DISSIDENT
An Exhibition of Structural Resistance & Abstract Identity
Soňa Šmédková & Conor Burke
27 June – 5 July | Launch: 6 PM, 27 June
Open to the Public : Saturday 28th of June - Saturday 5th of July 12-5pm
Engage Art Studios, Churchfields, Galway
DISSIDENT brings together two distinct yet harmoniously discordant practices that interrogate the forces shaping our inner and outer worlds.
Through bold geometry and conceptual abstraction, one artist examines the dialectics of structure, social, metaphysical, natural and the ways we rationalise them through human-made systems.
Opposing yet entwined, the second artist explores identity, migration, and the residue of political upheaval, weaving digital and material elements into evocative multimedia forms.
Together, their works speak to the tension of belonging and control, rigidity and movement offering an aesthetic confrontation with the systems we inhabit and resist.
About the artists:
Soňa Šmédková is a Czech multidisciplinary artist and emerging curator based in Galway, Ireland. Her work spans abstract painting and multimedia installations, exploring identity, migration, and cultural disruption. Influenced by her Central European roots and informed by migration studies and post-Soviet political histories, she fuses digital and physical artefacts to examine in-between spaces and cultural entanglement.
She holds a First-class Honours MA in Creative Practice from ATU Galway and is active in the Irish art scene both as an artist and curator. Her curatorial work includes A Remix of Change (Galway International Arts Festival, 2022), Fissure, and The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls (2024). She was on the board of 126 Artist–Run Gallery (2022–2024) and helped curate Not a Degree Show.
In 2021, she received an Agility Award from the Arts Council of Ireland. Her work has been exhibited internationally, including at Transmediale Berlin, the Goethe Institutes in Dublin and Berlin, the European Parliament in Brussels, and venues in Belfast.
Currently Visual Arts Assistant at Galway Arts Centre, Soňa champions experimental practices and underrepresented voices. Her recent participation in Supermarket Art Fair in Stockholm informs her ongoing focus on cross-European collaboration and artist-run initiatives.
Instagram: sonasmedkova
Website: https://www.sonasmedkova.com/
Conor Burke is a visual artist from Galway. His art delves into the transformative dynamics of our constructed surroundings, employing geometric forms and architectural motifs. Through his work, Burke explores the dialectical processes of change that shape our built environment through which He endeavours to spark discourse, raise consciousness, and challenge prevailing narratives that marginalize communities within class-based society.
Instagram: consoc78