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Venice Biennale 2009
June 7 - November 22, 2009

Susan MacWilliam will represent Northern Ireland with a solo exhibition 'Remote Viewing' at the Venice Biennale in 2009. This international visual art fair has been, for over a century, one of the most prestigious cultural events in the world. Established in 1895, the Biennale attracts over 300,000 visitors.

Susan MacWilliam is one of the leading artists to emerge from Northern Ireland in the last decade, and she was nominated this year as one of Art Review magazine’s ‘Future Greats’.  In ‘Remote Viewing’, her solo exhibition at the 53rd Venice Biennale, she will present video works based on her detailed research into the archives of paranormal activity. Underlying the compelling narratives are recorded historical cases, from séances to x-ray vision, which MacWilliam retells through a process of reconstruction and a layering of textual fragments, faded newspaper clippings, archive photographs, and first-hand accounts.

Northern Ireland's presence at the Venice Biennale is supported by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure and the British Council.

Susan MacWilliam's practice involves the investigation of particular individual case histories and myths, particularly those relating to the paranormal, the supernatural and to perceptual phenomena. She incorporates the fields of psychical research, psychology and physiology into her artistic practice and uses video, photography and installation.

MacWilliam has made work about materialisation mediums, table tilters, optograms, trance, dermo optical perception and x-ray vision. She works extensively with archives and direct first hand contact with research bodies and figures significant to the narratives.

In 2006 MacWilliam worked with the American Society of Psychical Research, new York, in 2007 she was artist in residence at the Parapsychology Foundation, New York and in 2007 she attended the Parapsychological Association Conference, Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Susan MacWilliam has exhibited worldwide and her work has been reviewed extensively. Recent exhibitions include 'Seeing is Believing', The Photographers' Gallery, London; 'Double Vision', Jack the Pelican Presents, New York and 'Eileen', Gimpel Fils, London. MacWilliam's video works are housed in the British Library's 'Sound Archive', London.
Born 1969 MacWilliam lives in Belfast, she is a member of Orchid Studios, Belfast and is a Lecturer in Fine Art at the National College of Art and Design, Dublin.