ScreaMachine

:)

Scream
to speak with intense expression
a sudden loud penetrating cry, expressing anger, terror or pain
to make violent protestations
to move with a screaming sound
to produce a vivid startling effect

Machine
a device for performing a task
an instrument that transmits or modifies the application of power or force
a structure or constructed thing whether material or immaterial
an assemblage of parts that transmit forces, motion and energy one to another in some predetermined manner and to some desired end
a person or organization that acts like or resembles a machine

Narrative
With a background playing in punk bands, Dolan turned to performance art with a political edge at a very early age, performing on stages at Dublin punk events, accompanied by audio recordings and slide projections, 1981 - 1983. Dolan developed a style of performance featuring audio/video/film/animation and props accompanying the performer and in 1987 performed in Dublin’s Temple Bar Gallery with all these elements. They moved to New York later that year and started branding their works with the name “screaMachine”, beginning with a performance series shown at ABC No Rio, 1987/1988 with multiple film projections, animations and audio accompanying. Since then they have been performing in the underground performance scene in New York, dipping in and out of the Art World, doing street interventions and developing new media techniques. In 1989 Franklin Furnace featured their “Survival... Against All Odds” series. In 1990 at MoMA PS1 Dolan presented a month long installation and performance series. In 1992 they got to return home and show in Dublin’s Trinity College. Through the 90’s Dolan further developed the A/V components, moving into digital media and video projection. For 10 years they presented new works in their storefront studio in Manhattan, presented multi screen animated video installations in nightclubs and underground spaces and developed video works for web streaming in its infancy and was an early pioneer of the medium. In 1996 they launched their website www.screaMachine.com. In 1999 they presented their first “Drive-By” video performance at the newly formed DUMBO Arts Festival, the start of a 13 year run presenting new works at this festival. In 2000, Dolan had their first solo gallery show, at the Moving Image Gallery in Soho, NYC. Since 2000 Dolan has received the New York State Council on the Arts award for Film, Video and New Technologies five times, funding large scale performances and the development of new technologies. They started working with protest movements in 2003, with the Iraq War protests, shooting and producing semi-animated films for installation/performance/interventions titled “Protest”, which continue today. They have also shown at The Kitchen (NYC), Westbourne Studios (London), Western Front (Vancouver), Tulca Arts Festival (Galway), FILE (Sao Paulo, Brazil), Darklight Festival (Dublin), Inport (Estonia), TED-X NYC and many more venues and festivals around the world. In 2010 Dolan introduced their latest outdoor street intervention interactive video projection device, presenting the piece “Target Assault” at locations around New York City. Following along with the Occupy Wall St movement, 2011/2012, Dolan documented the protests and interactions with police and created a series titled “Protest/The 99%”, presenting them in video installations, including at The Storefront for Art and Architecture, and on the streets of New York in Drive-By projection performances. Similarly with the Black Lives Matter movement in 2014 -2016 culminating with an 18 building projection series for the Art in Odd Places Festival 2016. 2016 forward saw versions of “Protest” following the reaction to the election of Donald Trump, documenting that protest movement and projecting them on city buildings in performative street interventions. In 2017, Dolan produced a series of large scale multi-channel video street intervention performances at 21 locations around NYC and produced a 10 channel video installation and multimedia performance at Superchief Gallery NYC in 2018. In 2018 “Protest” incorporated the March for Our Lives protests and in 2019 the Climate Strike movement, and returned to Black Lives Matter protests in 2020 with regular projections on buildings in Union Square NYC.
2021 featured the release of their feature documentary "The Biggest Obstacle" following disability rights activists and their struggle for accessibility in the NYC Transit System, which won awards and was featured in numerous film festivals along with their documentary short "Protest: Q***r Liberation March". In late 2021 Dolan received a City Artist Corps grant to produce a live street intervention and performance of "Protest: Q***r Liberation March", which took place in September in the East Village NYC. During CoVid-19 lockdown, 2020/2021, they produced a number of online interactive projects for people to participate in protest movements from their homes, including an app developed to allow people to digitally insert themselves into protest footage and post online and a series of interactive web projects to engage people online. Dolan was Director of IT and taught Digital Media courses at The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, and Hunter College Film & Media Department, 2000-2021. In 2021 they joined MIT's Art Culture and Technology program as Media Instructor, teaching new media, interactive technologies and all things photo/video/sound. Dolan continues to do body performances accompanied by sometimes simple and sometimes complex A/V components; to do street interventions with physical performances and with projections; to create online interactive projects and to seek new ways of interacting with the public outside of the Art World