See below or download POK CV 2024
CV Dr. Paul O’Kane
July 2024 e: [email protected] m: +44(0)7904 895539
ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8394-5354
Profile
Critical Studies Senior Lecturer 0.5, CSM, UAL and Associate Lecturer. Art lecturer at SOAS, University of London. Artist, writer, lecturer and publisher with extensive experience. Specialist in speculative writing on art, history and culture. Specialist in seminar and lecture provision, art writing, academic writing, creative writing, critical studies, art & history. I am an active international member of AICA (Association of International Critics of art) and a founding editor of eeodo artists’ self-publishing book company.
Education
2003 – 2009 PhD History Goldsmiths College, University of London
1999 – 2001 MA (Distinction) Art History/Visual Cultures Goldsmiths College, University of London
2001 PGCert, Education in Art & Design The London Institute
1996 NCTJ Print Journalism, Lambeth College
1991 – 1993 BA (Hons) Fine Art, Camberwell College of Art & Design
1981 – 1983 BA (Hons) Photography Film & TV London College of Printing London
Pending Publications
2024 A Non-Violent Explosion In The Taxonomic Schloss (Towards A Neo-Baroque) 4,500 words essay/book chapter for Sascha Mikloweit. Mikloweit, S., ed., 2024. Transpositional Geologies. Berlin: Kerber Verlag: September 2024
ISBN 978-3-7356-0971-7 (edited book chapter)
2024 Sculpture in The City 2023. 4,500-word article for (refereed) Journal of Urban Cultural Studies
2024 Painting by Numbers?
How new types and tendencies of highly technologised, prescriptive, and generic Teaching and Learning have taught me to cherish and defend certain unique values and methods of fine art teaching (refereed) Journal of Learning Development 3000 words.
Recent Publications
2024 Staying Alive: Transcendence and Immanence in Contemporary Painting
Long form article for (refereed) Journal of Contemporary Painting
2024 A Wind Spinner Has Fallen, catalogue essay for ‘Time Has Burned’ group show, Willesden Gallery, London
2024 This Is Not A Memoir, Long form review of book by Janette Parris, for Third Text Online
2023 Life Is More Important Than Art, Whitechapel Gallery, London. Long form review for Third Text Online
2023 Taking Visual Pleasure in Cinematic Revenge Michelle Williams Gamaker’s ‘Our Mountains are Painted on Glass’ South London Gallery. Short form review for Third Text Online
2023 What happens if a contemporary artist places a jewellery shop inside a gallery? R.I.P. Germain “Jesus Died For Us, We Will Die For Dudus!” ICA London
Long-form review for Third Text Online
2023 The Secret Life of Objects in the Immanent Art of Morandi
Or: How art shows us how to write about art if we only let it.
Long form article for (refereed) Journal of Writing in Creative Practice
2023 ‘Soft and Weak Like Water: The 14th Gwangju Biennale, 2023’ (long-form review for Third Text Online)
2023 ‘2022 Title Match: IM Heung-soon vs Omer Fast “Cut!” at SeMA in Seoul’ (long-form review for Third Text Online)
2023 ‘History in Contemporary Art & Culture’ 85,000-word illustrated, single author monograph book for Routledge Academic Publishers
2022 ‘On Hunter Gatherer: recent paintings by Francesco Poiana’ at Messums Gallery, Cork Street, London (gallery text)
2022 ‘On Mask-Ocracy’ article for (refereed) journal Third Text
2022 (Editor of the English version) ‘Art Criticism in Times of Populism and Nationalism: proceedings of the 52nd international AICA congress’
2021 ‘Six Thousand Masks for One Imposter’ article for (refereed) Journal of Writing & Creative practice
2021 ‘Lectures in lockdown: trying to rescue the lecture as event’ article for (refereed) Journal of Learning Development
2021 ‘Small Worlds & Short Stories: play, pleasure & imagination deployed as a salve to Isolated learning’ article for (refereed) Journal of Learning Development
2020 ‘Four Thousand One Hundred & Eight Masks for One Imposter’, published online by Five Years
2020 ‘The Carnival of Popularity Part II: Towards a mask-ocracy’, published by Third Text Online http://thirdtext.org/okane-maskocracy
2020 ‘The Carnival of Popularity’, published by Third Text Online, http://thirdtext.org/OKane-carnival
2019 ‘Technologies of Romance: looking for “object love” in three works of video art’ article for (refereed) Science Museum Journal
2019 ‘Forever Young: Juvenilia, Amateurism, and the Popular Past (or ‘Transvaluing Values in the Age of the Archive’) published by Third Text Online, http://thirdtext.org/okane-juvenilia
2019 ‘Renzo Martens’ Episode III (2009); The Latest Laocoon: Reflections on Renzo Martens’ Episode III (2016)’ chapter for ‘Critique In Practice, Renzo Martens’ Episode III: Enjoy Poverty’ a book edited by Anthony Downey with a preface by Charles Esche
2019 ‘Half-Way To Cloud Mountain’, book of short stories illustrated by Francesco Poiana, published by eeodo, London
2018 ‘Technologies of Romance- Part II’ 250-page, illustrated artists’ self-published book on art, history and technology – eeodo
2018 ‘Lee Yil – Anthologised Critical Writings’ translated by Bada Song and Paul O’Kane, with Shim Chung. Edited by Henry Meyric Hughes for AICA publications & Les presses du réel.
2018 ‘The Other Side of the Word : Translation as Migration in the Anthologised Writings of Lee Yil’ article by Paul O’Kane for Third Text Online (http://www.thirdtext.org/okane-leeyil)
2017 ‘A Journey Through Days 4 and 5 of the 50th AICA Congress, Paris, November 2017’ (http://aicainternational.org/en/congress-2017-paul-o-kane/ )
2017 ‘On Stage: The Theatrical Dimension of Video Image’ by Mathilde Roman, Book Review, Art Monthly, Issue 405, April, 2017 (plus associated Resonance FM Radio discussion)
2017 ‘Technologies of Romance- Part I’. 200-page, illustrated artists’ self-published book on art, history and technology – eeodo
2016 ‘Now It is Permitted: 24 Wayside Pulpits‘ Commissioned response to installation by Bridget Smith at Swedenborg House, London
2016 ‘Post-Perspectival Art & Politics in Post-Brexit Britain’ for Third Text Online (http://www.thirdtext.org/post-brexit- art-politics) THIRD TEXT
2016 “I’m Alone, But Not Lonely”, artists’ self-published book for eeodo (in the roles of joint fundraiser, preface writer, editor, designer and distributor
2016 ‘Electronic Superhighway – A report by Paul O’Kane’, For (refereed) MIRAJ journal.
2016 ‘Spolia As Speculation’ article for (refereed) Journal of Visual Practice
2016 ‘Painting Is Believing’ article for (refereed) Journal of Contemporary Painting
Recent Talks & Events
2024 ‘Half Way To Cloud Mountain – The Stories’ Story‘ Central Saint Martins, UAL, Kings X.
2023 ‘History in Contemporary Art & Culture’. Talk for Glasgow School of Art
2023 ‘History in Contemporary Art & Culture’. Two talks for Chelsea College of Art, UAL
2023 Book launch event with guest speaker Hew Locke and 75 guests, to mark publication of my Routledge book ‘History in Contemporary Art & Culture’. Held at Lethaby Gallery, CSM Kings Cross, London.
2022 ‘Still Hemmed-In? – Hew Locke, The Procession, and History’. Paper given at Tate Britain / Paul Mellon Centre event re Hew Locke’s ’The Procession’
2021 ‘Thought Is Made In The Mouth: Embracing critical nonsense in a time of intellectual aftermath’ Paper for AICA conference, Turkey
2020 ‘Did I See Cao Fei at The Serpentine Galley?’ paper for AICA Turkey international conference on art criticism in the age of lockdown
2019 ‘The Carnival of Popularity: Wresting the Popular from Populism’, paper given at the 52nd International AICA Congress, Berlin (on ‘Art Criticism in a Time of Populism & Nationalism)
2018 ‘Let Them Eat Photographs’ paper and photo-essay given at TATE Modern for LCC conference on ‘Writing Photographs‘
2018 ‘Technologies of Romance Symposium‘ speaker and joint organiser with eeodo and Science Museum
2018 ‘The Book as a Romantic Technology’ moderator for book launch event and public discussion at South London Gallery
2018 ‘Extended Call 3’ moderator for talk on alternative spaces for Chelsea alumni organisation
2018 ‘Journeys: how class and culture influenced your journey through Higher Education’ Event organiser and speaker at CSM, UAL, London
2018 ‘On translating the writings of Korean Critic Lee Yil’, paper given at SOAS / AICA Symposium
2018 ‘Days of the Water Sun’ reading for ‘Studio Complex’ at CSM/Tate Exchange, Tate Modern, London
2017 ‘The Other Side Of The Word: Translation as migration in the anthologized writings of Lee Yil’ paper for AICA Paris conference
2017 ‘Bad Meaning Good’ paper for ‘Disobedience and Complex Systems: Art, Design, Media and the Political’ conference at Iklectik Arts Lab London
2017 ‘On Sarah Roberts and Mark Jackson’ talk at Block336, Gallery, Brixton, London
2017 ‘Kumiko The Treasure Hunter’ paper (also host and moderator) ‘Technologies of Romance’ symposium, Whitechapel Gallery, London
Teaching Experience
2016-24 As Lecturer and as Senior Lecturer, 0.5, Critical Studies, Fine Art CSM
1999-2024 Associate Lecturer for BAFA, MAFA and MRes Courses, providing specialism in Art Writing, Academic Writing, Critical Studies and Art History at: CSM (BAFA, MAFA, MA Art & Photography and MRes), Chelsea, LCC, Goldsmiths, Camberwell, Middlesex, Canterbury, Farnham, Seevic, and others.
2005 – 2024 Lecturer for Art of the World in London an annual summer course for international students acquiring English skills through subject courses. SOAS, University of London
2013 White Square Teaching Award (UAL)
Selected seminars:
A Thing of the Past?: History, Story, Memory & Tradition in Contemporary art
Technologies of Romance
Walter Benjamin – Key Essays
Art & Popularity
Small Worlds & Short Stories
A World of Stories
Rêve Général (imaginative forms of progressive protest)
The B-Team (from Baudelaire to Butler and beyond)
Key Ideas Lectures for First Year BA Fine Art
Studio and contextual studies for BA Fine Art Sculpture
Dutch Art & Culture in the 17th Century Golden Age
European Art History for visitors to London
Object & Meaning’ Performance and Event-based practices
Art & Politics
Art and Writing
Recent Exhibitions
2024 ‘SideShow’ (‘Half Way To Cloud Mountain – The Stories’ Story’) Central Saint Martins, UAL, Kings X.
2017 Carousel (2010 Edit) screened at ‘Altered Realities’, Lethaby Gallery, CSM Kings Cross, London
2016 ‘End Papers’ installation for the group show ‘To Be Converted’ at Bread & Jam, London
2016 ‘Mind Your Back/Looking Back’ Installation for British School of Osteopathy Conference, London
2015 ‘RIGHT’ (video) and ‘Art & Labour: One Hour’s Worth of Thought’ (video) for ‘Reboot’, Sluice Art Fair, Bargehouse London
2015 ‘Cheolsan’ video, text and installation at Wild Pansy Press Project Space, Leeds University
2014 ‘Hills To Mountains’ Performance in collaboration with Bada Song at Café Oto London
2013 ‘Downtime’ Curator, speaker and contributor. Group show at Ort Gallery, Birmingham
2012 ‘There Will Be Others’ Group show curated by The Modern Language Experiment at Angus-Hughes Gallery London
2012 ‘10,000 Steps’ (in collaboration with Bada Song) screened at Deptford X
2011 ‘Carousel’ screened at Swedenborg House, Short film festival, London
2011 ‘Souvenirs’ three -person show curated by Richard Ducker at Angus-Hughes Gallery London
2011 ‘Carousel’ screened at ‘Smoke On The Water’, Aubin Gallery, London
2010 ‘Carousel’screened at ‘For The Sake Of The Image’, Jerwood Space, London
2010 ‘Carousel’ screened at ‘Happy End’ at Yinka Shonibare’s Space, London
2010 ‘Carousel’ screened at TEA Tenerife Espacio de las Artes, Spain
Referees
Richard Dyer, Editor in Chief, Third Text, Unit 6, Enclave Studios
50 Resolution Way, Deptford, London SE8 4AL
Alex Schady, Programme Director Fine Art and Course Leader BA Fine Art, CSM, Kings X, UAL, Granary Building, 1, Granary Square, Kings X, London, N1C 4AA
Professor Michael Newman, Professor of Art Writing, Department of Art, Goldsmiths College, 8 Lewisham Way, New Cross, London SE14 6NW
Professor Howard Caygill, Professor Of Modern European Philosophy, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Kingston University, Penrhyn Road, Kingston upon Thames, Surrey KT1 2EE
Marjorie Allthorpe-Guyton, AICA International – General Secretary, and AICA UK –President, 1 Thornhill Road, London NI IHX
2001 PGCert, Education in Art & Design The London Institute
1996 NCTJ Print Journalism, Lambeth College
1991 – 1993 BA (Hons) Fine Art, Camberwell College of Art & Design
1981 – 1983 BA (Hons) Photography Film & TV London College of Printing London
Recent Publications
2023 Life Is More Important Than Art, Whitechapel Gallery, London. Long form review for Third Text Online
2023 Staying Alive: Transcendence and Immanence in Contemporary Painting
Long form article for (refereed) Journal of Contemporary Painting
2023 Taking Visual Pleasure in Cinematic Revenge Michelle Williams Gamaker’s ‘Our Mountains are Painted on Glass’ South London Gallery. Short form review for Third Text Online
2023 What happens if a contemporary artist places a jewellery shop inside a gallery? R.I.P. Germain “Jesus Died For Us, We Will Die For Dudus!” ICA London
Long-form review for Third Text Online
2023 The Secret Life of Objects in the Immanent Art of Morandi
Or: How art shows us how to write about art if we only let it.
Long form article for (refereed) Journal of Writing in Creative Practice
2023 ‘Soft and Weak Like Water: The 14th Gwangju Biennale, 2023’ (long-form review for Third Text Online)
2023 ‘2022 Title Match: IM Heung-soon vs Omer Fast “Cut!” at SeMA in Seoul’ (long-form review for Third Text Online)
2023 ‘History in Contemporary Art & Culture’ 85,000-word illustrated, single author monograph book for Routledge Academic Publishers
2022 ‘On Hunter Gatherer: recent paintings by Francesco Poiana’ at Messums Gallery, Cork Street, London (gallery text)
2022 ‘On Mask-Ocracy’ article for (refereed) journal Third Text
2022 (Editor of the English version) ‘Art Criticism in Times of Populism and Nationalism: proceedings of the 52nd international AICA congress’
2021 ‘Six Thousand Masks for One Imposter’ article for (refereed) Journal of Writing & Creative practice
2021 ‘Lectures in lockdown: trying to rescue the lecture as event’ article for (refereed) Journal of Learning Development
2021 ‘Small Worlds & Short Stories: play, pleasure & imagination deployed as a salve to Isolated learning’ article for (refereed) Journal of Learning Development
2020 ‘Four Thousand One Hundred & Eight Masks for One Imposter’, published online by Five Years
2020 ‘The Carnival of Popularity Part II: Towards a mask-ocracy’, published by Third Text Online http://thirdtext.org/okane-maskocracy
2020 ‘The Carnival of Popularity’, published by Third Text Online, http://thirdtext.org/OKane-carnival
2019 ‘Technologies of Romance: looking for “object love” in three works of video art’ article for (refereed) Science Museum Journal
2019 ‘Forever Young: Juvenilia, Amateurism, and the Popular Past (or ‘Transvaluing Values in the Age of the Archive’) published by Third Text Online, http://thirdtext.org/okane-juvenilia
2019 ‘Renzo Martens’ Episode III (2009); The Latest Laocoon: Reflections on Renzo Martens’ Episode III (2016)’ chapter for ‘Critique In Practice, Renzo Martens’ Episode III: Enjoy Poverty’ a book edited by Anthony Downey with a preface by Charles Esche
2019 ‘Half-Way To Cloud Mountain’, book of short stories illustrated by Francesco Poiana, published by eeodo, London
2018 ‘Technologies of Romance- Part II’ 250-page, illustrated artists’ self-published book on art, history and technology – eeodo
2018 ‘Lee Yil – Anthologised Critical Writings’ translated by Bada Song and Paul O’Kane, with Shim Chung. Edited by Henry Meyric Hughes for AICA publications & Les presses du réel.
2018 ‘The Other Side of the Word : Translation as Migration in the Anthologised Writings of Lee Yil’ article by Paul O’Kane for Third Text Online (http://www.thirdtext.org/okane-leeyil)
2017 ‘A Journey Through Days 4 and 5 of the 50th AICA Congress, Paris, November 2017’ (http://aicainternational.org/en/congress-2017-paul-o-kane/ )
2017 ‘On Stage: The Theatrical Dimension of Video Image’ by Mathilde Roman, Book Review, Art Monthly, Issue 405, April, 2017 (plus associated Resonance FM Radio discussion)
2017 ‘Technologies of Romance- Part I’. 200-page, illustrated artists’ self-published book on art, history and technology – eeodo
2016 ‘Now It is Permitted: 24 Wayside Pulpits‘ Commissioned response to installation by Bridget Smith at Swedenborg House, London
2016 ‘Post-Perspectival Art & Politics in Post-Brexit Britain’ for Third Text Online (http://www.thirdtext.org/post-brexit- art-politics) THIRD TEXT
2016 “I’m Alone, But Not Lonely”, artists’ self-published book for eeodo (in the roles of joint fundraiser, preface writer, editor, designer and distributor
2016 ‘Electronic Superhighway – A report by Paul O’Kane’, For (refereed) MIRAJ journal.
2016 ‘Spolia As Speculation’ article for (refereed) Journal of Visual Practice
2016 ‘Painting Is Believing’ article for (refereed) Journal of Contemporary Painting
Recent Talks & Events
2023 ‘History in Contemporary Art & Culture’. Talk for Glasgow School of Art
2023 ‘History in Contemporary Art & Culture’. Two talks for Chelsea College of Art, UAL
2023 Book launch event with guest speaker Hew Locke and 75 guests, to mark publication of my Routledge book ‘History in Contemporary Art & Culture’. Held at Lethaby Gallery, CSM Kings Cross, London.
2022 ‘Still Hemmed-In? – Hew Locke, The Procession, and History’. Paper given at Tate Britain / Paul Mellon Centre event re Hew Locke’s ’The Procession’
2021 ‘Thought Is Made In The Mouth: Embracing critical nonsense in a time of intellectual aftermath’ Paper for AICA conference, Turkey
2020 ‘Did I See Cao Fei at The Serpentine Galley?’ paper for AICA Turkey international conference on art criticism in the age of lockdown
2019 ‘The Carnival of Popularity: Wresting the Popular from Populism’, paper given at the 52nd International AICA Congress, Berlin (on ‘Art Criticism in a Time of Populism & Nationalism)
2018 ‘Let Them Eat Photographs’ paper and photo-essay given at TATE Modern for LCC conference on ‘Writing Photographs‘
2018 ‘Technologies of Romance Symposium‘ speaker and joint organiser with eeodo and Science Museum
2018 ‘The Book as a Romantic Technology’ moderator for book launch event and public discussion at South London Gallery
2018 ‘Extended Call 3’ moderator for talk on alternative spaces for Chelsea alumni organisation
2018 ‘Journeys: how class and culture influenced your journey through Higher Education’ Event organiser and speaker at CSM, UAL, London
2018 ‘On translating the writings of Korean Critic Lee Yil’, paper given at SOAS / AICA Symposium
2018 ‘Days of the Water Sun’ reading for ‘Studio Complex’ at CSM/Tate Exchange, Tate Modern, London
2017 ‘The Other Side Of The Word: Translation as migration in the anthologized writings of Lee Yil’ paper for AICA Paris conference
2017 ‘Bad Meaning Good’ paper for ‘Disobedience and Complex Systems: Art, Design, Media and the Political’ conference at Iklectik Arts Lab London
2017 ‘On Sarah Roberts and Mark Jackson’ talk at Block336, Gallery, Brixton, London
2017 ‘Kumiko The Treasure Hunter’ paper (also host and moderator) ‘Technologies of Romance’ symposium, Whitechapel Gallery, London
Teaching Experience
2016-23 As Lecturer and as Senior Lecturer, 0.5, Critical Studies, Fine Art CSM
1999-2023 Associate Lecturer for BAFA, MAFA and MRes Courses, providing specialism in Art Writing, Academic Writing, Critical Studies and Art History at: CSM (BAFA, MAFA, MA Art & Photography and MRes), Chelsea, LCC, Goldsmiths, Camberwell, Middlesex, Canterbury, Farnham, Seevic, and others.
2005 – 2023 Lecturer for Art of the World in London an annual summer course for international students acquiring English skills through subject courses. SOAS, University of London
2013 White Square Teaching Award (UAL)
Selected seminars:
A Thing of the Past?: History, Story, Memory & Tradition in Contemporary art
Technologies of Romance
Walter Benjamin – Key Essays
Art & Popularity
Small Worlds & Short Stories
A World of Stories
Rêve Général (imaginative forms of progressive protest)
The B-Team (from Baudelaire to Butler and beyond)
Key Ideas Lectures for First Year BA Fine Art
Studio and contextual studies for BA Fine Art Sculpture
Dutch Art & Culture in the 17th Century Golden Age
European Art History for visitors to London
Object & Meaning’ Performance and Event-based practices
Art & Politics
Art and Writing
Recent Exhibitions
2017 Carousel (2010 Edit) screened at ‘Altered Realities’, Lethaby Gallery, CSM Kings Cross, London
2016 ‘End Papers’ installation for the group show ‘To Be Converted’ at Bread & Jam, London
2016 ‘Mind Your Back/Looking Back’ Installation for British School of Osteopathy Conference, London
2015 ‘RIGHT’ (video) and ‘Art & Labour: One Hour’s Worth of Thought’ (video) for ‘Reboot’, Sluice Art Fair, Bargehouse London
2015 ‘Cheolsan’ video, text and installation at Wild Pansy Press Project Space, Leeds University
2014 ‘Hills To Mountains’ Performance in collaboration with Bada Song at Café Oto London
2013 ‘Downtime’ Curator, speaker and contributor. Group show at Ort Gallery, Birmingham
2012 ‘There Will Be Others’ Group show curated by The Modern Language Experiment at Angus-Hughes Gallery London
2012 ‘10,000 Steps’ (in collaboration with Bada Song) screened at Deptford X
2011 ‘Carousel’ screened at Swedenborg House, Short film festival, London
2011 ‘Souvenirs’ three -person show curated by Richard Ducker at Angus-Hughes Gallery London
2011 ‘Carousel’ screened at ‘Smoke On The Water’, Aubin Gallery, London
2010 ‘Carousel’screened at ‘For The Sake Of The Image’, Jerwood Space, London
2010 ‘Carousel’ screened at ‘Happy End’ at Yinka Shonibare’s Space, London
2010 ‘Carousel’ screened at TEA Tenerife Espacio de las Artes, Spain
Referees
Richard Dyer, Editor in Chief, Third Text, Unit 6, Enclave Studios
50 Resolution Way, Deptford, London SE8 4AL
Alex Schady, Programme Director Fine Art and Course Leader BA Fine Art, CSM, Kings X, UAL, Granary Building, 1, Granary Square, Kings X, London, N1C 4AA
Professor Michael Newman, Professor of Art Writing, Department of Art, Goldsmiths College, 8 Lewisham Way, New Cross, London SE14 6NW
Professor Howard Caygill, Professor Of Modern European Philosophy, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Kingston University, Penrhyn Road, Kingston upon Thames, Surrey KT1 2EE
Marjorie Allthorpe-Guyton, AICA International – General Secretary, and AICA UK –President, 1 Thornhill Road, London NI IHX
CV Dr. Paul O’Kane
January 2024 e: [email protected] m: +44(0)7904 895539
ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8394-5354
Profile
Critical Studies Senior Lecturer 0.5, CSM, UAL and Associate Lecturer. Artist, writer, lecturer and publisher with extensive experience. Specialist in speculative writing on art, history and culture. Specialist in seminar and lecture provision, art writing, academic writing, creative writing, critical studies, art & history. I am an active international member of AICA (Association of International Critics of art) and a founding editor of eeodo artists’ self-publishing book company.
Education
2003 – 2009 PhD History Goldsmiths College, University of London
1999 – 2001 MA (Distinction) Art History/Visual Cultures Goldsmiths College, University of London
2001 PGCert, Education in Art & Design The London Institute
1996 NCTJ Print Journalism, Lambeth College
1991 – 1993 BA (Hons) Fine Art, Camberwell College of Art & Design
1981 – 1983 BA (Hons) Photography Film & TV London College of Printing London
Recent Publications
2024 This Is Not A Memoir, Long form review of book by Janette Parris, for Third Text Online
2023 Life Is More Important Than Art, Whitechapel Gallery, London. Long form review for Third Text Online
2023 Staying Alive: Transcendence and Immanence in Contemporary Painting
Long form article for (refereed) Journal of Contemporary Painting
2023 Taking Visual Pleasure in Cinematic Revenge Michelle Williams Gamaker’s ‘Our Mountains are Painted on Glass’ South London Gallery. Short form review for Third Text Online
2023 What happens if a contemporary artist places a jewellery shop inside a gallery? R.I.P. Germain “Jesus Died For Us, We Will Die For Dudus!” ICA London
Long-form review for Third Text Online
2023 The Secret Life of Objects in the Immanent Art of Morandi
Or: How art shows us how to write about art if we only let it.
Long form article for (refereed) Journal of Writing in Creative Practice
2023 ‘Soft and Weak Like Water: The 14th Gwangju Biennale, 2023’ (long-form review for Third Text Online)
2023 ‘2022 Title Match: IM Heung-soon vs Omer Fast “Cut!” at SeMA in Seoul’ (long-form review for Third Text Online)
2023 ‘History in Contemporary Art & Culture’ 85,000-word illustrated, single author monograph book for Routledge Academic Publishers
2022 ‘On Hunter Gatherer: recent paintings by Francesco Poiana’ at Messums Gallery, Cork Street, London (gallery text)
2022 ‘On Mask-Ocracy’ article for (refereed) journal Third Text
2022 (Editor of the English version) ‘Art Criticism in Times of Populism and Nationalism: proceedings of the 52nd international AICA congress’
2021 ‘Six Thousand Masks for One Imposter’ article for (refereed) Journal of Writing & Creative practice
2021 ‘Lectures in lockdown: trying to rescue the lecture as event’ article for (refereed) Journal of Learning Development
2021 ‘Small Worlds & Short Stories: play, pleasure & imagination deployed as a salve to Isolated learning’ article for (refereed) Journal of Learning Development
2020 ‘Four Thousand One Hundred & Eight Masks for One Imposter’, published online by Five Years
2020 ‘The Carnival of Popularity Part II: Towards a mask-ocracy’, published by Third Text Online http://thirdtext.org/okane-maskocracy
2020 ‘The Carnival of Popularity’, published by Third Text Online, http://thirdtext.org/OKane-carnival
2019 ‘Technologies of Romance: looking for “object love” in three works of video art’ article for (refereed) Science Museum Journal
2019 ‘Forever Young: Juvenilia, Amateurism, and the Popular Past (or ‘Transvaluing Values in the Age of the Archive’) published by Third Text Online, http://thirdtext.org/okane-juvenilia
2019 ‘Renzo Martens’ Episode III (2009); The Latest Laocoon: Reflections on Renzo Martens’ Episode III (2016)’ chapter for ‘Critique In Practice, Renzo Martens’ Episode III: Enjoy Poverty’ a book edited by Anthony Downey with a preface by Charles Esche
2019 ‘Half-Way To Cloud Mountain’, book of short stories illustrated by Francesco Poiana, published by eeodo, London
2018 ‘Technologies of Romance- Part II’ 250-page, illustrated artists’ self-published book on art, history and technology – eeodo
2018 ‘Lee Yil – Anthologised Critical Writings’ translated by Bada Song and Paul O’Kane, with Shim Chung. Edited by Henry Meyric Hughes for AICA publications & Les presses du réel.
2018 ‘The Other Side of the Word : Translation as Migration in the Anthologised Writings of Lee Yil’ article by Paul O’Kane for Third Text Online (http://www.thirdtext.org/okane-leeyil)
2017 ‘A Journey Through Days 4 and 5 of the 50th AICA Congress, Paris, November 2017’ (http://aicainternational.org/en/congress-2017-paul-o-kane/ )
2017 ‘On Stage: The Theatrical Dimension of Video Image’ by Mathilde Roman, Book Review, Art Monthly, Issue 405, April, 2017 (plus associated Resonance FM Radio discussion)
2017 ‘Technologies of Romance- Part I’. 200-page, illustrated artists’ self-published book on art, history and technology – eeodo
2016 ‘Now It is Permitted: 24 Wayside Pulpits‘ Commissioned response to installation by Bridget Smith at Swedenborg House, London
2016 ‘Post-Perspectival Art & Politics in Post-Brexit Britain’ for Third Text Online (http://www.thirdtext.org/post-brexit- art-politics) THIRD TEXT
2016 “I’m Alone, But Not Lonely”, artists’ self-published book for eeodo (in the roles of joint fundraiser, preface writer, editor, designer and distributor
2016 ‘Electronic Superhighway – A report by Paul O’Kane’, For (refereed) MIRAJ journal.
2016 ‘Spolia As Speculation’ article for (refereed) Journal of Visual Practice
2016 ‘Painting Is Believing’ article for (refereed) Journal of Contemporary Painting
Recent Talks & Events
2024 ‘Half Way To Cloud Mountain – The Stories’ Story’ Central Saint Martins, UAL, Kings X.
2023 ‘History in Contemporary Art & Culture’. Talk for Glasgow School of Art
2023 ‘History in Contemporary Art & Culture’. Two talks for Chelsea College of Art, UAL
2023 Book launch event with guest speaker Hew Locke and 75 guests, to mark publication of my Routledge book ‘History in Contemporary Art & Culture’. Held at Lethaby Gallery, CSM Kings Cross, London.
2022 ‘Still Hemmed-In? – Hew Locke, The Procession, and History’. Paper given at Tate Britain / Paul Mellon Centre event re Hew Locke’s ’The Procession’
2021 ‘Thought Is Made In The Mouth: Embracing critical nonsense in a time of intellectual aftermath’ Paper for AICA conference, Turkey
2020 ‘Did I See Cao Fei at The Serpentine Galley?’ paper for AICA Turkey international conference on art criticism in the age of lockdown
2019 ‘The Carnival of Popularity: Wresting the Popular from Populism’, paper given at the 52nd International AICA Congress, Berlin (on ‘Art Criticism in a Time of Populism & Nationalism)
2018 ‘Let Them Eat Photographs’ paper and photo-essay given at TATE Modern for LCC conference on ‘Writing Photographs‘
2018 ‘Technologies of Romance Symposium‘ speaker and joint organiser with eeodo and Science Museum
2018 ‘The Book as a Romantic Technology’ moderator for book launch event and public discussion at South London Gallery
2018 ‘Extended Call 3’ moderator for talk on alternative spaces for Chelsea alumni organisation
2018 ‘Journeys: how class and culture influenced your journey through Higher Education’ Event organiser and speaker at CSM, UAL, London
2018 ‘On translating the writings of Korean Critic Lee Yil’, paper given at SOAS / AICA Symposium
2018 ‘Days of the Water Sun’ reading for ‘Studio Complex’ at CSM/Tate Exchange, Tate Modern, London
2017 ‘The Other Side Of The Word: Translation as migration in the anthologized writings of Lee Yil’ paper for AICA Paris conference
2017 ‘Bad Meaning Good’ paper for ‘Disobedience and Complex Systems: Art, Design, Media and the Political’ conference at Iklectik Arts Lab London
2017 ‘On Sarah Roberts and Mark Jackson’ talk at Block336, Gallery, Brixton, London
2017 ‘Kumiko The Treasure Hunter’ paper (also host and moderator) ‘Technologies of Romance’ symposium, Whitechapel Gallery, London
Teaching Experience
2016-23 As Lecturer and as Senior Lecturer, 0.5, Critical Studies, Fine Art CSM
1999-2023 Associate Lecturer for BAFA, MAFA and MRes Courses, providing specialism in Art Writing, Academic Writing, Critical Studies and Art History at: CSM (BAFA, MAFA, MA Art & Photography and MRes), Chelsea, LCC, Goldsmiths, Camberwell, Middlesex, Canterbury, Farnham, Seevic, and others.
2005 – 2023 Lecturer for Art of the World in London an annual summer course for international students acquiring English skills through subject courses. SOAS, University of London
2013 White Square Teaching Award (UAL)
Selected seminars:
A Thing of the Past?: History, Story, Memory & Tradition in Contemporary art
Technologies of Romance
Walter Benjamin – Key Essays
Art & Popularity
Small Worlds & Short Stories
A World of Stories
Rêve Général (imaginative forms of progressive protest)
The B-Team (from Baudelaire to Butler and beyond)
Key Ideas Lectures for First Year BA Fine Art
Studio and contextual studies for BA Fine Art Sculpture
Dutch Art & Culture in the 17th Century Golden Age
European Art History for visitors to London
Object & Meaning’ Performance and Event-based practices
Art & Politics
Art and Writing
Recent Exhibitions
2024 ‘SideShow’ (‘Half Way To Cloud Mountain – The Stories’ Story’) Central Saint Martins, UAL, Kings X
2017 Carousel (2010 Edit) screened at ‘Altered Realities’, Lethaby Gallery, CSM Kings Cross, London
2016 ‘End Papers’ installation for the group show ‘To Be Converted’ at Bread & Jam, London
2016 ‘Mind Your Back/Looking Back’ Installation for British School of Osteopathy Conference, London
2015 ‘RIGHT’ (video) and ‘Art & Labour: One Hour’s Worth of Thought’ (video) for ‘Reboot’, Sluice Art Fair, Bargehouse London
2015 ‘Cheolsan’ video, text and installation at Wild Pansy Press Project Space, Leeds University
2014 ‘Hills To Mountains’ Performance in collaboration with Bada Song at Café Oto London
2013 ‘Downtime’ Curator, speaker and contributor. Group show at Ort Gallery, Birmingham
2012 ‘There Will Be Others’ Group show curated by The Modern Language Experiment at Angus-Hughes Gallery London
2012 ‘10,000 Steps’ (in collaboration with Bada Song) screened at Deptford X
2011 ‘Carousel’ screened at Swedenborg House, Short film festival, London
2011 ‘Souvenirs’ three -person show curated by Richard Ducker at Angus-Hughes Gallery London
2011 ‘Carousel’ screened at ‘Smoke On The Water’, Aubin Gallery, London
2010 ‘Carousel’screened at ‘For The Sake Of The Image’, Jerwood Space, London
2010 ‘Carousel’ screened at ‘Happy End’ at Yinka Shonibare’s Space, London
2010 ‘Carousel’ screened at TEA Tenerife Espacio de las Artes, Spain
Referees
Richard Dyer, Editor in Chief, Third Text, Unit 6, Enclave Studios
50 Resolution Way, Deptford, London SE8 4AL
Alex Schady, Programme Director Fine Art and Course Leader BA Fine Art, CSM, Kings X, UAL, Granary Building, 1, Granary Square, Kings X, London, N1C 4AA
Professor Michael Newman, Professor of Art Writing, Department of Art, Goldsmiths College, 8 Lewisham Way, New Cross, London SE14 6NW
Professor Howard Caygill, Professor Of Modern European Philosophy, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Kingston University, Penrhyn Road, Kingston upon Thames, Surrey KT1 2EE
Marjorie Allthorpe-Guyton, AICA International – General Secretary, and AICA UK –President, 1 Thornhill Road, London NI IHX