, RHA Gallery, Installation shot : Inhale Exhale [1.1] Flux PPM, Photography Mark Stedman, Image courtesy of the artist.
