Biography
Clare Langan studied Fine Art at the National College of Art and Design, Dublin and with a Fulbright Scholarship, completed a film workshop at NYU. In 2017 she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Fine Arts from The National University of Ireland. In 2019 she became a member of Aosdana. She has represented Ireland in numerous international Biennales, including the 25th Bienal de Sao Paulo, 2002 Brazil; The Liverpool Biennial - International 2002, Tate Liverpool: Sounds and Visions, Art Film and Video from Europe, 2009, Museum of Modern Art, Tel Aviv; Singapore Biennial 2008, curated by Fumio Nanjo touring to Dojima River Biennale 2009, Osaka Japan; Busan Biennale 2010, South Korea. In 2003 Langan presented A Film Trilogy at MoMA in New York and at the RHA, Dublin.
The Floating World premiered here in 2013, where it was really well received by the jury and the audience. The jury members included Cindy Sherman, Isaac Julien, Amira Casar, Defne Ayas and Heinz Peter Schwerfel. The film went on to win the Prix Videoformes 2014 | Conseil Général du Puy de Dôme at VIDEOFORMES 2014, Clermont-Ferrand, France. It was exhibited as a 3-screen installation in VISUAL Center of Contemporary Art in 2015, and has since been exhibited in Städtische Galerie, Delmenhorst, Germany and The Tom Tompson Art Gallery, Canada, where she also exhibited The Winter of 13 Storms. The Heart of a Tree will have its world premiere at Kino Der Kunst in October 2020.
Her film Metamorphosis, 2007 won the Principle Prize at the Oberhausen International Short Film Festival, Germany. In 2007 it was exhibited at the Lyon Biennale; Houldsworth Gallery, London; Loop, Barcelona; NCA Gallery, Tokyo; Pratt Art Gallery New York and the Miguel Marcos Gallery, Barcelona. State of Suspension, 2012 was shown in Galerie Anita Beckers, Frankfurt, and The Rubicon Gallery, Dublin. She participated in the Glen Dimplex Artists’ Award 2000 at The Irish Museum of Modern Art.
Her film Flight from the City premiered at the B3 Biennale of the Moving Image 2015 in Frankfurt, before touring to Beijing and Shanghai. Jóhann Jóhannsson went on to use Flight from the City to launch his 2016 album Orphee.
In 2017 she exhibited her film The Human Flock at Lismore Castle Arts, Waterford. The film travelled to Dirimart, Istanbul July 2018, as part of The Best of Kino der Kunst curated by Heinz Peter Schwerfel. Other exhibiting artists include AES+F, Oliver Pietsch, Pierre Huyghe, Lola Gonzalez and Yael Bartana. Her film The Winter of 13 Storms was exhibited at the B3 Biennal of the Moving Image Frankfurt 2017 curated by Kelly Gordon.
In 2019 she had retrospective show at The Dock, Carrig on Shannon featuring a number of recent and older works, including The Winter of 13 Storms, 2017 and A Film Trilogy 1999-2002 from the IMMA Collection. It also included the 3-screen film installation River, with a selection of music curated by Gary Sheehan, director of The National Concert Hall. In 2019 her work was also included in, Of Music and Making, Solstice, Navan; Moving Women, Magda Danysz Gallery, Paris, Shaping Ireland, The National Gallery of Ireland, The Gifts of Tony Podesta, American University Museum, Katzen Arts Center, Washington. Recent festivals include Ritratti Di Poesia, Poetry Festival, Rome alongside the poets Kate Tempest and Ingrid de Kok, and Physical Cinema Festival, in Reykjavk. In 2020, her film The Heart of a Tree premiered at Kino Der Kunst, Munich. The Heart of a Tree was then part of Lightmoves Film Festival, Limerick in 2021 before being part of Fondazione In Between Art Film in 2022, where Teresa Castro, associate professor in Film Studies at the University Bonne Nouvelle, examined the film in a wider conversation, imagining humanity's future amidst the major threats posed by the environmental crises facing the world.
In 2021, her film Flight from the City was screened as part of Artist Film International (AFI) which included 21 partner organisations including Whitechapel Gallery, London, Para Site, Hong Kong and Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw. In 2022, Clare's film River screened as part of Living Canvas, Dublin City's new cultural initiative by IPUT which establishes new ways of exhibiting artworks in large scale outdoor installations.
Most Recently, a still from her film The Heart of A Tree won The Progressive Vision Curtin O'Donoghue Photography Prize as selected by The RHA Annual Exhibition 2022. She was also interviewed by John Kelly in The Works Presents which is available to view via RTE Player. Her most recent shows include TERRA INFIRMA at Kunsthaus Kaufbeuren, Germany, and a major solo exhibition At The Gates of Silent Memory at Luan Gallery, curated by Eamonn Maxwell.
Her films and photographs are in a number of international public and private collections including IMMA, The Arts Council of Ireland, The OPW, the Tony Podesta Private Collection, Washington, and the Hugo and Carla Brown Collection, UK. She has done numerous public art commissions including NUI Maynooth, Castletown House and Rathmines Swimming pool.