Mark Sheerin
@criticismism.bsky.social
Blogging on art since 2009 at criticismism.com and travel since 2023 at marksheerin.substack.com.
See also The Arts Desk, Hyperallergic, Plaster and Disability Arts Online.
Core interests: prehistoric caves, replicas, representations, immersive art, XR.
See also The Arts Desk, Hyperallergic, Plaster and Disability Arts Online.
Core interests: prehistoric caves, replicas, representations, immersive art, XR.
Pinned
Mark Sheerin
@criticismism.bsky.social
· Jan 31
Cave Crave on PSVR2 Could Be One Way to Cure Claustrophobia
Coming to PSVR2 this Spring
www.pushsquare.com
If you've got a PlayStation 5 and a PSVR2 headset, you can go spelunking for realsies. Cave Crave, due for release in Spring, just about wraps everything up. You can even graffiti the walls.
www.pushsquare.com/news/2025/01...
www.pushsquare.com/news/2025/01...
Here I look like I've stepped into a ZX Spectrum game, specifically, this ZX Spectrum game. Tir na Nog..
November 4, 2025 at 6:00 PM
Here I look like I've stepped into a ZX Spectrum game, specifically, this ZX Spectrum game. Tir na Nog..
If you like travel (armchair or economy class), perhaps you will like my substack. Here's a new post, about Vietnamese streetfood
Vietnom
Dining our way round the Land of the Rising Dragon
marksheerin.substack.com
November 2, 2025 at 9:23 PM
If you like travel (armchair or economy class), perhaps you will like my substack. Here's a new post, about Vietnamese streetfood
Unusual use of VR buried here under some sand
Dutch sand artist draws images on Walton-on-the-Naze beach
Gert-Jan Van Der Kooij uses virtual reality goggles and a rake for his drawings on the Essex beach.
www.bbc.co.uk
October 29, 2025 at 2:07 PM
Unusual use of VR buried here under some sand
You're never too big to look this small. We saw A.R. Rahman at the O2.
Superstar content provider
A.R. Rahman and an immersive brand experience at the O2
marksheerin.substack.com
October 27, 2025 at 3:42 PM
You're never too big to look this small. We saw A.R. Rahman at the O2.
Reposted by Mark Sheerin
From the margins to the UK's biggest art prize: @criticismism.bsky.social reflects on the significance and brilliance of Nnena Kalu’s Turner Prize exhibition.
disabilityarts.online/magazine/rev...
disabilityarts.online/magazine/rev...
October 24, 2025 at 3:02 PM
From the margins to the UK's biggest art prize: @criticismism.bsky.social reflects on the significance and brilliance of Nnena Kalu’s Turner Prize exhibition.
disabilityarts.online/magazine/rev...
disabilityarts.online/magazine/rev...
Travel notes from Rajasthan
Palatial waters
Drinking in the lakeside charms of Udaipur in India
open.substack.com
October 23, 2025 at 7:58 PM
Travel notes from Rajasthan
I also made it to Blackburn, for British Textile Biennial 2025, to immerse myself in a nomadic home for Somali musical culture
Weaving Memory: Dhaqan Collective on The Aqal (House of Weaving Songs) - ART AFRICA Magazine
In conversation with Somali artists Ayan Cilmi and Fozia Ismail, art writer Mark Sheerin explores a travelling home for nomadic culture, community, and song. Dhaqan Collective, House of Weaving Songs,...
artafricamagazine.org
October 22, 2025 at 12:29 PM
I also made it to Blackburn, for British Textile Biennial 2025, to immerse myself in a nomadic home for Somali musical culture
I've given an account of Nnena Kalu's remarkable and hopeful showing at Cartwright Hall, Bradford, in this year's Turner Prize
Review - Nnena Kalu’s Turner Prize exhibition: resplendent in the pleasures of process
ActionSpace artist, Nnena Kalu has made a splash by being nominated for the 2025 Turner Prize as a learning-disabled artist. Mark Sheerin reflects on the significance and brilliance of her Turner Priz...
disabilityarts.online
October 22, 2025 at 12:27 PM
I've given an account of Nnena Kalu's remarkable and hopeful showing at Cartwright Hall, Bradford, in this year's Turner Prize
Detail from a drawing seen in Hanoi over summer. We also did the Ben Duoc tunnel experience, which I'd recommend training for! Anyhow, I've written about the war, the VC and the present in Vietnam, a remarkable land.
Tunnels in Vietnam
Our history lesson on, and under, the ground
marksheerin.substack.com
October 9, 2025 at 11:16 AM
Detail from a drawing seen in Hanoi over summer. We also did the Ben Duoc tunnel experience, which I'd recommend training for! Anyhow, I've written about the war, the VC and the present in Vietnam, a remarkable land.
If you've ever wondered what it might be like to go to Sikkim, read on:
Five wanderers above the sea of fog
A family trip to the cloudy Himalayas
open.substack.com
October 6, 2025 at 5:05 PM
If you've ever wondered what it might be like to go to Sikkim, read on:
Reposted by Mark Sheerin
Deaf Heritage takes centre stage in @cathymager.bsky.social’s work, Finger Talk at Wellcome Collection.
Read @criticismism.bsky.social's review ↓
disabilityarts.online/magazine/rev...
Read @criticismism.bsky.social's review ↓
disabilityarts.online/magazine/rev...
August 26, 2025 at 11:00 AM
Deaf Heritage takes centre stage in @cathymager.bsky.social’s work, Finger Talk at Wellcome Collection.
Read @criticismism.bsky.social's review ↓
disabilityarts.online/magazine/rev...
Read @criticismism.bsky.social's review ↓
disabilityarts.online/magazine/rev...
Reposted by Mark Sheerin
★★★★ #FolkestoneTriennial 2025 - Landscape, seascape, art lovers' escape: this locally rooted festival brings home many but not all global concerns, says Mark Sheerin @criticismism.bsky.social #CreativeFolkestone theartsdesk.com/visual-arts/...
Folkestone Triennial 2025 - landscape, seascape, art lovers' escape
A rare cloud form envelopes the headland and to the east and the west Folkestone is cut off from the known world. This mist shortens the visual range, drawing attention to the chalky soil, the sea gor...
theartsdesk.com
August 4, 2025 at 3:34 PM
★★★★ #FolkestoneTriennial 2025 - Landscape, seascape, art lovers' escape: this locally rooted festival brings home many but not all global concerns, says Mark Sheerin @criticismism.bsky.social #CreativeFolkestone theartsdesk.com/visual-arts/...
A strange, sad and mildly shocking tale from a cave in Goa
www.hindustantimes.com
July 16, 2025 at 8:43 AM
A strange, sad and mildly shocking tale from a cave in Goa
I've written an account of the Barbican's VR rave experience: I hope my review is the next best thing to the next best thing to being there back in the day.
July 1, 2025 at 4:34 PM
I've written an account of the Barbican's VR rave experience: I hope my review is the next best thing to the next best thing to being there back in the day.
Something Mother Shipton might not have predicted, XR industry set to double in value over next three years. Same upward trajectory as Immersive Experiences.
Have We Reached the XR Tipping Point?
High-quality devices are now powerful and affordable enough to enable truly compelling experiences
www.tvtechnology.com
June 30, 2025 at 9:45 AM
Something Mother Shipton might not have predicted, XR industry set to double in value over next three years. Same upward trajectory as Immersive Experiences.
Prophetess Mother Shipton had a pretty badass start in life: born, during a thunderstorm, in a cave.
North Yorkshire cave and 'unique' well are England's oldest tourist attractions
'Magical' Mother Shipton's Cave and 'unique' Petrifying Well in Knaresborough, North Yorkshire, are England's oldest tourist attractions.
www.yorkpress.co.uk
June 30, 2025 at 9:38 AM
Prophetess Mother Shipton had a pretty badass start in life: born, during a thunderstorm, in a cave.
Immersive experiences offer developers a 'gold rush'. These numbers are amazing.
From niche to a billion pound industry: How immersive events have taken over
Despite times being financially tough post-pandemic, the continued popularity of experience events could indicate consumers are being a little more choosy about what they spend their hard-earned wages...
news.sky.com
June 26, 2025 at 9:52 AM
Immersive experiences offer developers a 'gold rush'. These numbers are amazing.
Word of the day: 'speleofact' - a (usually small) structure made out of broken stalactites and stalagmites
Over 100 prehistoric structures discovered in Spanish cave
Over 100 prehistoric structures discovered in Spanish cave
www.southampton.ac.uk
June 6, 2025 at 11:22 AM
Word of the day: 'speleofact' - a (usually small) structure made out of broken stalactites and stalagmites
Reposted by Mark Sheerin
BRADFORD CITY OF CULTURE 2025 - Changes in a landscape, assessed by Mark Sheerin @criticismism.bsky.social as he catches art in all forms @bradford2025.bsky.social, encountering the #Brontes #TSEliot @davidhockney.bsky.social & contemporaries, local and visiting www.theartsdesk.com/visual-arts/...
June 3, 2025 at 11:19 AM
BRADFORD CITY OF CULTURE 2025 - Changes in a landscape, assessed by Mark Sheerin @criticismism.bsky.social as he catches art in all forms @bradford2025.bsky.social, encountering the #Brontes #TSEliot @davidhockney.bsky.social & contemporaries, local and visiting www.theartsdesk.com/visual-arts/...
So much urgency, energy, money, and expertise ploughed into the next wave of XR for military use. Sickening really
Meta and Anduril are now jointly developing XR headsets for the US military
Palmer Luckey’s defense company Anduril Industries and Meta are collaborating on the development of XR products for the US military.
mixed-news.com
May 31, 2025 at 3:03 PM
So much urgency, energy, money, and expertise ploughed into the next wave of XR for military use. Sickening really
Virtual death camp and script approval process offers 'authenticity' to fictions set in Auschwitz.
Auschwitz launches digital replica of camp for filmmakers
(JNS) - The Auschwitz Memorial, together with the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation and leading figures from the European film industry, announced at the Cannes Film Festival on May 15 the launch of a 1:1...
www.heritagefl.com
May 31, 2025 at 2:56 PM
Virtual death camp and script approval process offers 'authenticity' to fictions set in Auschwitz.
From feral childhood to aspirational mumboss: this story from Woman's Day is so weird and normative of cave life!
I was raised in an underground cave!
Bethany Mantle spent her childhood living in a cave underground to escape the the scorching heat. Then she uncovered a whole new world...
www.nowtolove.com.au
May 22, 2025 at 10:26 AM
From feral childhood to aspirational mumboss: this story from Woman's Day is so weird and normative of cave life!
Creepy trailer just dropped for the autumn release of a 2D cave exploration game in which perishing undergound is all part of the fun. Amusing write up here from a PC gaming site.
The Cave Diver blends the joyful physics of QWOP with the less joyful physics of being trapped underground
They call it the worst way to die. What a perfect premise for a 2D exploration game.
www.rockpapershotgun.com
May 21, 2025 at 10:16 AM
Creepy trailer just dropped for the autumn release of a 2D cave exploration game in which perishing undergound is all part of the fun. Amusing write up here from a PC gaming site.
It's the go to city for limestone beer cellars, games rooms or subterranean cinemas. At least the potential is there
Number of caves discovered under Nottingham passes 900
Scott Lomax, the city council's archaeologist, says some homeowners turn them into cinema rooms.
www.bbc.co.uk
May 19, 2025 at 10:46 AM
It's the go to city for limestone beer cellars, games rooms or subterranean cinemas. At least the potential is there
Reposted by Mark Sheerin
He is completely clueless about what he is doing.
May 18, 2025 at 6:19 PM
He is completely clueless about what he is doing.