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© 2026 Callum McDonnell
Acerca de
MESMERIC UNEASE
Born in 1992 in England, Callum McDonnell is a video, mixed media artist, and carpenter based in the Midlands. His work challenges perceptions of the body by using distortion and abstraction to explore the boundaries of physicality and the uncanny sensations that emerge when these norms are subverted.
"We feel what we see." This principle underscores Callum’s exploration of vicarious tactility and kinaesthetic empathy in the digital space. By splicing and manipulating the body, his art creates fictional, autonomous “things” that suspend disbelief and evoke an eerie yet humorous unease.
From birth into early adulthood, Callum faced recurrent hospitalizations due to severe autoimmune conditions. Chronic issues with allergies, skin, lungs, and joints placed a constant and intense focus on his body. This experience was both painful and nurturing—a dichotomy that fostered a strange sensuality and a deep affinity for exploring physicality. His work reflects this personal history, aiming to convey a physical understanding through sound and visuals, while juxtaposing the sterile and clinical with the messy and visceral.
Callum draws inspiration from contrasts: clean, industrial technology against oily, rusty machinery; clinical sterility against the imperfect messiness of the body. This duality mirrors his perception of human physicality, where the familiar can become unsettlingly unfamiliar. Digital mediums have allowed his work to extend these boundaries, creating uncanny, manipulated representations of the body that oscillate between recognition and dissonance.
The body, as the most universally recognizable external object, anchors our physical empathy. When distorted, abstracted, or repeated, it becomes a familiar presence behaving in unfamiliar ways, triggering visceral reactions. These manipulated bodies behave as “Res Extensa”—extended, unthinking entities with a pseudo-autonomy. This schism between the familiar and unfamiliar creates an uncanny experience that oscillates between discomfort and delight, often evoking the sublime.
Through his work, Callum seeks to challenge perceptions of beauty and physicality, using the digital space to push sensorial limits and evoke visceral, empathetic reactions. His art invites viewers to question their body schemas, confronting the uncanny and the sublime in ways both thrilling and unsettling.
"We feel what we see." This principle underscores Callum’s exploration of vicarious tactility and kinaesthetic empathy in the digital space. By splicing and manipulating the body, his art creates fictional, autonomous “things” that suspend disbelief and evoke an eerie yet humorous unease.
From birth into early adulthood, Callum faced recurrent hospitalizations due to severe autoimmune conditions. Chronic issues with allergies, skin, lungs, and joints placed a constant and intense focus on his body. This experience was both painful and nurturing—a dichotomy that fostered a strange sensuality and a deep affinity for exploring physicality. His work reflects this personal history, aiming to convey a physical understanding through sound and visuals, while juxtaposing the sterile and clinical with the messy and visceral.
Callum draws inspiration from contrasts: clean, industrial technology against oily, rusty machinery; clinical sterility against the imperfect messiness of the body. This duality mirrors his perception of human physicality, where the familiar can become unsettlingly unfamiliar. Digital mediums have allowed his work to extend these boundaries, creating uncanny, manipulated representations of the body that oscillate between recognition and dissonance.
The body, as the most universally recognizable external object, anchors our physical empathy. When distorted, abstracted, or repeated, it becomes a familiar presence behaving in unfamiliar ways, triggering visceral reactions. These manipulated bodies behave as “Res Extensa”—extended, unthinking entities with a pseudo-autonomy. This schism between the familiar and unfamiliar creates an uncanny experience that oscillates between discomfort and delight, often evoking the sublime.
Through his work, Callum seeks to challenge perceptions of beauty and physicality, using the digital space to push sensorial limits and evoke visceral, empathetic reactions. His art invites viewers to question their body schemas, confronting the uncanny and the sublime in ways both thrilling and unsettling.
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