Image: Thaddeus Holownia
Kerrie O'Leary (b. 1992) is an Irish artist and producer based between Dublin and London. Her practice integrates technology and kinetic movement to create immersive installations that transform raw data into living, evolving forms. By merging computational techniques, mathematical algorithms, and machine learning, O'Leary explores systems—natural and artificial—revealing hidden patterns that shape our world. Her work serves as both aesthetic experience and critical inquiry, inviting audiences to reconsider their relationship with technology and the environment.
Her background in Management Science and Information Systems (MSISS, Trinity College Dublin) informs her data-driven approach, while her MFA in Computational Art from Goldsmiths University, London, deepened her research into environmental systems, the sublime, and hyperobjects. Rooted in hydrofeminist and ecofeminist thought, her work challenges anthropocentric views by making ecological interdependencies tangible. She is particularly interested in the ways quantum mechanics—where particles exist in multiple states at once—offers a metaphor for fluidity, interconnectedness, and the instability of our climate systems.
Currently, O’Leary is an artist-in-residence at Makerversity, Somerset House, where she is exploring the increasing prevalence of flooding in the UK. Through kinetic sculptures and generative installations, she examines water’s agency, mapping the intersections of data, crisis, and materiality. Previously, she undertook a residency in Berlin, hosted by Goethe Institut, Akademie der Künste, and Künstlerhaus Bethanien, where she investigated quantum computing as a framework for understanding complex environmental systems.
Her work has been exhibited at institutions such as Somerset House and the V&A in London, as well as internationally in New York, China, and Dublin. She has collaborated with The Eco Show Boat and Emergency Exit Arts to create public artworks that interrogate climate crisis narratives. Past residencies include College Lane Gallery (Dublin) and Tides Institute and Museum of Art (Maine, USA).
If you are interested in working with me or would like to arrange a studio visit please get in touch.
email: olearykerrie @ gmail . com
instagram: @kerrieoleary.ie
Makerversity
Somerset House
WC2R 1LA
Exhibitions and Projects
Selected Exhibitions
2025 IN SCOPE Hypha Studios HQ London, UK
2023 Eco Show Boat 1 Windmill Lane Dublin, funded by Irish Arts Council
2023 Between Creativity and Individuality Huanggang Normal University Hubei, China
2023 Changing Course (DEFRA Futures) Somerset House London, UK
2023 Hidden in Plain Sight, Open Data Week Data Through Design New York, sponsored by Brooklyn Arts Council
2023 OVERFLOW hARTslane Gallery London, UK
2023 Medway Light Nights Festival Chatham Highstreet Kent, UK, funded by Arts Council England
2022 Spectacle for Later Rio Cinema London, UK
2022 Can Water Be Thirsty (also here) Storm Studio Brooklyn, New York
2022 Hang Party Brixton House Theatre London, UK
2022 London Digital Design Festival The Victoria & Albert Museum London, UK
2022 Subsystems Goldsmiths University of London London, UK
2022 Digital Fantasies The Wrong Biennale Online
2021 Shivers Goldsmiths University London London, UK
2021 off(CAMPUS) Goldsmiths University London Online
Solo Shows
2021 The Scenic Route The College Lane Gallery Dublin, Ireland
Awards and Residencies
2024 Studio Quantum Residency Berlin, Germany, funded by Goethe Institute, Akademie der Künste, Künstlerhaus Bethanien
2024 Maker With a Mission @ Makerversity Residency Somerset House, London
2024 EU S+T+ARTS 4 Water Finalist EU S+T+ARTS Consortium
2024 Fine Art Work Centre, finalist Residency FAWC, Provincetown, USA
2023 Tides Institute and Museum of Art Residency Eastport, Maine, USA
2023 Develop Your Creative Practice Grant Arts Council England
2023 EMAP Residency, Finalist Residency EU Media ArtPlatform
2022 London Design Festival Award The V&A, London
2021 College Lane Gallery Residency Dublin, Ireland
2021 Public Sculpture Emergency Exit Arts Award London, UK
Press and Features
2025 FAD, Top 5 Exhibitions to visit in London this February
2024 Rows and Columns , Revealing Nature’s unseen Rhythms
2023 NY1 News, Open Data Week
2023 Stefan Sagmeister Blog
2023 Medway Light Nights Festival
2022 Vertex, Cambridge University Magazine
Selected Speaking and Teaching
2025 Currents and Code, Artist Talk Hypha Studios London, UK
2024 Painting with Plotters led by Licia He V&A Museum London, UK
2024 London Design Festival Data VisWorkshop Somerset House London, UK
2024 A Discussion on Interactive Theatre Somerset House London, UK
2024 Mentor with Unloc, Steering the Future Morley College London, UK
2024 Jurer, Tides Institute and Museum of Art Eastport Maine, USA
2023 What is Data Visualisation Eastport High School Eastport, Maine, USA
2023 Physical Computing and Art Eastport High School Eastport, Maine, USA
2023 The School of Looking Eco Show Boat Dublin, Ireland
2023 Hidden in Plain Sight Data X Design New York, New York
2022 What is Computational Art? Sutton Park School Dublin, Ireland
2020 Combining Art & Computer Science Chapin Girls School New York, New York
Education
2022 MFA Computational Arts, Goldsmiths University London, First Class Honours
2019 Diploma Front End Web Development, IBAT College
2015 B.A Management Science and Information System Studies, Trinity College Dublin