Seamus Kealy

Function: Director Salzburger Kunstverein Country: Austria Visiting period: 09 - 11 February Visiting year: 2017

Since January 2014, Seamus Kealy is Director of the Salzburger Kunstverein in Austria. He is also a regular Visiting Lecturer and Jurist for the HISK (Higher Institute for Visual Arts) in Ghent, Belgium. From 2008 to 2013, he was Director/Curator of The Model, Sligo, Ireland.

From 2005 to 2008, he was Curator at the Blackwood Gallery, University of Toronto. From 1996 to 2004, Seamus practiced as an artist with a concentration in painting and photography, and between 2000 and 2005, as an independent curator and writer. Seamus studied Fine Arts (BFA), including photography under Jeff Wall, and later Art History: Curatorial Studies (MA) at the University of British Columbia. Kealy has held artist and curatorial residencies in Canada, Chile, Ireland, Austria, and France. He has lectured at universities and academies in Ireland, Canada, Japan, United Kingdom, Denmark, Belgium, Germany and Austria. He is the recipient of many awards, including the Curatorial Writing Award in 2007 for his text “Ten Texts on 18:Beckett” by the Ontario Association of Art Galleries and Museums, the only award of its kind in Canada. He writes regularly on contemporary art and has a background in activism.