I am delighted to share that I have been appointed SATELLITE Artist in Residence for Mayo Dark Sky Park x University College Dublin Parity Studios in Ireland for 2025 - 2026.
This year long residency will allow me to work with the UCD academics from the Earth Institute and the Centre for Space as well as ecologists and dark sky rangers at Mayo Dark Sky Park and Wild Nephin National Park.
My residency was announced at Mayo Dark Sky Festival 2025 - where I spent three days meeting scientists, artists and park rangers all inspired by dark skies. I then spent a further two weeks in the Lagduff Cottage, where I will be visiting periodically through the residency. This view is from the cottage - and the night skies were the darkest I have seen in Europe.
“During her residency, Louise will immerse herself in the dark skies, boglands, and mountains of Mayo Dark Sky Park at Wild Nephin National Park — one of the last places in Europe where it is still possible to experience the night as it truly is: vast, ancient, and alive. Through night-time fieldwork, sound recording, and photography, she will create new work that interlaces astronomical, geological, and ecological timescales, tracing the delicate connections that link Earth’s deep-time past with its uncertain future.
Louise’s residency will also include a participatory project inviting local communities, UCD researchers, scientists, the dark sky team and park rangers to reflect on the night sky through writing, conversation, and shared observation — deepening the connection between people, place, research and the rhythms of the natural world. Louise added her thoughts on the appointment:
"Mayo offers a uniquely dark, minimally light-polluted environment where we can still see Earth as a planetary landscape - without the common traces of modern humanity. Its geology, flora, fauna and expansive night sky provide an exceptional setting to study long-term geological, ecological and astronomical processes. The residency will allow me to reflect on the improbable sequence of events that made life possible, from the first moments of the universe, and how we can reframe how we understand the significance of the climate crisis."
Denis Strong, Divisional Manager of the National Parks and Wildlife Service, said “We are delighted to welcome Louise to Mayo Dark Sky Park at Wild Nephin National Park. Her residency will help us see this landscape — and its nightscape — through fresh eyes. We hope this collaboration will deepen the connection between our surrounding communities and the value of our dark skies as a source of conservation and culture.”
Emer OBoyle, Creative Director of UCD Parity Studios adds, “We are delighted to welcome Louise Beer as the inaugural SATELLITE artist in residence. We are equally excited to embark on this new partnership with the National Parks and Wildlife Service and Mayo Dark Sky Park. It opens up a new and extraordinary opportunity for artists working at the intersection of research, art and ecology.”
The SATELLITE Residency programme offers artists a rare opportunity to work alongside scientists, rangers, and researchers in one of the darkest and most pristine night-sky environments in the world. As Mayo Dark Sky Park approaches its 10-year anniversary as an International Dark Sky Park in 2026, Louise’s residency marks a milestone in how creativity and science come together to honour and protect the night.
If you would like to talk to Louise about your research you can contact her at louise.beer@ucd.ie.
Further Information
UCD Parity Studios SATELLITE residencies support site specific research and collaborations for artists, organisations and researchers working in climate, environment and sustainability. Louise’s residency is proudly supported by, UCD College of Science, National Parks and Wildlife Service, UCD Centre for Space Research and UCD Earth Institute.
For more information about Louise’s work, visit the UCD Artists in Residence Website.”
