Shaun Irons and Lauren Petty (AutomaticRelease) are multiplatform artists who make interdisciplinary performances, installations, experimental films, documentaries and interactive video scores to accompany live performance. Recent projects include Why Why Always, a live cine-performance inspired by Jean-Luc Godard’s techno-noir film Alphaville (Abrons, 2017), Atmospheres & Accidental Ghosts, a self-generating video/sound installation (NYEAF, 2015), and Keep Your Electric Eye On Me, an interdisciplinary performance exploring dual realities and hysteria (HERE, 2014). Their current project All Over Everywhere, a requiem for an imperiled natural world, received production funds from both NYSCA and NYFA Made in NY Women’s Fund, was featured in The Kitchen’s online magazine All Over Everywhere premiered in May2021 as a live-broadcast on Twitch as part of Theater Mitu’s Artists-At-Home series.
Their work has been presented at venues including BAM, The Brooklyn Museum, The Chocolate Factory, Anthology Film Archives, The Kitchen, Tokyo Wonder Site, REDCAT, CURRENTS New Media Festival, Rencontres International Paris/Berlin, the Museo Nacional Havana and the Venice Biennale. They have received numerous awards including grants from the NEA, NYSCA, NYFA, Jerome Foundation, Greenwall Foundation, Bel Geddes Fund, Mertz Gilmore Foundation, LMCC, Harvestworks, Asian Cultural Council, as well as residencies from Yaddo, MacDowell, Signal Culture, HERE, Camargo Foundation, the Tokyo Wonder Site and the Bogliasco Foundation.
RECENT AWARDS:
New York State Foundation for the Arts: Women’s Fund for Media, Music and Theater
New York State Council on the Arts Individual Artists Grant
Yaddo Residency Fellowship
MacDowell Residency Fellowship
Bel Geddes Design Enhancement Fund
BAU Residency at the Camargo Foundation
The Greenwall Foundation
SELECTED PRESS:
The Kitchen Magazine – A Dialogue with Shaun Irons & Lauren Petty
Culturebot – Technology is Just a Tool
Ephemeral Objects – Talking to Shaun Irons & Lauren Petty
New York Times – The Inspiration Found in Silence and Brando