Ciarán Paul RocheThe long lineContact
Ciarán around 1979 with his skateboard, seen through a curved television screen among Cheeky Annuals and oak-tree fragments

Room 04 / beginnings, not an origin myth

The long line.

A picture around 1979. Electronic music in the 1980s. Websites from 1996. Companies, domains, film, fatherhood, and another burst of making now.

Drag sideways / or use the tab key

Not a résumé. The parts that explain the work.

  1. 01

    c. 1979

    A skateboard, too much padding

    The first picture here. Not an origin myth—just me, equipped for impact.

  2. 02

    1980s

    Sound before screens

    Electronic music and noise made at home: machines, tape, repetition and useful accidents.

  3. 03

    1996

    The web begins

    GeoCities, then AOL Homesites, Web Studio, WordPress, Webydo and hundreds of sites.

  4. 04

    Early web

    Sites that became businesses

    MedicalAlert.com and MedicalAlarm.com helped establish Connect America, alongside a large network of dealer sites.

  5. 05

    2010

    Logic by Machine goes online

    Original music, edited archive film, images and live performance. Much of the catalogue is public again.

  6. 06

    After the exit

    A different centre

    I stepped away from the companies to focus on fatherhood. Music, film, not-for-profit work and the web continued.

  7. 07

    Now

    Forgebuilding

    An idea while it is alive: make it, test it honestly, revise it and put it into the world.

Knots Make the Oak Strong by Ciarán Paul Roche
Pastels, hospital visitor badge, canvas and found material · c. 2012 / 2021

One image / every day

This one stays.

I began Knots Make the Oak Strong around 2012. In 2021 I returned to it and fixed the visitor badge into the canvas.

I look at it every day. What happened is not hidden. It became part of the picture, and the tree is still standing.