CV
Helena Hamilton is a Belfast-based artist working across sound, image, installation, performance, drawing, and digital environments. Her work has been developed and presented across gallery, festival, research, concert, screen, and digital contexts in the UK, Ireland, Europe, Japan, and the United States.
This selected CV includes exhibitions, commissions, research projects, performances, sound compositions, residencies, awards, and selected professional activity.
Education
PhD, Sonic Arts Research Centre, Queen’s University Belfast
Submitted 2026
Title: Composing with Site: Re-authoring Sound-Image Across Physical and Digital Environments
MA Sonic Arts, Queen’s University Belfast
Distinction, 2014
BA (Hons) Fine Art, University of Ulster
2009
Major Current Project
Becoming
2025–present
Immersive sound-image installation developed with spatial sound, haptic/tactile experience, moving image, and interactive audience systems. Supported by Immersive Arts UK, NI Science Festival, Digital Catapult Belfast, SARC, Queen’s University Belfast, and Belfast International Arts Festival.
Prototype developed through Immersive Arts UK Experiment Fund, 2025. Major public presentation forthcoming, developed through Immersive Arts UK Expand Fund, 2026 with Belfast International Arts Festival / NI Science Festival.
Selected Solo Exhibitions
Virtual Matter [Ambient]
Naughton Gallery, Belfast, 2022
Perceptions
The Agency Gallery, London, 2019-2020
Semblance and Event
The Agency Gallery, London 2018; Millennium Court Arts Centre, NI 2018
Order, Effect
Art Centre Ongoing, Tokyo, 2016
The Weight of My Soul Keeps Ringing in My Ears
Golden Thread Gallery Project Space, Belfast, 2013
Selected Group Exhibitions, Performances & Screenings
On Wanting
Centre for Contemporary Art, Derry~Londonderry, 2022; British Council Showcase, Sonic Arts Research Centre, Queen’s University Belfast, 2023
Moving Through and Around
Research exhibition / interactive installation, Dance Connects, Locations throughout Ireland for Queen’s University Belfast, 2025
Untitled (With)
Digital in Berlin, Musikbrauerei, Berlin, 2024
Dissolving Histories: New Narratives
Golden Thread Gallery, Belfast, NI. Dec 2018 - Jan 2019
LUX
Solstice Arts Centre, Navan, Ireland. Nov - Dec 2018
Between Us And
EMBASSY Gallery, Edinburgh. June - July 2018
The Landis Museum
Centre for Contemporary Art, Derry, NI. May - July 2018
The Butterflies in My Brain
Digital Design Weekend, V&A Museum, London, 2017
The Headless City
TULCA Arts Festival, Galway, Ireland. Nov 2016
The Making
The Agency Gallery, London, England. Nov 2015 - Jan 2016
Reassemble for Purpose
Platform Arts Gallery, Belfast, NI. Feb 2015
Temporary Sights
MART, Gallery 2, Ireland. Nov 2014
OUT|TUO
Catalyst Arts Gallery, Belfast, NI. Jan 2013
NOTETOADISTANTGOD
]PS[+++ArtEvict, Performance SPACE, London, 2011; PS2, Belfast 2010
To Whom It May Concern
reKOLLEKTKunstraum Kreuzberg / Bethanien, Berlin, 2012; Celeste Prize Finalist Show, The Invisible Dog, New York, 2010
Selected Sound Compositions
Shaftesbury Square
Released sound composition, MSCTY_EXPO, Reasons to Be Cheerful Zone, Part 6: Belfast Shaftesbury Square, 2021
Parenting in the Pandemic: Pandemonium
Sound composition for dance film, BBC iPlayer, 2021
Epilogue
Sound composition for dance performance, Belfast International Arts Festival, 2021
Selected Commissions, Research & Funded Projects
Becoming
Lead Artist and Project Lead, Immersive Arts UK Award (Expand 2026; Experiment 2025)
Dance Connects
Digital Artist, Dance Connects in Rural Border Regions research project, Queen’s University Belfast, 2024-2025
Malfunctioning Wor(l)ds
Prototype development: Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Digital Evolution Award, 2024
Sound and Music Composer-Curator Award
2017
Arts Council of Northern Ireland / SARC Artist Career Enhancement Scheme
2015
Residencies
Art Centre Ongoing
Tokyo, 2016
Embodied AudioVisual Interaction Group, Goldsmiths, University of London
London, 2015
Selected Press, Texts & Publications
Artist of the Month: Helena Hamilton
Axisweb, 2019
Helena Hamilton: Composing in Space
Brian McAvera, Sculpture Magazine, 2019
Review of Semblance and Event
Charlotte Jansen, 2018
Future Now: 100 Contemporary Artists
Aesthetica, 2016
Laminate: Arts and Design Culture
UK edition, p 69. 2010
Celeste Prize International Catalogue
Helena Hamilton: To Whom It May Concern, p 40. 2010
Selected Awards & Grants
Immersive Arts UK: Expand Award
2026
NI Science Festival Commission
Forthcoming: 2026-2027
Immersive Arts UK Experiment Fund
2025
Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Digital Evolution Award
2024
DfE PhD Scholarship
Sonic Arts Research Centre, Queen’s University Belfast, 2021–2025
Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Support for the Individual Artist Programme
Selected awards received between 2010 and 2025
Sound and Music, Composer-Curator Award
2017
Arts Council of Northern Ireland / SARC, Artist Career Enhancement Scheme
2015
Celeste Prize, International Prize, 3rd Place in Installation / Sculpture
New York, 2010
Selected Talks, Teaching & Workshops
Panel speaker, Imersive Arts UK: XR and the Body
RENDR Festival, Belfast, 2026
Guest speaker, Future Foundation: Future Stage XR
Future Screens NI and Media Lab, Queen’s University Belfast, 2025
Talk, discussion and workshop on drawing and sound
Catalyst Arts, Belfast, 2022
Presentation of On Wanting
British Council Showcase, Sonic Arts Research Centre, Queen’s University Belfast, 2023
Visiting Lecturer and Artist-in-Residence
Department of Computational Arts / Embodied AudioVisual Interaction Group, Goldsmiths, University of London, 2015
Guest Lecturer, MA Sonic Arts
Sonic Arts Research Centre, Queen’s University Belfast, 2015
Module Designer and Visiting Lecturer, Free Drawing
Architecture Department, Queen’s University Belfast, 2010