Interview John Carson 

Listen to LUMPEN FM’s radio special on John Carson here, recorded on the occasion of the artist’s participation in Tuneful Places, a group exhibition curated by Askeaton Contemporary Arts in Chicago that disrupts and challenges representations of geography, state and capital within an Irish idiom. John is interviewed by Co-Prosperity’s Nick Wylie, delving into American Medley, Carson’s seminal artwork presented publicly for the first time in over forty years. They discuss his travels across the United States in the early 1980s and listen to significant songs that form part of Carson’s artwork.

In 2026 and 2027 John Carson works with Askeaton Contemporary Arts to present a series of exhibitions throughout Ireland, debuting new artworks that continue his decades-long artistic investigation into art and society. Carson’s work is an enthusiastic endeavour encompassing strains of conceptual art, the immersive role of popular culture, and a form of storytelling peppered with insightful wit and humour. 

Image: John Carson, American Medley, 1981–86. Exterior of Delaney’s American Style Diner, Belfast in early 1980s, featuring American Medley on exhibit in the restaurant window. Fanny Craddock was a restaurant critic and TV chef, famed for popularising both pizza and the Prawn Cocktail to the UK.