Mark Cullen is the co-curator of Pallas Projects since it began programming exhibitons and projects in 1998. He is the co-editor of Artist-Run Europe: Practice/Projects/Spaces a substantial publication published in June, 2016 on artist run practice throughout Europe – with a second edition published November 2022.
In 1995 he was the co-founding partner of Pallas Studios, Dublin which later became Pallas Projects/Studios. Pallas through their various guises and programmes have been key exponents of experimental art practice in Dublin. Cullen is currently the co-director and co-curator of PP/S.
In 2007 he was co-editor of the ICAD gold award winning Pallas Heights 2003 – 2006, published to mark the activities of Pallas Heights in a Dublin City Council apartment block that was scheduled for demolition. Pallas Heights was a local and international programme of exhibitions and projects in the semi derelict housing block that enlivened and engaged the Irish art scence at from the edges of society during the Irish economic boom.
Pallas have worked with many collaboraters and partners over the years. In 2005 Cullen co-curated Offside and Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane. This exhibition of Irish and international artists programmed the entire ground floor of the museum and two offsite spaces including Dublin City Councils Civic Offices six storey atrium. In 2006 we collaborated with Irish Museum of Modern Art on their All Hawaiin Entrees Lunnar Reggae exhibition, addressing the popular Playstation 2 Pro-Evolution Soccer: with MAIM XI – in which the source code of the popular game was hacked to replace the pitch of the game with the cobbled courtyard of the museum and the players with the faces of local and international artists.
Since 2009 he is a member of Difference Engine – a self determined artist group, which instigates an evolving exhibition methodology, a model of artist self organisation, with artists Wendy Judge, Gillian Lawler & Jessica Foley, featuring other collaborators such as Gordon Cheung and Paul Green.
From 2005 – 2007 he was the International Representative of Visual Arists Ireland. During his time as the International Representative he was the first Irish representative at the 16th General Assembly of the Internation Association of Art held at Beijing Biennial, China in 2005. He represented the VAI at The World Summit on Arts and Culture held in The Sage Gateshead, NewcastleGateshead, UK 2006.
Cullen was curator of Darklight Digital Film Festival from 1999-2004. Darklight was a ground breaking festival that foregrounded digital film making and the use of cutting edge digital technologies in the creation and mediation of art, such as photomontage, web-art, video installation and online distribution. During this time he worked with many award winning international artists and film makers such as Desperate Optimists, Al and Al, Ben Pruskin, and Cleary and Connolly to curate and present new works to Irish audiences and audiences online.
Curated Exhibitions 2001 – 2022
2022 Artist Initiated Programme, Pallas Projects, Dublin.
2021 Periodical Review 11, Pallas Projects, Dublin.
Dubliners, Zagreb Biennial of Painting, HDLU, Zagreb.
Artist Initiated Programme, Pallas Projects, Dublin.
2020 Periodical Review 10, Pallas Projects, Dublin.
Artist Initiated Programme, Pallas Projects, Dublin.
2019 Periodical Review 9, Pallas Projects, Dublin.
Artist Initiated Programme, Pallas Projects, Dublin.
2018 Periodical Review 8, Pallas Projects, Dublin.
Artist Initiated Programme, Pallas Projects, Dublin.
2017 Periodical Review 7, Pallas Projects, Dublin.
2016 Periodical Review 6, Pallas Projects, Dublin.
2015 The Future is Self-Organised, Limerick City Gallery of Art.
Periodical Review #5, with Anne Kelly & Daniel Jewesbury, Pallas Projects/Studios & NCAD.
Gillian Lawler, eminent domain II, Pallas Projects/Studios.
Niall de Buitléar, Beneath That Darkness There Was Another, Pallas Projects/Studios
2014 Periodical Review #4, with Paul Hallahan & Mary Conlon, Pallas Projects/Studios
Kevin Mooney, Wave, Pallas Projects/Studios.
Cliona Harmey, Troposphere, Pallas Projects/Studios,
2013 Periodical Review #3, with Matt Packer & Michele Horrigan, Pallas Projects/Studios
Carol Anne Connolly, For I is someone else, Pallas Projects/Studios
Ruth Clinton & Niamh Moriarty, ROTATOR, Pallas Projects/Studios (co-curator)
2012 Periodical Review #2, with Eamonn Maxwell & Padraic E.Moore, Pallas Projects/Studios
2011 Periodical Review #1, with Carl Giffney & Ruth Carroll, Pallas Projects
John Smith, The world seems a long way away, Pallas Projects (co-curator)
Trust – Maeve Curtis, Beth O Halloran and Kate Molloy, Niland Gallery, Galway.
Martin Healy, Facsimile, Lismore Castle Arts
2010 Bizarre Bazaar, Pallas Contemporary Projects, Dublin.
We are never at home, presented as part of ‘Dorm’ exhibition, The Model, Sligo (co-curator)
Pat Foster and Jen Berean, The Problem with Stability, Pallas Projects (co-curator)
2009 Paper Work, Pallas Projects
Anita Delany, Aoife Cassidy, Of Men and Mountains, Pallas Projects
Stephanie Syjuco, Unsolicited Fabrications: Shareware Sculptures, Pallas Projects, (co-curator)
2 films by 2 artists: Manon de Boer, Hito Steyerl, Pallas Projects
2008 Timbuktu, Pallas Projects, (co-curator)
John Lalor, Forward Pass, (Pallas Projects, co-curator)
2007 Thirty Two Thousand Years Later (Pallas Projects, co-curator)
Sarah Browne & Gareth Kennedy, Current Trends, Past Prospects, Pallas Projects
Clive Murphy, Mono, (Pallas Projects, co-curator)
2006 AL + Al, Straylight, Darklight Digital Film Festival, Dublin.
2005 Offside, Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane, Dublin (cat).
2004 Straylight Digital Hub, Darklight Digital Film Festival, Dublin.
2003- 2006 Exhibitions programme at Pallas Heights, Dublin
2002 Straylight, Digital Hub, Darklight Digital Film Festival, Dublin.
Precinct, Outdoor Poster Art, Belfast.
2001 Darklight Digital Film Festival, Irish Film Centre, Dublin
Precinct, Outdoor Poster Art, Dublin.
Mark Cullen 