A View from Nowhere presents a collective response to sets and sequences of recently discovered photocopies produced by Sir Sidney Nolan (1917 – 1992), that were made in 1987.

Copy Collective presents a symposium and exhibition in response to these recently unearthed photocopy artworks by Sir Sidney Nolan, one of the 20th century’s most influential modern artists. Following on from Celtic Image (2018), these works are part of the 2^nd occasion where the artist is showcased in the Burren College of Art. The works presented here, discovered at his former home, represent an experimental and lesser-known aspect of his practice, using a standard office photocopier as a creative tool. Offering a fresh perspective on Nolan’s contribution to British and international art, A View from Nowhere marks the first public display of these photocopies.

The Event Day and Exhibition explores, through the spoken word, sound, digital image technologies and lectures, the re-imagining of this remarkable, but hitherto unknown aspect of his creative works. The Symposium will present a number of engagements in various forms, offering a fresh perspective on Nolan’s overall contribution to British and international art.

This exhibition marks the first public display of these forgotten photocopies. The ‘copies’ were originally made in Nolan’s office and study area and not in his painting or printmaking studio and they are very much a performative act. They have  distinct correlations to his work in opera, his own poetry and his fascination for new technology of the time.

Copy Collective is an interdisciplinary research team. It includes artists, curators, and scholars from diverse backgrounds, working with or associated with institutions such as Oxford University, University College London, Royal College of Art, Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers, Curtis Institute of Music, Philadelphia, and Tate Britain, with knowledge and skills in art history, archiving, digital mapping, music composition, and exhibition sound design. 

The symposium and exhibition not only sheds light on Nolan’s unexplored processes but attempts also situate him within the broader context of British art, where his experimental approach to materials and technology reflects a deeper engagement with the possibilities of modern artistic practice.

This event series is an initiative of The Copy Collective in partnership with the Sidney Nolan Trust and The Burren College of Art with support from the Canterbury Sound Studio.

Wednesday, March 5
10.00am – 3.00pm

Lecture Hall, Burren College of Art

(The Symposium is Free & Open to the Public)

Symposium: Part 1

10.00              Welcome: Mary Hawkes Green |President, Burren College of Art

Introduction: Conor McGrady, | Dean, Burren College of Art

 10.15              Presentation: Sophie Heath | Director, Sidney Nolan Trust

An overview of the Sidney Nolan Trust, and its outreach to Ballyvaughan (Nolan’s ancestral home).

 11.00              Keynote: Professor David Ferry RE | Trustee, Sidney Nolan Trust.

Let me look at Myself Again…. Recovered self-portraits, Sir Sidney Nolan.

Discovering the self-portraits in the Archive. The context of the photocopy as a creative tool in Nolan’s oeuvre.

11.45            Tea Break 

12:00              Film Screening: Joe Singleton, The Nolan Copies (2025)

A short film directed by Joe Singleton and co-produced by Kay Sedki and Jack Dent, featuring reproductions and interpretations of 206 images created by Sidney Nolan using a photocopy machine. The film experiments with translation, repetition, scale, pace, and hue, exploring themes embedded within the copies. It features scores, composed and produced by Bill and Jonah Hawkes, Richard Kilner, and David Bahanovich, and readings of Nolan’s poems by Patrick Crouch, further embedding his voice into the narrative.

12.30              LUNCH

Symposium: Part 2

1.30                Presentation: Where is the original?! 

Gaia Clark Nevola | Oxford Scholar and previous Oxford Crankstart Scholar with the Sidney Nolan Trust (2022-2023)

2.15                Presentation:  ‘Poetry – the Self Portrait of Feelings, Not Looks’.

Simon Mundy | Poet, writer & political broadcaster. Nolan expert and biographer.

3.00                Finish

Thursday, March 6

6.00 – 8.00pm

Burren College of Art Gallery

(The Exhibition is Free & Open to the Public)

A View from Nowhere offers a fresh perspective on Nolan’s contribution to British and international art. The exhibition marks the first public display of the recently unearthed series of photocopy artworks by Sidney Nolan, one of the 20th century’s most influential modern artists.

These works, discovered in Nolan’s archive, represent an experimental and lesser-known aspect of his practice, using a standard office photocopier as a creative tool.

Visitors are invited to experience the immediacy and energy of photocopy-based art, while gaining insight into Nolan’s multifaceted artistic legacy.

Performance: Simon Mundy and Bill Hawkes | Truth Will Out

A live, spoken word with music composition piece, performed with an assistant feeding text through the photocopy machine. Bill Hawkes will perform an accompanying improvisation on a song by Nick Drake, entitled Horn.

Accompanying Displays

The Zine Project | Professor Peter Lloyd RE

UK based artist and printmaker, academic,  Peter Lloyd RE will lead a student-centred zine project aligning to the themes and images of Nolan’s original photocopy self-portraits. This exhibition showcases the workshop zine outcomes of an intensive where MA students at the Burren College of Art explored the creative possibilities of photocopying as an artistic tool.

Invited Guest Artist: Professor Timothy Emlyn Jones

Timothy Emlyn Jones RE is a Welsh Irish artist who was educated at the Royal College of Art. He has exhibited performance, drawing and print internationally, and he is represented in public collections in several countries. As an experimental printmaker he was a pioneer of xerography from 1972, exhibiting at the Sao Paulo Museum of Modern Art and CAYC Buenos Aires. One of his xerographs entitled ‘The Passion’ exhibited here, was first shown at the Bradford International Print Biennial in 1983, and another at the Richard Demarco Gallery, Edinburgh in a multi-sheet format of 2.4m x 3.36m in 1993. He has held professorships at Art schools including Wimbledon, Glasgow, and the Burren College of Art, Ireland. 

Prof David Ferry PRE: An internationally exhibiting printmaking and collage artist. Emeritus Professor of Printmaking and Book Arts at Cardiff, and Hon Doctor of Arts at Solent. Former Pollock- Krasner Award holder, USA. Trustee of the Sidney Nolan Trust, and President of the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers in London. Rediscovered the Nolan photocopies in 2022 whilst researching Nolan’s printmaking archive and use of unconventional materials.

Kay Sedki: Kay is an architect, researcher, curator, and educator, currently teaching at The Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL, where he serves as Stream Leader of Professional Practice a design tutor and Coordinator of Architectural Future(s). Kay is a founding director of Bettie Blue, a former editor of Interruptions, and former curator of the Oaten Hill Gallery in Canterbury. His work intersects architectural design, theory, art, literature and philosophy. He lives in London.

Katriona Gillespie: Creative producer based in the west of Ireland, specialising in programme development, event planning and Coordination. Previous producer of  Nolan’s Celtic Image exhibition at the Burren College of Art in 2018, Impressions Fine Print exhibitions for the Galway International Festival. She is former manager of Galway Print Studio and curator at Luan Gallery.

Gaia Clark Nevola: Oxford scholar and curator at Casa Hoffman, Bogotá. Crankstart-funded intern with experience at Venice Biennale 2022, and the Sidney Nolan Trust 2023-4 and Art Miami 2024. Freelance writer for arts publications.

Conor McGrady: Dean at Burren College of Art. Internationally exhibiting artist and editor of Curated Spaces, Radical History Review (Duke University Press). Published widely on art and politics.

Joe Singleton: Joe is a research-led Architectural Designer based in the UK, his work is focused on spatialising archives, on using architecture as a medium to understand and experience the archive differently. He graduated with distinction from the Royal College of Art with an MA in Architecture in 2023 and works internationally in experience design with an architectural practice based in Devon, England. He has recently worked on the Women in Revolt! exhibition at TATE Britain, and is completing his professional studies at the Architectural Association.

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Guest Contributors:

David Bahanovich: Associate Provost at the internationally renowned Curtis Institute of Music, Philadelphia,  USA. Former music director for Merchant Ivory Productions. Contributing  sound to an aspect of the exhibition. An internationally renowned cellist.

Bill Hawkes: Performed and recorded with some of the most celebrated musicians in the world, including Radiohead, Robbie Williams, Oasis and Nigel Kennedy. He has also contributed to many film and television soundtracks, such as Gladiator and Silent Witness.

Simon Mundy: Writer, broadcaster, and cultural policy adviser. A leading voice in advocacy for the arts, as well as a mentor on issues of culture and conflict. He has long been involved in the music world, as a commentator, festival director and trustee. As a poet, novelist and biographer more than a score of books have been published. Former Vice Chair of the Sidney Nolan Trust.

Professor Peter Lloyd RE:  Peter Lloyd is Dean, School of Arts and Media at the University of Central Lancashire and Professor Emeritus at Solent University Southampton in the UK. Peter maintains his professional practice through exhibitions, publications, papers and conferences, primarily in the area of Fine Art Printmaking.

Jack Dent:  Founder of Canterbury-based agency Bryter Digital, is a seasoned professional with a strong background in multimedia and digital industries, shaped by a long career in London’s dynamic agency scene. An accomplished photographer, his work has been both exhibited and published. He has collaborated with notable clients, including artist Jim Moir, and Hornby Hobbies, delivering high-quality digital solutions.

About the Sidney Nolan Trust:

The Sidney Nolan Trust is a registered charity, founded by the Australian artist Sir Sidney Nolan in 1985. Nolan is recognised as one of the leading artists of the 20th century, and his Ned Kelly paintings have become iconic.

Today the Trust’s work is inspired by his life-long experimentation, innovation, and passion for creativity, as well as his love for the environment. The Trust cares for an important collection of his artwork, his extensive personal archives, his library, studio, printmaking workshops, as well as his former home Rodd Court, situated on an historic estate and organic farm on the Herefordshire Powys borders.

About the Burren College of Art:

The college is located in the Burren, a region famous for its natural beauty and unique ecosystem. It is an internationally recognized Irish non-profit college specialising in undergraduate, postgraduate and alternative approaches to fine art education.  The college workshops and residency programmes welcome practitioners from all over the world, and the ReSource programmes are designed to educate non-artists in the principles and procedures of creative processes.

Located on the west coast of Ireland in County Clare, The Burren has long been a source of inspiration for, and in many cases, an adoptive home to artists of all genres. Some of those who have been so inspired include W.B. Yeats, one of Ireland’s best known and much-loved poet-dramatists; the acclaimed Irish-Australian painter, Sir Sidney Nolan; Richard Long, the English artist; Seamus Heaney, the renowned contemporary Irish poet, and British Poet Laureate, Sir John Betjeman. All of whom have immortalised the mystical beauty of the Burren in their work. Prof Timothy Emlyn Jones RE, a Welsh Irish artist who was educated at the Royal College of Art and is also the Emeritus Dean of Possibilities at the Burren College of Art, will be included in this exhibition, an invited artist of the Copy Collective.

Links:

https://www.sidneynolantrust.org/

https://www.burrencollege.ie/burren-annual-sidney-nolan/