Artist, Peter Power and curator, Dobz O’Brien have collaborated on a number of large complex multi-disciplinary, often site-specific projects over the past number of years. In this talk, they will discuss the practical realities of working collaboratively across different creative disciplines — from development of the initial idea and building a shared vision, to managing different perspectives, negotiating challenges and bringing a complex project through to completion.
Drawing on their own experience, Peter and Dobz will look at what makes collaboration productive, where it can become challenging, and the practical approaches that can help make ambitious multidisciplinary projects so rewarding.
About the Facilitators
Dobz O’Brien is an artist, curator and producer, and founding member of the internationally renowned art collective Art/not art. He has worked across the arts for over 30 years. Until January 2025, Dobz was Curator at the National Sculpture Factory in Cork, where he worked for 16 years, leading the curation, commissioning and production of its programmes and projects. His practice focuses on artists as material researchers and on art-making as a form of knowledge production. He has commissioned and curated work by leading Irish and international artists including Haegue Yang, Peter Power, Doireann O’Malley, Patrick Hough, Leon Butler, Elaine Hoey and Superflex. He was co-curator of the internationally acclaimed Cork Caucus in 2005 and has also worked extensively on the international Iron-R Project. As an artist, his work has been exhibited across Ireland and Europe, including as part of Manifesta 4 and the Big Torino Biennale. Dobz holds qualifications from Crawford College of Art & Design, Glasgow School of Art and the National College of Art & Design. He is also a committee member of the National Campaign for the Arts.
Peter Power is a transdisciplinary composer, writer, visual artist, sound designer and director from Waterford based in Ireland. Trained originally as a biochemist, he later completed a Master’s in Composition and works across sound, performance, theatre, film and large-scale immersive installations. He is the Artistic Director of the award-winning company Sparsile Collective, creating post-disciplinary art works that combine music, spatial audio, moving image, text and performance. His work often explores the intersection of art, science and society, translating complex ideas and systems into sensory experiences. Power’s projects frequently involve collaborations with scientists, technologists and artist collectives, investigating new ways of communicating knowledge and lived experience through interdisciplinary artistic practice.
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