–Speechless Action will feature a collection of newly developed work by artists Sarah Boulton, Maïto Jobbé duval and Kate Murphy. The exhibition is interested not just in the individual works, which span video, drawing, printed matter and writing, but in their layout, contextual sense and relationship to the viewer. This attitude is shared by much of the work, where the context of an action or narrative or image holds as much attention as the actions, words and images do themselves. The works explore a development of meaning through juxtaposition, sequence and series, and an interest in how information, in the widest sense, relates. They also share a relationship to the readymade: situations or narratives, actions, images and moving images that exist in the world already but are seen and transformed through a shift in their presentation or backdrop, whether through storytelling, poetry or editing.
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Sarah Boulton (b. 1989) is based in Mid Wales. She graduated from Slade School of Art in 2015 and has recently presented her work with Wysing Arts Centre, Cambridge, Camden Arts Centre, London, Caraboo Projects, Bristol, Rhubaba Gallery, Edinburgh, Cell Project Space, London, Patara Gallery, Tbilisi, Best British Poetry Anthology, Danarti Magazine and Tender Journal. Her first collection of poetic texts will be published near the end of 2019 by Care of Time.
Maïto Jobbé duval (b. 1985) is an artist and theatre designer based in London. For this exhibition she presents extracts of a larger ongoing narrative based work drawing on the framework of the graphic novel. Past shows and performances include: It’s not the digging it’s the dirt, Dirt Space, London 2016, Transforming, Dyson Gallery, London 2015, Artists’ Realities, Claustro Sor Juana, Mexico DF 2015, Familiar Distances, The Little Gallery, Calgary Canada 2014. Maïto studied at Camberwell College of Arts and The Royal College of Art, both in London.
Kate Murphy was born in Belfast, 1989 and is based in Norwich. She studied Foundation Diploma in Art and Design at Ulster University 2007-2008 and BA Fine Art (Sculpture) at Norwich University College of the Arts 2008-2011, and did an Erasmus exchange at Akademie der Bildenden Kuenste Karlsruhe, Germany. Exhibitions of the work include VIDEO, PAINTINGS (with Russell Osborne) 13a, Norwich 2015, OUTPOST Members Show selected by Lynda Morris and Chris Rawcliffe, Norwich 2016, Soft Ramp, Gildengate House, Norwich 2016, Blumen, Unthank Artspace, Norwich 2017 and Index, Piper Keys, London 2019.
This exhibition is kindly supported by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland.
Catalyst Arts welcomes expressions of interest applications for new Co-Directors
Catalyst Arts has been one of the most important and innovative artist-led spaces for contemporary art in Belfast since it began in 1993. The driving force behind the organisation has always been the determined and enthusiastic committee of directors who have worked over the years to ensure the gallery remains at the forefront of the visual art scene in Northern Ireland – improving, producing and promoting art and culture and the advancement of education and training in the arts.
Catalyst Arts directorship programme has a local and international reputation of providing a unique training ground for artistic, curatorial and cultural production. Applicants who are seeking to advance their experience within an artist-led model of gallery programming and operations are encouraged, with successful candidates gaining valuable skills in installation, production, funding applications, commissioning, outreach, education, archiving and administration work. This is an exciting opportunity to join Catalyst Arts at the beginning of a new chapter as one of Northern Ireland’s leading contemporary art organisations.
Although previous experience in all areas is not essential, interested candidates are encouraged to review and consider the director criteria when making their applications.
The role of co-director is a voluntary position carried out over two years, on a rolling basis.
Eye Test is a group exhibition by the second-year sculpture lens students from Ulster University. The show presents an eclectic field of interests around historical and contemporary narratives of religion, memory, cultural practices, simulacra, the body and other bodies, public and private spaces. Contemplations of fragility, lost and false promises are explored through a diverse mix of practices involving installation, photography, video, sculpture and performance.
Exhibition Opening Thursday May 30th 7pm and runs until June 6th
Exhibiting Artists: Caitrín Mac Giolla Brídhe, Klara Burić ,Maria del Pilar Morales Caamano, Janice Cherry, Ruta Franskiaviciute, Caitíln Gallagher, Euan Gébler, Meg Jeanie, Katie McBride, Kate O’Neill, Merel van Erpers Roijaards, Claudia Rose, Nathan Turner, Matthew Wilson
In a constant state of flux, let us see practice as process. In orbit we accentuate the transient, the never ending and the non-conclusive . Pushing towards a point of collapse we can capture the avenues of the inbetween. Now in its 26th year, Catalyst Arts is seeking works for our annual members’ exhibition to welcome this new era of making and creating.
Catalyst members invited to show a piece of work in any medium.
To take part applicants must already be a member of Catalyst Arts through our original membership scheme or become a new Standard or Premium member through our Patreon page.
Being a member is a great way to support Catalyst and have access to exclusive members opportunities throughout the year.
Due to the large amount of submissions annually received applicants must consider the following specifications:
– Maximum dimensions for canvas and photographic prints are 2.50×2.50 meters.
– Sculptures and installations must be no larger than 3 meters cubed.
– If you wish to submit a video work all technical equipment must be provided.
– The submitted work must be delivered or posted to the gallery between 9am – 5pm on the 11th and 12th of April. Please provide your name, title, medium and date included with your work. Work delivered after these dates will not be accepted for exhibition.
– Dates for collection of work are the 10th and 11th of May between 11am – 5pm. All work must be collected on these days.
We kindly ask that each artist keep their submission to one piece of work. Due to the high level of submissions each year we cannot facilitate a series or body of work.
Please note that all work submitted will be curated and installed by Catalyst Directors. They reserve the right to show the work as they believe fits best within the space and in correspondence to the exhibition as a whole. Each artwork will be handled and installed with the utmost respect and consideration for all participating artists and the space.
If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact us atcatalystarts@gmail.com
We would like to warmly invite all Catalyst Arts Members to our Annual General Meeting on Wednesday 10th April 2019 at 6pm at the gallery; 5 College Court, BT1 6BS.
Please find below an Agenda detailing the general nature of the business to be transacted.
We want to have the broadest range of opinions possible and so would greatly appreciate your attendance.
We would like to remind members that they are entitled to appoint another person as their proxy to exercise all or any of their rights to attend and to speak and vote at a meeting of the company under section 324 of the Companies Act (2006). If this is the case please notify us by email ahead of the AGM.
Please note – this is for Catalyst Arts Members only.
To confirm your attendance, or for any questions, please contact us at catalystarts@gmail.com.
Opening – 27th March 2019, 6 until 9pm Exhibition continues until 4th April 2019 Performance – 28th March to 3rd April 2019, 2pm daily
Catalyst Arts is proud to present Connecting Body: 7 Days of Practising Transformation and
Preservation in a White Cube, a solo exhibition of new work by Belfast-based Danish artist Lykke
Sønderkær from 28th March to 4th April 2019.
Connecting Body: 7 Days of Practising Transformation and Preservation in a White Cube takes the
form of a time-based exhibition crossing modes of representation between site-specific intervention,
live performance and archival art. Each day for a duration of seven consecutive days, Sønderkær
creates a performance as a ritual bridging the connections between human body and organic
materiality with spatial character of the gallery. Exploring the symbolic idea of Four Elements,
Sønderkær seeks to discover our sensual awareness of the physical world and beyond.
Daily performances are captured, recorded and displayed in the immediate environment alongside the
following ephemeral art to be unfolded in space. As the space accumulates performances and
nourishes a body of archive leading up to the Eighth and final day, the exhibition presents itself as a
state of oneness, preserving all directions of time and encompassing all interconnected frozen
moments and material resonance.
Lykke Sønderkær was born in 1993 in Copenhagen. Always having pursued art, she traveled to
Scotland in 2014 to study Art and Contemporary Practice and Philosophy at Dundee University. She
recently graduated from Ulster University in Fine Art where she was shortlisted for RDS Visual
Awards 2018 for her performance work. Recent shows include solo exhibition at Pollen Studios and
Gallery; group show at MART Gallery, Vaults Art Studio, RDS Dublin and Engine Room Gallery
Belfast.
Catalyst Arts would like to welcome new Co-Director Emma Brennan to the board
Emma Brennan is a visual artist and curator between Dublin and Belfast. She graduated with a BA Hons in Fine Art Media from the National College of Art and Design, Dublin in 2016. Curating and exhibiting in numerous group and solo shows during her time there, she has also participated in a number of live art festivals including Livestock and the Dublin Live art Festival, as well as curating the inaugural NCAD Live Graduate Performance Showcase in 2016. In 2018 she was awarded the role of the resident artist of the Draoicht, Blanchardstown on the back of which she featured work in the Dublin Fringe Festival 2018.
Catalyst Arts would like to welcome new Co-Director Leah Corbett to the board
Leah Corbett is an artist from Tipperary, currently based in Belfast. In 2016 she graduated with a degree in Fine Art from Crawford College of Art and Design and was subsequently awarded the CIT Arts Fest Prize and the Ciaran Langford Memorial Bursary. Since then she has continued to exhibit her work as well as participating in socially engaged projects including Public! (2017) and Common Ground (2018/19.) Most recently she was awarded the Tipperary Arts Office Residency Award 2018 and is working on a community based project to be presented in 2019. She has previously worked with arts organisations such as CIT Wandesford Quay Gallery and Tactic Cork before taking on her current role as co-director of Catalyst Arts.
28th March-4th April 2019 (Including Sundays and Mondays)
Opening – 27th March 2019, 6 until 9pm
This is an exhibition of daily performances which evolve throughout the course of the show.
New performances by the artist will occur every day at 2pm.
‘Connecting Body: 7 Days of Practising Transformation and Preservation in a White Cube’ takes the form of a time-based exhibition crossing modes of representation between site-specific intervention, live performance and archival art. Each day for a duration of seven consecutive days, Sønderkær
creates a performance as a ritual bridging the connections between human body and organic materiality with spatial character of the gallery. Exploring the symbolic idea of Four Elements, Sønderkær seeks to discover our sensual awareness of the physical world and beyond.
Daily performances are captured, recorded and displayed in the immediate environment alongside the following ephemeral art to be unfolded in space. As the space accumulates performances and nourishes a body of archive leading up to the Eighth and final day, the exhibition presents itself as a state of oneness, preserving all directions of time and encompassing all interconnected frozen moments and material resonance.
Lykke Sønderkær was born in 1993 in Copenhagen. Always having pursued art, she traveled to Scotland in 2014 to study Art and Contemporary Practice and Philosophy at Dundee University. She recently graduated from Ulster University in Fine Art where she was shortlisted for RDS Visual Awards 2018 for her performance work. Recent shows include solo exhibition at Pollen Studios and Gallery; group show at MART Gallery, Vaults Art Studio, RDS Dublin and Engine Room Gallery Belfast.
This exhibition is supported by Arts Council Northern Ireland and the Fenton Arts Trust. We would like to thank CCA Derry~Londonderry for their kind support.
Catalyst Arts welcomes expressions of interest applications for new Co-Directors
Catalyst Arts has been one of the most important and innovative artist-led spaces for contemporary art in Belfast since it began in 1993. The driving force behind the organisation has always been the determined and enthusiastic committee of directors who have worked over the years to ensure the gallery remains at the forefront of the visual art scene in Northern Ireland – improving, producing and promoting art and culture and the advancement of education and training in the arts.
Catalyst Arts directorship programme has a local and international reputation of providing a unique training ground for artistic, curatorial and cultural production. Applicants who are seeking to advance their experience within an artist-led model of gallery programming and operations are encouraged, with successful candidates gaining valuable skills in installation, production, funding applications, commissioning, outreach, education, archiving and administration work. Although previous experience in all areas is not essential, interested candidates are encouraged to review and consider the director criteria when making their applications.
The role of co-director is a voluntary position carried out over a two years, on a rolling basis.
The 7 Day Itch is a group exhibition of the current final year students within the Ulster University’s prestigious and long standing Masters Fine Art course.
Exhibition Opening 6pm Thursday the 10th and runs through to the 17th of January
Exhibiting Artists: Johanna Nulty, Ronan Smyth, Leila Ghandi, Aisling McGibbon, Caoimhe Diamond, Erin Healey, Petra Dominova, Nathan Walker, Tara McGinn, Stephen Conlon, Jennifer Mehigan, Saskia Lassmann
On the occasion of its 25th Anniversary, Catalyst Arts has invited current and past directors from leading independent spaces to share their experiences of artist-led activity. The two Symposium sessions give the arts community in Belfast a chance to hear from individuals and projects from outside of Northern Ireland, aiming to question and inspire a varied and sensitive approach to developing artists and showing work. Organisations represented include 126 Gallery (Galway), EMBASSY (Edinburgh), Basic Space (Dublin), Transmission (Glasgow) and Turf Projects (Croydon). The sessions will take place on 24th November at The MAC, and 1st December at The Black Box. These will feature presentations by invited speakers followed by discussions chaired by previous Catalyst Directors Eoin Dara and Edel O’Reilly.
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Saturday 24th November 3 – 5 PM | The MAC, Belfast
In 1993 a group of MFA graduates from the Belfast School of Art began to organise exhibitions, exchanges and events in the city, calling their new artist-led project Catalyst Arts. They established a non-hierarchical structure, naming themselves joint co-directors, and agreed that a director would stay for 2 years and then pass the gauntlet to someone else. In accordance with its constitution, Catalyst is run by unpaid volunteers and seeks to adopt a poly-vocal strategy towards the promotion of contemporary art practices, by showcasing artists and projects from the widest possible range of disciplines.
A quarter of a century and almost 100 co-directors later, the current committee present a programme of events to celebrate Catalyst’s 25th anniversary. In the gallery a wealth of material from the Catalyst archive will be on display, woven together with contributions from past directors. The exhibition is a way to make visible Catalyst’s impact on the field of contemporary art practice over the past two and half decades, especially in the UK and Ireland.
Alongside the exhibition will be a talk on Catalyst’s extensive but incomplete archive, a walking tour of previous Catalyst locations and a Symposium examining artist-led practices from around the UK and Ireland.
Public Programme
15 November 6 – 9pm | Opening event | Catalyst Arts
24 November 3 – 5pm | Symposium Session 1 | The MAC
1 December 3 – 5pm | Symposium Session 2 | The Black Box
6 December 7pm | Catalyst Walks – 25 Years | beginning at Catalyst Arts
25 Years of Catalyst Arts is kindly supported by The Arts Council of Northern Ireland and Belfast City Council.
We understand the world around us by combining fragments of information, gathered and stored over a lifetime. Synthesis is the process of combining new information with previous understandings. In the gallery space, a space made for observation, we synthesise a unique experience through engagement with materials. With a focus on our sensory perceptions, this raises two questions:
How do spatial elements and physical context affect how we experience light and sound?
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How do light and sound affect how we experience spatial elements and physical context?
The combining of these stimulants together results in the creation of something new. This exhibition combines Sound Art, Visual Installation, and Reactive Sculpture that each affect and are affected by the space they reside in. These stimulants provide the audience members with new information and each individual synthesises there own interpretation.
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Artist Bios
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Gábor Lázár is an electronic musician born in 1989 in Budapest. His first release was a split tape with Russell Haswell in 2013, then in the same year he was invited by Lorenzo Senni to release a CD on Presto!? which led to Gábor’s first album ’ILS’ published early 2014. Right after ‘ILS’ he’s got invited by Conor Thomas to make a record for The Death of Rave, a label managed by a record distributor called Boomkat. His work ‘EP16’ has been critically acclaimed by magazines and festivals, at this time Gábor was already touring extensively in Europe, also taking part in artist residencies at House of Electronic Arts in Basel, at EMS in Stockholm and was a Shape Platform Artist as well. He made audio visual installations at Santa Monica Art Center in Barcelona and at Rewire Festival. In 2014 he met Mark Fell and they recorded a collaborative album in Budapest which was released in 2015 as ’The Neurobiology of Moral Decision Making’. The album was #11 on Rolling Stone Magazine’s 20 Best Avant Albums and #3 on Boomkat’s Favourite 100 Albums of the year and it was played by Aphex Twin at multiple festivals including Field Day London and Primavera Sound Barcelona which was described by The Quietus as one of the most head-spinning moments of Aphex Twin’s set. Later in 2017 he released a new album called Crisis of Representation on Shelter Press then in 2018 he turned back to The Death of Rave to release a new album called ‘Unfold’ which marks a new era of his works.
Paul Stapleton is an improviser, sound designer, musician, researcher and inventor originally from Southern California, currently based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. He designs and performs with a variety of modular metallic sound sculptures, custom made electronics, found objects and electric guitars in locations ranging from experimental music clubs in Berlin to remote beaches on Vancouver Island. Since 2007, he has been lecturing at the Sonic Arts Research Centre (SARC), where he teaches and supervises MA & PhD research in improvisation, performance ecosystem design and site-specific sound art. His album ‘FAUNA’ with saxophonist Simon Rose has received acclaim from music critics such as Ken Waxman (Jazzword), Jean-Michel Van Schouwburg (Orynx), Mark Corroto (All About Jazz), Marc Medwin (New York City Jazz Record) and others. His sound design and composition work as part of the immersive audio theatre piece Reassembled, Slightly Askew (2015) has received widespread critical praise, including 4 star reviews in The Guardian, Time Out London and the Evening Standard. Other major works-in-progress include the distributed instrument project Ambiguous Devices with Tom Davis, and the Translating Improvisation research group co-directed with Sara Ramshaw.
John Harding is a designer and researcher who works within various areas which oscillate between the fields of Music and Creative Technologies. John’s work has particular focus on the development of new interfaces for musical expression and he owns and operates the popular creative tech blog site brrr.ink, which details forays into areas spanning Synthesis, Creative Coding, Music Technologies, Electronics, Rapid Prototyping and Creative Visuals. He is also Co-Cheif Technology Officer at Delta Sound Labs, based in the USA a company that develops new Music Technology related hardware and Software with worldwide distribution both in Europe and the USA. John has been part of the core teaching team at Creative Technologies at Ulster University Magee for over a decade.
www.brrr.ink/
https://instagram.com/brrr.ink
https://www.deltasoundlabs.com
Kindly supported by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland.
BETWEEN THINGS Catalyst Arts Student and Recent Graduate Show 2018
Harry Walsh Foreman | Min-young Kim | Johanna Nulty | Marijn Ottenhof
Tuesday, 28th of August – Thursday, 6th of September
Opening hours: Tue – Sat, 11 – 5
Opening: Tuesday 28th August, 6 – 9 pm
6:30 pm: Exhibition Tour led by participating artists and Catalyst Co-directors
Performance by Marijn Ottenhof
BETWEEN THINGS builds on Catalyst’s reputation for showcasing the very best of work from UK and Ireland based recent graduates and final year students within this annual exhibition. Catalyst are delighted to be offering critical support and exposure at a formative stage in the artists’ development.
Harry Walsh Foreman was born in Dublin where for the most part he has been based since either making art, teaching art or sometimes both. Having recently graduated from the MFA in Fine Art Paint in the National College of Art & Design (NCAD) in Dublin, he has exhibited extensively through Ireland in numerous group shows where he has honed his particular approach which celebrates the human and the marks we make on the world from the architecture of a skyline to the tagging on a storefront. It is made in celebration of the local, the small-scale, the eccentric and the down-right ordinary. It is a search for the moments which contain a multitude of possibilities for examining the humour of the everyday.
Employing a various form of digital media, from CGI to game simulation, the work of Korean artist Min-young Kim reflects and discusses our relationship (and dependence) on digital technology and screen-based platforms and the use and deployment of software technologies within the realm of the social and biomedicine. Technical skills and scientific metaphors used in her work are therefore highly anchored in contemporary technosphere whereby smart devices, tracking-capturing systems and algorithmic computer processing alter our perception of the natural or the humanistic. Min-young Kim graduated with a MA in Contemporary Art Practices from the Royal College of Art, London in 2018 and with a BFA in Fashion Design from Ewha Womans University, South Korea in 2010.
Johanna Nulty is a visual artist based in Belfast. She studied Fine Art BA in Sligo Institute and is currently completing her MFA at Ulster University. The main components in Nulty’s practice are sculpture, video and installation. Nulty is interested in exploring sound from mass produced materials. Amalgamating the different sounds, creating visual and audio videos. Interested in ASMR (autonomous sensory meridian response) which is a term used for an experience characterised by static like or tingling sensation on the skin and how it affects the viewer physically and emotionally. Nulty is more interested in the materials themselves, the sound they make, how to capture it and the idea of materials creating a rhythm or pattern sound. She is also interested by the idea of ‘chance’, things that happen not so intended or forced but still having a structure to compose. Chance actions differ from erroneously carried out actions only in that they disdain the support of a conscious intention and really need no pretext. Creating sounds from the materials used, unaware of the effect such simple actions would present or allow.
In her work, Marijn Ottenhof investigates social and political systems and the human need for rules and logic. In staged situations, language and sculptural elements are used to draw audiences into performative moments. Existing texts are integrated into scripts and by the removal from their original context, are rendered more abstract and poetical. In the same way, surreal decors form an abstraction of known situations as a backdrop. Ottenhof studied at the Royal College of Art in The Hague and is now based in London, where she is currently enrolled in an MA at the Royal College of Art.
Catalyst Arts would like to welcome new Co-Director Anne Mager to the board. We look forward to working with her over the next two years.
Anne Mager works as a curator, arts manager, university lecturer and author. She organizes and realizes exhibitions, festivals and cultural events and holds a Master degree from the University of Münster, Germany in Communication Science, Art History and Cultural Studies as well as a Master in International Arts Management from the Art Academies in Cologne and Düsseldorf.
As a curator she focuses on site specific multimedia arts installations and the topics of borders and social change. She managed the interdivisional arts festival ‘new talents – biennale cologne’ from 2008 until 2017 and worked for a variety of other projects and institutions such as the exhibition program at Quartier am Hafen Cologne in 2013, Kunst-Station Sankt Peter, Fuhrwerkswerkswaage Kunstraum, Kunsthalle Recklinghausen and Kunsthaus NRW. In 2016 she moved to Ireland and initiated the ongoing interdisciplinary project series “the corridor“ in Belfast, Dundalk and Dublin.
Catalyst Arts is welcoming applications for its annual Student and Recent Graduate Show 2018. Applications are open to all current undergraduate and postgraduate students, along with those graduated in 2017 or 2018. Applicant must be a member of Catalyst Arts. Being a member is a great way to support Catalyst and have access to exclusive members opportunities throughout the year.
THE BEST WAY OUT IS ALWAYS THROUGH Curated by EMBASSY Gallery, Edinburgh At Catalyst Arts, Belfast 19/07/18 – 16/08/18
Adam Hussain | Lynne McBride | Jake Watts
“The Best Way Out is Always Through” seeks to assume the form of an open framework for knowledge exchange and production. Adopting the possibilities granted by the inclusion of a working open-source CNC router in the space, this framework will adopt three items of functional furniture as points of departure; a library, table & chairs will be fabricated in-situ using the CNC router. Scotland based artists Adam Hussain, Lynne McBride and Jake Watts, have been invited to produce new cross-disciplinary work in response. Opportunities for engagement, in the form of readings, workshops, performances and live fabrication seminars, will take place throughout the duration of the programme.
Adam Hussain works between improvisation, video and poetic text. He considers his work at the junction between somatic dance thinking and the ancient movement practices of Sufi ritual. His artistic inquiry focuses on the body as the site for experimentation through processes of questioning, exploring how one might occupy liminal spaces. He currently resides in Edinburgh and helps co-choreograph live site-specific installations as part of his artistic contribution to Edinburgh-based Improvisation collective, I.M.P.
Lynne McBride is an Edinburgh based artist and educator whose work often considers artist led archives. She recently completed the AIR Tech Residency at the Edinburgh college where she began a project inviting HND Contemporary Art Practice students to engage with and create responses to Artist led archives around Scotland. To date, these have included: GENERATOR projects, Embassy Gallery, and Market Gallery.
Jake Watts is an artist who is also currently a practice-based PhD Candidate at the University of Edinburgh researching ‘Workshops: Investigating and Developing Participatory Environments for Artistic Learning’. Jake is also a member of Shift/Work
(www.shift-work.org.uk).
MEMBERS OPPORTUNITY: CATALYST AUDIO TRACKS | DEADLINE JULY 19TH
Catalyst presents a new call out that focuses on the world of sound art. Whether your work is Drone, Noise, Ambient, Electroacoustic, Field Recording, Synthesis Exploration, or All/None-of-the-above. This is an opportunity to have your sounds presented and heard in new contexts and by new audiences.
Each successfully submitted work:
1) Will be programmed in an event (Aug 17th 7pm) that will take place in the Sonic Arts Research Centre’s Sonic Laboratory. The submitter will choose to diffuse or simply play their work on the 48-Channel system that the Sonic Laboratory offers.
2) Will be archived digitally on free streaming services such as Bandcamp and Soundcloud as part of the ‘Catalyst Audio Tracks’ series.
3) Will be stored on Catalyst USBs that will be given out at the programmed event and subsequent exhibitions in the gallery until all units are gone.
Terms and Conditions:
– The work must be no longer than 4 minutes
– The work must be sent in a stereo WAV file
– The submitter consents to a public performance free of charge of their work in the SARC concert and archiving of their audio on non-profit audio streaming services (e.g. Bandcamp, Soundcloud). The composer retains the copyright of his/her work and can request removal of such work.
Being a member is a great way to support Catalyst and have access to exclusive membership opportunities throughout the year. Join by donating to Catalyst on our website: http://www.oldcatalystarts.hilken.co.uk/members…/
Between Us And is open at EMBASSY, Edinburgh until July 1st. Join us today at 2PM for presentations by featured artists Kate Fahey and Marianne Keating.
Kate Fahey works across the boundaries of various mediums including moving images, sound, stills, sculpture, and installation, her practice explores our relationship with images through contemporary screen based perspectives, aerial, satellite and elevated (drones eye) views, particularly through the technological hard and softwares of encounter. Focusing on imagery predominantly appropriated from YouTube, her multidisciplinary fine art practice engages with the surface and materiality of the aerial image, employing metafictional and subjective approaches to disrupt their habitual modes of spectatorship online.
Currently, she is an AHRC funded practice based PhD candidate at the University of the Arts, London, artist in residence at Lewisham Arthouse. She is a recent recipient of the Mead Residency Award to the British School at Rome (2017). Upcoming projects include Repetitive Strain (solo) at Lewisham Arthouse and an Artists’ Exhibition Residency at Leitrim Sculpture Centre (2018). She lives and works in Peckham.
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Marianne Keating is currently a PhD candidate in the Visual and Material Culture & Contemporary Art Practice Research Centre, Kingston University London (2016- 2020), funded by Kingston University, KSA Studentship Award and a AHRC TECHNE Associate. She graduated with an MA in Print from the Royal College of Art, London 2013 and BA in Fine Art from Limerick School of Art and Design, Ireland in 2002.
She has exhibited extensively including exhibitions in London, Paris, New York, Melbourne and Shanghai. Recent exhibitions include a range of solo and group exhibitions including: Landlessness, StudioRCA, London UK (2017), Unstable Monuments, Cornwall, UK (2016), 中外艺术家作品联展开幕, Hangzhou, China (2014), and In Search for Trevor Owen, Montego Bay, Jamaica (2013). Upcoming exhibitions in include Bloomberg New Contemporaries at the Liverpool Biennial 2018 and South London Gallery.
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Above: Repetitive Strain, multi-channel video with stereo sound, Thinkpads. Kate Fahey, 2018
Kindly supported by Culture Ireland and The Arts Council of Northern Ireland.
Catalyst Arts welcomes expressions of interest applications for new Co-Directors
Catalyst Arts has been one of the most important and innovative artist-led spaces for contemporary art in Belfast since it began in 1993. The driving force behind the organisation has always been the determined and enthusiastic committee of directors who have worked over the years to ensure the gallery remains at the forefront of the visual art scene in Northern Ireland – improving, producing and promoting art and culture and the advancement of education and training in the arts.
Catalyst Arts directorship programme has a local and international reputation of providing a unique training ground for artistic, curatorial and cultural production. Applicants who are seeking to advance their experience within an artist-led model of gallery programming and operations are encouraged, with successful candidates gaining valuable skills in installation, production, funding applications, commissioning, outreach, education, archiving and administration work. Although previous experience in all areas is not essential, interested candidates are encouraged to review and consider the director criteria when making their applications.
The role of co-director is a voluntary position carried out over a two years, on a rolling basis.
To apply for this position please download the Co-Director Application Form (.doc or .pdf) and for further details on the role you can review the co-director Job Description.
Applications should be submitted by email to
catalystarts@gmail.com
Deadline for applications: 23:59 July 20th 2018
If successful, candidates will be notified by the 24th July to attend an interview on the 31st July.
Successful candidates would begin their induction August/September 2018.
Catalyst Arts and EMBASSY present Between us and, an exhibition of recent and new multimedia works by artists Helena Hamilton, Kate Fahey and Marianne Keating.
The passing body of the spectator is dissolved into the darkened space, witness and participant in conversation between objects. Technologies quietly murmur to one another, a disembodied eye floats over coasts familiar and foreign, screens appear to dream and silent light makes its presence heard.
The title Between us and suggests an incomplete thought, inviting the viewer to reimagine the connection between eye and image, space and sound, object and person.
The opening event will take place on Friday 15th June 2018, 7 – 10PM
Kate Fahey and Marianne Keating will present artist talks on Saturday 16th June, 2PM.
The Catalyst-curated exhibition will run over two weeks in EMBASSY Gallery Edinburgh, as part of Annuale Festival 2018. This conversation between artist-led organisations will continue over July and August 2018, when Catalyst Arts, Belfast will host The Best Way Out is Always Through, a four week programme of art, workshops and events curated by EMBASSY.
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Helena Hamilton is a Belfast based artist. Her practice incorporates both visual and sonic elements to create work which crosses the lines between object, sound, digital interaction and action/performance. She received an MA in Sonic Arts (Queens University Belfast, 2014) and holds a BA Honours degree in Fine Art (University of Ulster, 2009). Helena is represented by The Agency Gallery, London.
She has exhibited and performed in both gallery spaces and contemporary music/sound festivals. Recent solo exhibitions include: Semblance and Event, Millennium Court Arts Centre, Portadown, NI/The Agency Gallery, London (2018). Showcases include: Digital Design Weekend, Victoria and Albert Museum, London (2017). Recent artist residencies include: Art Centre Ongoing, Tokyo, Japan (2016); Goldsmiths University of London, EAVI Group (2015).
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Kate Fahey works across the boundaries of various mediums including moving images, sound, stills, sculpture, and installation, her practice explores our relationship with images through contemporary screen based perspectives, aerial, satellite and elevated (drones eye) views, particularly through the technological hard and softwares of encounter. Focusing on imagery predominantly appropriated from YouTube, her multidisciplinary fine art practice engages with the surface and materiality of the aerial image, employing metafictional and subjective approaches to disrupt their habitual modes of spectatorship online.
Currently, she is an AHRC funded practice based PhD candidate at the University of the Arts, London, artist in residence at Lewisham Arthouse. She is a recent recipient of the Mead Residency Award to the British School at Rome (2017). Upcoming projects include Repetitive Strain (solo) at Lewisham Arthouse and an Artists’ Exhibition Residency at Leitrim Sculpture Centre (2018). She lives and works in Peckham.
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Marianne Keating is currently a PhD candidate in the Visual and Material Culture & Contemporary ArtPractice Research Centre, Kingston University London (2016- 2020), funded by Kingston University, KSA Studentship Award and a AHRC TECHNE Associate. She graduated with an MA in Print from the Royal College of Art, London 2013 and BA in Fine Art from Limerick School of Art and Design, Ireland in 2002.
She has exhibited extensively including exhibitions in London, Paris, New York, Melbourne and Shanghai. Recent exhibitions include a range of solo and group exhibitions including: Landlessness, StudioRCA, London UK (2017), Unstable Monuments, Cornwall, UK (2016), 中外艺术家作品联展开幕, Hangzhou, China (2014), and In Search for Trevor Owen, Montego Bay, Jamaica (2013). Upcoming exhibitions in include Bloomberg New Contemporaries at the Liverpool Biennial 2018 and South London Gallery.
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Kindly supported by Culture Ireland and The Arts Council of Northern Ireland.
Barry Cullen | Jonny McEwen | Una Monaghan | Saul Rayson | Susannah Stark
Interzone brings together a group of internationally prominent and emergent artists whose approaches to their individual art practices embrace sound, installation and visual components. The project is a six week conversation, the gallery re-imagined as liminal land between borders, playing host to a sustained exploration of the multi-faceted, complex, mutually invigorating relationships possible across visual and sonic art practices and rejecting outmoded separation between disciplines within contemporary art. Codes, glitches and loops permeate the assembled constituents of the exhibition, instigating a shifting inter-connection between what is seen and heard. The title references both the International Zone setting of William S Burroughs taboo breaking 1959 novel Naked Lunch and the mysterious, dreamlike “Zone” in Andrei Tarkovsky’s 1979 film Stalker.
Interzone will be complemented by a series of live Sonic Art performances on the opening night and to coincide with June and July Late Night Art Belfast.
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Barry Joseph Cullen is an audio and video worker who has exhibited, performed and researched in Europe, the Middle East, North and South America. He is currently researching making DIY electronic instruments at the Sonic Arts Research Centre at Queen’s University Belfast. His practice involves working with traditional and modern tools. The work usually includes delivering DIY electronics, audio technology and motion graphics workshops, interactive AV installation works, performance (DJing, VJing and live instrumentation) and creative technical support.Performance projects use a mix of: improvisation, noise, environmental sound and play.
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Born in Enniskillen in 1966, Jonny McEwen began painting in 1986 and first exhibited in 1991. A Graduate of the Art College in Belfast, he has exhibited widely in Ireland, England, Wales and Germany Including several solo shows in Belfast Dublin and Cork. McEwen’s work is part of the following public collections: UTV, Dept of Environment NI, Secretary of States Office, Dept of Finance, Office of Public Works, University of Cork; as well as many private collections. In 2014 McEwen completed his Masters in fine Art at the University of Ulster, where his work developed to include a digital practice using Video and computer code.His new work includes painting and digital installation, with aesthetics crossing over between the digital and analogue works.
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Úna Monaghan is a harper, composer, researcher and sound artist from Belfast. Her recent work has combined traditional music with bronze sculpture, sound art and movement sensors. Her compositions have been presented on BBC and RTÉ television and radio, in theatre productions, and at international festivals and conferences, such as the International Computer Music Conference, York Festival of Ideas, and New York Electroacoustic Music Festival. Úna has held artist residencies at the Centre Culturel Irlandais Paris, the Institute for the Public Life of Arts and Ideas Montréal, and the Future Music Lab at the Atlantic Music Festival, Maine, USA. Úna also works as a sound engineer specialising in Irish traditional music, and experimental, live electronic and multichannel music, a role in which she travels worldwide. Úna is the Rosamund Harding Research Fellow in Music at Newnham College, University of Cambridge. Her research examines the intersections between Irish traditional music, experimental music practices, improvisation and interactive technologies. She performs with harp and electronics, and released an album of her compositions for harp and electronics, named “For” in 2018.
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Composer, improviser and percussionist Saul Rayson studied with various drum teachers including Allen Cox and Kim Plainfield at The Drummers Collective in New York. Saul’s Musical career has encompassed various musical environments and endeavours. As a sideman, he has worked with many artists and bands including Mark Van Hoen ‘Locust’ (R&S Records), Seefeel (Too Pure Records), Velocette (Wijja records) Baby Fox (Road Runner Recorders), Mike Flowers (Sony Music) and Owen Lamont ‘Hold On’. Saul’s collaborative work includes: ARC (Allen, Rayson, Cullen), Subfusc ‘Sonic Kitchen’, and Iain McCurdy ‘Acoustic Capacitance’ (performed at Maynooth University, Csound 30 Conference 2016). Saul also performs and composes as a solo artist often under ‘Subfusc’ and other pseudonyms and played at Sonorities 2018. Saul trained as a recording engineering at Fortress Studios in London and has worked with artists such as Lisa Millet, Ted Barns (Beth Orton, Clayhill), Tummy Touch Records and Jamaican Records. He also worked for mastering and archiving studio, Ideal Mastering. Saul has experimented with extending his sounds in both performance and recording, with computer environments, Supercollider and Pure Data. In recent years, he has been building hardware, in the form of a Eurorack systems. This exploration has involved the extension and adaptation of drums with the use of contact mics and addition of material through the drum membrane and various developments in the ways to excite the drums, using drums as both a sound and control source. During this time, his use of improvisation has impacted greatly on his composition and performance work. Saul is a lecturer at South Eastern Regional College where he teaches music performance and production.
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Susannah Stark graduated from Grays School of Art in Aberdeen (2011) and Royal College of Art in London (2016) where she studied printmaking, and primarily works with music, voice, sound and print-based installation. Her work North East Wis-Dom was shown at the Third CAFAM Biennial, Negotiating Space CAFA Art Museum, Beijing, China, (2016/17), Idols and Impossible Structures, International Print Centre New York, USA (2017) and in Ambient Occlusion, Gossamer Fog, London (2017). In 2016 she collaborated with musician Donald Hayden on a commissioned surround sound audio work The Wheel for Soundscape Park at Art Basel in Miami Beach, USA. In 2017 they worked together on surround sound audio as part of exhibition Lilt, Twang, Tremor at the CCA in Glasgow (2017/18), which included a talk and live music/voice performance (January 2018). This work was then shown as a solo presentation Searchlights at bb15, Linz, Austria (2018). In 2017 she collaborated with artist Karolina Lebek on an exhibition with live music/spoken word performance Unnatural Wealth curated by A- – -Z at StudioRCA in London (2017), and with artist Suzanne Dery on an exhibition and performance The Minch at the Market Gallery, Glasgow (2017). Recent screenings include Unnatural Wealth CCA, Glasgow International Festival of Visual Art (2018), Glare curated by LUX Scotland and Gallery Celine , Glasgow Film Theatre (2018). She has recently completed residencies at Hospitalfield, Arbroath, Scotland (2017) The Fountainhead, Miami, USA (2017) and bb15, Austria (2018) and is currently working on new music for release on EP later in 2018.
Kindly supported by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland.
66% There is a group exhibition showcasing an array of work by the 2nd year Lens and Sculpture students from the Belfast School of Art. The various works explore concepts ranging from politics and belief systems to notions of identity and belonging, and express a contemporary view of current affairs through media such as installation, drawing, video and sound. The artists focus on bringing together their individual practices in a collaborative setting to reflect on their work to date, as well as their potential for the future.
Exhibiting Artists: Rebecca Allen | Lynice Cathcart |Dara Nolobey Condun | Amy Devlin | Marianne Dupain | June Hill | Anna Horvathova | Landi Love | Paddy McKeown | Gemma Montgomery | Aimée Nelson | Joanna Palmer | Elizabeth Phillips | Natalia Stojevski | Ausrine Su | Adèle Vallet
you are a programmed tape recorder set to record and playback listen to your present time tapes and you will begin to see who you are and what you are doing here mix yesterday in with today and hear tomorrow your future rising out of old recordings
who programs you
who decides what tapes play back in present time
who plays back your old humiliations and defeats holding you in prerecorded present time
you don’t have to listen to that sound
you can program your own playback
you can decide what tapes you want played back in present time
William S. Burroughs
Regret is a way of relating to objects and actions of the past, connecting our desires and wills to what we do and what we make. The Members Show this year takes the idea of regret – the retroactive wish – as a potentially compelling way of seeing what we’ve made and of bringing an element of looking-back into the present. Clément Rosset summarises Schopenhauer, saying that regret has no meaning; to do something different would have been to want something different. Even without meaning, a retroactive wish might carry something – the ghost of an intention, a persistent illusion.
Catalyst members are all invited to show a piece of work in any medium – work that they have made recently, that they have willed into existence, suspending or embracing the possibility of retroactive wishes.
To take part applicants must be a members of Catalyst Arts. Being a member is a great way to support Catalyst and have access to exclusive members opportunities throughout the year.
Click here to donate £20/£10 (unwaged) and become a member.
Due to the large amount of submissions annually received applicants must consider the following specifications:
– Maximum dimensions for canvas and photographic prints are 2.50×2.50 meters.
– Sculptures and installations must be no larger than 3 meters cubed.
– If you wish to submit a video work all technical equipment must be provided.
– The submitted work must be delivered or posted to the gallery between 9am – 5pm on the 27th and 28th of April. Please provide your name, title, medium and date included with your work.
– Dates for collection of work are the 7th and 8th of May between 11am – 5pm. All work must be collected on these days.
30th March – 7th April 2018 | Opening 29th March 6-9pm
‘I have a lucky number 11. I don’t know why I call it lucky because it’s very rare that I would ever check on it…and I do sweat on it a lot. Never comes out…’
How we interpret numbers depends on our perception. They act as codes, possessing and relaying information to tell us about the world around us. Through our life, numbers can become interwoven with our identity. It could be argued that some people feel a stronger association with numbers than others.
The exhibition, Sweatin’, explores these ideas within the context of a working-class bingo hall in the city centre of Belfast. Traditionally a female dominated environment, bingo can be a place of escape, relaxation and mutual support with plenty of craic! Drawn initially to the subject through her own family connections with the game, O’Reilly spent intensive periods of time in the environment in question, listening and observing…and sometimes playing. Sweatin’ offers a portrait of Belfast, whilst also providing a platform for broader discussions surrounding numerical associations, cultural superstitions and the perceived notion of luck.
Helouise O’Reilly received the Catalyst Arts Graduate Award upon completion of the Masters in Fine Art course at the University of Ulster and is currently a member of Flax Art Studios. She has exhibited nationally and internationally and had work featured in the Belfast Film Festival.
This exhibition is kindly supported by The Fenton Arts Trust and the Arts Council of Northern Ireland.
LUX and Catalyst Arts presentLooking Aside, a screening programme curated by Catalyst Arts and Seamus Harahan on the occasion of his BL CK B X exhibition: shiney wet stones.
The programme of works have been chosen for their inventive image-making and action-making, creating transformative pathways through a marked sense of attention and generosity towards their material – a description not unlike Seamus’ work itself. The work has been selected from a varied pool of emerging practitioners connected to Catalyst, Seamus and Belfast. With work by Jamie Buckley, Aideen Doran, Kathryn Elkin, Laura McMorrow and Kate Murphy.
LUX is an international arts agency that supports and promotes artists’ moving image practices and the ideas that surround them. The only organisation of its kind in the UK, LUX represents the country’s only significant collection of artists’ film and video, and is the largest distributor of such work in Europe. LUX works with a large number of major institutions including museums, galleries, festivals and educational establishments, as well as directly with the public and artists. The organisation’s main activities are distribution, exhibition, publishing, education, research, and professional development support for artists and arts professionals.
Seamus Harahan grew up in London and East Tyrone and lives and works in Belfast. Harahan is an ex-director of Catalyst Arts, was an artist in residence at Centre Culturel Irlandais, Paris (2015), received a Paul Hamlyn Foundation Award for Artists (2009) and represented Northern Ireland in the 51st Venice Biennale (2005). Screenings and exhibitions include: Fact or Fiction, Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival 2015; 52nd Ann Arbor Film Festival (Jury Award, 2014); Cold Open / Before Sunrise, Kerlin Gallery, Dublin (2014); Assembly, A survey of Recent Artists’ Films and Video in Britain 2008-13, Tate Britain, London (2013-2014); Nought to Sixty, ICA, London (2008). He is the winner of the Film London Jarman Award 2015.
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Image credit: Laura McMorrow, The Lost Acre, 2018.
ALLAN HUGHES, MARK JACKSON | GAIL PICKERING | JAWBONE JAWBONE
‘NOW ANOTHER PROCEDURE IS TO RUN’ brings together works employing historical analogue videotape, live transmission and televisual images to explore and critique on the collective actions and self-indulgent desires of contemporary society. The installation will present itself as series of live broadcasts, with live/lived experiences, non-fictional and fictional storytelling that are intertwined within its surface materiality as much as its content which constructs new narrative spaces and platforms. These systems contain political and aesthetic implications that address the subjectivity of popular visual formats and enable reflection of our contemporary relationship with images. The works of these artists probe the overlap, slippage and disconnect between reality and representation.
Allan Hughes (1974-) and Mark Jackson (1976-) are The Blue Mountain, a dreamwork based in the Tyneside conurbation. They recycle souls using triangles inscribed on their arms as a tripartite that leads to creative action. As Senior Lecturers in Fine Art and Visual & Material Cultures at Northumbria University they climb up gleaming edifices: Marl Jackson and Alllan Hughes, paranormal investigators from the 1980s cast in an Anthony Gormley studio. They have wings instead of arms like the Angel of the North but their bodies are small, like miniatures, and they have phocomelia: errors, typos, missing bits, umbilical hernias and projecting brains, because the metal doesn’t flow back on itself when cast with a centrifuge. Recent visitations have included Blue Mountain Equals Arcturus at The Northern Charter in Newcastle upon Tyne, Blue Mountain at Manchester Contemporary, My Part of Your Home, (curated by Giles Bailey & CIRCA Projects) at Shipley Gallery Gateshead and a material production collaboration with Plastique Fantastique for Shonky a Hayward Touring Show. They will launch their Blue Mountain Starter Set, a set of 28mm white metal miniatures at IMT Gallery, London in April 2018.
Gail Pickering works with moving image, performance and installation. A key aspect is her use of historical material as staged through voice, mimicry and through the various accomplices and protagonists with whom she has collaborated in her videos and performances. The tension between the moving image and live presence offers an instability that recurs throughout her work in a desire to position it and us within a temporal and spatial present. In each exhibition of “Near Real Time” Pickering adds and subtracts material and varies the choreography of its installation, at its core performative.
Pickering graduated with an MFA from Goldsmiths in 2001. Her work has been exhibited widely, including Tate Modern; ICA, London; South London Gallery; Centre of Contemporary Art, Vilnius; Magasin Centre for Contemporary Art, Grenoble, France; Kunstverien Stuttgart, Germany; Gasworks and the Royal Academy of Arts, London. Pickering recently had two major solo exhibitions at La Ferme Du Buission, Paris, 2014 and the BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, 2014-15 and was nominated for the Jarman Award in 2015.
Nikki Katrina Carroll (b. 1994, Grantham) and Matthew Young (b. 1993 Stockton-on-Tees) are based in Graduate Studios Northumbria, Newcastle upon Tyne. Artistically they collaborate through their third identity, Jawbone Jawbone. As habitual re-users of imagery they aim to generate visual motifs that appear in various mediums and forms. Expanding from a simplistic image or conventional belief, they channel a daydream-like aesthetic to influence their decision making. Through this approach their multidisciplinary works become elements attempting to understand 3D life; whilst playfully reflecting on common sense.
Recent shows include I Can’t Remember the Last Time I Used Cardamom, TESTT Gallery, Durham; Les Boîtes Suede Gallery w/ Slugtown, Edinburgh; Dishwasher Safe System Gallery, Newcastle; Bish Bash Bosh by We The North, The Royal Standard, Liverpool and Deep Down the Ear Canal, Slugtown, Newcastle.
This project is kindly supported by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland.
Catalyst Arts would like to welcome new Co-Director Edy Fung to the board. We look forward to working with her over the next two years.
Edy Fung (b. 1989 Los Angeles, CA) is a multidisciplinary artist who experiments with installation, video, digital image, sound and text. Her work explores both ends of the spectrum of the human civilisation – appropriating the leftovers of past mythologies and alternate histories as well as speculating the societal changes implied by the latest cultural and technological shifts. She holds an MA from the Royal College of Art where she focused on the expanded field of architecture. She has practised in London, Tokyo, Lisbon, and Hong Kong before moving to Northern Ireland.
EXEGESIS is a group exhibition of the current final year students within the Ulster University’s prestigious and long standing MFA Fine Art course.
Exhibition Opening 6pm 11th and runs through to the 17th of January 2018
MFA Belfast present the hard core, soft centred, minimalist, maximalist, critical, complimentary, painterly, pixelated, gendered, genderless, placed, displaced, decadent, sparse, remembered, forgotten, historic and imaginary through a constellation of concepts, conceived as image, object and video. This raucous, rip roaring appraisal of the possibilities within contemporary art examines the development of highly individual artistic practices within collaborative studio and gallery environments.
All Catalyst Arts members are warmly invited to our Annual General Meeting on Wednesday 17th January 2018 at 6.30pm in the gallery.
This is a chance for members to hear about our past year’s programme and developments since the last AGM, to meet new directors and get a first look at what’s planned for the coming year.
We want to have the broadest range of opinions possible and so would greatly appreciate your attendance. Please note: This event is for Catalyst Arts members only.
The 150 Hours Courses were an educational experiment implemented in Italy beginning in 1974, available to factory workers and farmers initially, and expanded to include women a couple of years later. The courses were non-vocational; they were not intended to improve one’s productivity at work, but rather to allow for personal and collective growth. The courses sought to help workers reflect not only upon their working conditions but also on their lives. A large part was devoted to the re-elaboration and reinterpretation of what was defined as the “lived experience” of those attending: their experiences with work, emigration, cultural and language discrimination, union struggles, etc. Scuola Senza Fine (literally School without end) shows how the experiment extended into the lives of women taking the course, most of whom were housewives. The film was produced in collaboration with these students as part of their studies for the class, turning the curriculum’s questions about the representation of women into questions about the representation of themselves.
Redmond Entwistle: Walk-Through, 2012
Walk-Through explores the site, design and philosophy of the California Institute of the Arts in Los Angeles, as a starting point for posing wider questions about contemporary pedagogical models and their relationship to new forms of social, political and economic exchange that have emerged since the 1970s.
On one level we are presented with a tour of the CalArts campus, analysing the history of the building and the origins of its democratic ethos. A studied voiceover articulates the rhetoric of CalArts founding mission which, when read through the current moment, pinpoints an early form of cultural capital. Slowly the tour starts to shift to a second series of vignettes in which students gather in a classroom to attend a fictional recreation of Michael Ashers Post-Studio class. Whispered lines are fed to the principal speakers, and first person speech is interrupted with the reading of bureaucratic documents, detailing the literal financial and infrastructural underpinnings of the institution. As the discussion progresses we begin to understand that what is being staged is an exercise in assessing the parameters of the institutions legitimacy and the legitimacy of the class as a space within which to speak, as well as individual speech itself as a principal tool of democracy.
Adriana Monti is a film director, independent producer and screenwriter. She has been making independent feminist films since the late 1970s, in the context of a the feminist movement in that happened in Italy in the same years. Much of her filmmaking is collaborative. She began her career in the context of a larger feminist movement in Italy of the 1970. In 1983 she realized Scuola senza fine (School without End), where she film a group of amateur women involved in the education project 150 Hours. In 1986, Monti made a documentary called Filo a catena about the conditions of female textile workers. After moving to Canada in the late 90s, Monti worked as reporter and story producer at OMNI Television Rogers Media, and she started her own company A&Z Media Ltd. In 2012 she produced Ice Work and began development on Never too Late to Create. In the same year, Scuola Senza Fine was presented at the Museo Reina Sofia in Madrid.
Redmond Entwistle’s films strive to think recent history, its places and social issues through a documentary approach – replaying, rebuilding, reproducing materials into an abstract and archetypal reality. His film Walk-Through was the focus of solo exhibitions at Cubitt Gallery, Tramway Gallery and International Project Space. His previous film Monuments premiered in Rotterdam Film Festival’s Tigers Shorts Competition in 2010, and his film and sound work Paterson – Lodz won Best International Film at Images Festival in 2008. In 2013, short retrospectives of his work were presented at Hors Pistes, Centre Pompidou (Paris) and BAFICI (Buenos Aires Independent Film Festival). His work has been nominated for the Jarman Award 2014, and a solo exhibition of his films will be presented at MIT List Visual Arts Center in January 2015.
This screening is part our exhibition BLACK MOUNTAIN – to find out more visit our Facebook Event page or download the full public programme here.
Image credits: Walk-Trough, still + 150 Hours Course, photo documentation.
Tickets for both events are free, however space is limited – Book here.
The last two decades have seen the flourishing of reflections and projects related to forms of education alternative to the academia. The fast and apparently inescapable implementation of the Bologna Agreement fuelled the urgency to think about strategies for the survival of the production of knowledge under the conditions of its standardisation, corporatisation and general flattening on quantifiable standards. The context of contemporary art has been a privileged stage for reflection and experimentation of these processes – starting from the so-called “educational turn” to the recent and diffused fascination for Undercommons by Harney and Moten, and passing through an incredible number of schools and educational platforms founded by artists or cultural producers.
In which terms can it still be relevant to talk about alternative education in the arts? What are the most long-lived arguments and concepts emerged in recent years, and how can they be inhabited to evolve our strategic behaviour in the future?
Lucrezia Calabrò Visconti(b. 1990, Desenzano del Garda, IT) is an independent curator and co-founder of the research-driven non-profit space CLOG, Torino. She will be the curator of the main project of Moscow Biennale for Young Art in 2018 and she completed the curatorial programme by De Appel, Amsterdam, in 2017. Starting from 2017/18 she will be the coordinator of the Young Curators Residency Programme by Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Torino. She previously worked as artistic advisor for Artissima, Torino, assistant curator for Tutttovero by Francesco Bonami, Castello di Rivoli and GAM, Torino and Shit and Die by Maurizio Cattelan, Myriam Ben Salah and Marta Papini; TOILETPAPER Magazine and Le Dictateur, Milano. Calabrò Visconti graduated in Visual Arts and Theatre at IUAV, Venice, attended the curatorial programme CAMPO12 at Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, and pursued a curatorial internship at Artists Space, New York. She writes for contemporary art and culture journals and her latest projects include: Why Is Everybody Being So Nice?, De Appel, Amsterdam, Goodbye, See You After the Revolution!, UvA, Amsterdam, Dear Betty: Run Fast, Bite Hard, GAMeC, Bergamo.
This workshop is part our exhibition BLACK MOUNTAIN – to find out what other free events are happening visit our Facebook Event page or download the full public programme here.
Catalyst Arts would like to welcome new Co-Director Liam McCartan to the board. We look forward to working with him over the next two years.
Liam McCartan is currently a PhD student in the Sonic Arts Research Centre of Queen’s University Belfast. His research concerns the borders, bridges and practices of experimental electronic music. In regards to his practice, it consists of composition, sound art and design that explores the concepts of genre deconstruction and sonic history. This work has been presented in concert halls, clubs, galleries, specialist-acoustic spaces, theatres, fashion shows, and contemporary music festivals. Liam is also an Organiser, Resident, and Writer of the Belfast ’club-art hybrid’ event RESIST, which fuses avant-garde electronic music performances and immersive visual art of a digital aesthetic.
Welcomes applications of expressions of interest for new Co-Directors
Catalyst Arts has been one of the most important and innovative artist-led spaces for contemporary art in Belfast since it began in 1993. The driving force behind the organisation has always been the determined and enthusiastic committee of directors who have worked over the years to ensure the gallery remains at the forefront of the visual art scene in Northern Ireland – improving, producing and promoting art and culture and the advancement of education and training in the arts.
Catalyst Arts directorship programme has a local and international reputation of providing a unique training ground for artistic, curatorial and cultural production. Applicants who are seeking to advance their experience within an artist-led model of gallery programming and operations are encouraged, with successful candidates gaining valuable skills in installation, production, funding applications, commissioning, outreach, education, archiving and administration work. Although previous experience in all areas is not essential, interested candidates are encouraged to review and consider the director criteria when making their applications.
The role of co-director is a voluntary position carried out over a two years, on a rolling basis.
To apply for this position please download the Co-Director Application Form (.doc or .pdf) and for further details on the role you can review the co-director Job Description.
Applications should be submitted by email to
catalystarts@gmail.com
Deadline for applications: 5pm 18th December 2017
If successful, candidates will be notified by the 9th January to attend an interview on 30th January.
Successful candidates would be starting a trial period of one month between February and March 2018 .
Please feel free to email or call us with any queries at catalystarts@gmail.com,02890313303 or call in to the office at 5 College Court, Belfast , BT1 6BS.
Perhaps By Fate, Perhaps By Choice is an ongoing project that brings together photographs, family archive material, printmaking and drawing. During this talk, Cecilia will present her research about this body of work and its development during the last couple of years.
Hot infusion will be prepared for the participants. All welcome.
KIDS WORKSHOP
Dissolution of Abstraction
Saturday 25th November | 3-5pm
Reproducing the inverse process of printmaking through the dissolution of monochromes in water, the artist-in-residence Cecilia will experiment along with our little participants with different materials, pigments and colours.
The workshop is for children of all ages and parents are welcome to take part as well. Come to the gallery between 3 and 5pm and stay as long as you like.
Cecilia Borettaz is an artist based in Brussels. She works with painting, installation, printmaking and storytelling, combining an interest on her personal family archive with the fascination for the mountainous landscape of Valle d’Aosta – the artist‘s homeland.
Graduating in 2013 with BFA in Visual Art from IUAV University of Venice, she moved to Brussels obtaining a MA in Visual Art and Critical Tools to ERG School of Art in 2015. Selected exhibitions include: Group exhibition Premio Bice Bugatti Segantini, Villa Manuolo, Milan 2017; Helicotrema Recorded Audio Festival, curated by Blauer Hase and Giulia Morucchio, Centrale Fies (Trento), Progetto Diogene (Turin), Palazzo Grassi/ Foundation François Pinault (Venice) 2016; That’s it!(+3 FREE minutes), by Joelle Tuerlinckx, Biennal Performatik, Kaaitheater, Brussels 2015; Sense of Community#1, Gallery Officina delle Zattere, Venice 2012; 95th Young Artists Group Exhibition, Fondation Bevilacqua La Masa, Venice 2011.
This workshop is part our exhibition BLACK MOUNTAIN – to find out what other free events are happening visit our Facebook Event page or download the full public programme here.
Tickets are free, however space is limited – Book here.
How do we prepare ourselves for an unknown future? How can we answer future questions with today’s answers?
What if we spend two days preparing for something that is unknown and that never comes? Preparing to prepare to prepare for what we don’t or can’t name.
In concrete terms there are four three-hour sessions. In each we will spend some time following preparations and then devising preparations for the next session. We will document each of these as we go in writing and photographs and make a manual. You can come for some or all of the sessions. The more you attend the more interesting I think it will be.
If you come to the first session you’ll be invited to bring an exercise of preparation. Preparation for what? Something mundane, something fun, something scary, something unlikely, something impossible. A dance class, a night out, a speech, a meal, a performance, a fight, a retirement, a birth, a metamorphosis, an exam, a death. As long as it’s something we can do at Catalyst in half an hour or less. Bring any essential materials. Just don’t tell us what is for and we won’t try to guess either.
Any questions about the workshop contact Hamish @ hamishmacpherson.x@gmail.com.
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Hamish MacPherson is a London-based artist who uses ideas and methods from choreography and dance to think about politics. He makes workshops, non-digital games, performances, writings, images and other things in dance, visual arts, academic and community contexts. Current projects include THIS MOVEMENT, using lots of different methods to look at how we (everyone) use our bodies to make politics and Configuration(Hard Care) looking at care as an aesthetic, choreographic and political practice.
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This workshop is part our exhibition BLACK MOUNTAIN – to find out what other free events are happening visit our Facebook Event page or download the full public programme here.
We Build a Framework is a project which requires collaboration. The basic tasks necessary for the work are maintaining the fire and rebuilding the structure.
The workshop on Saturday the 11th will be part action and part discussion. Starting with a discussion and open critique of the work the participants will then decide on the new arrangement for the framework and work together to reassemble it.
For sustenance there will be warm vegetable broth and toast.
All welcome.
Andreas Kindler von Knobloch is a visual artist based in Dublin. He works solo and collaboratively with a focus on ideas of collectivity and participation through the creation of structures, objects and spaces that question our material and social relations.
Recent exhibitions include Now Wakes the Sea – Contemporary Art and the Ocean, The Glucksman University College Cork 2017. Making Space, in collaboration with Will Moss and Laura O’Quin, Fort Mason, San Francisco, USA 2016. Living Practice, PNCA, Portland, USA 2016. Brute Clues, in collaboration with Tom Watt and Tanad WIlliams, curated by Tessa Giblin, Project Arts Centre, Dublin 2016. A Fair Land, Grizedale and Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin 2016. In Support, a solo exhibition, Mermaid Arts Centre, Bray, Co. Wicklow 2016. Resort: A Popular Destination, Pallas Projects, Dublin 2014. Ultima Thule a solo exhibition in the Irish Museum of Contemporary Art, Dublin 2012.
This workshop is part our exhibition BLACK MOUNTAIN – to find out what other free events are happening visit our Facebook Event page or download the full public programme here.
Black Mountain is a six-week project that uses the gallery space as a platform to bring together artists, researchers, curators and the general public.
The title refers to Black Mountain College, one of the most well known experimental art schools of post-war America, based in a remote area of North Carolina. What made Black Mountain unique was the teachers’ and students’ approach to creative production, often involving collective making and encouraging overlaps between disciplines including dance, architecture, painting, theatre and music.
The faculty of professors were all highly regarded practitioners in the fields of art, music and architecture such as Josef Albers, Buckminster Fuller and John Cage among others. They shared a strong, common interest in the processes of experimentation, considered in its broader meaning of both empirical scientific method and ‘experience’ which involves knowledge and skills.
Those aspects of Black Mountain’s legacy seems to be reflected in the contemporary self-organized (free!) schools and alternative education models in contemporary art, where utopian structures and radical ideas have been tested and reframed through the experience and experimentation of the artists, students and researchers involved.
In this framework, is it possible to turn a gallery space into a living, metamorphic exhibition that allows artistic processes to be visible and open to changes and engagement? What can we learn from a collective experience of sharing knowledge? In our current environment of instability, inequality and misrecognition of the role of the arts, education and critical thinking – this project aims to be a starting point for a further reflection about the importance of artists initiatives and their impact in the local community.
Overturning the notion of the traditional exhibition, invited collaborators will work in Catalyst Arts using this period as a micro-residency, developing site-specific commissions that will generate a series of publicly engaged workshops, talks and screenings.
Andreas Kindler Von Knobloch will be the first to take residency in the space. Andreas is a Dublin-based artist whose practice embraces collectivity and participation through the creation of structures, objects and spaces that question material and social relations. ‘We Build a Framework’ is a new project developed for Black Mountain. Drawing inspiration from steel framework construction – a contemporary system of building that allows for maximum internal flexibility and open space – Andreas seeks to find parallels between the organisational structure of Catalyst and architectural support systems. Though a public, hands-on-event Andreas will explain and demonstrate with the participants the working principles of the structure and its potentials combinations.
Hamish MacPherson is a London-based artist who uses ideas and methods from choreography and dance to think about politics. He makes workshops, non-digital games, performances, writings, images and other things in dance, visual arts, academic and community contexts. While in Catalyst, he will lead ‘In which we prepare for…’, a series of workshops focused on ‘prepping’ – the process of preparing for an unknown, imminent future.
Cecilia Borettaz is an artist based in Brussel working with painting, printmaking, installation and storytelling. She will use the gallery space as her studio for one week, where she will experiment with new materials and techniques for her ongoing project ‘Dissolution of Abstraction’. The studio is meant to be a place of exchange for the audience, who are invited to take part in the artistic process. During her micro-residency in Catalyst, Cecilia would lead an artist talk about her practice, where she will present ‘Perhaps by fate, perhaps by choice’, her theoretical research on a personal family archive.
Lucrezia Calabrò Visconti is the final contributor in Black Mountain. Lucrezia is an independent curator and co-founder of the research-driven, non-profit space CLOG, based in Turin, Italy. Her current focus of research is the recent overflow of alternative education systems in visual arts, questioning its relevance and meaning in the contemporary art context. Through a series of public discussions, screenings and collective readings Lucrezia will deepen and expand the themes of attention, anarchist epistemology, metanoia, speculative poetics, and fugitive studies.
The last event in the exhibition’s public programme is a screening showcasing artists’ moving image works about specific educational experiments, such as150 Hours Programme (Italy) and the first years of CalArts (Los Angeles, USA). ‘Scuola Senza Fine’ (1983) by Adriana Monti and ‘Walk-Through’ (2012)by Redmond Entwistle, which spotlight how current pedagogical models and their relationship to new forms of social, political and economic environments have emerged since the 1970s.
This project is kindly supported by Arts Council of Northern Ireland.
Catalyst Arts would like to welcome new Co-Director Peter Glasgow to the board. We look forward to working with him over the next two years.
Peter Glasgow (b. 1991) is a visual artist who lives and works in Belfast. He studied at Wimbledon College of Art and the Royal College of Art where he completed his MA in 2015. He was selected to be part of Catalyst Arts Student and Recent Graduate Show “Very Good Waves Now” in 2016. Recent exhibitions include “Laboratory of Dark Matters”, a group residency at Guest Projects London, and “It’s not the digging, it’s the dirt”, a programme of live work broadcast as part of Art Licks Weekend 2016.
Catalyst Arts Student and Recent Graduate Show 2017
5th – 15th October 2017
6th October 6-9pm: Performance event at FIX17
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Julia Brown | Aideen Farrel | Levi Hanes | Branwen Kavanagh | Jasmin Märker
Cara Roberts | Joy Stacey | Drydan Wilson
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Catalyst Arts is pleased to present its annual Student and Recent Graduate Show – entitled ‘Symbiosis’ – premiering in conjunction with FIX17Performance Biennial.
The Student and Recent Graduate Show is a showcase of the very best of work from UK and Ireland based graduates and final year students. Catalyst are delighted to be offering exposure at a formative stage in the artists’ development. FIX is a Live Art Biennial established by Catalyst Arts in 1994, now in its twelfth iteration. This year four of our recent graduates will be performing as part of the FIX17 programme on Friday 6th October from 6-9pm.
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Image: Levi Hanes, Mirror in a Field, 2015. DV image still.
Catalyst Arts is pleased to present the highly anticipated International Live Art Biennial FIX17.
Fix is an internationally renowned and distinctly Belfast biennial, established by Catalyst Arts in 1994. For twenty-three years Fix has consistently delivered an innovative programme of local and international live, sonic and performance artists to the city of Belfast and is one of Europe’s longest running live art festivals. The legacy of Fix has been to create opportunities locally for emerging and established practitioners, providing work for artists, photographers, videographers, writers, curators and arts administrators.
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Festival Programme:
Thursday 5th October | 6-9pm
Robbie Maguire | Grace Denton | Beagles and Ramsay | Patrick Cole
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Friday 6th October | 6-9pm
[as part of Catalyst Arts Student and Recent Graduate Show]
Jasmin Märker | Cara Roberts | Branwen Kavanagh | Dryden Wilson
For their first festival showcase of leading artist moving image work, Artist Moving Image Northern Ireland (AMINI) have asked Catalyst to curate a special screening on
Friday 29th September /2.30 pm / The MAC
‘She Speaks’ is a selection of film and moving image works produced by women artists, from 1968 to present. In different ways each artist and film-maker explores the transformation and (mis) interpretations of domestic routines, objects, images and narratives, translated whilst simultaneously subverting their symbolic meaning and reconfiguring female representation.
Screening Selection:
‘Saute Ma Ville’ (1968) – Chantal Akerman, (13 mins)
‘After Picasso, God’ (2016) – Sophie Cundale, (42 mins)
For full festival programme and more details click here – we hope to see you there!
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Chantal Akerman (1950 – 2015) was an internationally renowned Belgian filmmaker and a key figure in European experimental cinema. Her 1975 film ‘Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles’ is considered a keystone of feminist filmmaking. She participated in Documenta XI (2002), Venice Biennale (2001) and was a jury member at the 51st Berlin International Film Festival. Major retrospectives of her work have been held at the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris (2003), MIT, Massachusetts (2008) and the Museum for Contemporary Art, Antwerp (2012).
Chiara Fumai (1978 – 2017) was an Italian artist based in Milan and then Brussels until her death earlier this year. Her video-performances and multimedia installations deal with ideas around radical feminism, media culture, anarchism and the occult. Exhibitions and performances have been presented at CA2M Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo, Madrid (2015), Whitechapel Gallery, London (2014), De Appel Arts Center, Amsterdam (2014) and Documenta XIII, Kassel (2012).
Sophie Cundale (b.1987) is an artist based in London. Her film ‘After Picasso, God’ (2016) was co-commissioned by Serpentine Galleries and South London Gallery. Recent work has been presented at Temporary Gallery, Cologne (2016), Spike Island, Bristol (2016), Peckham Plex, London (2016) and Govett-Brewster, New Zealand (2016).
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*Image credit: Saute Ma Ville (1968) – Chantal Akerman
“Mass incarceration is not a solution to unemployment, nor is it a solution to the vast array of social problems that are hidden away in a rapidly growing network of prisons and jails. However, the great majority of people have been tricked into believing in the efficacy of imprisonment, even though the historical record clearly demonstrates that prisons do not work.” Angela Davis. Panel with Joe Conlon, Joanne Donnelly (JFC2), Sean Dubh (Derry Anarchists, WSM, IWW) and Manchester No Prisons.
2.15pm The Worms Who Saved the World;
Kevin Doyle on his childrens book with a radical message. Based on the very real campaign for public access to the Old Head of Kinsale.
3.30pm The Spectres of Loyalty: History, Memory and the Moral Economy of Loyalty;
Dr. Christopher J. V. Loughlin Did the Ulster Unionist Party create a ‘monolithic regime’ in Northern Ireland? Were the ‘linen lords’ of Belfast bourgeois or aristocratic? And what impact did class politics, labour and antisectarianism have on the regime constructed in the province? Using the manuscript to be published by Palgrave MacMillan later in the year, this paper will discuss the ‘moral economy of loyalty’ in Northern Ireland, 1921-72, the history of loyalty on the islands and the contemporary spectres of loyalty.
4.45pm The Life and Ideas of Michael Bakunin;
Tony Zurbrugg Bakunin was a contemporary of Marx, propagator of Anarchist Socialism and an active promoter of the International Workers’ Association (IWA). Ultimately clashing with Marx and the authoritarian wing of the international Bakunin argued for International workers’ solidarity, change involving rural and industrial workers, and a Libertarian or Anarchist form of Socialism with federated accountable democratic organisations responsible to the grassroots. The editor of the recently published “Bakunin: Selected Texts 1868-1875” talks about the life and ideas of often, unjustly, maligned Mikhail Bakunin.
6.00pm Syndicalism in Ireland;
Capitalism is bringing the world to the brink of extinction while goverments everywhere, even “left” governments, prove time and again that they are the lackies of the bosses. Our panel looks at the anti- and non parliamentary alternative offered by syndicalism. Panel with Jason Brannigan (Organise!), Dek Keenan (IWW) and IWU.
Catalyst Arts is pleased to announce an open call for submissions to our Student and Recent Graduate Show, which will take place from the 5th to the 12th of October, in conjunction with the Fix 17 festival of performance art.
Students currently undertaking undergraduate/ postgraduate /PhD courses in Fine Art/Sonic Art/any art related subjects are eligible to apply, as well as former students who graduated up to one year ago.
The proposal from may be downloaded from this link: Student & Recent Graduate Exhibition 2017 Application. We welcome submissions in any art form, in particular artworks that have a relationship to performative practice. Please complete the form and submit it with your Artist CV, images of your work or links to video/documentation of performances/sculptures/installations etc to catalystarts@gmail.com by Saturday 9th September at 5pm.
Applications can be accepted from Catalyst Arts members only.
Dancing on Borrowed Ground reclaims a little bit of land for those who seek to resist the dogma and dictats of hegemonic orders. It asserts a love of plurality and disavowal of the hubristic cruelty of normative non-think, seeking freedom in solidarity and respect. The exhibition celebrates a bridging of the theoretical divide between self-creation and communal harmony by producing a site for radical discourse and contemplation. Artists Chloe Cooper, Dylan Miner, Contrapoints, William Raban and Elizabeth Haines undermine authority and agitate for alternative becomings. Their work – performative, documentary, academic and activist – illuminating contemporary political practice and rendering the world anew by fostering unity through dialogue and spurring on transformation through positive action. Catalyst Arts will also host the 10th Belfast Anarchist Bookfair, organised by the Just Books Solidarity Centre, encouraging visitors to cast off the pernicious shackles of repressive regimes by liberating their critical consciousness in this celebratory gathering of activists.
Chloe Cooper is an artist whose performative interrogations of sexuality, imagery and politics bring an infectious critical curiosity to bear on the world by asking us to consider our actions and how we relate to others. She co-leads a sex re-education research project called Bedfellows with Phoebe Davies and Jenny Moore and works with groups of people to respond to what the hell is going on.
Dylan A.T. Miner is a Wiisaakodewinini (Métis) artist, activist, and scholar. He is currently Director of American Indian and Indigenous Studies and Associate Professor in the Residential College in the Arts and Humanities at Michigan State University. Miner is also adjunct curator of Indigenous art at the MSU Museum and a founding member of the Justseeds artists collective. He has published approximately sixty journal articles, book chapters, critical essays, and encyclopedia entries. In 2010, he was awarded an Artist Leadership Fellowship through the National Museum of the American Indian (Smithsonian Institution). He has worked with institutions including School of the Art Institute of Chicago, École supérieure des beaux-arts in Nantes, Klondike Institute of Art and Culture, Rabbit Island and the Santa Fe Art Institute. His book Creating Aztlán: Chicano Art, Indigenous Sovereignty, and Lowriding Across Turtle Island was published in 2014 by the University of Arizona Press. Miner is currently completing a book on Indigenous Aesthetics: Art, Activism, Autonomy
Elizabeth Haines is a researcher based at the University of Bristol and the Science Museum. Her interests focus on the ways in which technologies (from plant breeding techniques, to hand-drawn maps) produce patterns in our experiences and behaviours. In collaboration with Catalyst Arts and Just Books, she will be exploring the Just Books library as a monument to the time clawed back from daily life and re-invested in an anarchist future.
William Raban is an artist filmmaker who has exhibited worldwide in both art and film contexts. Initially known for his landscape and expanded cinema films of the 1970s, Raban’s landscape interests, were framed in the 80s towards a more historical and socio-political context: the history of London and the Thames. Reminiscent of Humphrey Jennings’ wartime films, Raban’s films from the 90s onwards look at the island of Britain and its people, in the context of the global economy and the effects of urban change. He is currently Professor of Film at the London College of Communication (University of the Arts London).
Contrapoints. Imagine the political situation that would arise in a world where journalists and academics were given no more credence than the loudest person in the pub, and you’ll have some insight into the strange universe of YouTube political punditry. New media have radically democratized the distribution of information, but at the expense of traditional media gatekeeping and consensus. This new chaos opens up some frightening possibilities; for instance, isolated people with racist and authoritarian views can now unite in an online community and acquire confidence and strength in numbers. Contrapoints’ videos are an effort to cope with this situation, to confront the mouthpieces of the “alt-right” – the loose association of trolls and pundits who cloak far-right ideology in irony and memes. She appropriates some of their own strategies – playfulness, irony, the false pretense that politics is “just a joke” – to create an opposing social justice narrative, while also steering away from the sanctimony that sometimes impedes activist rhetoric.
This project is kindly supported by Arts Council of Northern Ireland.
We are excited to announce PRESS PLAY: Catalyst Arts Members’ ScreeningNight.
PRESS PLAY is an informal screening opportunity for our members. We invite submissions of artists’ moving image works for an evening of screening, sharing and feedback. If you have old work, new work, work-in-progress or anything that is ready for a public moment we would like to see it!
After the screening programme there will be an opportunity to discuss your work with other members and Catalyst Co-Directors.
Each member is eligible to submit one proposal in MP4 format. If your proposal meets the terms and conditions below it will be included in the event.
To be part of PRESS PLAY applicants must be a 2017 member of Catalyst Arts.
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Terms and Conditions
Files must be in MP4 format.
Works must be a maximum of 6 minutes long.
Please send works via WeTransfer to catalystarts@gmail.com with a subject-line PRESSPLAY, name of the artist, title and year of work. A short description of the work (max 150 words) could also be included.
Deadline for submissions: 5pm Friday 4th August 2017
As part of our current exhibition Viewing Copy, Catalyst Arts is very excited to host a free workshop organised by The Radical Film Archive on 20th July at 6:30pm.
The Radical Film Archive started when founder, Michael Dunn, was given a hard-drive that was supposed to be thrown out. Instead of disposing of it he decided to use it as the basis of a self-educational resource. Dunn holds events for people to discuss what they think should be in or out of the archive, gives access to the films and encourages screenings. In the recent past, more time has been devoted to ideas around militant curation, that is to say, getting ideas to the places where they are most useful, with screenings happening in the camps in Calais, Ventimiglia and Belgrade. By creating this archive together, all have the chance to share in preserving rare and under-told stories that could be easily lost. Catalyst Arts has invited five artists, Johnathan Cook, Bryan Gerard Duffy & Emmet Sheerin, Seamus Harahan, Aniara Omann to contribute to the archive as part of the exhibition. These films alongside the full archive is available to browse, watch and download in our resource room for the duration of the exhibition. Don’t forget your hard-drive!
Conor Mullan (b. 1992 in Belfast) is an artist currently based in Belfast. His practise explores the use of new media drawing techniques as well as traditional printmaking and sculpture. He studied fine art at the University of Ulster and graduated in 2015, being awarded the award for outstanding graduate and has exhibited internationally. Since then he has volunteered in multiple arts organizations in Ireland.
Catalyst Arts
Welcomes applications of expressions of interest for new Co-Directors
Catalyst Arts has been one of the most important and innovative artist-led spaces for contemporary art in Belfast since it began in 1993. The driving force behind the organisation has always been the determined and enthusiastic committee of directors who have worked over the years to ensure the gallery remains at the forefront of the visual art scene in Northern Ireland – improving, producing and promoting art and culture and the advancement of education and training in the arts.
Catalyst Arts directorship programme has a local and international reputation of providing a unique training ground for artistic, curatorial and cultural production. Applicants who are seeking to advance their experience within an artist-led model of gallery programming and operations are encouraged, with successful candidates gaining valuable skills in installation, production, funding applications, commissioning, outreach, education, archiving and administration work. Although previous experience in all areas is not essential, interested candidates are encouraged to review and consider the director criteria when making their applications.
The role of co-director is a voluntary position carried out over a two years, on a rolling basis.
Applications should be submitted by email to catalystarts@gmail.com by5pm 30th July 2017
If successful, candidates will be notified by the 2nd of August to attend an interview on 9th of August.
Successful candidates would be starting trial period of one month between the second half of August to the end of October.
Please feel free to email or call us with any queries at catalystarts@gmail.com,02890313303 or meet us in the office at 5 College Court, Belfast , BT1 6BS.
VIVIENNE DICK EOGHAN RYAN THE RADICAL FILM ARCHIVE MAEVE CONNOLLY
7th July – 4th August 2017
Opening Preview: 6th July, 6-9pm with a performance by Eoghan Ryan @ 7:30pm
Catalyst Arts is delighted to present VIEWING COPY, an exhibition of work by artists Eoghan Ryan and Vivienne Dick alongside The Radical Film Archive and a newly commissioned text by Maeve Connolly.
This project is driven by an exploration into the hierarchical economy and circulation of video in artist moving image practice, directly referencing the particular and peculiar status of the ‘Viewing Copy’ within the market of contemporary art and its continued covert resistance to contemporary capitalism. The project considers the physicality of the screen and materiality of video formats as a framing device for autobiographical content, brought into focus as a measure and mediation of subjectivity, with the potential for generating alternative representations and a shared cultural, collective memory.
Irish artist Vivienne Dick (b. Donegal, 1950) is an internationally-celebrated film-maker and artist. Dick was a key figure within ‘No Wave’, a short-lived avant-garde scene in the late 1970s in New York led by a collective of musicians, filmmakers and artists including Nan Goldin, Lydia Lunch, Arto Lindsay, James Chance and many others. Dick returned to Ireland in 1985, where she was a member of The London Filmmakers Co-op for many years and produced a number of films in 16mm, and in video. Her films have been screened at cinemas, museums and film festival internationally, including Tate Britain, Moma and the Whitney in New York, IMMA in Dublin, and included in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art, Anthology Film Archives, NYC and the Irish Film Archives.
Eoghan Ryan (b. Dublin, 1987) is an Irish artist currently based in Berlin. His work incorporates moving image, installation, text, sculpture and performance, It looks to biological inheritances, personal anxieties, afflictions and affiliations as proposals for alternate forms of intimacy, renewal and collapse within the pre-ordained hierarchies that we occupy. He has recently shown at IMMA, Dublin, the Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art, Porto in collaboration with Jassem Hindi, BDP Press, Berlin and the IFI, Dublin in the frame of As We May Think organised by Alice Butler. He has been awarded The Nina Stuart Artist in Residence at South London Gallery/Space studios 2013, the Artists International Development Fund 2014, the Critical Forum award at the Plastik Moving Image festival 2015 and the Arts Council Visual Arts Bursary 2017.
The Radical Film Archive started when founder, Michael Dunn, was given a hard-drive that was supposed to be thrown out. Instead of disposing of it he decided to use it as the basis of a self-educational resource. Dunn holds events for people to discuss what they think should be in or out of the archive, gives access to the films and encourages screenings. In the recent past, more time has been devoted to ideas around militant curation, that is to say, getting ideas to the places where they are most useful, with screenings happening in the camps in Calais, Ventimiglia and Belgrade. By creating this archive together, all have the chance to share in preserving rare and under-told stories that could be easily lost. Catalyst Arts has invited five artists, Johnathan Cook, Bryan Gerard Duffy & Emmet Sheerin, Seamus Harahan, Aniara Omann to contribute to the archive as part of the exhibition. A recording of a presentation ‘The Moving Image as Limited Edition’ by Erika Balsom at PLASTIK Festival of Artist Moving Image, 2017, will also be available.
Catalyst Arts will host a free workshop organised by The Radical Film Archive on 20th Julyand all are welcome.
Maeve Connolly co-directs the MA in Art & Research Collaboration (ARC) at Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design & Technology, Dublin. She is the author of TV Museum: Contemporary Art and the Age of Television(Intellect, 2014), on television as cultural form, object of critique and site of artistic intervention, and The Place of Artists’ Cinema: Space, Site and Screen (Intellect, 2009), on aspects of the cinematic turn in contemporary art. Recent publications include an article on archiving artists’ moving image in MIRAJ: Moving Image Review Art Journal (2016), and contributions to various anthologies, such as Workshop of the Film Form, (Fundacja Arton and Sternberg Press, 2017), Great Expectations: Prospects for the Future of Curatorial Education (Koenig Books, 2016) and Exhibiting the Moving Image:History Revisited (JRP Ringier, 2015). She is currently researching the relationship between infrastructural change and contemporary art.
Catalyst Commissions | Aideen Doran | Ryan Moffett
01- 08 June 2017
Preview: Thursday 01 June 6-9pm
Catalyst Arts is delighted to present ‘Catalyst Commissions’ which brings together two artists, Aideen Doran and Ryan Moffett, who have been selected to develop new work over a three month and one year period, respectively, with support from the board of directors at Catalyst Arts. This exhibition is the culmination of a research and development period for both artists with new lens based works presented in the gallery.
In his practice Belfast based artist Ryan Moffett explores the topics of representation, authenticity and fiction. Creating fictional narratives influenced by factual events, he explores the perceived ‘truths’ held within research rich spaces, such as documentary practice, museums, national geographic magazines, anthropological texts, and zoological gardens. After finishing a photographic project in the American Museum of Natural History in New York, Catalyst Arts approached Moffett to propose undertaking a residency with an organisation that does not offer residency programmes. For the residency Moffett wanted to develop a photographic process inspired by the dioramas he had studied in New York. In order to do this he required free access to a large, wild estate where he could photograph landscapes and collect material, as well as access to a space to set up a photographic studio on site. After exploring several avenues we discovered Benburb Priory, currently a priory and conference centre run by the Servite Order, which proved ideal and very accommodating, and we would like to warmly thank the staff at Benburb Priory for being such hospitable and enthusiastic hosts.This beautiful, rambling estate is populated by an unusual array of characters, spaces and animals: from ex-convicts managing the forest to a handful of remaining clergy; from a dilapidated tree house perched high atop a solitary oak, overlooking woodland and rivers to the Victorian bridge and abandoned factory, now mostly reclaimed by nature; and two worryingly forward, yet luckily ancient Saint Bernards, who roam with menacing abandon. This output from the residency Artist Abroad marks the beginning of a process which was developed in Benburb. The work is composed using photographs and materials collected from the landscape, and the visual approach collages both document and imagination.
Glasgow based artist Aideen Doran was selected as part of a Members open call for a new artist moving image commission in partnership with FLATPACK, Birmingham, 2017. Doran presented a new work entitled ‘The Mechanical Child’ which premiered as part of ‘On the Edge’ screening event at FLATPACK. This new work of Doran emerges from the artist’s research into the nature of consciousness, exploring the possibilities for new kinds of empathy and exchange between human and non-human minds.It draws upon the 20th century psychiatrist Bruno Bettelheim’s case study of ‘Joey, A Mechanical Boy’, published in his (since discredited) book The Empty Fortress. Bettelheim theorised that not only were neurological conditions such as autism were caused by inattentive, uncaring parents (Refrigerator Moms) but also that the unique sensory and affective characteristics of autism-spectrum disorders could be cured with Freudian psychoanalytic techniques, a theory that caused untold damage to the lives of autistic children and their families. In his case study of the mechanical boy, ‘Joey’ suffered under a delusion that he was part machine, a hybrid creature of electricity and flesh and identified more with the inert objects of technology than with other children. Bettelheim attempts to coax the little boy out of his fantasy by reinvigorating his empathetic responses to the world of humans.This highly problematic case study becomes a point from which to explore the uncanny, unsettling – yet also potentially emancipatory – new possibilities for mind and body in a world of vibrant matter.
Serra dei Giardini, Viale Giuseppe Garibaldi 1254, Venice, Italy
PRE-FIX, the illegitimate seed/spore/pre cum of this year’s instalment of possibly Europe’s longest running performance and live art biennial FIX, laps the honeyed banks of Italy’s Adriatic Queen.
Officially the unofficial representation for Northern Ireland in Venice. PRE-FIX is not a collateral event but we will bring a flag, our shoestring and a rental drum kit. Imagine a bit-piece, post-openings carousel orgy of soul purification, where the languid beauty of serra lawn is caressed by the savage melodies of a distant shore. *pavilion not included*
PRE-FIX will feature newly commissioned works by Northern Irish artists Shipsides and Beggs Projects and Keef Winter, curated by Catalyst Arts. The event is hosted by Microclima and supported by the British Council.
7.40 pm / 15 Minutes Break with interactive soundscape (Shipsides and Beggs Projects)
7.55 pm / Audio Visual happening : Shipsides and Beggs Projects, Decimation in D major, 40’ mins, 2017.
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Shipsides and Beggs Projects; Dan Shipsides (based Belfast) and Neal Beggs (based Nantes) are individual artists who have worked together on regular basis since 2004 – sharing a love of art, mountains, music and creative madness. As Shipsides and Beggs Projects they have exhibited nationally and internationally including; L’Atelier, Nantes (Collectif R), Bel Ordinarie, Pau (No Shooting in this Area), L’Orangerie, Bastogne, Belgium (Still Not Out Of The Woods – Zombie Line), Chateau Gontier, France (Gothic Cinema), ACCA, Melbourne (Desire Lines), The MAC, Belfast (Still not out of the woods), Aliceday Gallery, Brussels (Vigil | Star) and CIAC, Carros (Frontiers & other songs of Freedom).
Keef Winter (b. 1980, N. Ireland) lives and works in London. Winter studied architecture at Edinburgh College of Art and received a PhD in Philosophy entitled ‘The Handyman Aesthetic’ from Ulster University. His recent exhibitions include: ‘On Becoming Fluid’, Hardwick Gallery, Gloucestershire (2017); ‘Sticky Enough’, Chalton Gallery, London (2016); ‘Salon Sebastian Monteux’, Glasgow International (2016); ‘Deep Inside’, Galeria Breve; Mexico City (2016); ‘Neutral’, TULCA Festival of Visual Art, Galway (2014).
Catalyst Arts are excited to announce the open-call for it’s Members Show 2017,TESTING.
TESTING aims to give space to explore alternative perspectives and new approaches within your practice. We want you to play devil’s advocate with your usual working method, tease it, play with it, wriggle around it, blow it up and stick it back together, trick it and confront it. Without testing new ideas we run the chance of getting too comfortable and of missing that which could possibly lead to a more creative outcome. For this show we ask our members to see Catalyst Arts as a testing ground for experimentation and to showcase new perspectives and possibilities within your work.
Each member is eligible to submit one proposal of work in any medium that you feel tests and explores the boundaries of your practice.
To be part of TESTING applicants must be a members of Catalyst Arts.
Due to the large amount of submission annually received applicants must consider the following specifications:
Maximum dimensions for canvas and photographic prints are 2.50×2.50 meters.
Sculptures and installations must be no larger than 3 meters cubed.
If you wish to submit a video work all technical equipment must be provided.
The submitted work must be delivered or posted to the gallery on the 2nd and 3rd of May between 11am – 5pm. Dates for de-install and the collection of work are the 12th and 13th of May between 11am – 5pm. All work must be collected on these days.
If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact the gallery via email at catalystarts@gmail.com
Catalyst Arts is proud to present Re:Nouveau, the end of year exhibition by 2nd year Lens and Sculpture students of the Belfast School of Art.
The exhibition opens this Thursday the 27th of April from 6 to 9pm, and will be available to view from 11am to 5pm on Friday the 28th and Saturday the 29th.
This exhibition is organised and curated solely by the 2nd year students (who are mentored by Shirley MacWilliam, Robert Connolly and Ralf Sander). Students will present a professional body of work reflecting understanding and knowledge of contemporary art practice within sculpture , video, photography, installation and performance. The Exhibition will run for two days only, therefore we are hoping to see you at the opening night supporting and celebrating this emerging new talent in the heart of Belfast.
Catalyst Arts is pleased to announce the premiere of our Flatpack Film Festival commission, ‘The Mechanical Child’byAideen Doran. The premiere will take place at the film festival’s ‘On the Edge’ screening event this Friday the 7th of April 8.30pm – 9.30pm, at The Victoria, 48 John Bright St, Birmingham. The film was commissioned by Catalyst as part of the recent Members Open Call opportunity, in partnership with Flatpack 2017.
This new work of Doran emerges from the artist’s research into the nature of consciousness, exploring the possibilities for new kinds of empathy and exchange between human and non-human minds.
It draws upon the 20th century psychiatrist Bruno Bettelheim’s case study of ‘Joey, A Mechanical Boy’, published in his (since discredited) book The Empty Fortress. Bettelheim theorised that not only were neurological conditions such as autism were caused by inattentive, uncaring parents (Refrigerator Moms) but also that the unique sensory and affective characteristics of autism-spectrum disorders could be cured with Freudian psychoanalytic techniques, a theory that caused untold damage to the lives of autistic children and their families. In his case study of the mechanical boy, ‘Joey’ suffered under a delusion that he was part machine, a hybrid creature of electricity and flesh and identified more with the inert objects of technology than with other children. Bettelheim attempts to coax the little boy out of his fantasy by reinvigorating his empathetic responses to the world of humans.
This highly problematic case study becomes a point from which to explore the uncanny, unsettling – yet also potentially emancipatory – new possibilities for mind and body in a world of vibrant matter.
Love is Love – A Walk Down Memory Lane with LGBTQ Rights Dave
by Chloe Cooper
Saturday 25th March 2017 at 5pm
Departing from The MAC, 10 Exchange Street, Belfast, BT1 2LS
arriving at Catalyst Arts, 5 College Court, Belfast, BT1 6BS
Catalyst Walks is Catalyst Arts’ peripatetic programme that lets you enjoy art while getting out in the open air and feeling good about life. For this iteration artist Chloe Cooper will be riffing off the themes in our current exhibition As the Story was Told. The walk considers the narcissism of confessional narratives, the politics of sexuality, and the skulduggery/pragmatism of people taking on other people’s politics for their own benefit/the benefit of many. It’s basically an embodied exploration of appropriation, assimilation, and arseholes.
Chloe has recently exhibited and performed works at Dedications, ArtReview Bar, London (2017); Pop Up Feminist Library, Tate Modern, London (2017); Bedfellows: Sex Re-Education, Tate Modern, London (2016); Encounters, Galleri Mejan, Royal Institute of Art, Stockholm, Sweden (2016); Art From Elsewhere, Arnolfini, Bristol (2016); Chloe Cooper: Bronzin’ (Totally Bronze), Tate Britain, London (2016); 21st Century Fox in the Snow, Embassy, Edinburgh (2016); Secret Reasons, AND Publishing, London (2016); Doing What Comes Naturally Presents: Spare Rib at The Feminist Library, London (2015); Take Away Monad Mollusc, London Conference in Critical Thought 2015, UCL, London (2015); Feelings, Blockages and Pots, Centrum, Berlin (2015); Reactor Halls E15: You can’t win them all, ladies & gentlemen, Primary, Nottingham (2015); Looks Performatour, ICA, London (2015); Loop-the-Loop, Five Years, London (2015) and Teachers Study Day, Sandberg Institute/Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam (2015).
Catalyst Arts is pleased to present As the story was told, which commences on the 9th of March and runs for a period of three weeks.
The project borrows its title from a short story of the same name by Samuel Beckett published in 1987, which focuses on an exploration into frames of reference, stories told by an Other and the ongoing interplay of authority from a first person narrator. The text is concerned with the nature of the creative act, the struggle between the dissociation of storytelling, the split within the creative artist as embodied in the narration and the difficulty of uniting these two dwellings. This group show brings together four artists whose lens-based works re-consider and present gathered documents from recent history, texts and objects in a contemporary context using methods of restaging, re-enactment and narration.
Gerard Byrne’s visually rich and intellectually complex work encompassing photography, film, theatre and multi-screen installation, examines the slippage between time and the act of image creation. Characterised by a laconic humour, Byrne’s projects examine the ambiguities of language and of what is gained or lost in the translation from text to image. Recent solo exhibitions of his work include; Mead Gallery, Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry, UK (2016); Kunstmuseum St. Gallen, St.Gallen, Switzerland (2015); FRAC Pays de la Loire, Nantes, France (2014) and The Whitechapel Gallery, London, UK (2013).
Glasgow based artist Jamie Crewe’s methods as a maker are born out of pragmatism and restraint; objects are made in a semi-improvised way, contrasting with the “high” cultural principles of their source references, and imbuing the work with the precocious care of an amateur. In contrast to this, other more precise and nuanced strategies are employed, building to an overall sense of embraced incoherence. Recent solo and group presentations include; Female Executioner, Gasworks, London, UK (2017), But what was most awful was a girl who was singing, Transmission, Glasgow, SCT (2016) and Like A Floral Knife, Embassy Gallery, Edinburgh, SCT (2016).
Italian video artist and film-maker Yuri Ancarani’s works come from a continuous mingling of documentary cinema and contemporary art, and are the result of a research aimed to explore regions not visible in daily life, realities in which the artist delves in first person. Recent screenings have been presented at Centre d’Art Contemporary, Geneva (2012); MAXXI of Rome (2014, 2012); Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (2012); The Encyclopedic Palace, 55th International Venice Biennale (2013) and the fifth Prague Biennial (2011). He has received numerous awards and honors, including the Short Film Grand Prize at the 10th International Independent Film Festival, Lisbon and the Grand Prix in Lab Competition, Clermont-Ferrand Film Festival.
Diego Marcon works mainly with video and film, focusing his research on the relationship between reality and representation. His works have been shown internationally in spaces and institutions such as; Whitechapel Gallery (London, UK), Fondation d’entreprise Ricard (Paris, France), De Vleeshal (Middelburg, The Netherlands), Centre international d’art et du paysage (Vassivière, France) NAi -National Architecture Institute (Rotterdam, The Netherlands), Artspace (Auckland, New Zeland), MATADERO (Madrid, Spain), Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo (Torino, Italy), PAC – Padiglione Arte Contemporanea (Milano, Italy), MACRO and Palazzo delle, Esposizioni (Roma, Italy), Fiorucci Art Trust (London, UK), Peep-Hole, Gasconade, Careof (Milano, Italy).
Throughout the month of March, Catalyst Arts will host a Screening Room Series which will present a one day programme of curated screenings by Artist Moving Image Northern Ireland in response to themes within the exhibition. The programme will also host discussions and events which will run alongside the exhibition and act as a forum for dialogue and debate around current contemporary artist moving image practices in Ireland, the UK and Europe.
Catalyst Arts presents DOUBLE PARRHESIA, an exhibition of work by Kathryn Elkin, Adam Lewis-Jacob and Maria Toumazou which considers the potential of shared cultural memory, affectual labour and self-organisation, to generate new modalities in contemporary art practice and institutional activism.
This project draws its title from Gerald Raunig’s essay ‘What is a Progressive (Art) Institution?’ which considers how an art institution can become part of a political multitude by making use of Michel Foucault’s concept of ‘parrhesia’. Raunig envisions an art institution that performs a ‘double parrhesia’; of both criticising hegemonic power and disclosing the truth about its own position. Each of the artists involved in the exhibition have practices which oscillate between the self and the collective, individual practices and artist-led initiatives. This duality, transition and exchange between positions has the potential to carve out a space in which to cultivate collaboration, test methods of sustainability and generate a radical collective consciousness.
Kathryn Elkin’s performance and video works concern role-playing and improvising and typically manifest through citing a referent- such as an artist, a song, a writer, or performer – upon which she applies personal methods of translation, transcription and representation. ‘Film 2016’ was exhibited at CCA Glasgow as part of a major solo exhibition titled ‘Television’ in 2016. Elkin has shown work throughout the UK, including ICA, London; Tate Modern, London; Collective Gallery, Edinburgh; Transmission, Glasgow; S1, Sheffield and CCA, Derry. She is the recipient of the 217 Warwick Stafford Fellowship at Northumbria University and teaches part-time at Liverpool John Moore’s University.
Based in Nicosia, Cyprus, Maria Toumazou’s practice identifies and rehearses gestures that mediate the tensions of material and affectual labour. In 2011 she co-founded Neoterismoi Toumazou (Neo Toum), an artist-led space and a collective in Nicosia. She is also co-founder of the publishing imprint MARIA†.Editions based in Nicosia and New York. Toumazou completed a BA in Art Practice Goldsmiths College where she was awarded The Nicolas and Andrei Tooth Traveling Scholarship in 2011 and her MFA from The Glasgow School of Art in 2014. Recent exhibitions of her work include ‘Vanity: How to burn bridges you haven’t build, Garage, Nicosia; BRADLEY xx, Glasgow International 2016, Glasgow; AyeBaDome:Super, Thkio Ppalies, Nicosia; and í drögum, Akureyri Art Museum, Akureyri.
Glasgow-based Adam Lewis-Jacob primarily works in video, animation and installation. Through the development of collaborative methodologies, Lewis-Jacob sets up situations of shared authorship and an exploration of filmmaking as a space for relinquishing total control; incorporating traces of process and performance, amidst a surplus of objects, information and images. He is the co-founder of the artist run exhibition space Celine and a current committee member at Transmission Gallery in Glasgow.
Mitch Conlon / Liliane Puthod / Andreas Kindler Von Knobloch
Public Studio: 27th January 3-4pm @ PS²
PS² Address: 11 North St, Belfast BT1 1NA
Catalyst invite you to join GLOP, a collective of young students from Bunscoil Bheann Mhadagáin for the opening of their temporary public studio.
Investigating new models of art education within the existing primary school curriculum this partnership aimed to empower students to use new skills and knowledge to co-develop, organise and maintain their own collective studio.
Over two months, students were introduced to aspects of best practice in material fabrication, object-making as a collaborative process and studio design through the guidance of a diverse range of artists. Emphasising the importance of involving students throughout the decision making and production process
Inviting contemporary practitioners to explore new ways of working with the community and education sector, through a sustained relationship this programme aimed to support a school to instigate creativity and allow that creativity to take form in ways that are authentic to the school.
Through planting, budgeting, sourcing materials to casting concrete this collaborative workshop practice became a creative platform for the group and opened up the possibility for off-site production where experimentation from these studio labs will be displayed.
This project has being developed and produced by Mitch Conlon, with curatorial assistance from Peter Mueschler (PS²) for Catalyst Arts and was made possible through support from the Halifax Foundation for Northern Ireland.
Liliane Puthod
Strongly linked to Conceptual and post-Conceptual discourse, Liliane Puthod is a multidisciplinary artist who works in the field of installation, sculpture and digital media. Her work leads to surprising connections between commodity, production and organism. She is wrestling with a crucial issue — can “beautiful” forms problematize the materials from which they are made. Subverting the frontiers between multiple and singular objects, her practice actively appropriates merchandise in relation to places and individuals, along with constructed narratives resulting in paradoxical situations.
Andreas Kindler Von Knobloch
Andreas Kindler Von Knobloch is a pragmatic utopian. His multidisciplinary practice is focused on ideas of collectivity and participation through the creation of structures and situations that question our material and social relations.
That time of year has come around again where Catalyst Arts asks you to come and have your say at the Catalyst Arts Annual General Meeting.
We are pleased to invite you to Catalyst Arts AGM 2017, which will take place at Catalyst Arts, 5 College Court, Belfast on Wednesday 15th of February 2017 at 6.30pm.
We will give a breakdown of last year’s projects and future programming, and will discuss what has happened since our last AGM and the exciting things in store for Catalyst Arts.
In order to gain the broadest range of opinions on all matters under discussion, we would request and very much appreciate your attendance at this event. This event is for members only.
Agenda
Opening remarks/welcome
Apologies
Minutes of previous AGM
Matters arising from the minutes
Presentation of annual report
Presentation of accounts
Election of management committee/office bearers
Summary of last year’s programming
Summary of future programming
Progressions
Archive Report
Governance Progress
Any Other Business
Closing remarks
To RSVP your attendance or for any additional information on the AGM arrangements please contact us at catalystarts@gmail.com.
Jumana Manna and Sille Storihle | Francesco Nordio | Vukasin Nedeljkovic
12th January – 24th January 2016. Catalyst Arts, Belfast
Forms of Resistance explores and calls into question the idea of resistance, meant as a reaction against different established powers driven by artists, collectives or even a whole community.
Manna and Storihle’s experimental documentary ‘the Goodness Regime’ explores the ambiguity of Norway’s image as a peacemaking nation, while Nedeljkovic’s work – part of the ongoing project ‘Asylum Archive’ – investigates the tough reality of Asylum Seekers’ provision centers in Ireland. On the other hand, Nordio’s work ‘About Culture. A Proposal For A Revolution’ creates a set of guidelines in the form of a how-to-do book, that describes how a cultural shift could be conducted – both on a global scale and in everyday life.
In this open playground, these various approaches coexist and overlap into a fluid itinerary that will expand over the course of the exhibition through various talks and discussions with the artists involved.
Opening Thur 12th January 6 -9pm
Francesco Nordio – Artist Talk Friday 13th January 5pm
Vukasin Nedeljkovic – Artist Talk Saturday 21st January 5pm
This project is kindly supported by Arts Council of Northern Ireland.
Catalyst Arts is delighted to announce details of it’s recent members open call ‘Trickster’ featuring Dublin based artists Chloe Brenan and Alexandra Brunt. Opening 6PM, Thursday 1st December
The trickster is a mythological entity or archetype, indicative of absurd or destabilising re-evaluations of perception and its limitations. The work of both artists explore ideas of rearranging perceptual modes to break down and ultimately reassemble conceptions of self and objective reality respectively.
Catalyst Arts are proud to announce Aideen Doran as the recipient of the Artist Moving Image Film Commission. Her work will be presented during the FLATPACK Film Festival in Birmingham in April 2017.
We would like to make special mention of the shortlisted artists Renèe Helena Browne, Liliane Puthod and Alex Sarkisian for the high quality of their proposals.
Thank you to all the Catalyst members who applied.
Aideen Doran is a visual artist working across moving image, installation and writing. In 2016 she was shortlisted for the Margaret Tait award for artists working with moving image in Scotland, and her work has been supported by The British Council, Northern Film and Media and The Arts Council of Northern Ireland. Aideen has exhibited across the UK, Europe and further afield. Recent exhibitions include Coppice at Verge Gallery, Sydney (2016), Set Background at Embassy Gallery, Edinburgh (2016), Im Bau at Grand Union, Birmingham (2015), After Hours at Platform Arts, Belfast (2015) and Glasgow Project Room (2014) and Ghost in the Machine at Galway Arts Centre (2014).
The Revolutionary Machine, 3 channel digital video with single channel of audio.
Opens Thursday 3rd November 6-9pm. Exhibition continues until Wednesday 23 November
John Wild will be performing at 7.30pm on the opening night
The world beyond the confines of our body is intimately connected to our actions – as much cultural artefact as something wild and other, ‘out there’ – nature and techne vitally expressed through our lives and creations. We continually feed into and are moulded by an interminable flux of co-creative relationships and cycles, reflexive actors who fall in and out of sync with innumerable collectives and circumstances. How we perceive these complex ecologies and the meanings we derive from what we do within them, frames our worldview, subtly affecting how we are subsumed by social fields and evolutionary flows. In this time of accelerating change and spiritual transformation can we come to terms with our uncertain predicament? How to navigate the indescribable, manifold environments in which we are embedded?
22nd October- In conjunction with Belfast Open Studios
Opening: 21st October 6-9pm
Catalyst Arts is pleased to present a group show of recent work from locally-based artists in conjunction with Belfast Open Studios, 2016.
INDIGENOUS showcases a selection of work from artists currently based in Belfast and offers a glimpse into diverse approaches and methodologies towards the process of art making within the city.
Catalyst Arts is seeking proposals for its gallery programme to be exhibited from the 1st to the 17th of December 2016. This opportunity is open to artists, collectives and cultural producers to propose a project for the gallery space. Catalyst Arts will provide technical support and gallery resources and a modest budget to include an artist fee, £100 transportation costs and a materials stipends of £200 towards the entire project. Catalyst Arts will also cover publicity costs for the promotion of the project. There is no theme for this selection and experimental and alternative forms of contemporary art practice are encouraged, however we cannot accept submissions for solo shows through this call.
Proposals may be submitted in any of the following formats:
Artist-organised Exhibition (with two or more participants per application)
Collaborative Projects
Site Specific Projects
Inter-disciplinary Projects
Sound / Live Art / Event-based Projects
Individual artists may also submit work for consideration as a part of a group show
We encourage applicants to visit the gallery space to get a sense of what is possible and for those who are not able to travel to Belfast, our gallery specifications are available on our website at http://www.oldcatalystarts.hilken.co.uk/the-gallery/
Exhibition dates in Belfast will be between 1st to 17th December 2016. Gallery opening hours are Tuesday to Saturday 11am – 5pm each week, invigilated by the committee. Applicants must submit and email to catalystarts@gmail.com by 5pm Wednesday 19th October 2016 with the following attachments:
Single PDF containing 5-8 high res images of current, recent or proposed work (10MB max)
Links to video, sound, durational or performance works (youtube, vimeo, soundcloud or artist website only). Please note: media files will not be downloaded so please do not forward dropbox, google drive, or wetransfer links.
Applications can be accepted from Catalyst Arts members only.
Catalyst Arts is seeking proposals for a new artist moving image commission that will be launched as part of 11th Flatpack Film Festival, Birmingham 2017. Experimental and ambitious projects as well as alternative visions about contemporary moving images are encouraged.
The final work should be a single-channel video of under 20 minutes in length, and must be completed by 1st March 2017. Artists should be able to demonstrate the commission can be delivered within the awarded budget of £650 and the fixed deadline.
Applicants must submit and email to catalystarts@gmail.com by 5pm Wednesday 19th October 2016 with the following attachments:
Single PDF containing 5-8 high res images of current, recent or proposed work (10MB max)
Links to video, sound, durational or performance works (youtube, vimeo, soundcloud or artist website only). Please note: media files will not be downloaded so please do not forward dropbox, google drive, or wetransfer links.
Flatpack premiere: April 2017
Flatpack is a film festival which takes over venues across Birmingham every spring. Since 2006, the festival has been exploring the territory where film bumps up against other artforms. This commission is the first collaboration between Catalyst Arts and Flatpack Projects.
Proposal (500 word max) | 5-8 Images of current or recent work | Artist Statement + Bio (300
Gallery Exhibition
Catalyst Arts would like to invite all members to submit proposals of work for exhibition in the gallery. The exhibition will take place on 1st – 17th Dec
Each member is eligible to submit proposals of work in any medium/discipline for consideration.
Deadline for submissions: 19th October 5pm
Annual membership is £20 waged / £10 unwaged, and new members may pay this when submitting their work or through Paypal on our website www.oldcatalystarts.hilken.co.uk.
Membership allows submission to all our open call-outs throughout the year as well as guaranteeing you a place in our annual Members’ Show.
All submissions by email to catalystarts@gmail.com as one PDF file (10MB max) by the deadline containing:
Proposal (500 word max) | 5-8 Images of current or recent work | Artist Statement + Bio (300 words max) | Artist CV | Technical Requirements (installation, lighting, a/v equipment, etc) | Budget
Applications can be accepted from Catalyst Arts members only.
Proposal (500 word max) | 5-8 Images of current or recent work | Artist Statement + Bio (300 words max) | Artist CV | Technical Requirements (installation, lighting, a/v equipment, etc) | Budget
Artists Moving Image Commission
Catalyst Arts is looking for proposals for a new artist moving image commission that will be launched as part of 11th Flatpack Film Festival, Birmingham 2017.
Experimental and ambitious projects as well as alternative visions about contemporary moving images are encouraged.
The final work should be a single-channel video of under 20 minutes in length, and must be completed by 1st March 2017. Artists should be able to demonstrate the commission can be delivered within the awarded budget of £650 and the fixed deadline.
Deadline for proposal submissions: 19th October 5pm
Flatpack premiere: April 2017
Flatpack is a film festival which takes over venues across Birmingham every spring. Since 2006, the festival has been exploring the territory where film bumps up against other artforms.This commission is the first collaboration between Catalyst Arts and Flatpack Projects.
Proposal (500 word max) | At least three examples of relevant works (only links to vimeo and youtube are accepted) | Artist CV + Bio (300 words max) | A detailed breakdown of the production budget and scheduled time-frame of the project. Please note that we will cover an additional £50 for travel/accommodation.
Catalyst Arts welcomes expressions of interest for new Co-Directors
Deadline for applications: 6pm Friday 14th October 2016
Catalyst Arts has been one of the most important and innovative artist-led spaces for contemporary art in Belfast since it began in 1993. The driving force behind the organisation has always been the dedicated committee of directors who have worked tirelessly over the years to ensure the gallery remains at the forefront of the visual art scene in Northern Ireland.
Catalyst Arts directorship programme has a local and international reputation of providing a unique training ground for artistic, curatorial and cultural production. Applicants who are seeking to advance their experience within an artist-led model of gallery programming and operations are encouraged, with successful candidates gaining valuable skills in installation, production, funding applications, commissioning, outreach, education, archiving and administration work. Although previous experience in all areas is not essential, interested candidates are encouraged to review and consider the director criteria when making their applications.
The role of co-director is a part-time, voluntary position carried out over two years, on a rolling structure.
Flexible working hours, including evenings and weekend will be required.
To apply for this position please download and complete the
Applications should be submitted by email to catalystarts@gmail.com by the deadline.
Please note we can only consider fully completed application forms in word or pdf format (.doc, .docx, .pdf), please contact us should you need any further advice on this.
Deadline for applications: 6pm Friday 14th October 2016
Directorships beginning between November 2016 – February 2017
If successful, candidates will be notified by the 18th October, to attend an interview on 24th October 2016
Please feel free to e-mail or call us with any queries at catalystarts@gmail.com, 028 90 313 303 or call in to the office at 5 College Court, Belfast, BT1 6BS
This project is driven by the act of witness and the encounter in contested spaces whether municipal or ideological. It looks at how artists approach research and the dissemination of thought and how the knowledge structures they access, personally, politically and philosophically are forming a channel for public practice. A series of multi-format texts form the basis of this project, examining the instrumentalisation of modes of broadcast and publishing, how narratives are constructed within contemporary communication and education systems and how these narratives may be authored by artists.
Thursday 1st September 6:00 – 9:00pm – Late Night Art
In the Mouth of the Wolf is also open for Late Night Art and will feature new event based work by Clodagh Emoe and readings by Mike Harvey and Emmy Beber.
Wednesday 31st August 7:00 – 8:00pm – Subject to Authority
Subject to Authority is a reading group initiated by Emmy Beber, Mike Harvey and Pil and Galia Kollectiv. It aims to look at the relationships between subjectivity and authoritarian politics in critical, theoretical and literary writing.
Faced with authority, subjectivity is at stake. Michel Foucault described subjectivity like the atom – the most basic form of matter we can access – as a three-tiered structure. Subjectivity that categorises, distributes and manipulates; subjectivity through which we have come to understand ourselves scientifically, and subjectivity that forms ourselves as meaning. The aim of the reading group is to look at structural, theoretic and poetic thinking around the appeal of authoritarianism and its mechanisms of disguise and deploy, and specifically its relationship to subjectivity and subjectivisation.
This group is open to all interested and you can email catalystarts@gmail.comto attend. Reading material for wednesday sessions can be found below:
Adorno, Theodor W. Minima Moralia; Reflections from Damaged Life. London: New Left Books, 1974. Print.
Clodagh Emoe, Anahita Razmi, School of Missing Studies, Subject to Authority Reading group, COLLECTED
Opens Thur 18th Aug 6 – 9pm / Event Thur 1st Sept 6-7pm / Closing Event Sat 10th Sept
‘I could be dead. He slit my tongue into ribbons. My head is hanging off the table, blood falling on the floor. I could be dead because I feel nothing but this happened before. Minutes without pain until it surged back through me like a river. Eyes full of water. A blurred insect slips out from behind a table leg and begins to feed on the pooling blood. Concentrate.’ -Francis McKee ‘What in the world can I do’
This project is driven by the act of witness and the encounter in contested spaces whether municipal or ideological. It looks at how artists approach research and the dissemination of thought and how the knowledge structures they access, personally, politically and philosophically are forming a channel for public practice. A series of multi-format texts form the basis of this project, examining the instrumentalisation of modes of broadcast and publishing, how narratives are constructed within contemporary communication and education systems and how these narratives may be authored by artists.
The ongoing destabilisation of institutional power structures globally has given rise to a more acute attempt to enforce social hierarchy and meritocracy socially, politically and economically. Yet traditional methods of exerting social dominance have become ineffective at maintaining stability in the current age of personal broadcast and visual agency. Increasingly, previously under-represented groups are affecting these narratives and gaining agency on their own representation in media through the proliferation of digital, visual footage, frequently charged with a dominant narrative of personal perception rather than that of an objective document of observation.
‘In the mouth of the wolf’ proposes a slight, altered reality where journalism and reporting is a defunct and unoccupied field. Artists have been drawn into the vacuum by gravitational force and are controlling the distribution of capabilities and the exercise of influence disseminating thought and action through new channels as the voice of authority. The gallery becomes a public square where thinking may be felt, a station for subjectivity, disembodied voices and notions of the unseen, a platform for hidden acts to be received by a new audience and a space for thought.
This project is kindly supported by Arts Council of Northern Ireland.
Peter Glasgow | Aine McBride | Andrew McSweeney | Cliodhna Timoney
Catalyst Arts is pleased to announce details of its eagerly anticipated annual student and recent graduate show, Very Good Waves Now, from 14th July to 5th August 2016.
Very Good Waves Now will build on Catalyst’s reputation for showcasing the very best of work from UK and Ireland based recent graduates and final year students within this annual exhibition. Catalyst are delighted to be offering critical support and exposure at a formative stage in the artists’ development.
Catalyst Arts are pleased to announce that Rebecca Smyth has been awarded the Catalyst Arts Graduate Award 2016. Rebecca Smyth is a 2016 MFA graduate from the Belfast School of Art, University of Ulster .
The Catalyst Arts Graduate Award includes a year’s membership to apply for all open call and exchange opportunities, access to and use of our archive and resource room, free hire of our a/v equipment, a series of studio visits and feedback sessions with the Catalyst board throughout the year, advice on funding and organising introductory meetings with relevant artists, curators and critics involved in the Catalyst programme.
We are very much looking forward to working with Rebecca and wish her every future success.
Catalyst Arts seeks applications for its annual Student and Recent Graduate Show. The exhibition is open to submissions from all current undergraduate and postgraduate students. Recent graduate is graduation in 2015/2016.
Submissions must include: five examples of your work (less than 30MB), an artist statement and a written proposal (less than 250 words each).
LIAM SLEVIN | MARK BUCKERIDGE – ALL CHOIR | CLAWSON + WARD
o p e n i n g 0 2 . 0 6 . 1 6 – 2 5 . 0 6 . 1 6 c l o s i n g
This project fosters practices concerned with the conditions for production, labour, autonomism, desire and decision. FLEXIBILISM is the appraisal of four artists who have been invited to develop and reconfigure a previously made or designed work in relation to explicit, esoteric and existential aspects of Catalyst Arts and its site in Belfast as a public space. These reproductions, rehearsals and repetitions interrupt the field of perception associated with a gallery space, resisting the familiarity of selected works in a groups show and instead espouse to re-configure civic, social and cultural frameworks for considering our role in public, as artists, citizens, communities and creative labourers.
The project draws its title from post-fordist theories of flexible specialisation which propositioned that flexibility and skill in labor is more profitable than the previous mass-production, factory format which informed Henry Ford and Albert Khan’s seminal architectural designs for industrial assembly lines, famously flexible to the changing modes of production. These theories propagate ‘flexibility’ as a benefit to workers, often alluding to the potential increase in personal agency and inferred time for leisure when in reality they only serve to remove the conditions of security and increase the need for competition. The dysfunction of this proposition is explicitly evident in the current, pervasive infrastructure of visual art practice and misperceptions of the value of culture as an instrument for harvesting social or financial dividends under the guise of desire and decision. Through disparate means of production, each artists’ work engage the almost invisible yet omnipotently perceived, instructive nature of civic structures and social order, reclaiming cultural sites for their own means and offering processes which can be utilised to interrupt or subvert these systems by its users and inhabitants.
Each of the artists involved in the project have practices which further agitate conventional notions of the autonomous artist and provide a contextual framework for examining how collectives and artist-led initiatives balance creative output with sustainability, often cultivating spaces and situations for audiences and peer artists to come meet, live and practice.
Front of Lanyon Building | Queen’s University Belfast | University Road, Belfast, BT7 1NN
In collaboration with the Northern Ireland Mental Health Arts and Film Festival (NIMHAFF) we invite you to join Catalyst Arts for a stress busting Saturday evening promenade. For this first instalment of a series of peripatetic performances we have invited Daniel Jewesbury to take us out and about in south Belfast.
For more information on the festival please see NIMHAFF or get in touch with us at catalystarts@gmail.com
Opening: Thursday 12th May 2016, 6-9pm, Catalyst Arts
Catalyst Arts invites you to join us for the introduction to ‘Outside Line’ a new permanent commission by Tanad Williams.
Beginning through a shared residency in 2015 in a flexible period of research and investigation, Williams engaged with the early issues, strains and identity of the gallery’s archival space. Proofing for possibilities of fitted cooperation an expanded utility for public archival actions was drafted. Unfolding a progressively combined approach to building regulations and sculpture while upholding the poise and warm precision of the unqualified handyman, a skilfully manufactured architectural intervention is presented.
Indicative of ambitious contemporary restoration proposals ‘Outside Line’ sits assuredly creating a source designed around reading. A structural elixir it reflects how it is we approach cached information and the objects we associate with it.
Williams works with philosophically engaged objects, dialogues and texts. Rooted in academic research and linguistic investigation, the final object is constructed so as to represent both its material reality and its theoretical conception.
This work has being kindly made possible through the support of The Elephant Trust.
Armagh Observatory | College Hill, Armagh BT61 9DG
Lucy McKenna discussed her time at the Armagh Observatory & Planetarium as an artist in residence, the research she undertook and some of the ideas that have developed since:
“The main outcome of the residency for me has been the idea of reviving a dormant scientific method of capturing data in the form of an image. I’ve been thinking about why particular methods of information collection, like this, change or disappear as technology develops, and what can be gained or lost in the process.”
The project has been made possible through the support of Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon Council and the generous collaboration of the staff at Armagh Observatory and Planetarium.
Catalyst Arts presents ‘The Spillover Room’ as part of Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival featuring new works in script, sound and moving image by artists from Vienna, Copenhagen, Dublin and Belfast. Part video séance – part scratch comedy gig, the event features new works by duo Ectoplasmic Materialism and James Moran accompanied by a live score from a quartet of QUBe associates based in SARC. For the event, Catalyst Arts will occupy the back room of Tivolis Barbers on North Street. Come join us for some retina-rattling audio-visual experiences.
Front of Lanyon Building | Queen’s University Belfast | University Road, Belfast, BT7 1NN
The walk will start promptly at 4.00 pm
In collaboration with the Northern Ireland Mental Health Arts and Film Festival (NIMHAFF) we invite you to join Catalyst Arts for a stress busting Saturday evening promenade. For this first instalment of a series of peripatetic performances we have invited Daniel Jewesbury to take us out and about in south Belfast. The Catalyst Walks programme aims to offer the very best of contemporary art on the move, getting our audiences out in the open for a bit of fresh air and self-care. So, if you are feeling the worse for wear or just in need of some perambulatory entertainment, come along and experience a stimulating stroll.
For more information on the festival please see NIMHAFF or get in touch with us at catalystarts@gmail.com
Catalyst Arts invites you to a talk with our Armagh Observatory artist-in-residence; Lucy McKenna
Friday 29th April | 11.30am – 12.30pm
Armagh Observatory | College Hill, Armagh BT61 9DG
Lucy McKenna will be discussing her time at the Armagh Observatory & Planetarium as an artist in residence, the research she undertook and some of the ideas that have developed since:
“The main outcome of the residency for me has been the idea of reviving a dormant scientific method of capturing data in the form of an image. I’ve been thinking about why particular methods of information collection, like this, change or disappear as technology develops, and what can be gained or lost in the process.”
Please book a place using Eventbrite (here) or phone us at 02890313303. A coach will leave Catalyst Arts (5 College Ct, Belfast, County Antrim BT1 6BS) in Belfast at 09.30 (returning to Belfast for 17.00), be sure to book a place for the talk to assure yourself a seat.
The project has been made possible through the support of Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon Council and the generous collaboration of the staff at Armagh Observatory and Planetarium.
The 2nd Year Sculpture and Lens Course from the Belfast School of Art are presenting their end of year show.
Catalyst Arts is pleased to continue to provide opportunities for students, facilitating new and emerging artists and maintaining its relationship with Fine Arts universities.
Sephour is an anagram of Orpheus
Sephour is Orpheus transformed
Sephour is a homonym of Zephyr
Since our migration from the old Orpheus Building to our new purpose built art department we, the 2nd year Fine Art (Sculpture/Lens) students, have been negotiating and developing our relationship with our new space. We now welcome everyone to view an exhibition of our current work. This is the first group exhibition from the new Sculpture/Lens studios on the 6th floor.
Catalyst Arts are pleased to announce RAW, Catalyst Arts’ 2016 Members Show.
Always fascinated by the alchemical moment in which stone turns into gold, our aim is to present a whole exhibition compiled of unfinished artworks: drafts, ideas, sketches, notes, collections, files, images – pretty much everything – in the middle of a productive or disastrous process, where a project could contain in itself all its potential becoming forms.
RAW as a statement.
In short, take the raw from your dusty studio and bring it here.
On 14th April all exhibiting artists will be invited for an open dialogue within the gallery, in order to present, discuss and explore the possibilities and metamorphosis of their raw works.
To exhibit in RAW all artists must be current members of Catalyst Arts.
For ‘Claw, Craw and the Devil‘ Catalyst have invited Belfast musician and composer Michael O’Halloran to stage a new composition ‘Percept‘. The event will be pocketed within Barewoods, a longstanding architectural salvage company, secluded within the historic Smithfield and Union.
A percept is the mental product of perceiving. The composition will attempt to represent this cognitive experience through a live sampling of live music. Only a distorted and subjective reading of the separated relationships in the room is initially filtered and finally relayed back to the audience.
It seeks to explore to what extent the visual noise of a city effects its occupants.
The performance will feature original compositions from Belfast musicians Stevie Lennox (Pigs As People/Junk Drawer), Grace Loughrey (Bad Fit)?, John Macormac (Blue Whale), Michael MacBroom (ex Gaju/The Killing Spree), Ricki O’Rawe (Not Squares) and Phillip Quinn (Girls Names/ Gross Net).
Opening: 7th April 6pm to 9pm in conjunction with Belfast’s Late Night Art
Exhibition continues: 8th – 14th of April.
Catalyst Arts are pleased to announce the open-call for RAW, Catalyst Arts’ 2016 Members Show.
Always fascinated by the alchemical moment in which stone turns into gold, our aim is to present a whole exhibition compiled of unfinished artworks: drafts, ideas, sketches, notes, collections, files, images – pretty much everything – in the middle of a productive or disastrous process, where a project could contain in itself all its potential becoming forms.
RAW as a statement.
In short, take the raw from your dusty studio and bring it here.
To be part of RAW all applicants must be a members of Catalyst Arts.
On 14th April all exhibiting artists will be invited for an open dialogue within the gallery, in order to present, discuss and explore the possibilities and metamorphosis of their raw works.
Terms and Conditions
Each member is eligible to submit one piece of unfinished work in any medium.
This must be brought or posted to the gallery. If posted, each artist has to cover shipping costs, included the expenses to post the work back.
Because of the large amount of submissions annually received, the applicants must consider the following specifications: the maximum dimensions accepted for canvas and photographic prints are 2.50×2.50 meters, sculptures and installation must be not larger than 3 meters cubed. If you wish to show a video, you must provide all the technical equipment required.
The drop-off for install will take place on the 5th and 6th of April, 11am- 5pm, and the 7th of April, 11am-3pm. We will be unable to accept works outside of these times.
The dates for de-install are the 14th of April, after 5pm, and the 15th and 16th of April, 11am-5pm. All work must be collected on those days.
If you have any questions or queries please send an e-mail to catalystarts@gmail.com
For ‘Claw, Craw and the Devil‘ Catalyst have invited Belfast musician and composer Michael O’Halloran to stage a new composition ‘Percept‘. The event will be pocketed within Barewoods, a longstanding architectural salvage company, secluded within the historic Smithfield and Union.
A percept is the mental product of perceiving. The composition will attempt to represent this cognitive experience through a live sampling of live music. Only a distorted and subjective reading of the separated relationships in the room is initially filtered and finally relayed back to the audience.
It seeks to explore to what extent the visual noise of a city effects its occupants.
The performance will feature original compositions from Belfast musicians Stevie Lennox (Pigs As People/Junk Drawer), Grace Loughrey (Bad Fit)?, John Macormac (Blue Whale), Michael MacBroom (ex Gaju/The Killing Spree), Ricki O’Rawe (Not Squares) and Phillip Quinn (Girls Names/ Gross Net).
The event is free to attend however booking is essential due to limited capacity. To book a place rsvp at catalystarts@gmail.com
Jonathan HS Ross & Viviana Checchia | Tom Hughes | Michael Edgar | Phillip McCrilly & Tacacucina Michael O’Halloran | Bobbie Seggie
_________________________________________
Opening 3rd March 6-9pm
Exhibition continues 4th-27th
The smell of feet, the smell of sweat, the smell of cider. ‘Claw, Craw and the Devil‘ looks to assemble, coax and scooch a motivated, forceful and at times deeply self-conscious group of technicians, designers, chefs and conspirators into an orderly rabble. Nodging together interests in manufacture and production, the possibilities of active usership and collective responsibility grinded with the future lack of a decent inner-city furniture store, a programme of proposals and prototypes unravels throughout March.
Realising the benefit of Catalyst’s rude, at times chin-first approach to introduction a creeping, marred but sincere wheedling scheme emerged. Tightening, stalling, re-stalling but ultimately unfolding an enquiry into working with a public, the contributors selected have being spot-welded at the tip to create a number of short-term unions, a schedule of choral pandemonium.
Crannied into the city each gesture, sometimes mobile, sometimes slow replaces, refurbishes and fits. It wanders the keening noise of a city where a butcher and trophy store share the keek of a black / cairn-hole area. Where products exhibited have the possibility to go door-to-door but may fall at the fagary of the opening night and rather than leech and scarper an amateur furniture maker shape-shifts, faces the cities demands and turns us back towards the river.
Reluctant but genuine, it blares, we live here. This is where we live.
Come and join us for the public opening on Thursday March 3rd 6-9pm.
Welcomes applications of expressions of interest for new Co-Directors 2016
Catalyst Arts has been one of the most important and innovative artist-led spaces for contemporary art in Belfast since it began in 1993. The driving force behind the organisation has always been the dedicated committee of directors who have worked tirelessly over the years to ensure the gallery remains at the forefront of the visual art scene in Northern Ireland.
Catalyst Arts directorship programme has a local and international reputation of providing a unique training ground for artistic, curatorial and cultural production. Applicants who are seeking to advance their experience within an artist-led model of gallery programming and operations are encouraged, with successful candidates gaining valuable skills in installation, production, funding applications, commissioning, outreach, education, archiving and administration work. Although previous experience in all areas is not essential, interested candidates are encouraged to review and consider the director criteria when making their applications.
The role of co-director is a voluntary position carried out over two years, on a rolling structure.
‘The Artist Observatory’ is the second edition of a new alternative residency programme piloted by Catalyst Arts. This series began last autumn with Alice Clark as ‘Artist-at-Sea’ on board marine and oceanographic research vessel the RV Corystes and continues with artist Lucy McKenna taking up research residence at Armagh Observatory and Planetarium this spring. At a time when artists are experiencing a decline in accessible resources and facilities in the pursuit of their work and research, Catalyst Arts is committed to the mediation of new approaches to facilitating unique research opportunities for artists tailored to their specific practice and field of research.
Lucy McKenna makes work that is concerned with belief systems and seemingly divergent ideologies relating to reality and existence. The works she creates trace humanity’s continuous attempt to reconcile its positioning or exclusivity in the Universe, whether that be through methods of scientific experiment, technological progression, ritual practice, or folklore. The documented interpretation of anomalies, mysteries or unexplained phenomena in the world is very present in her work, along with semblances of the tools and equipment used in perceiving these events. Focusing on commonalities in different philosophical theories her works seek to unfold the information hidden in those spaces where the analytic and the intuitive concur.
This focused interest in the acts of observation will be the initial point of departure for Lucy’s research period at the Observatory, ranging from learning how astronomers obtain and interpret their data to areas of cosmogony and how our collective ideas about astronomy and the sky have influenced humanity’s views and ideas over history. The residency will offer the rare opportunity to access first hand the processes carried out at the Observatory and Planetarium in Armagh, engaging with astronomers for discussion and research, diffusing the boundaries between artist and researcher and supporting the mutable position of the artist as observer.
In addition, the site’s rich history and heritage as a leading Observatory in the British Isles, specifically looking at its archive from the 19th Century is of key interest to the artists and she will see to find further information on Irish astronomer Charles E. Burton, whom she has been researching as part of an ongoing project.
The project has been made possible through the support of Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon Council and the generous collaboration of the staff at Armagh Observatory and Planetarium. The residency launch will coincide with NI Science Festival on 18th February and continue throughout Spring.
For updates on public events please see our website and social media as the project develops.
Catalyst Arts presents THIS IS WATER, an exhibition by Simon Cummins,Paul Hallahan and Lee Welch.
The exhibition takes its title from This Is Water: Some Thoughts, Delivered on a Significant Occasion, about Living a Compassionate Life, an essay by David Foster Wallace that was written as a graduation speech for Kenyon College in Ohio in 2005.
The text brings forward notions of the everyday, the banal and the outright frustrating nature of day-to-day life, something Foster Wallace was trying to describe to the crowd of new graduates. His offering up of ideas on how they may overcome these obstacles and take inspiration from perceived negative conditions was an attempt to reassess these small scenarios as moment’s beauty, sublime in nature, rather than the mundane and outright antagonising that they could be perceived as.
Cummins, Hallahan and Welch have produced an exhibition of works with Foster Wallace’s text in mind, through conversations with each other about the ideas behind it and the idea of beauty. THIS IS WATER sees the trio move forward from their collaborative project in 2013 titled Fuck, Shit, Piss, exhibited in 126 Gallery, Galway.
For Catalyst Arts the artists have put together works that will attempt to both stand on their own and also be part of one overall installation encapsulating the gallery.
Intermission is a group exhibition of the current final year students within the Ulster University’s prestigious and long standing MFA Fine Art course.
Intermission presents an interim exhibition at Catalyst Arts before their final show in May 2016. It offers a fascinating exploration of these emerging contemporary artists’ work in progress, creating an open dialogue across diverse disciplines including installation, video, photography, sculpture and painting.
This year’s artists include: Megan Burns, Stuart Calvin, Jacqueline Douglas, Dara Flanagan, Dermot Gibson, John Macormac, Damian Magee, Jade Magee, Will McConnell, Robert Moriarty, Mark Nangle, Rebecca Smyth, and Karissa Suparto.
That time of year has come around again where Catalyst Arts asks you to come and have your say at the Catalyst Arts Annual General Meeting.
We are pleased to invite you to Catalyst Arts AGM 2016, which will take place at Catalyst Arts, 5 College Court, Belfast on Monday 18th of January 2016 at 6.30pm.
We will give a breakdown of last year’s projects and future programming, and will discuss what has happened since our last AGM and the exciting things in store for Catalyst Arts. There will also be a number of extremely important issues discussed including a possible change of premises for Catalyst in 2016.
In order to gain the broadest range of opinions on all matters under discussion, we would request and very much appreciate your attendance at this event. This event is for members only.
Agenda
Opening remarks/welcome
Apologies
Minutes of previous AGM
Matters arising from the minutes
Presentation of annual report (Chair)
Presentation of accounts (Treasurer)
Election of management committee/office bearers
Summary of last year’s programming
Summary of future programming
Progressions
Archive Report
Governance Progress
Any Other Business
Closing remarks
To RSVP your attendance or for any additional information on the AGM arrangements please contact us at catalystarts@gmail.com.
FIX is an internationally renowned and distinctly Belfast biennial, established by Catalyst Arts in 1994. For over twenty-two years FIX has consistently delivered an innovative programme of local and international live, sonic and performance artists to the city of Belfast and is one of Europe’s longest running live art festivals. The legacy of FIX over the last twenty-two years has been to create opportunities locally for emerging and established practitioners, providing work for artists, photographers, videographers, writers, curators and arts administrators.
The eleventh instalment of FIX will take place over eight days with events, performances, art, music, talks, screenings and a whole plethora of events in between. Thursday 3rd December (the opening night) will encompass various events and activities taking place around the cultural block that surrounds Catalyst. This celebratory evening emphasises the importance of collaboration in the arts community in Belfast, particularly the need to work together to achieve something great for everyone.
FIX15 has been made possible through the support, collaboration and partnerships with local artists, arts organisations, businesses and communities providing an international programme of events within Belfast.
FIX15 Artists: Cian Donnelly, Continuous Battle of Order, School Tour, Dave Sherry, Emer Lynch, Harun Morrison, Ting Tong Chang, Rhubaba Choir, Ali Matthews, GETINTHEBACKOFTHEVAN, Kevin Burns, Patrick Coyle, with additional events happening across Belfast at Platform Arts, Array Studios, Pollen, The Bathhouse and QSS.
Catalyst Arts are on the lookout for 3 individuals (under 25) to become Hot Glue for a total PR takeover starting 30th November.
Join Catalyst Arts for an intense 2 week period PR Takeover
Deadline: 24th November
Are you physically Hot Glue? Here at Catalyst, we’re wild eyed and chomping at the bit to launch yet another unmerciful edition of our stalwart live art & performance biennale FIX 15. We need three internet melters to keep buzzing the #FIXFEED #FIXBLEED live across Belfast and beyond this December as our official PR peeps in residence. Main criteria: OBSSESSIVE COMPULSIVE SOCIAL MEDIA POSTING. Welded to your phone and wanting an excuse to justify it? Send us a showcase of your social media skills and let us know if you really are hotglue. You. Glue. Ooooooh ####<3
perks include:
-time with the wonderful catalyst board (I know, right)
Catalyst Arts would like to give a warm welcome to our two new (currently healthy) co-directors, Anthony Gartland and Joey O’Gorman. Joey joins us after recently completing a research associateship in Art and Science at Central Saint Martins while Anthony a recent graduate from University of Brighton arrives after spending six months on residency in Rotterdam. We look forward to working with them both over the coming years.
Boyle and Sutherland will open the exhibition with an artist talk at 6pm on 5th November
Catalyst Arts is very pleased to welcome Scottish artists Susan Boyle and Derek Sutherland to Belfast as part of the exhibition, Long Division. After discussion with Mirja Koponen/ Director of Interview Room 11, Sutherland and Boyle were selected to show at Catalyst Arts for their combined use of the theme disorder and division. This exchange opportunity will extend to benefit artists from Belfast showing in Edinburgh with Interview Room 11 in the new year. Interview Room 11 is a newly emerged space that has opened in Edinburgh within the last two years. In this short time they have already begun to carve out a fantastic reputation for showing cutting edge emerging artists in imaginative and experimental ways.
Long Division is an exhibition, which draws from the themes present in both artists’ works. Sutherlands sculpture/ installation ‘Never Been in a Riot’ and Boyle’s photographs entitled ‘Disorder’ combine to create a show that skirts around the edges of the ‘unsaid’ in contemporary culture. The evidence of the riot in Sutherlands is overwhelming. However the title suggests that something has been missed, only debris remains, a sort of chaos, the reason for which, we as viewers are unaware. Similarly, in Boyles work ‘Disorder’, we are presented with images that do not at first sight appear irregular, yet, upon closer inspection we can be unsettled by the images, the dust of everyday life, the fallen cuttings of paper, the aged hands.
Long Division showcases these two artists talent in Northern Ireland together at Catalyst Arts for the first time.
Catalyst Arts invites you to a talk with our Artist – At – Sea; Alice Clark
Thursday 8th October, 6pm Catalyst Arts, Belfast
Catalyst Arts, in partnership with the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute, are delighted to present a talk by Alice Clark, artist in residence on board the RV Corystes throughout August and September.
This oceanographic research vessel undertakes a diverse programme of marine research throughout the Irish Sea, enabling AFBI to examine the impact of climate change for environmental policies in the future. Clark was on board for two research cruises this summer.
Artist – At – Sea was the first in a series of residencies facilitated by Catalyst Arts, allowing artists to develop work within a site and context specifically tailored to their individual practice. Details of Clark’s residency and her findings on the Irish Sea can be found here
Site and how .PROCESS BASED/MAKING….over a period of time, weeks, months, years eg. (James – started the project in August, Laura – 5 years ago, Jackie – over 10 years ago)
A form of / social / research that explores the researchers’ PERSONAL EXPERIENCE and connects this / autobiographical / story to wider cultural, political and social meanings and understandings.
three conversations
– Just over a year ago I was looking at some old footage I’d taken well over a decade earlier.
The first is a video taken at London Zoo and the other is a video of black & white super 8 film of a windmill on the north Norfolk coast. I videoed the super 8 as it was projected onto a wall with a camera I was unfamiliar with, struggling to focus. I wanted to make a film piece that incorporated both videos.
This single screen film bridges these two pieces with footage taken over the last year in Belfast. – Jacqueline Holt
– I bought Richard and Beryl for a fiver. The collection of nearly four hundred 35mm slides and a few polaroids spans over three decades of their lives.
They have been a part of my life since 2010. I began re-working my slideshow Richard, Beryl and Laura Too for the exhibition at Catalyst collecting the archive box from my best friend Lucy’s basement. Lucy asked me ‘How are Richard and Beryl?’ like I’d been out of touch with some old friends. The day that I picked them up from the local junk shop I didn’t expect to go on a seaside tour with them and I highly doubt when they took the photographs they thought a future art student would be wandering around the South West taking boat trips and meeting locals guided by their holiday snaps. – Laura Reeves
– For a long time I endeavoured to articulate my experiences through the making of physical works.
I began a practice of papermaking; using materials exclusively sourced from locations I intended to represent and in many ways the pulp became a sort of metaphor for the organic and changing way that I recalled my experiences. After acknowledging my attempts to depict my subjectivity were futile, I instead began conjuring manifestations of this paradox.
After documenting a visit to Belfast in August 2015 using a cassette recorder, digital sound sampling, analogue photography and video, I endeavoured to create an abstracted re-presentation of my time in the city, but one that highlights boundaries through the implementation of ambiguity, humour, distortion and melody. The piece contains a palimpsest of information, both from my own documentation and that of archival news footage that affected me back in 2001. – James Michael George
Catalyst Arts has commissioned Jacqueline Holt, James Michael George and Laura Reeves to develop new work and revisit past work for Composition of Here.
Opening preview – 1st October 6-9pm Show continues 2nd – 24th October
You are invited to join Laura Reeves for a reading on the opening night at Catalyst Arts, 6pm.
There will be an Artists’ Illustrated Lecture with Jacqueline Holt on Saturday 17th October, Catalyst Arts 2pm.
Catalyst Arts, in partnership with the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute, are delighted to present Artist – At – Sea; an artist residency on board an oceanographic research vessel operating from the port of Belfast.
Using specialist acoustic technologies, fishing gear and instrumented buoys, the RV Corystes undertakes a diverse programme of marine environmental research throughout the Irish Sea. Data from surveys such as high resolution seabed mapping, and ground-truthing data collecting of marine habitats and fish stocks, is enabling AFBI to examine the impact of climate change for environmental policies in the future. The integrated marine science programme delivered by the Corystes aims to support the sustainability and development of Irish Sea fisheries.
To highlight the significant research being carried out by AFBI, Belfast based artist Alice Clark will be onboard as artist-in-residence throughout August and September. Clark’s practice reflects her own ecological ethos and investigates the way we live and its impact on the natural environment. Making objects of nature subjects of culture is at the core of her practice and she wishes to challenge where the current condition of nature resides as a subject for artistic intervention and discourse.After a medical examination and sea survival course, Clark will set sail and take residence on two research cruises; observing the scientists, engaging with the crew and developing work within a site and context specifically tailored to her practice.
Artist – At – Sea continues Catalyst Arts’ innovative and experimental public programme, developing partnerships with unconventional sites outside of the gallery walls and engaging new audiences with local contemporary art.Alice Clark will be onboard the RV Corystes between the 20th – 25th August, and again from the 27th August.
To keep up to date with Clark’s residency and her findings on the Irish Sea please follow her progress here
Welcomes applications of expressions of interest for new Co-Directors 2015
Catalyst Arts has been one of the most important and innovative artist-led spaces for contemporary art in Belfast since it began in 1993. The driving force behind the organisation has always been the dedicated committee of directors who have worked tirelessly over the years to ensure the gallery remains at the forefront of the visual art scene in Northern Ireland.
Catalyst Arts directorship programme has a local and international reputation of providing a unique training ground for artistic, curatorial and cultural production. Applicants who are seeking to advance their experience within an artist-led model of gallery programming and operations are encouraged, with successful candidates gaining valuable skills in installation, production, funding applications, commissioning, outreach, education, archiving and administration work. Although previous experience in all areas is not essential, interested candidates are encouraged to review and consider the director criteria when making their applications.
The role of co-director is a voluntary position carried out over a two years, on a rolling structure.
If successful, candidates will be notified by the 8th September, to attend an interview on Monday 14th September
Please feel free to e-mail or call us with any queries at catalystarts@gmail.com,02890313303 or call in to the office at 5 College Court, Belfast , BT1 6 BS
Catalyst Arts are pleased to announce an open-call for Saloon, a four(1) day long members shee-bang(2).
Like the inflated ego of a retired prison sponge we wish to overturn the idea of the old-fashion bourgeois saloon(3), made to amuse fur-trimmed women and respectably bearded men. We want(4) to see your most visionary, indecent, controversial, amazing and original(5) artwork, across our whole community of members(6). We want to fill(7) up the walls, the floor, the ceiling, the freshly unblocked toilet(8), the crevasses and cracks of this warehouses warped banshee spirit. Using the spleen and spew of your un-watered and malnourished careers, we will transform Catalyst Arts gallery into a huge wonderhammer.
Opening: 3rd September 6pm to 9pm in conjunction with Belfast’s Late Night Art
Exhibition run: 3rd – 5th of September.
To be part of Saloon(9) all applicants must be a member(10) of Catalyst Arts.
(1) It’s really just three. (2) Denotes anything that is ridiculously hot, eg. “Ruaidhri was so shee-banging in that install shot”. (3) Hairlicious on Castle Street being an excellent example. (4) Want maybe a tad extreme, forced by funders maybe more appropriate. (5) You haven’t made anything original in years, why do you still lie to yourself? (6) Two at our last time of counting, which is why we are doing this call-out. (7) If the gallery is filled before you arrive, your work will be displayed around the city on this. (8) To block it again so we can call out the hot plumber. (9) For an Italian translation please see below. (10) We are actually quite fond of all our members. They’re all beautiful, like a horse.
Each member is eligible to submit one piece of work in any medium. This must be brought or posted to the gallery and will be installed wherever they choose.
Because of the large amount of submissions annually received, the applicants must consider the following specifications: the maximum dimensions accepted for canvas and photographic prints are 2.50×2.50 meters, sculptures and installation must be not larger than 3 meters cubed.
We encourage members to submit proposals for performances, which will be featured during the opening. If you want to propose a performance, please send us an e-mail (catalysarts@gmail.com) with a short text (150 words) and documentation (1 to 3 photo or a link to a video) of your work. The deadline for the submission for performances is 21st of August, 12 am.
If you wish to show a video, artists must provide all the technical equipment required (projector/screen, dvd player, headphones/speakers).
The drop-off for install will take place on the 1st and 2nd of September, from 11am to 5pm; and the 3rd of September, from 11am to 3pm. We will be unable to accept works outside of these times.
The de-install will take place the 7th of September, from 11am to 5pm. All work must be collected on this day.
If you have any questions or queries please send an e-mail to catalystarts@gmail.com
(9) Catalyst Arts è lietissima di annunciare Saloon, una roba della durata di quattro –anzi no, tre, SORRY – giorni. Vogliamo svecchiare l’idea del borioso salone-salotto borghese, luogo di intrattenimento per signore impellicciate e rispettabili signori hipster-barbuti. Vogliamo vedere i lavori più visionari, indecenti, controversi, sorprendenti e originali dell’intero gruppo dei cosiddetti “Members”. Con le vostre creazioni vogliamo tappezzare le pareti, il pavimento, il soffitto, la tavoletta del cesso, ogni crepa ed interstizio dello spirito tormentato che abita questo edificio. Facendo tesoro della malinconia e nausea che trasuda dalle vostre carriere di artisti falliti, trasformeremo Catalyst Arts in un’enorme wonderhammer.
Art Monthly Magazine, Belfast Round-up – July 2015
Art Monthly published an article on Belfast latest exhibitions, including our Members Show “Under the Radar’ along with the events in Platform and the MAC.
Catalyst Arts < = > O U T P O S T | Residency Exchange
Paul Gwilliam | Mike Harvey
9th July : Paul Gwilliam Artist Talk, Catalyst Arts 6 – 7 pm
Catalyst Arts is pleased to announce Paul Gwilliam and Mike Harvey as the selected artists to participate in this month’s upcoming shared residency between Catalyst Arts and O U T P O S T Gallery, Norwich.
This exchange is a unique four week programme for both organisations and has being developed over the course of a year to reflect both galleries distinct ideologies and current attitudes. The selected artists will be introduced to each cities energetic arts community through a series of artist talks, evening suppers and curator critiques. The artists will also meet with a number of peers for discourse on contemporary studio practice to further cultivate a durable and worthwhile dialogue between the two cities.
With no history or previous motivation towards studio provision, to ease and encourage our resident Catalyst have constructed a temporary fling. A large solitary wooden atelier has being implanted within Catalyst’s vast industrial space. This location has been provided to contribute to the improvement of its occupant’s condition not only as a space for reflection but also frenzied manufacturing if required.
Over the course of the Catalyst Arts Residency, Paul Gwilliam will develop the second part of his ongoing work ‘A Portrait of a Lynx’. The project attempts to bind his creative writing and art practice through a short story, in which sculpture, painting and performance are born out of the narrative. Through a process of role-play, inhabiting various strategies of making in which process and concept themselves become a mis-en-scene: plotlines, characters, and moveable sets. These assemblages allow Gwilliam to become, or work inside of, an appropriated and commodified aesthetic of intimacy.
The first act was set in the lucid dreams of Henry Moore. At dinner on a cruise ship eating only ice cream, it becomes apparent that Moore’s mental health is declining as he attempts to escape (setting sail) from his vast body of sculptural production. In this second part, the role of narrative continues to be an aggressor, fallen equal to the blurred objects and bodies it envelops.
Catalyst Arts are also delighted to announce Belfast based artist Mike Harvey has being selected as the recipient to spend one month in Gildengate House where he will continue his practice based research.
O U T P O S T is an artist-run gallery committed to the uncompromising presentation of contemporary art. Since its founding in 2004, O U T P O S T has established itself as a leading centre for artist activity in the east of England, producing a core programme of 11 exhibitions per year. Alongside a programme of offsite projects, events and a series of artist editions. This activity is generated by a rolling Sterling Committee of up to eight members, with a limit of two years service.
Paul Gwilliam (b.1984) graduated from the Slade School of Fine Art with an MA in Sculpture in 2013.
Mike Harvey’s recent shows include So Swamped So, at Xero Kline & Coma, London (2015) The MAC International, The MAC, Belfast (2014) and other redacted theorems, PS2, Belfast (2014) & Little Kingdoms at Catalyst Arts, Belfast (2014)
As part of GARRINCHA programme, Catalyst Arts presents “Letters of the Archive’. This is the second time we have worked with Keats & Chapman, the second hand bookshop on North Street, to disseminate different parts of our archive and this time we are focusing on letters that have been received by or sent into the gallery. The 25th of June a reading of some of these letters has take place in the bookshop.
Throughout 2015 Catalyst will work with a number of organisations to present a series of individual off-site situations connecting disparate aspects and locations of the city into a neighbourhood of events. Bringing together a selection of artists, musicians, DIY collectives and live practitioners the GARRINCHA programme will begin cultivating new dialogues between Catalyst and the wider city of Belfast while reflecting on its position and re-questioning its own ideology.
Catalyst are delighted to announce a joint commission in collaboration with ‘Under The Radar’ curator, Michele Horrigan.
Belfast artist Jane Butler will create a new work titled ‘and yet’, this temporary site-specific installation will be situated on Dalton Street, East-Belfast from the 15th June until the 27th.
Jane Butler proposes an urban intervention in Belfast City centre, and yet. Acknowledging that a billboard at the top of Castle Street has sat empty and grown dilapidated for many years, the artist aims to replicate its identity and highlight its abandonment by copying and pasting it as a photographic reproduction onto a functioning billboard within the city. Butler notes that the project highlights the idea of the ‘discarded ordinary’ within the city, and acts to raise the familiar into the unusual.
Curated by Michele Horrigan / Askeaton Contemporary Arts
Charlotte Bosanquet | Jane Butler | Paul McAree | Tonya McMullan
Andy Parker | Jim Ricks | Amanda Rice
Opening night: 11th June 6-9pm
Exhibition continues: 12th – 27th June
We are delighted to announce that this year’s edition of Catalyst Arts’ members show will be produced in collaboration with artist and curator Michele Horrigan of Askeaton Contemporary Arts, Limerick. This collaboration has led to a selection of works which have been developed in response to particular aspects of the city and its situations.
Catalyst Arts would like to warmly welcome Alessia Cargnelli who will be working with the gallery for the next three months.
This continues Catalyst’s relationship with Ca’Foscari University in Venice in providing opportunities for Italian recent graduates to work with artist led spaces.
Charlotte Bosanquet | Jane Butler | Paul McAree | Tonya McMullan
Andy Parker | Jim Ricks | Amanda Rice
Opening night: 11th June 6-9pm
Exhibition continues: 12th – 27th June
11th June 6 – 7pm: A panel discussion between the selected artists and curator, Michele Horrigan
We are delighted to announce that this year’s edition of Catalyst Arts’ members show will be produced in collaboration with artist and curator Michele Horrigan of Askeaton Contemporary Arts, Limerick. This collaboration has led to a selection of works which have been developed in response to particular aspects of the city and its situations. Central to this was the legacy of Catalyst Art’s role as an agent for reinterrogating conventional modes of artistic practice and critical negotiations of private and public space. ‘Under the Radar’ presents the curator’s selection of seven member’s work, providing close mentorship with the artists and their current practice. Horrigan’s curatorial approach through her work with Askeaton Contemporary Arts focuses on the existing dynamics of the locale, intending to bring forward the diverse layers of daily life and create a rich framework for subjective encounters.
‘’For over twenty years, Catalyst Arts has followed a path of improvisation in its unsure, yet always invigorating existence. Secretly, no one really knows what lies ahead – its programme, community and members never harden into stable or institutional values. Instead Catalyst floats upon the transitory and provisional nature of contemporary urban life in Belfast – always provoking and alluding to the need for agitation and continual deviation from hegemonical structures imposed on culture. This summer, its’ members show seeks to further develop these themes. The seven selected artists and artworks have been considered for their role in exploring unnoticed situations within the city, the gallery space and the further frameworks that both contain and allow personal agency and freedom. Catalyst continues to offer a diverse platform for these discussions.’’
This is notice that an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) of the members of the above-named company will be held at the following address:
5 College Court, Belfast, BT1 6BS
On: Monday 29th June 2015 At: 18:00
The main business of the meeting will be:
To consider and, if thought fit, to pass the following resolution which will be proposed as a special resolution for the amendment of Catalyst Arts governing document. (See below)
Welcome / Opening remarks
Swearing in of new Director
To consider and, if thought fit, to pass the following resolution which will be proposed as a special resolution for the amendment of Catalyst Arts governing document. (See below)
Discussion of current premises and potential options for future Catalyst Arts location
Any other business
Closing remarks
In order to gain the broadest range of opinions on all matters under discussion, we would request and very much appreciate the attendance of all members at this event. We look forward to seeing you in June.
To RSVP your attendance or for any additional information on the EGM arrangements please contact us at catalystarts@gmail.com.
The date of this notice is: 30/05/2015 By order of the Board of Directors / Signed: Micheál Conlon, Chair The registered office of the company is: Catalyst Arts Gallery, 5 College Court, Belfast, BT1 6BSNote A member of the company who is entitled to attend and vote at the above-mentioned meeting is entitled to appoint a proxy, who need not be a member of the company, to attend, speak and vote instead of him, her or it.
THAT THE MEMORANDUM AND ARTICLES OF ASSOCIATION OF THE COMPANY BE AMENDED AS FOLLOWS:
The charitable objects be amended to better describe the charitable work of Catalyst Arts Ltd and the entire memorandum and articles of association be amended and incorporated into the new form articles of a company to reflect the changes in company law and to improve the governance of the Company.
Four weeks notice has been given for this EGM in keeping with our standard procedures and to allow our membership adequate time to review the relevant documents. Catalyst Arts is a company limited by guarantee and its governing document is a Memorandum and Articles of Association (M&AA). Please click on the highlighted links to view;
Drydan Wilson | Edmund Eva & George Baldwin | BYOB
Opening 7th May 6-9pm
8th May – 28th May
Catalyst Arts is pleased to present Generate, an exciting temporary format to provide a platform for artists based currently in Belfast.
Over the course of May several events take place in order to shine light on the exciting developments in different areas of art in Belfast this spring.
Drydan Wilson is a current student of University of Ulster in Belfast who has just finished his Erasmus year in Finland. His work is expansive and growing and he take on the entire gallery space.
eegb (Edmund Eva & George Baldwin) is a research group focussed around drawing who design and construct various machines that to simulate various behavioural phenomena.
Generate culminate with the BYOB (Bring Your Own Beamer) night, during which participants are invited to bring a projector and show their work wherever they can find a space on the walls of Catalyst Arts.
Our first BYOB night happens on the next Thursday – no selection process, just send us an email to catalystarts@gmail.com then drop in with your projector and video on the 28th May to set up.
Catalyst would like to give a warm welcome to our new Director, Belfast artist Brónach McGuinness who has recently joined the board. We look forward to working with her for the next two years.
Brónach McGuinness (b. 1991) graduated from the University of Ulster with a First Class Honours degree in Fine Art in 2014. She received the Royal Ulster Academy Award for Outstanding Students and the Platform Arts Graduate Residency Award for her degree show exhibition. She has exhibited widely within the North of Ireland most recently in the Market Place Arts Centre, Armagh, Féile an Earrigh, Atelier Design Studios and the Royal Ulster Academy Annual Exhibition in Belfast. Her practice ranges from drawing and painting to assemblage and installations made from wood and metal. In 2014 she worked in Italy collaborating with Centro Ave Arte, a group of international artists based in Incisa in Val d’Arno. She is currently artist in resident at Platform Arts, Belfast.
Catalyst Arts welcomes applications of expressions of interest for new Co-Directors.
Catalyst Arts has been one of the most important and innovative artist-led spaces for contemporary art in Belfast since it began in 1993. The driving force behind the organisation has always been the dedicated committee of directors who have worked tirelessly over the years to ensure the gallery remains at the forefront of the visual art scene in Northern Ireland. Catalyst’s directorship has an international reputation as a training ground for young curatorial talent, with each director serving a term of two years working on a voluntary basis.
Here is a nice find from our archive showing what Catalyst looked like in 2011 with ‘In Focus’, featuring some great ex-directors : https://vimeo.com/131093082
Catalyst Arts is pleased to present Generate, an exciting temporary format to provide a platform for artists based currently in Belfast. Over the course of May several events will take place in order to shine light on the exciting developments in different areas of art in Belfast this spring.
Drydan Wilson is a current student of University of Ulster in Belfast who has just finished his Erasmus year in Finland. Wilson’s work is expansive and growing and he will be taking on the entire gallery space of Catalyst. The sheer scale of his work swells to fit any space that the work is inhabiting and we are very pleased to be able to give his work the opportunity to materialise in Catalyst.
eegb (Edmund Eva & George Baldwin) is a research group focussed around drawing who design and construct various machines that to simulate various behavioural phenomena. The Machine serves as a mechanical extension of the artist and as a medium allowing us to explore and visualize concepts concerning power, creativity, authorship and the act of mark making. Using a drawing machine, they will graph a simulation of flocking behaviour over a three day period. The machine will plot the path of each individual agent within the flock, one at a time, building up a trace of the overall movement, creating a dense, textured drawing with an emergent fluidity. Currently based at DAS (Digital Arts Studio Belfast) Eva and Baldwin are now making themselves known in the arts community of Belfast.
Wilson’s work coupled with eegb provide a delicate nuance of ideas. There is a clear line of stylised rhythm between the three artists. At different stages of their careers, the group provides an interesting dialogue between sculpture, drawing and digital media.
Generate will culminate in Belfast’s first BYOB (Bring Your Own Beamer) night, during which participants are invited to bring a projector and show their work wherever they can find a space on the walls of Catalyst Arts. BYOB is a series of one night events that happen all over the world, invented by Rafaël Rozendaal. This exciting and celebratory night is a way of showcasing literally everyone’s (that can fit!) current digital media visual arts practice, and highlights our current aspect of screen viewing. The idea brings the online seclusion of many video artists right out of the internet and into the gallery space. If you would like to be involved in Catalyst’s BYOB, please get in touch at catalystarts@gmail.com
Martin Boyle | Liliane Puthod | Atom Tick | Iain Griffin | John Macormac | Anita Delaney | John Lawrence | David Blandy
24th April 2015 – 8th May 2015
Opening: Friday 24th April 2015
18: 00 – 19:30: Exhibition Opening at 126, Galway
20:00 – 21:30: Live Event at Áras na nGael, Galway
This year, through a series of small scale collaborations with artists, collectives and organisations Catalyst Arts will pilot a new auxiliary offsite programme titled ‘Garrincha’ which will further promote the commissioning of new works of artistic merit by emerging artists with a non gallery centred practice, for temporal and event based works.
The first of these collaborations has been through the invitation of 126 in Galway, for which Catalyst Arts has selected artists working across a range of disciplines, encompassing a two person exhibition at 126 Gallery space by Martin Boyle and Liliane Puthod, whose work excavates or activates commonplace aspects of the civic and urban landscape which have been ignored or overlooked in recent times as the sites for new interventions and dialogues.
Martin Boyle | Liliane Puthod | Atom Tick | Iain Griffin | John Macormac | Anita Delaney | John Lawrence | David Blandy
24th April 2015 – 8th May 2015
Opening: Friday 24th April 2015
18: 00 – 19:30: Exhibition Opening at 126, Galway
20:00 – 21:30: Live Event at Áras na nGael, Galway
“The very existence of flamethrowers proves that some time, somewhere, someone said to themselves. You know, I want to set those people over there on fire, but I’m just not close enough to get the job done.”
― George Carlin
Since its inception over twenty years ago, by a multidisciplinary group of artists, theatre makers, architects and educators, Catalyst Arts is one of the longest running artist led organisations in Ireland and the UK, committed to delivering a programme which embraces risk and expands beyond the gallery to provide innovative opportunities for artists.
This year, through a series of small scale collaborations with artists, collectives and organisations Catalyst Arts will pilot a new auxiliary offsite programme titled ‘Garrincha’ which will further promote the commissioning of new works of artistic merit by emerging artists with a non gallery centred practice, for temporal and event based works.
The first of these collaborations has been through the invitation of 126 in Galway, for which Catalyst Arts has selected artists working across a range of disciplines, encompassing a two person exhibition at 126 Gallery space by Martin Boyle and Liliane Puthod, whose work excavates or activates commonplace aspects of the civic and urban landscape which have been ignored or overlooked in recent times as the sites for new interventions and dialogues.
Following the opening of this exhibition on Friday 24th audience are invited to a join us for an offsite, live event held at Áras na nGael from 8pm showcasing a selection of video screenings, performance and music by artists from across Ireland and the UK. Within this context of re-interrogating conventional modes of artistic practice ‘The Existence of Flamethrowers in your Street’ aims to continue Catalyst Arts commitment to providing opportunities for a range of multidisciplinary activities both in the gallery framework and offsite.
Catalyst Arts would like to thank 126 for the invitation to collaborate on this projects and to extend an open invitation to all to attend both the opening and live events which are free.
Primary Resource is a curatorial project taking place in 126 throughout 2015 that aims to make a practice based response to the 126 FOOTFALL research report that was published in March 2015. FOOTFALL began an line of enquiry into what separates the activities of artist led organisations from those of other art institutions in Ireland and what role they play in artists’ careers. With Primary Resource we invite five diverse artist led organisations to react to the FOOTFALL research and findings though their own practice. These five responses may take varying forms and will take place in the 126 gallery space throughout 2015. Each organisations response to one curatorial arc will contribute to a process that can be critically viewed as a whole.
The 2nd Year Sculpture and Lens Course from the Belfast School of Art are presenting their end of year show.
Catalyst Arts is pleased to continue to provide opportunities for students, facilitating new and emerging artists and maintaining its relationship with Fine Arts universities.
Catalyst Arts Gallery, Belfast <> OUTPOST, Norwich
1 – 31 July 2015
Information for prospective Catalyst Arts Member applicants
OUTPOST is an artist-run gallery committed to the uncompromising presentation of contemporary art. Since its founding in 2004, OUTPOST has established itself as a leading centre for artist activity in the east of England, producing a core programme of 11 exhibitions per year. Alongside a programme of offsite projects, events and a series of artists editions. This activity is generated by a rolling Steering Committee of up to eight members, with a limit of two years service.
Artists who have shown at OUTPOST include Elizabeth Price, John Russell, Karla Black and Nicholas Byrne. OUTPOST is supported by the Arts Council England and operates a membership scheme which is open to anyone to join. Members are encouraged to submit material to the members’archive, to be considered for various artists’opportunities and affordable studios. A five minute walk from the gallery building, OUTPOSTstudios provide fit for purpose facilities for 80 artists, a residency space, a workshop and a secondary exhibition space.
Following the success of prior residency programmes, OUTPOST is delighted to continue partnering with peer artist-led galleries and invite Catalyst members to apply for Members’Exchange 2015, a residency programme co-produced between OUTPOST and Catalyst. This twinned residency offers an opening for two artists, one selected from each organisation’s respective membership, to develop their practice on an national platform, engage in current debate concerning contemporary art practice, carry out research and experimentation and contribute to the dynamic of an artistic community.
The Catalyst member will be working in a large ground floor exhibition space (Gildengate House) for three weeks, with an option to extend the residency by one week. This fourth week is an opportunity to present a solo show in Gildengate House. Whilst resident in Norwich, the Catalyst member will receive full technical, promotional and logistical support. The artist will be provided with a budget to cover travel, accommodation and materials in addition to a daily stipend for the duration of the residency. A proportion of the total budget has been allocated to providing some mentoring, which can be arranged in dialogue with the selected artist to ensure a relevant group of people are invited to studio visits.
For further information about OUTPOST please contact:
questions@norwichoutpost.org or follow on Twitter https://twitter.com/outpostgallery
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/OUTPOSTGallery or Instagram
https://instagram.com/outpost_gallery/
OUTPOST Residency Overview
The selected Belfast based artist will be based in OUTPOSTstudios, using Gildengate House as a studio facility and exhibition space.
Accommodation will be provided in the city centre of Norwich.
The allocated budget of £1200 will cover travel expenses, material costs, subsistence and mentoring.
At the beginning of the residency period, the selected artist will be asked to give a brief introductory presentation.
At the conclusion of the residency the participant will be invited to make a solo show in the form of a public exhibition.
The resident artist will receive full technical, promotional and logistical assistance from OUTPOST steering committee.
Submission Information for Belfast Applicants
Catalyst members are invited to submit applications to participate in Members’ Exchange 2015. All applications must be made by email to questions@norwichoutpost.org, cc catalystarts@gmail.com and have the subject heading Members’ Exchange 2015 Belfast applicant.
Application Guidelines:
CV
Please include your exhibition and educational background. Artists Statement in 250 words or less, write a statement outlining your current practice. Statement of Objectives, in 250 words or less describe your proposed plans for projects, ideas and your expectations for the residency.
Unfortunately we are unable to accept applications in the form of links to websites, please only include this information for reference in your CV, along with the material listed above. Please note that the maximum attachment size per email is 10mb, for larger files please send either a We
Timetable for Applications:
Deadline: 31st May 2015, 11:59pm
Selection
All applications by Catalyst members will be reviewed by OUTPOST steering committee and the successful applicant notified on 5th June 2015.
Catalyst Arts is delighted to host the Expanded Territories exhibition tours.
2nd April – 10th April 2015
Opening 2nd April, 6-9 pm
Expanded Territories explores the outcomes of bringing together people from divergent industries, fields and disciplines and encourages them to create solutions together, step out of their comfort zones and collaborate, support and inform each other. Expanded Territories will demonstrate the creative and innovative talents of the region, and highlight the distinctive resources and character of the region articulated through prototype products, concepts and experiences. Certain unifying themes are evident – (re)connection to natural resources, the sharing of creativity, sustainability and regeneration, and re-localisation, focusing on the overall objectives of the HCP. The April Exhibition will showcase concepts from cycle 2 of the Creative Labs and we would propose that the opportunity between June and December would bring together Creative Labs concepts from both cycles in addition to the presentations of the 12 new products which have been supported & developed through the HC programme. The exhibition will showcase the creative Labs concepts from both project cycles , 12 new product development projects and if possible an ancillary representation of the results of some of the HCP master classes which were based on the use of new techniques and digital technologies. The exhibition will be a culmination of the results of the overall Harnessing Creativity Project which concludes in June 2015. A number of the individual Creative Labs concepts from both cycles could have regional significance or could be developed across NI / Ireland.
For more information: http://www.harnessingcreativity.eu/
In July 2014 we commissioned Liam Crichton, Hannah McBride, Mark Orange, PRIME Collective and Tom Watt to make five new site-specific works as part of ‘A False Sense‘.
A short documentary was made for the opening of this exhibition and can be viewed here: https://vimeo.com/122537883
As part of the ArtWorks Conversation series initiated by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, Catalyst Arts will host a discursive event focusing on projects which take a contemporary approach to unfolding issues around public art commissions and re-interrogates notions of collaboration and community in this process.
Artist Colin Darke and Paul Sullivan of Static, Liverpool have been invited to deliver lectures on relevant projects based in Northern Ireland.
Colin Darke will discuss his temporary public work ‘Crash‘ from 1997. Paul Sullivan will present his research on a new project, ‘Four Square Laundry‘.
For more information on the ArtWorks series see here: http://www.artworksphf.org.uk/artworks-conversations/
Crash
In September 1997, the Association of International Art Critics (AICA) held its Congress in Belfast and Derry, organised by Liam Kelly, under the title Art and Centres of Conflict, Outer and Inner Realities. In support of the main conference in Derry, Professor Kelly commissioned a number of artists to make temporary public artworks in the city.
Colin Darke’s commissioned piece was titled Crash, located on the grass banking running from Derry’s 17th-century fortifications to Fahan Street in the lower Bogsidearea of the city. This stretch of the old wall had been for many years a politically contentious space, a flashpoint for tension when the Orange Order and the Apprentice Boys used it as part of their marching routes. The work consisted of an enlarged copy of Malevich’s Black Square, Red Square, cut into the turf, the earth coloured accordingly. The piece was intended to consider the dialectic between material and religious considerations in art around the time of the Russian Revolution, juxtaposed with the debatable identity of the northern sectarian/class conflict.
Four Square Laundry
On the Twinbrook Estate, Belfast, 2nd October 1972, a British Army undercover operation called the Four Square Laundry Service was ambushed by the Provisional IRA.
The fictitious laundry service toured Catholic areas touting for custom at cut-price rates. The clothes collected could then be subjected to forensic tests and returned the following week. Regular runs would also provide an opportunity for observation of particular suspect houses.
Source: ‘The Guineapigs‘ by John McGuffin (1974, 1981) Chapter 9: Down on the Killing Floor.
Paul Sullivan uses this one incident during the Troubles in order to investigate a wider set of complex issues, in particular the military urban planning tactics that were developed and deployed in Northern Ireland in the early 1970′s, and the possibility that these tactics have subsequently been transferred and continue to be used in major British cities for the purpose of control.
Through the use of doubling every drawing with slight variations – each one referencing either a Republican or a British version of events – the Four Square Laundry drawing series mirror the immediate and long-term points of counter-claim evident from oppositional factions in any war situation, thus making the notion of what is truth and what is lie almost subservient to what needs to operate as myth within the cultural and media contexts of the given situation.
The series also examines how the British Army successfully recruited large numbers of 1st or 2nd generation Irish catholics in Liverpool, who in turn pretty quickly found themselves back in Ireland fighting a war. In examining this issue, the drawings depict the urban environments of the British Army’s recruitment grounds and by proxy, begin to examine the reasons of how and why a relatively recent Irish diaspora would lose such a connection with their immediate past. The drawings also speculate on the urban myth that the British Army built a replica Belfast housing estate in a major British City in order to recruit and train.
The Four Square Laundry drawing series is the first phase of a wider set of works that will lead to a film reconstruction of The Four Square Laundry incident, a performative project and a publication.
Catalyst Arts are delighted to announce that Irish artist/curator Michele Horrigan will be curating this years Members Show, 2015.
Deadline: 07/04/15
For over twenty years, Catalyst Arts has followed a path of improvisation in its unsure, yet always invigorating existence. Secretly, no one really knows what lies ahead – its programme, community and members never harden into stable or institutional values. Instead Catalyst floats upon the transitory and provisional nature of contemporary urban life in Belfast – always provoking and alluding to the need for agitation and continual deviation from hegemonical structures imposed on culture.
Our 2015 members show seeks to further develop these themes. Curated by Michele Horrigan, artworks will be considered for their role in exploring unnoticed situations within the city, the gallery space and the further frameworks that both contain and allow personal agency and freedom. How can Catalyst continue to offer a diverse platform for these discussions? As ever in its history, let its members decide! We welcome new proposals and existing artworks in all media.
Submissions must include: C.V | 250 word statement/proposal | Bio. | 5-10 Images in PDF format
About the curator: Michele Horrigan is an artist and curator based in London and County Limerick. She studied at the Univeristy of Ulster and the Stadelschule in Frankfurt am Main. Since 2006, she is founder and curatorial director of Askeaton Contemporary Arts where over sixty artists projects have been produced in direct relationship to the town of Askeaton, County Limerick.
Catalyst Arts are pleased to announce an exhibition opportunity in collaboration with 126 Gallery, Galway.
Deadline: 01/04/2015
Following on from the research initiated by 126 into the agency and legacy of artist-led spaces, Catalyst Arts’ intention for this collaboration is to further pilot projects which are mutable and alternating, reflecting core aspects of Catalyst’s model to instigate new opportunities for artists beyond conventional art infrastructure.
As an artist-led organisation Catalyst Arts has remained a dedicated advocate for new and innovative opportunities for artists and audiences of all ages and disciplines, which cannot be provided by conventional art institutions. In the coming year, Catalyst intends to reignite this off-site activism questioning the role and relationship between Northern Ireland’s history of artists commissions and public space. This will begin in the new year through a series of small scale collaborations with artists and collectives whose practice excavates or activates commonplace aspects of the civic, urban and rural landscape which have been ignored or overlooked in recent times as the sites for new interventions and dialogues. Projects such as these will continue to be developed through a new auxiliary off-site programme titled ‘Garrincha’ which will further promote the commissioning of new works by emerging artists with a non-gallery centred practice, for temporal and event based works.
For this collaboration, Catalyst will extend its off-site ‘Garrincha’ programme to Galway, and are seeking proposals from Catalyst Arts membership. Artists are sought to participate in two different formats, of the gallery space and those who propose to stage and test new event/live work for a one night festival. The 126 gallery space will be presented as a two-person show.
Submissions must include: C.V | 250 word statement/proposal | Bio. | 5-10 Images in PDF format
Catalyst Arts is pleased to present the Student and Recent Graduate Show 2015. Get In Lane refers to the stifling necessity for graduates to decide on their future direction. Aiming to break these boundaries Catalyst encourages artists to experiment with their work in the space, creating new freedoms in a professional context. Selected through a UK and Ireland open call, seven artists show the breadth and variety of work being made in universities today. While gaining experience exhibiting alongside their peers, Catalyst is excited to encourage the artists at this point in their careers.
Continuing Catalysts development of one night off-site events through our GARRINCHA programme, Catalyst Arts in collaboration with Flax Art Studios presents a new video work by Glasgow based artist James McCann, MONOMANIA 5.
‘Situated within the detritus and imposing machinery of a dark workshop, ‘MONOMANIA 5′ is a video culmination of a number of different projects undertaken while trying to make sense of Cognitive Diagrams given to me as part of a course of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.’
James Mc Cann is a Cork/Glasgow based artist and Royal College of Art graduate, he is currently studying for a PhD at Glasgow School of Art. His work is usually Sculpture, Video, or Performance based.
With thanks to44-46 Corporation St, Belfast, Northern Ireland, BT1 3DE
On Monday the 9th of March we are having our first open day. The day is particularly presented for potential candidates who would like to apply to be a future director of Catalyst. From 1pm-3pm we will host an informal introduction to the workings of Catalyst, its current board and the problems and potentials of running an artist led space. The day is also open to those interested in our new volunteer programme.
There will also be an informative seminar led by ex-directors on their experience of running Catalyst Arts.
Corie Denby McGowan | Deirdre Canavan | Rachel Marum Louise Concannon | Brian O’Shea | The Edinburgh Nude Historical Re-Enactment Society | Nuno Direitinho | Cate Smith
6th March – 28th March 2015
Opening event: 5th March 2015, 6-9pm
Pre-show tour: 5pm – 6pm
Catalyst Arts is pleased to present the Student and Recent Graduate Show 2015. Get In Lane refers to the stifling necessity for graduates to decide on their future direction. Aiming to break these boundaries Catalyst encourages artists to experiment with their work in the space, creating new freedoms in a professional context. Selected through a UK and Ireland open call, seven artists show the breadth and variety of work being made in universities today. While gaining experience exhibiting alongside their peers, Catalyst is excited to encourage the artists at this point in their careers.
Our Co-director Mary Stevens will give a talk about Catalyst Arts as part of the Professional Practice programme to the students of the Belfast School of Arts on 24th February 2015
In partnership with the University of Ulster, Catalyst Arts are looking for an enthusiastic archive assistant to work alongside Dr. Cherie Driver, lecturer in the Belfast School of Art. This voluntary role will allow the assistant to learn a number of skills in the care and preservation of archive collections. The assistant will be expected to work a maximum of five hours a week but this can be negotiated according to the assistants schedule. The assistant will also present documents and media for public display within Catalyst Arts throughout the year and be a vital asset to our resource team.
Please submit a C.V and short statement detailing your relevant experience and interest to: catalystarts@gmail.com
April Chiders | Ben Craig | Jerstin Crosby | Rivkah Gevinson | Jonah King | Ben Kinsley | Jessica Langley
Una Lee | Johanna Leech | Andrew Salomone | Leah Beeferman & Pierre Le Hors
Basic Operation is an experiment in a collaborative process between New York and Belfast based artists, concerned with the creation, value and experience of art.
Two of our Co-directors are attending Public Assets, a conference organised by Common Practice at Central Saint Martins in London on 6th February.Common Practice presents a one-day conference to discuss the ways in which small-scale arts organisations produce artistic value beyond measurability and quantification, provide spaces for public experience extra to the market, and in so doing contribute importantly to cultural wealth. In this way, small-scale arts organisations provide ample evidence of the necessity to build rather than diminish state funding for the arts as a core public asset.
April Chiders | Ben Craig | Jerstin Crosby | Rivkah Gevinson | Jonah King | Ben Kinsley | Jessica Langley
Una Lee | Johanna Leech | Andrew Salomone | Leah Beeferman & Pierre Le Hors
5th-25th February 2015 Closing Event: 25th February 6-9pm
Basic Operation is an experiment in a collaborative process between New York and Belfast based artists, concerned with the creation, value and experience of art.
Initial ideas, concepts, starting points and proposals were firstly gathered from New York, with no restrictions on content, detail or format. The only request was that the submissions must be proposals for as-of-yet unrealised works of art and uploaded to the Basic Operation blog. The suggestions may be from small observations to larger strategies; sketchbook pages, post-it notes, drawings, plans for social events and interventions.
Catalyst Arts will invite a selection of Belfast artists to respond to these original ideas and encouraged to open up, interpret, and misinterpret, the levels of the submitted content.
As part of Basic Operation, this Thursday 26th February 2015 from 7-7.30 pm Belfast based artist Johanna Leech presents a new perfomance, ” Ononharoia”.
Catalyst Arts is delighted to present As It Stands, a collaborative exploration of isolated space at Riddells Warehouse, Ann Street.
Over the last week, Catalyst Arts & Resort have been working collaboratively in this ‘isolated retreat’ away from the confines of the conventional gallery and studio space.
Catalyst Arts and Resort have taken up residence in Riddell’s Warehouse located on Ann Street, Belfast. Now a dilapidated listed building, its close proximity to Belfast City Centre and its inaccessibility to the public, mean it correlates with our working methods.
The empty warehouse which is due to become the future site for the Royal Ulster Academy, now stands expectantly, awaiting funding and further administrative work to allow it to become an art gallery. During their short stay in the historic site, Resort will begin to restore and expedite Riddell’s re-introduction into its urban surroundings.
Initiating the GARRINCHA programme for 2015, Catalyst Arts in collaboration with The Hatfield House presents Glasgow based artist James McCann’s ‘99 Music Videos’ on Friday 30th January 5pm.
The Hatfield House | Ormeau Road | January 30th 5pm
James Mc Cann is a Cork/Glasgow based artist and Royal College of Art graduate, he is currently studying for a PhD at Glasgow School of Art. His work is usually Sculpture, Video, or Performance based. His most recent work 99 Music Videos, is an ambitious project containing 99 separate films.
“I am interested in the idea of the compulsive artist/maker as allegorical construct, and that as an artist I am endlessly re-incarnating and re-appropriating what is essentially one unknown object.
99 Music Videos is a project I have been working on for the last two years. The title is an appropriation of a utilitarian term, which has developed its own history and cultural identity. The number 99 was chosen because it is the largest double digit number. Similarly to the words ‘Music Video’, 99 is a number which has developed it’s own poetics (through ice creams, Nena, and Jay Z) while still retaining a utilitarian sense of units and of production.
This duality between utilitarianism and poetics is a theme that underlines the project as a whole. It’s origins were a pragmatic way of generating of work without a studio and utilizing non sequiturs and half formed ideas. Conversely, I have also been thinking about Walter Benjamin’s writings on the fragment and idea’s as constellation. A constellation as something which has a unique collective identity which only exists as the sum of all its parts.”
Catalyst Arts is delighted to welcome Elena Francesca Doni, an Italian Arts management student who is joining us on a four month internship thanks to a Leonardo da Vinci programme’s scholarship.
Catalyst Arts welcomes applications of expressions of
interest for a new voluntary Co-Director
Would you like to be involved in running one of the leading artist-led galleries in the U.K.
We are currently looking for one new director with skills in P.R&Marketing and Admin&Finance.
Please download the information below which outlines the personal criteria as well as the roles and responsibilities for the position of director at Catalyst Arts.
As part of GARRINCHA, Catalyst Arts will present a public selection of its archive at Keats and Chapman, an independent bookstore based in Belfast which specialises in second hand books.
Throughout 2015 Catalyst will work with a number of organisations to present a series of individual off-site situations connecting disparate aspects and locations of the city into a neighbourhood of events. Bringing together a selection of artists, musicians, DIY collectives and live practitioners the GARRINCHA programme will begin cultivating new dialogues between Catalyst and the wider city of Belfast while reflecting on its position and re-questioning its own ideology.
All Obstructing Walls Have Been Broken Down was the first solo show in Northern Ireland of British-born artist Amanda Beech, who is currently based in Los Angeles, where she is Dean of Critical Studies at Cal Arts. Given Beech’s academically-situated practice, it was appropriate that the exhibition was accompanied by public events – an artist’s talk in Ulster University and a related presentation by writer and critic Maeve Connolly, Televisual Transport: Freeways, Museums and Model Homes – that served to help unpack the work’s complex ideas around philosophical realism, the ontological underpinnings of art, spectatorship and public space. Read the review here.
Considering the overlapping tensions inherent within music culture and contemporary art practice, ‘NOISE FEST’ brings together the work of Ericka Beckman, Vivienne Dick, and Seamus Harahan. Collectively harnessing a vocabulary and sensibility that oscillates and slips between clear categories of distinction, the works incorporate the disparate tropes of experimental filmmaking with the aesthetic rhetoric of pseudo music documentary and video.
Ericka Beckman | Vivienne Dick | Seamus Harahan (with Cashier No.9 and BEW) | Kim Gordon | Dan Graham | ‘No New York’ (1978)
Ericka Beckman | Vivienne Dick | Seamus Harahan (with Cashier No.9 and BEW) | Kim Gordon | Dan Graham | ‘No New York’ (1978)
11 December 2014 – 16 January 2015 Opening: 11 December, 6-9pm
‘No New York: Post-Punk Reflections’
An illustrated presentation by Phillip McCrilly in the gallery on January 15th from 6pm.
Vivienne Dick will be giving a short presentation on her work as part of ‘Noise Fest’ on January 7th at 1pm.
Considering the overlapping tensions inherent within music culture and contemporary art practice, ‘NOISE FEST’ brings together the work of Ericka Beckman, Vivienne Dick, and Seamus Harahan. Collectively harnessing a vocabulary and sensibility that oscillates and slips between clear categories of distinction, the works incorporate the disparate tropes of experimental filmmaking with the aesthetic rhetoric of pseudo music documentary and video.
Congratulations to ex-director Duncan Campbell on winning this year’s Turner Prize! We had the pleasure of working with Duncan earlier this year as part of ‘W I L D S C A P E S’.
Hillary Murray reviews All Obstructing Walls Have Been Broken Down, the first solo presentation of Amanda Beech in Northern Ireland. The review can be readhere
That time of year has come around again where Catalyst Arts asks you to come and have your say at the Catalyst Arts Annual General Meeting. We are pleased to invite you to Catalyst Arts AGM 2014, which will take place at Catalyst Arts, 5 College Court, Belfast on Wednesday 26th of November 2014 at 6.30pm. We will give a breakdown of last year’s projects and future programming, and will discuss what has happened since our last AGM and the exciting things in store for Catalyst Arts. There will also be a number of extremely important issues discussed including a possible change of premises for Catalyst in 2016.
In order to gain the broadest range of opinions on all matters under discussion, we would request and very much appreciate your attendance at this event. This event is for members only.
Agenda
Opening remarks/welcome
Apologies
Minutes of previous AGM
Matters arising from the minutes
Presentation of annual report (Chair)
Presentation of accounts (Treasurer)
Election of management committee/office bearers
Summary of last year’s programming
Summary of future programming
Progressions
Archive Report
Governance Progress
Alteration of Articles of Association by Special Resolution*
Any Other Business
Closing remarks
*See details and links below for Outline of Special Resolution
Catalyst Arts Governing Document Alterations
Catalyst Arts is currently in the process of amending its governing document, which has been developed and legally drafted in consultation with NICVA. In keeping with due process for the adoption of new Objects and Articles to our constitutionArticles of Association, Catalyst Arts will present the new draft of its proposed constitution to the members for adoption by special resolution. If successfully passed we will then be submitting this to Companies House for register.
Please click here to read over proposedSpecial Resolution, which covers the amendments and alterations to the governing document we intend to submit for register.
With reference to our original articles of association, the amendments outlined below have been drafted in accordance with new regulations for companies with charitable status to reflect best practice in our sector and safeguard against vulnerability of the organisation’s operations, finances and policies. The following objects and articles have been highlighted for special resolution, as they were never clearly defined in the original governing document and focus on the company’s objects, powers, quorum for meeting proceedings and appointment of directors.
To RSVP your attendance or for any additional information on the AGM arrangements please contact us at catalystarts@gmail.com. Refreshments will be provided.
Catalyst Arts is pleased to present ‘All Obstructing Walls Have Been Broken Down’, the first solo presentation in Northern Ireland of the work of British-born, California-based artist Amanda Beech. The exhibition features a new suite of works on paper (2014) alongside the large-scale video installation, ‘Sanity Assassin’ (2010).
Sinead Kennedy is an artist working between the disciplines of Avant Garde fashion and Fine Art. Although her work in the past has been in the Avant Guarde fashion context, she is currently investigating the prospect of pushing out of this Avant Guarde fashion boundary and into the broader Fine Art context where the compositions need not be restricted to the confines of ‘a body’ and could be considered as sculptures in their own right.
Catalyst launches GARRINCHA, a new programme where artists will begin cultivating new dialogues between Catalyst and the wider city of Belfast through a series of exhibitions, events and off-site interventionist projects. Bringing together a variety of artists, DIY and live practioners GARRINCHA will run as a year long project.
Jill Quigley
Opening event : Thurs 21st Aug 6pm
21/08/14 – 04/09/14
Catalyst Arts launches GARRINCHA, a new programme where artists will begin cultivating new dialogues between Catalyst and the wider city of Belfast through a series of exhibitions, events and off-site interventionist projects. Bringing together a variety of artists, DIY collectives and live practitioners GARRINCHA will run as a year long project.
– See more at: http://www.oldcatalystarts.hilken.co.uk/category/news/#sthash.lgyKueY7.dpuf
Jill Quigley
Opening event : Thurs 21st Aug 6pm
21/08/14 – 04/09/14
Catalyst Arts launches GARRINCHA, a new programme where artists will begin cultivating new dialogues between Catalyst and the wider city of Belfast through a series of exhibitions, events and off-site interventionist projects. Bringing together a variety of artists, DIY collectives and live practitioners GARRINCHA will run as a year long project.
– See more at: http://www.oldcatalystarts.hilken.co.uk/category/news/#sthash.lgyKueY7.dpuf
Jill Quigley
Opening event : Thurs 21st Aug 6pm
21/08/14 – 04/09/14
Catalyst Arts launches GARRINCHA, a new programme where artists will begin cultivating new dialogues between Catalyst and the wider city of Belfast through a series of exhibitions, events and off-site interventionist projects. Bringing together a variety of artists, DIY collectives and live practitioners GARRINCHA will run as a year long project.
– See more at: http://www.oldcatalystarts.hilken.co.uk/category/news/#sthash.lgyKueY7.dpuf
Catalyst Arts would like to welcome new Co-Director Edel O’Reilly to the board. We look forward to working with her over the next two years.
Edel O’ Reilly (B. Laois 1985) is an inter-disciplinary artist and producer. A graduate of Crawford College of Art and Design, she was previously based in Cork city where she co-founded artist-led initiatives Cork Contemporary Projects / CCP (2008-2012) and associated project gallery The Space (2009-2010). Previous positions include Project Liaison Manager for Frieze Projects at Frieze London (2011-2012), events management with Temple Bar Gallery + Studio (2012) and archivist of time-based works at Boers-Li Gallery, Beijing (2011). Prior to joining Catalyst Arts she was a recipient of the artist-in-studio scheme with the National Sculpture Factory (2013-2014), which she utilised as an incubation period for site-specific research regarding changing modes of artistic production and labour in post-medium practice.
Catalyst Arts is pleased to present ‘All Obstructing Walls Have Been Broken Down’, the first solo presentation in Northern Ireland of the work of British-born, California-based artist Amanda Beech. The exhibition features a new suite of works on paper (2014) alongside the large-scale video installation, ‘Sanity Assassin’ (2010).
Together the works produce a certain narrative on the condition of reality and its architectures. ‘Sanity Assassin’ interrogates our obsession with reality, our desire to manifest our ideas of what reality really is, and the consequences of this desire, whilst Beech’s new works on paper respond to this folly in the proposition that we construct reality.
Taking the freeways, the retreats, and the housing tracts of Los Angeles as their primary reference, and traversing the landscape of alienated systems of life, both installations interrogate the hopes, possibilities and consequences of new forms of constructing life in lived space.
The works on paper operate through invented mobile insignias of power, employing graphic institutional propaganda derived from the sides of haulage lorries that consistently pound the concrete of US state-to-state economies. ‘Sanity Assassin’ mixes genres of noir, hip-hop rhetoric and science-fiction graphics in an assault on the senses. Whether spread across the paper as symbolic landscapes or revealed in time through the space of the video work, the works confront the annihilation of spatial borders, categories and paradigms. But these are not works that go nowhere or aim anywhere. Instead they deal out a form of force that has drive: a form of violence that operates with a specific set of rules.
*Artist Talk: Thursday 16 October, 1.15pm Conor Lecture Theatre Belfast School of Art
*Lecture by Maeve Connolly: Saturday 15 November, 2.00pm ‘Televisual Transport: Freeways, Museums and Model Homes’ Catalyst Arts
5 College Court, Belfast
Amanda Beech is an artist and writer. Her work proposes a new realist politics of the artwork and its possibilities in the context of contingency and neo-rationalist conceptions of power. Recent solo exhibitions include ‘Everything Has Led to this Moment’, xero, kline & coma, London, 2014, and ‘Final Machine’, Lanchester Gallery Projects, UK, and HaGamle Prestagard, Norway. She also presented work as part of ‘AGITATIONISM’, EVA International, Limerick, 2014, and was recently artist in residence at Fieldwork: Marfa 2014 (Texas). Beech holds a PhD in Fine Art from Goldsmiths College, London, and is currently Dean of Critical Studies at CalArts, USA.
Image: ‘Sanity Assassin’ (2010), courtesy of the Artist
Český Krumlov, Buda and Kawotice are three areas in Eastern Europe situated outside each of their nation’s more prominent famous cities. Existing in such close proximity to their larger, metropolitan counterparts these regions and townlands are often overlooked despite their unique qualities. They are omitted from the pathways of most foreign travellers, with the possible exception of recognising their names as one of the stations passed on their train journey.
Český Krumlov, Buda and Kawotice are three areas in Eastern Europe situated outside each of their nation’s more prominent
famous cities. Existing in such close proximity to their larger, metropolitan counterparts these regions and
townlands are often overlooked despite their unique qualities. They are omitted from the pathways of most foreign travellers, with the possible exception of
recognising their names as one of the stations passed on their train journey.
Over the course of three weeks, three exhibitions will present new works from over 50 of our current members,
highlighting the disparate and varied practices of artists, both local and international.
This years members festival seeks to re-evaluate and re-align the position of the members show within the Catalyst program.
It is a rolling event that will feature performances, talks and free workshops for our members to attend over the month of September.
In response to the curatorial research and thematics of it’s current exhibition EX, Catalyst Arts presents a lecture by Sarah Tuck to mark the closing of the show. Using Mark Fisher’s publication Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative as a starting point, Tuck will address the issue of political interpassivity in relation to post-conflict Northern Ireland.
Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative by Mark Fisher can be purchased online, read at Catalyst Arts or browsed online here:
BYO BBQ Fundraiser to celebrate the launch of Catalyst Arts’ exciting new venture ‘GARRINCHA’ featuring the work of Jill Quigley.
Meat and vegetarian options available, the BBQ will be located in the yard at Catalyst Arts. Come join us and help us to continue our support of local and emerging artists.
£7 Meat plate £5 Veggie plate 4pm at Catalyst Arts Yard!
Opening event : Thurs 21st Aug 6pm
21/08/14 – 04/09/14
Catalyst Arts launches GARRINCHA, a new programme where artists will begin cultivating new dialogues between Catalyst and the wider city of Belfast through a series of exhibitions, events and off-site interventionist projects. Bringing together a variety of artists, DIY collectives and live practitioners GARRINCHA will run as a year long project.
Jill Quigley is the first exhibiting artist for GARRINCHA. She is from County Donegal and is currently based in Belfast. Having recently completed an MFA in Photography at the University of Ulster, she previously studied Art History at Trinity College Dublin.
A False Sense seeks to challenge institutional structures for displaying art whilst asking questions of what the experience of visiting a gallery has become. The exhibition questions ideas around expectation, encounter and uses the peripheries of the gallery as a site for all the work. Catalyst Arts has commissioned the artists to create five new works.
Liam Crichton | Hannah McBride | Mark Orange | PRIME Collective | Tom Watt
EX considers the tense relationship between theoretical belief and the extent to which those beliefs are or are not enacted. The exhibition deals with how conviction is continuously subverted by political and theological apathy which produces a society that is unable to absolutely realise ideological propositions of dissent.
Michael Fortune | Jeremy Hutchison | Jonah King | Eva & Franco Mattes | Ebrahim El Moly | Frank Wasser
Catalyst Artists in Residence at Somewhereto_ Antrim open studio and dinner party
summer of somewhereto_, is a nationwide festival celebrating young people doing innovative and inspiring things in amazing spaces.
somewhereto_ along with Catalyst Arts hosted three artists in residence into the abandoned shop space in Antrim town; Drydan Wilson, Ciaran Mc Cusker and Rosanna Mc Kenna. One of the artists, Rosanna is hosting a dinner party in the studio space where people are invited to come along to see the art, dine and discuss how the space could be used in the future.
A free bus will leave Catalyst Arts at 5.30pm on Thursday 7th August to the somewhereto_ space in Antrim town and return to Belfast at 7.30pm.
Michael Fortune | Jeremy Hutchison | Jonah King | Eva & Franco Mattes | Ebrahim El Moly | Frank Wasser
EX considers the tense relationship between theoretical belief and the extent to which those beliefs are or are not enacted. The exhibition deals with how conviction is continuously subverted by political and theological apathy which produces a society that is unable to absolutely realise ideological propositions of dissent.
Opening Night: Thursday 7th August Exhibition runs: 8th – 29th August
Artist Talks: Featuring Jonah King and Frank Wasser
Thursday 7th August, 4pm
Film Screening: Children of Men, Alfonso Cuarón (2006)
Catalyst Arts welcomes applications of expressions of
interest for new voluntary Co-Directors
Please download the information below which outlines the personal criteria as well as the roles and responsibilities for the position of director at Catalyst Arts.
All That Remains To Be Seen’ has been created in response to a joint members open call with Ormston House, Limerick. Two separate shows have been developed from a collection of artist members from the two galleries.
VAI Northern Ireland in association with Catalyst Arts is pleased to host the Visual Artists Cafe: Working in the creative sector
This Visual Artists Ireland Professional Development event brings together speakers that make a living in the creative sector. The speakers have very different approaches to their careers in the arts and include entrepreneurs that have started their own businesses in different fields and artists that work in community arts. Speakers include Charlotte Bosanquet, Dr Sarah McAleer, Oisin O’Brien and Patricia Clyne-Kelly. This will be followed by a seminar on how to price your work from Patricia Clyne Kelly of the Clyne Gallery, Dublin.
The Visual Artists Ireland ‘Show and Tell’ is also accepting applicants to present on the day, this provides artists with the opportunity to give a presentation on their practice in an informal setting where they can network and meet people with similar ideas and interests. There will be a maximum of 10 speakers asked to present. Speakers must be recent graduates (2013/2014) and current members of Visual Artists Ireland.
If you are interested in participating, email your selected images to rob@visualartists-ni.org. Images should be in JPG format and be no more than 1MB each.
The event will take place at the Catalyst Arts Gallery, Belfast on Friday 1st August 2014.
For further information on prices and booking see: here
NURTUREart is delighted to announce the opening of:
MULTIPLICITY City as subject/matter: Belfast, Hong Kong, New Delhi, New York, Tel Aviv, Tirana and beyond
The first exhibition in the series, featuring works by: Erik Benson, BroLab, CPak Studio, Endri Dani, John Duncan, Aisling O’Beirn, Yael Efrati, Vibha Galhotra, Michael Hanna and Nicholas Keogh will open on:
Friday July 11, 7-9 pm at NURTUREart, 56 Bogart St., Brooklyn. The exhibition will be open to the public during regular gallery hours from July 11 to August 25.
///
MULTIPLICITY is an international survey of artworks sharing an interest in the politics and poetic potential of contemporary urban environments and exposing the irresistible pull of the similarities—intercultural meeting points, common problems, goals and dreams—around which people converge. Multiplicity features a wide-ranging selection of works exploring culturally and geographically distant urban spaces, curated by Marco Antonini in collaboration with a network of curatorial advisors based in Belfast, Hong Kong, New Delhi, New York, Tel Aviv and Tirana, and presented as a series of four consecutive exhibitions hosted by NURTUREart, Mixed Greens, INVISIBLE-EXPORTS and Union Docs. The works address the myriad public and private rituals of the city, mining its institutional and vernacular histories while re-imagining its formal and functional aspects. /// Calendar of future exhibitions and events in the Multiplicity series: Part 2: Mixed Greens. 531 West 26th St., Manhattan (Chelsea.) From July 24 to August 24. Opening Reception: July 24. Please consult www.mixedgreens.com for gallery hours and details. Part 3: INVISIBLE-EXPORTS. 89 Eldridge St., Manhattan (Lower East Side.) From August 1 to August 27. Opening Reception: August 1. Please consult www.invisible-exports.comfor gallery hours and details. Part 4: UnionDocs. 322 Union Ave., Brooklyn (Williamsburg.) Video Screening with works by: CPak Studio, Nicholas Keogh, Alban Muja and Yll Citaku, Alice Schivardi, Sasa Tkacenko, Amir Yatziv. Screening: August 9, 7:30pm. Please consult www.uniondocs.org for info and updates. /// IMG: John Duncan, Bonfires series.
For A False Sense, the Belfast based PRIME Collective invites visitors to join them at Catalyst Arts at 6pm on Wednesday, 9th July. The gallery will act as the departure point for a journey to Templemore Avenue Swimming Baths in East Belfast.
A False Sense seeks to challenge institutional structures for displaying art whilst asking questions of what the experience of visiting a gallery has become. The exhibition questions ideas around expectation, encounter and uses the peripheries of the gallery as a site for all the work. Catalyst Arts has commissioned the artists to create five new works. The artists selected engage with ideas surrounding architecture, navigation, and boundaries in a variety of media including sound, video, installation, sculpture and critiques.
Catalyst Arts would like to invite our members to submit to this years Annual Member’s Show
‘Little Kingdoms’
Firstly, We would like to thank all our members, your support is an essential part of our programming, aiding us to provide opportunities throughout the year plus the chance to host a number of international artists, events and provide essential voluntary training positions.
As part of our continued commitment to support our membership, Catalyst Arts is delighted to announce our annual members show ‘Little Kingdoms’, with a difference.
This September, Catalyst Arts shall be dividing submissions into three curated shows for a month long festival. We aim for this to be a cross section of current work that is being produced across our members base and Catalyst is excited to see what will be submitted in order to find common themes: What is being addressed presently by our members within their individual practices?
With such a varied membership base we are looking forward to expressions of interest in all medium including event based practices. ‘Little Kingdoms’ will differ this year in solely requesting current/new works from our members.
Alongside the format of three individually curated shows we also want to call upon our members to propose to host artist talks and workshop. A fee will be provided for selected hosts although there is limited slots available.
Please note this OPEN CALL is only available to Catalyst Arts members.
To register your interest, please provide an image of your proposed work and a description (500 word max), an artist statement and a CV to catalystarts@gmail.com with the subject heading Member’s Festival – PDF format only.
Submissions will be assessed by the Catalyst Board and curated into the appropriate exhibition, members will receive confirmation detailing drop- off times.
Deadline for submissions is August 10th 5pm
By being a member of Catalyst Arts, Your work is guaranteed to be in the Annual Members show. Our membership runs from January to January for each membership year and the fee is £10 un-waged £20 waged
For our current exhibition A False Sense, the Belfast based collective Prime invites visitors to join them at Catalyst Arts at 6pm on Wednesday, 9th July.
The gallery will act as the departure point for a journey to Templemore Avenue Swimming Baths in East Belfast.
Bring along the £2.00 swimming pool entry fee, your swimsuit and a towel. Caps, badges, and refreshments will be provided by PRIME. This event will last from 6pm until 9pm and all are welcome to attend.
Documentation of the doped up younger cousin of the Giro D’Italia. On the 5th July 12 cyclists set off from Catalyst Arts on their bicycles and 2 on a moped. Along the the way to the Ormeau Park finish line participants had to take a photo with a tourist at Titanic Belfast, get a programme from the Lyric Theatre and take a selfie with an art piece at the Ulster Museum.
At the finish line prizes galore awaited for 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 11th, last place, best get up, best costume and best profile photo.
Join us at the starting line at Catalyst Arts for our first Alleycat cycle race. £5 entry fee, all ages and abilities welcome!
Contestants will race to five checkpoints to be given a novelty task and details of the next location. The majority of the event will take place on designated cycle areas and will end in Ormeau Park for a winners ceremony. Prizes to be won for the winners and best costume. Prizes including Lifetime Catalyst Membership, a half day masterclass bike one on one at Belfast Bicycle Workshop, Belfast Bicycle Tee and 4 Boojum vouchers!
Expansive Traces is the second of two exhibitions developed in collaboration between the membership programmes of Ormston House, Limerick and Catalyst Arts, Belfast. All That Remains To Be Seen was the first of the exhibitions developed and took place in Catalyst Arts from 5-20 June. The artists selected for this exhibition were Jamin Keogh, Elaine Leader, Lorraine Neeson, and Paul Quast. Both information and documentation of this show will be available to view.
For upcoming exhibition A False Sense, the Belfast based PRIME Collective invites visitors to join them at Catalyst Arts at 6pm on Wednesday, 9th July.
The gallery will act as the departure point for a journey to Templemore Avenue Swimming Baths in East Belfast.
Bring along the £2.00 swimming pool entry fee, your swimsuit and a towel. Caps, badges, and refreshments will be provided by PRIME. This event will last from 6pm until 9pm and all are welcome to attend.
PRIME collective was founded by Belfast based artists/curators Charlotte Bosanquet, Alissa Kleist and Tonya McMullan in January 2011. The collective encourages a process-based approach and its members actively seek to collaborate with other artists, collectives and organisations. These collaborations can take the form of exhibitions, peer reviews with guest artists/curators, residencies, seminars, talks and critiques. Members of the collective were curators-in-residence at PS2 Gallery in Belfast in 2011/12, where they archived the gallery storeroom to help create a curatorial ‘hub’, held exhibitions, talks, workshops and peer reviews, and organized a series of events that questioned the nature of certain prearranged structures. They have ‘artistically archived’ an abandoned doctor’s surgery on the Newtownards Road in East Belfast and since October 2012 have run ‘The Bathhouse’ a project/residency/exhibition space situated in the Templemore Avenue Swimming Bath’s former caretaker’s residence on 4 Glenmore Street.
A False Sense seeks to challenge institutional structures for displaying art whilst asking questions of what the experience of visiting a gallery has become. The exhibition questions ideas around expectation, encounter and using the peripheries of the gallery as a site for all the work.
Catalyst Arts has commissioned the artists to create five new works for the show. The artists selected engage with ideas surrounding architecture, navigation, and boundaries in a variety of media including sound, installation, sculpture and critiques.
Liam Crichton, Hannah McBride, Mark Orange, PRIME Collective, Tom Watt
Catalyst Arts is pleased to announce our Emerging Artist Award
This year Catalyst Arts wished to support the recent graduates from the University of Ulster by offering one student the opportunity to exhibit within our gallery.
Elizabeth-Anne Curistan was awarded The Catalyst Arts Emerging Artist Award, who is an MFA graduate. Elizabeth-Annes residency will commence after the summer 2014.
Catalyst hopes this will give Elizabeth-Anne the opportunity and support to further her practice.
Catalyst Arts would like to welcome new Co-Director Mary Stevens to the board. We look forward to working with her over the next two years.
Mary Stevens (b. Belfast 1988) is a writer, reader, curator and maker who is currently based in Belfast and Edinburgh. Having recently graduated with a Masters in Modern and Contemporary Art: History, Curating and Criticism from Edinburgh University she has returned to Belfast to join Catalyst. While in Edinburgh she completed an Internship at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, gaining experience in gallery administration and curatorial projects. With an undergraduate degree from University of Ulster in Fine and Applied Art, she has also contributed writing to various newspapers and arts publications.
‘All That Remains To Be Seen’ has been created in response to a joint members open call with Ormston House, Limerick. Two separate shows have been developed from a collection of artist members from the two galleries. Common themes became apparent within the submissions, with Ormston deciding to produce a show exploring drawing. ‘Expansive Traces’ features Catalyst members Laura Kelly, Shane Murphy and Emma Roche, alongside Ormston House members Darek Fortas and Susan Lynch.
Catalyst have developed an exhibition with four members of Ormston House; Jamin Keogh, Elaine Leader, Lorraine Neeson and Paul Quast. Each piece makes use of the gallery to create light based installations and sculptures. While some works are intense and transient, others use light to create a more subtle and ambient atmosphere. As well as questioning the possibilities of an open call, the show has given Catalyst the opportunity to experiment with the dynamics of the gallery space.
W I L D S C A P E S, an exhibition of work by Duncan Campbell, Allan Hughes and Ryan Moffett which considers the overlapping tensions inherent within documentary filmmaking and contemporary art practice, Slavka Sverakova reviews the show here.
Catalyst Arts presents W I L D S C A P E S, an exhibition of work by Duncan Campbell, Allan Hughes and Ryan Moffett which considers the overlapping tensions inherent within documentary filmmaking and contemporary art practice.
Contemporary Reflections on Colonialism and Documentary
Duncan Campbell | Allan Hughes | Ryan Moffett
2 May – 21 May 2014
Opening Preview: 1 May, 6-9pm
Catalyst Arts presents W I L D S C A P E S, an exhibition of work by Duncan Campbell, Allan Hughes and Ryan Moffett which considers the overlapping tensions inherent within documentary filmmaking and contemporary art practice.
Through the entanglement of artifice and authenticity, the works question the often deceptive nature of documentary, whilst reflecting upon contemporary understandings of colonialism. Whether examining the production of remediated histories or presenting manipulative forms of fiction, each of the works strives for ever more authentic representations of reality.
Duncan Campbell’s film works blend archive footage and documentary material with fictional elements. ‘It for Others’ was exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 2013 as part of Scotland + Venice. Campbell has previously presented his work in solo exhibitions at venues including the Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh; Artist’s Space, New York; Tramway, Glasgow; Chisenhale Gallery, London; and Tate Britain, London.
Based in Newcastle Upon Tyne at the Northern Charter studios, Allan Hughes’s practice and research explores the production of remediated histories through an interest in the language and structure of video making processes. Recent exhibitions of his work include ‘Enemy Blue’ – a solo exhibition at Belfast Exposed – and ‘Lights, Camera, Action!’ at Temple Bar Gallery, Dublin. Hughes is currently Head of Sculpture in the Fine Art Department at Northumbria University.
Belfast-based Ryan Moffett creates fictional narratives influenced by factual events. He explores notions of representation and authenticity, exposing the perceived ‘truths’ within areas such as anthropological texts, documentary practice, museums and zoological gardens. Moffett is a recent MFA graduate from the University of Ulster and is currently Graduate in Residence at Flax Art Studios, Belfast.
Catalyst Arts have curated a group exhibition which will tour to selected regional art centres in Northern Ireland: (Sean Hollywood Arts Centre, Newry; Flowerfield Arts Centre, Portstewart; The Alley Theatre, Strabane; Down Arts Centre, Downpatrick) and Catalyst Arts, Belfast.
A number of contemporary works have been selected that thematically or structurally respond to the concept ‘VAGABOND’. Artists have been selected through an open call process for Catalyst Arts members. Featured artists include Charlie Bosanquet, Mitch Conlon, Victoria J Dean, Rob Ireson, Katharine May, Maria Macias, Samantha McGahon, Ciarán Ó Dochartaigh, Rima Otilia Qvale and Sarah Mac Keever.
An exhibition of work to coincide with The Belfast Children’s Festival. Tactile is a one to one experience that has a direct encounter with the viewer, that reinforces the bond between artist and audience. Slavka Sverakova reviews the show here.
Catalyst Arts would like to welcome new Co-Director Mitch Conlon to the board. We look forward to working with her over the next two years.
Mitch Conlon (b1985) is a artist based in Belfast originally from the west of Ireland. He holds a BA in Fine Art sculpture from GMIT and has recently received a Masters from the Faculty of Fine Art, NCAD. He was a member of the artist collective Knee-jerk, a committee member of The Niland Gallery and is current Chairperson of Engage Studios, Galway.
An exhibition of work to coincide with The Belfast Children’s Festival. Tactile is a one to one experience that has a direct encounter with the viewer, that reinforces the bond between artist and audience. Tactile embraces engagement with the work rather than the usual “Do Not Touch Artworks’.
Clodagh Lavelle, DSNT, David Frederick Mahon, Helen MacMahon & Rachael Campbell-Palmer
Catalyst Arts would like to welcome new Co-Director Jonathan H.S Ross to the board. We look forward to working with him over the next two years.
Born in Newtownards in 1987, Jonathan H.S. Ross studied at the University of Ulster where he gained a first class BA Honours in Fine and Applied Art. He received the RDS James White Drawing Award in 2012 and has recently written an essay for Intellect Books entitled “drawing: from education to artistic practise”. He is now based in the Ards Peninsula where he lives and works.
Catalyst Arts would like to welcome new Co-Director Michaela Butler to the board. We look forward to working with her over the next two years.
Michaela Butler (b. 1990) graduated with a first class honours degree in Fine Art from Cardiff School of Art and Design. Originally from Bath, she is now based in Belfast where she works at Catalyst Arts, as well as continuing with her own practice.
Within her work she attempts to depict the journey of memory. She creates installations using a variety of mediums including drawings, assemblage, photocopies and printmaking.
Final Presentations will be on Wed 5th evening with possibly some taking place throughout the event.
Location: Catalyst Arts, 5 College Court, Belfast BT1 6B5
The objective of this workshop is to equip the participants with the necessary tools for self expression of their own sensitivity and interests using Performance Art.
The workshop is highly practical and is structured around the analysis of the formal elements of Performance Art: TIME – SPACE – BODY
In each session we will try to understand, analyze and work about the formal aspects of Performance Art through the works proposed by the attendants themselves.
The attendants will participate in all sessions showing the works that they have developed from the guidelines that have been given previously and analyzing the proposals of the rest of their teammates
Catalyst Arts welcomes applications of expressions of interest for new voluntary Co-Directors
Please download the information below which outlines the personal criteria as well as the roles and responsibilities for the position of director at Catalyst Arts.
Catalyst Arts welcomes submissions for its annual Student & Recent Graduate Show. This exhibition is open to all current undergraduate, and postgraduate students as well as all those who graduated in 2013.
Closing date for submissions: 5pm, Friday 7th February 2014
Submissions should include: Five examples of your work, an artist statement, as well as a written proposal.
Please email your submissions to: catalystarts@gmail.com
Attend and vote in our AGM’s – members input into the programming and running of the organisation is welcomed and encouraged.
Exhibit in the Annual Members Show and to summit for curated member shows.
Use of Catalyst Equipment when available.
Join an online database with links to your website.
The use of our new resource room with wifi, staff on hand for critical opinion and access to Catalyst’s extensive archive of books, videos, dvd’s and assorted paraphernalia.
Catalyst continues to:
Offer support to artists at all stages of their careers
Provide advice when sought and facilities when necessary to all our members
Seek opportunities for our members and share any perks we can muster
You can pay your fee through PAYPAL (follow link for information) or you can pay it in person in the gallery.
We would also like to stipulate that the membership fee is not binding to the suggested fee. Any amount over and above the suggested minimum will be gladly and gratefully accepted.
We will only use your address to send you updates from the mailing list that you have joined. Your address will not be added to any other lists, shared with any other parties or used to send you unsolicited mail.
VAGABOND is a group exhibition which will tour to selected regional art centres in Northern Ireland: (Sean Holywood Arts Centre, Newry; Flowerfield Arts Centre, Coleraine; The Alley Theatre, Strabane; Down Arts Centre, Downpatrick) and Catalyst Arts, Belfast.
A number of contemporary works have been selected that thematically or structurally respond to the concept ‘VAGABOND’. Artists have been selected through an open call process form Catalyst Arts members.
The idea that something commonplace can be transfigured into exceptional has been habitually compulsorily twinned with reason and consent. Both appear at the preparatory stages of this exhibition. The black and white posted on Facebook several months ago. Larkin invited writers to respond, eleven of them did (see names on the poster). Their texts added to the intention and inspiration are seamlessly included in the video called Her Translation. Some of the verbal layers descended more visibly as Larkin’s embroidery on the secondhand head scarfs in an installation First Person You (the many I’s):
In partnership with Ormston House Limerick, we are inviting members from both organisations to apply through one submission process for two exhibition opportunities scheduled in Belfast & Limerick for 2014.
There will be two distinct exhibitions developed from this call and we would like to invite expressions of interest from artist-members to submit a selection of existing works or proposals for new works to be considered for this project.
The exhibition in Ormston House will be selected and curated by Eimear Redmond (artist & Gallery Manager of Ormston House) and the exhibition in Catalyst Arts will be selected and curated by the Catalyst Board.
Catalyst Arts is pleased to present a solo show by the Irish artist Fiona Larkin. Larkin has developed a new body of video work titled Backstory which involves writers responding to the character in the accompanying photograph. Thematically the work oscillates between fiction and documentary. The audience are encouraged to create rather than translate meaning.
Fiona Larkin artist and writers talk – discussion and readings – 07.12.2013 1pm
Opening preview: Thursday 5th December 6-9pm
Exhibition dates: Friday 6th December 2013 – Friday 17th January 2014
FORCES offers a chaste view on relationship of art and science. Five artists zoom on nature’s forces e.g. radiation, gravity, electricity, and magnetism, traditionally subjects of scientific investigation, appropriating them for sculpture, video and installation, as if mindful of Plato’s words ” things slip away and do not wait to be described”.(Timaeus, 495) In doing so, they manifestly challenge an older paradigm, formulated by C P Snow in 1959 Rede Lecture. In his view the two cultures, science and art could not find a common ground because of the mutual incomprehension, hostility and dislike between artists and scientists.
To see the full review follow the link to Slavka’s Website
Formed in 1993, Catalyst is an annually funded visual arts organisation that provides exhibition space and opportunities for emerging and established local artists to showcase their work
Catalyst are currently exhibiting at Golden Thread Gallery with ‘Catalyst Arts: Collective Histories of Northern Irish Art X’ curated by Cherie Driver, the tenth instalment of Golden Thread Gallery’s ‘Collective Histories of Northern Irish Art’ series. The project forms a significant archive of Northern Irish Art from 1945 to the present and this instalment celebrates 20 years of innovative Visual Art offerings from Catalyst. It is perhaps fitting that the opening coincides with the opening of the Turner Exhibition in Derry/ Londonderry, given that a number Directors of Catalyst have themselves been Turner nominees.
From its very early beginnings and in each of its incarnations, Catalyst Arts’ dynamic and rich programme of activities has come to incorporate artists and practitioners a number of whom would later come to be associated with the Turner Prize.
Catalyst Arts was established in 1993. Their arts programme is renowned for being cutting edge and experimental throughout its 20 year history, showcasing both NI and national/international artists. Catalyst has fostered two Turner Prize nominated ex-directors (Susan Philipsz, who won the Turner Prize in 2010, and Phil Collins, who was nominated in 2006). Current Turner Prize nominee David Shrigley had his first solo show outside of Scotland at Catalyst in 1996. Shrigley also designed Catalyst’s well known ‘fingerless hand’ logo in 1999 which features in the celebratory exhibition. Luke Fowler (Turner Prize nominee in 2012), Lucy Skaer (Turner Prize nominee in 2009) and Cathy Wilkes (Turner Prize nominee in 2008) have all exhibited in Catalyst. Bill Drummond, who infamously presented Rachel Whiteread (Turner Prize Winner in 1993) with the ‘Worst Artist of Year’ award on the steps of the Tate after receiving her Turner Prize award, has maintained a close relationship with the gallery throughout the years.
Noirin McKinney Director of Arts Development at the Arts Council said
‘Visual Art is a powerful tool that can provoke discussion and thought from those who experience it. Catalyst is one of our leading visual arts organisations who have over the past 20 years been instrumental in the development of our thriving visual arts community. This exhibition and Catalysts long life demonstrates their creativity and the demand for high quality work here. We look forward to seeing what the next 20years will produce’
The exhibition runs at Golden Thread until 3rd December.
Text taken from The Arts Council of Northern Ireland
As part of Collective Histories, The Golden Thread Gallery & Catalyst Arts would like to invite you to:
Friday 22nd November 2013 1-2pm – Operating as a Collective | Catalyst Arts Now!
The current board will discuss collective and collaborative mechanisms, personal stories of working as a co-operative, the positives and negatives of working as a collective (to the individual/organisation) and will be announcing some news regarding the programme for next year.
Friday 29th November 2013 1-2pm – The Future of Artist-Led Spaces
The current board along with ex-directors and other artist led organisations, will be discussing the future of artist led spaces and the social/cultural importance they have now and in the future.
Catalyst Arts Artist in Residence a the Ulster Museum
4th Nov – 2nd Dec
Martin Boyle produces work that is both playful and performative.
Using already existing objects, he re-presents mass produced items and packaging in multiple forms, through video installation and sculptural pieces.
His work highlights a preoccupation with ideas of value, or lack there of. Through the use of expendable goods work is made from the position of the consumer; dealing with feelings of anxiety, disillusionment, escapism and hope in the face of despair as well as the desire for personal freedom.
Always preferring to understate his point, he creates a context where the viewer requires time in order to view the work. Through subtle manipulation or illusion he plays on our need for immediate gratification with expectation to reveal, to unfold, to expose.
Martin will be in discover art ever Tuesday 10-4pm ans every Saturday 11-4pm
Aisling O’Beirn | Thorsten Fleisch | Pól Murphy | Christian Cherene | Richard Box
Forces is a group exhibition that investigates artists that relinquish control to natural forces or attempt to harness them in their work.
Each work is made from found objects that, by exploiting specific scientific properties of the materials, the artists have created dynamic works where functional objects are re purposed and become animated.
Radiation, electricity, electrical resonance, entropy and gravity are manipulated in order to create works where the final outcome is uncertain.
Frequently flirting with danger, the exhibition becomes a high energy, tense environment.
Preview opening: Thursday 7th November at 6pm
Exhibition dates: Friday 8th November – Friday 29th November 2013
Launches between 6.00 – 8.00 pm on Thursday 24th October 2013 continues through to the 3rd December 2013
Curated by Cherie Driver
The tenth instalment of Golden Thread Gallery’s Collective Histories of Northern Irish Art Series, a project that forms a significant archive of Northern Irish Art from 1945 to the present.
Catalyst Arts: Collective Histories of Northern Irish Art X curated by Cherie Driver centres on the artist led initiative established in 1992. The exhibition examines the role mainly Belfast based artists, collaborative projects and performative actions and events have played in dissolving individualistic notions of the artist, pushing boundaries of contemporary art practice, and appropriating curation as an artistic practice and critical collaborative process.
Grappling with the impossible task to curate the curated the exhibition in neither chronological nor the greatest hits but asks us to go to the heart of what Catalyst Arts represents as a space that is reactive, proactive and active, a history still in the making.
Cherie Driver is a lecturer in Art Theory and Joint Course Director for Fine Art at the University of Ulster. Cherie is currently working on the administration, digitisation and preservation of the Catalyst Arts Archive.
Sign by David Shrigley – Photograph Courtesy of Jordan Hutching
Catalyst Arts would like to invite all members to submit work for the upcoming ‘VAGABOND’ touring exhibition, scheduled to be exhibited between 5th January – 24th May
‘VAGABOND’ will be an exhibition which will tour to various regional art centres in Northern Ireland
(Flowerfield Arts Centre, Coleraine; Newry and Mourne Arts Centre, Newry; The Alley Theatre, Strabane; Down Arts Centre, Downpatrick) and Catalyst Arts, Belfast
The selection panel are particularly interested in works which can adapt in scale (flatpack, inflatable, foldable, expanding etc) and are designed specifically to subvert the process of a touring exhibition.
Each member is eligible to submit one proposal/image of work in any medium for consideration.
Annual membership for 2013 is £10 unwaged/ £20 waged, new members may pay this when submitting their work or through Paypal on our website
NB Anyone joining as a new member specifically to submit for this show will also be entitled to membership for 2014.
Deadline for submission: 5 pm Thursday 31st October 2013
Dorothy Cross | Emmanuelle Negre | Marie Farrington | Laura McMorrow | Jacqueline Holt
A Subtle Matter is an exhibition that will predominantly focus on fragility.
A discrete set of works by artists from the UK, France and Ireland will prompt considerable movement within the gallery space. The artists will explore the theme through video, sculpture and installation. Using the aforementioned mediums to engage with space, light and time. The show will never be what it seems to be, as it will constantly change; thus creating intrigue and excitement to highlight miniscule happenings.
A Subtle Matter will include two artist talks
04.10.2013 – Emmanuelle Negre at 12pm
11.10.2013 – Marie Farrington at 12pm
Opening preview: Thursday 3rd October 6-9pm
Exhibition dates: Friday 4th October – Friday 25th October
Gallery opening times: Tuesday – Saturday 11-5pm
Catalyst Arts, Ground Floor, 5 College Court, Belfast, N.Ireland, BT1 6BS
The 10th edition of FIX performance art festival will be held 4th – 20th September 2013 in Catalyst Arts Gallery and around the city centre of Belfast.
FIX 13 is the tenth installment of Europe’s longest running performance and live art biennial. Established in 1994, FIX has sought to bring together a dynamic and diverse range of local and international practitioners across a variety of city centre and site-specific locations.
Bringing together both emerging and established artists and performance collectives, FIX 13 will launch with an open platform at Platform Arts on 4th September for all those wanting to be involved.
This is the most heavily programmed FIX to date, with over twenty performances across a two week period. FIX 13 is an integral part of Catalyst Arts’ twentieth anniversary celebrations.
Participants include Amanda Coogan, Bbeyond, Charlotte Bosanquet, Colm Clarke, CROW, David Fagan, Debbie Guinnane, Essi Kausalainen, Katharina Greevan, Janks Archive, Marcel Sparmann & Mayte Kappel Rovira, Mediations: The Map is not the Terrain, Mitch Conlon, Nora Jacobs, Phil Hession, Rob Ireson, Remi Voche, Sighle Bhreathnach-Cashell, Tonya McMullan, Unit1, and Triple AAA.
FIX 13 is supported by The Arts Council of Northern Ireland and The Belfast City Council.
If you would like more information on FIX 13 please contact us catalystarts@gmail.com or visit fix2013.wordpress.com
Curated by Alice Clark (2011, MFA University of Ulster) the display of drawing in a continuous space engages with discoveries and new tools, in a pronounced contrast to the academic models of higher research degree in visual arts that only rarely do not lean on stagnating social sciences.
The curator celebrates the playful oscillation between drawing as a noun (stasis) and a verb (change and process made visible) and between chance and indeterminacy. Her selection commands prestige as well as play and humour. In relation to the sectarian futility filling some of the city’s streets at times, one of John Cage’s quotes insists to be repeated here:
In the case of chance operations, one knows more or less the elements of the universe with which one is dealing (and perhaps I fool myself and pull the wool over my eyes) that I am outside the circle of a known universe, and dealing with things that I literally don’t know anything about”(1961)
The ensuing methodology is made up of posing questions and using chance to find answers (that may be further questions) while being aware that there are many answers to one question (indeterminacy). And drawing, like music, does not need to mean anything to give pleasure of aesthetic experience as an answer.
Catalyst Arts would like to invite all members to submit work for the 2013 members exhibition, scheduled to open on 1st August and centred around the notion of ‘PRECURSOR’.
Each member is eligible to submit one piece of work in any medium, but we would ask that members take into consideration the large amount of submissions annually received, all to be displayed in the gallery, and to tailor the scale of the work accordingly.
Annual membership for 2013 is £20 waged / £10 unwaged, and new members may pay this when submitting their work or through Paypal on our website (www.oldcatalystarts.hilken.co.uk).
Deadline for submission: 5 pm. Saturday 27th July 2013.
Work may be submitted in person 27th July from 11 am-5 pm or via post or email (catalystarts@gmail.com).
Catalyst Arts would like to invite you to our twentieth birthday celebrations!
On August 10th from 6-10pm Catalyst will hold a raffle alongside an evening of cocktails, merriment and dirty dancing. The raffle will begin at 8pm.
This is a fundraiser and all pieces of work have been donated by previous directors, artists and current directors.Tickets for the raffle can be purchased by buying a raffle ticket from the Catalyst Arts office. Tickets are priced at £15, and they will be sold on a first come first served basis. 1 work per customer. Your raffle ticket guarantees you an A5 piece of artwork donated to the organisation.
All of the art works will be displayed in the project space from August 1st until August 9th. So you are more than welcome to peruse the works of art and investigate which one could be yours!!
Each piece of work has been kindly donated and made specifically for Catalyst’s 20th birthday.
There will be more announcements in the coming weeks so keep checking facebook, twitter and the Catalyst website for updates.
Catalyst Arts welcomes applications of expressions of interest for new Co-Directors. Please download the information below which outlines the personal criteria as well as the roles and responsibilities for the position of director at Catalyst Arts. Details of how to apply are also in this document. Email us for anymore queries at Catalystarts@gmail.com
Monster Truck at Catalyst Nailing Jelly to the Wall
Neil Carroll / Jane Fogarty & David Lunney / Helen Hughes
Tadhg McSweeney / Maggie Madden / Liam O’Callaghan
31st May – 29th June, 2013
Opening reception: Thursday 30th May, 6pm – 8pm
Monster Truck’s exhibition will look at at how seven sculptors, two working collaboratively, utilise walls and other vertical gallery surfaces in a variety of different ways that is essential to their work, whether laying bare the processes of artistic design, using painterly techniques to expand narratives, elaborating into three dimensions from two, or amplifying the dialogue between construction and representation. The show will not be a typical ‘in the round’ affair, with floor works being tethered to the wall in various ways.
Catalyst Arts and the Belfast Photo Festival would like to invite emerging photographers, students and recent graduates to submit work to our Open Call for Submissions. The call out is open to local, national and international photographers to show a diverse range of contemporary photography.
The premise of the exhibition is to present innovative and dynamic work currently being produced within contemporary photography.
Catalyst will present a slideshow projection of the chosen work on Belfast Photo Festivals opening night at Love and Death on the 7th of June at 10pm.
From the 8th of June the photographs will then be projected at The Black Box intermittently throughout the Belfast Photo Festival.
Please send no more than 3 images of the proposed work and a short artist statement to catalystarts@gmail.com
Catalyst Arts invited Bryan Birtles to write about UNDERCONSTRUCTION.
“At its most basic, construction is about hope. I don’t want to get too sentimental or grandiose about it: it’s just an honest hope that the future can be made better by the work we put in today.
I’ve noticed that business is a bit precarious in this town. Blame it on the recession, call it a penchant for risk-taking, but businesses open and close constantly around here.
And so, Belfast feels like an unfinished city to me, one constantly being worked on, tweaked. Each day, somewhere along my road, there’s construction being done. I see workmen walking in and out of empty shops all the time, their clothes covered in paint and dust, hauling drywall and wood to skips that sit in the bus lane.
They take a space that was one thing—and failed at being that thing, I guess—and turn it into a space that is a new thing. And then the whole neighbourhood waits to see if that works.
Each job is a leap of faith. Somewhere there’s a person with an idea, who brought in a bunch of people to help her realize it. Tangled up in the construction is that idea and the hope that people will respond well to it, that the shop will be successful and stay open for the long term, be able to pay the rent, to sell its products or services, to be able to make it all work.
Within the act of construction is the hope for the future that may or may not come, but we bet that it will come and that we will be there to see it and we build and we build and we refuse to be knocked back by failure, we refuse to be knocked back by foreclosure. We gut the place and we build it again.
Sometimes we let that hope expand into something bigger than a shop. The Parthenon wasn’t built for a single generation, nor was the Colosseum. Humans construct monuments to their existence to be read by other humans well into the future. Through what we construct when we’re alive we can, in a sense, live forever.
But, like I said, I don’t want to get too grandiose about it. All construction is a message to the future, one that says, “I was here, I existed, I was human.” Text by Bryan Birtles
This is a three-day workshop-taking place from Monday 29th April to Wednesday 1st May, 11am – 3pm daily at Catalyst Arts Belfast.
Cost £50
Includes tea/coffee and light lunch.
This is not a specific duo workshop, individuals may apply and duo’s welcome.
There are some ‘FREE’ places available for those on a first come first served basis. In order to gain a free place please email one line saying, ‘’Why you want to do the workshop’’ to hughyod@hotmail.com Places are limited so don’t delay.
As a participant of the workshop you will have the opportunity to make a performance on the opening night of DUO DAYS: Wednesday 1st May 2013 7pm onwards in Catalyst Arts Gallery Belfast. You will also receive documentation of your performance.
About the workshop:
Training in Performance is about gaining experience through touch, gesture and language; and through acoustic, visual and physical stimuli. The lessons encourage playful spontaneous activity, full of enjoyment as well as systematic investigation. Through mutual improvisation, participants attain skills in communication and interaction.
All together you strive for the dawning of consciousness about your own bodies, and for the discovery that images can also emerge through action. When observing the work of others, it is important to be able to concentrate and persevere, without constantly losing attention and focus.
Elements of the workshop:
1) Illustrated Discussions’ on:
– CHILDHOOD AND PERFORMANCE ART
– RELATION OF ANIMAL, HUMAN BEING AND ART
”Do cows give more milk when they hear music?”
2) Performance Art body exercises.
3) Talks about how to find an idea, a way to create your own performance-piece.
To book a place on this workshop or for more information please contact hughyod@hotmail.com or phone
0044 (0) 7814954707
About Monika Günther & Ruedi Schill:
Günther and Schill have been working together as a duo in Performance Art since 1995. Performances in Germany, Switzerland, Hungary, Poland, Mexico, Canada, Belgium, Belarus, Vietnam, Singapore, Italy, Spain, Chile, Bali, Java, Greece, Japan, Israel, Scotland, Sweden, Thailand, Northern Ireland, Norway since 1995 also teaching Performance Art at several Art Schools and Universities 2004 Art Price of the town of Luzern (Switzerland) 2008 Swiss Performance Art Price. Since 1998 artistic direction „International Performance Art Turbine Giswil“ (Switzerland).
About:
DUO DAYS is a performance art event, inviting artist couples from around the world, (artists in a relationship, collaborating in performance) to investigate the theme of duality. Through collaborative performances we observe how two people who co-exist and co-inhabit through performance art as well as domestically, utilise this closeness and intuitiveness which their relationship affords, providing opportunity to further test the nature of relationships; from domestic life to social ethics, from mind and body to art and audience. Duo performances demonstrate how exchange and dialogue in the live moment can reflect upon interconnectedness in the wider sphere of social responsibility.
Catalyst Arts will be UNDERCONSTRUCTION 1st – 24th April and would like to invite you to the events by one of the collectives: EARS
ABOUT EARS
For all things that buzz, bleep or bloop…EARS is a collective operating out of the School Of Creative Arts at Queen’s University Belfast. Whether bending circuits, performing with laptops or out in the streets capturing the sounds of the city, EARS promote all things electronic and artistic, hosting events and workshops in and around Belfast since 2010.
EXHIBITION THEME:
EARS presents an opportunity to blur the boundaries between existing forms of electronic music making through a series of innovative workshops. Drawing on the “Beyond Soundscape” theme of this year’s Sonorities 2013 at Queen’s, workshop participants will learn how to build both physical and digital instruments, find new way to interact using them, and stage a public performance as result. In addition to engaging members of the public, the exhibition will also forge new connections between artists, improvisers and musicians at the Sonic Arts Research Centre who have yet to work together.
WORKSHOP SCHEDULE:
Saturday 6th April
10am – 5pm : Bend and Build Workshop
Develop your own playable musical device with circuit bender and instrument builder Barry Cullen. All materials provided, but feel bring additional toys or devices to break apart and play with. The instruments you produce will be used throughout the exhibition, but will be yours to take away at the end of April. 8 participants maximum. RSVP
Work with users of the SuperCollider open-source audio software environment to create code and sounds inspired by the physical instruments produced in the Bend and Build Workshop (see above). http://supercollider.sourceforge.net
Join Graham Booth to explore programming as musical performance using networked laptops and new software developed at the Sonic Arts Research Centre. The workshop will introduce some simple structures for live coding, as well as techniques for performing collaboratively over a local network. Participants will have the opportunity to perform in concert on 25th April (see below). Apple Mac laptop required. RSVP
Sandwiches and soft drinks provided
Wednesday 17th April
6pm – 9pm: Improvisation Workshop Part 1
Kevin McCullagh and Tullis Rennie invite you to explore the limits of the physical and digital instruments developed in the previous EARS workshops. Participants will have the opportunity to perform in concert on 25th April (see below). RSVP
Monday 22nd April
6pm – 10pm: Improvisation Workshop Part 2
Tullis Rennie and Graham Booth invite you to develop and participate in a live performance using laptop and physical devices. Rehearsal open to the public from 10pm. Participants will have the opportunity to perform in concert on 25th April (see below). RSVP
Thursday 25th April
9pm – 12pm : EARS @ Sonorities Concert
The results of the previous EARS workshops will be showcased as a public performance on the opening night of the Sonic Arts Research Centre’s Sonorities festival (http://www.sonorities.org.uk/). In addition, local artists and EARS members Katrina O’Kane (aka Kiani), Kevin McCullagh (aka Jan Jeffer) and Michael Spears will provide melodic electronica and wall-shaking bass with live drums. Venue: QUB Student Union (Bunatee Bar). Free entry.
To reserve a place for the workshops please contact Catalyst Arts at: catalystarts@gmail.com with your name, the workshops you would like to attend and the dates, thank you.
ALL THE WORKSHOPS APART FROM THE SONORITIES CONCERT WILL TAKE PLACE IN CATALYST ARTS: 5 College Court BT1 6BS, Belfast. More info on: http://www.oldcatalystarts.hilken.co.uk
Featuring works by Alessandra Giacinti, Liam Crichton, John Duncan, Jacqueline Holt and Stephen Madden
9 March – 14 April 2013
Lismore Castle Arts: St Carthage Hall
The works selected for In a Certain Light engage with ideas surrounding alternative narratives and shifting physical and liminal spaces in a variety of media, including drawing, sculpture and photography.
In ‘Cruise Calls Belfast’, John Duncan documents the changing physical, political and economic landscape of Belfast. Tourists were an unusual sight during ‘The Troubles’, but tourism is now an everyday part of the Northern Ireland economy with a resulting emphasis on brand identity. These images (made between 2007 and 2012) show tourists visiting the site of the city’s former shipyard that is now dwarfed by the new Titanic Visitor Centre. Cruise ships – superstructures that have the appearance of floating hotels – dock here while their passengers visit the city. In the foreground, paving stones for Belfast’s public realm project ‘Streets Ahead’ are being stored prior to the re-landscaping of the area as part of the Titanic tourist trail, marking Belfast as a city in-flux that constantly evolves and reshapes.
Jacqueline Holt’s installation ‘International Style’ consists of a print that appears to have slipped onto the floor next to a free standing wall emitting the soft glow of an unseen yellow light, hinting at another presence. Originally shown in the University of Ulster, ‘International Style’ references the changing architectural status of this building, which is currently in the process of a major new redevelopment. The work engages with the past and present function of space and becomes more poignant in the context of the refurbished St Carthage Hall; a building with a number of past architectural lives.
Alessandra Giacinti’s three modest drawings are an exercise in the economic use of line and space. She depicts a table centre piece that becomes animated; a portable city garden with handles; an urban night-time performance leads to an open doorway into another world. Seemingly ordinary objects and vistas touched by the artist elevate themselves above the everyday and are able to exist in a new, imaginary space.
The mirrored sculpture ‘Witch Dance’ appears to constantly shift and is sometimes barely visible, existing halfway between our field of vision and another plane, a liminal object. Using seemingly simple, ordinary materials, Liam Crichton’s sculpture references the story of a marshland witch-hunt, the rock salt symbolic of a cleansing agent to drive out the devil and purify. Rich with autobiographic meaning linked to his upbringing in Scotland, ‘Witch Dance’ juxtaposes rural and urban and past and present, contrasting the hard angles of mirrored glass with the coarse earthiness of salt.
Stephen Madden’s careful re-appropriation of two everyday materials has resulted in an object that is at once familiar and recognisable as a utility tool but at the same time has truly transformed into a delicate art object. Useful yet ornamental, through a shift in the perception of the ‘everyday’ ‘Brush’ questions notions surrounding the construction of value.
Biographies
John Duncan‘s photography deconstructs the metropolis of the Peace Process, the ceasefires and the influx of capital investment that have transfigured the urban cityscape of the last decade. Duncan’s current work finds Belfast between loss and redemption, transient through a redefinition of cultural, social and material values in process of transforming the city.
Jacqueline Holt moved to Belfast from London in 2010. Her installations incorporate sculpture, photography, film and print, forming spatial relationships between individual works. Her work is concerned with the nuances of difference within hierarchies relating to the political, social and cultural order in contemporary society.
Alessandra Giacinti graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts, Rome, in 2006 and recently studied painting under Prof. Peter Doig at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. She works with painting, drawing and printmaking to develop a personal iconography informed by the imagery of quotidian dreaming.
Liam Crichton,a born and bred Gallovidian, graduated in Sculpture from Edinburgh College of Art 2010 and is now based in Belfast. His developing area of interest centres around the liminal expanse between life in the rural setting and life in the urban environment, the pastoral and the industrial – the idyllic and the seemingly baleful.
Stephen Madden is a Belfast-based artist currently completing his second year as an MFA student at the University of Ulster, Belfast, and graduate of the Cooper Union, New York in 2009. Madden works in painting, sculpture and installation. His current practice explores the theatrical within today’s high-tech society, showing key interest in subjects such as hyperreality, simulation and semiotics. Madden has exhibited his work in various galleries throughout New York, Massachusetts and Northern Ireland.
Catalyst Arts is a Belfast-based, artist-led organisation established in 1993. It is run by a group of voluntary directors who manage the gallery on a two-year rolling basis, ensuring that the organisation supports new directors and exhibits a perpetually changing, ambitious contemporary arts programme. Over the last 20 years Catalyst has promoted and supported cutting edge art practices and practitioners in Belfast and continues to serve as a training ground for emerging artists, curators and arts administrators.
As part of our 20th year, Catalyst Arts and The Linenhall presents SCORE. An exhibition of small works by members of Catalyst Arts, Belfast. The exhibition is now open at The Linenhall in Castlebar, County Mayo, Republic of Ireland and runs until Saturday 30th March.
Featuring works by
Anne O’Byrne
Brigit Egging and Tobias Baudry
AnnaMaria Kardos
Zoe Murdoch
Gerard Carson
David Turner
Ana Mendes
Marie Farrington
Ann Marie Curran
Deirdre Hegarty
Sinead McKeever
Sarah Lundy
Ramona Burke
Joanne Proctor
Frances Ryan
Lydia Holmes
Mairead Dunne
Paul Moore
Charlotte Bosanquet Artist Talk at The Ulster Museum
Catalyst Arts artist in residence at the Ulster Museum Charlotte Bosanquet will give a talk about her work.
Wednesday 13th February 1pm Lecture Theatre, Ulster Museum
Biography
Charlotte graduated from Glasgow School of Art in Painting and Drawing in 2004 and has moved to Belfast in 2009. After graduating she worked as a curator for Cabin Exchange in Glasgow before becoming a studio assistant for Orta Studio, Paris. In 2009 she became a Director of Catalyst Arts, Belfast before co-founding the Artist Collective PRIME in 2011.
Statement
Charlotte Bosanquet current practice uses events to create spaces for conversations to take place. Focusing on the action of ‘work’ that is hidden or taken for granted using worker as personification of this action. She uses these situations as research for ideas of social harmony and a democratic approach to the creative process.
Starting to make objects that distill these performances work is falling into three stages of making. The first is the conversation, the event, the second is the object or objects that sum up the exchange and the third is the display of these objects.
Catalyst Arts would like to invite our members to submit work for selection for SCORE, an exhibition taking place at Linenhall Arts Centre in Castlebar, County Mayo, from 1st to the 30th March 2013.
We will accept wall-based works that are no larger than 20x20cm (excluding frame) or sculptural works that are no larger than 20x20x20cm.
Please email no more than 5 images and a short bio or statement to catalystarts@gmail.com.
Deadline– Friday 15th February
Annual membership is now open and allows submission to all our open call-outs throughout the year as well as guaranteeing you a place in our annual Members’ Show. You can join to become a member at www.oldcatalystarts.hilken.co.uk/membership
The conceptual artist hopes to ‘make you feel a little bit sick’ with her current exhibit in the Belfast gallery, which features multiple audio recordings
Anyone who’s ever been caught short in the Black Box in Belfast has, in a way, experienced the dizzying, immersive quality of Northern Irish artist Helena Hamilton’s work. One of her installation pieces decorates the gent’s toilets there, and when you view it you are, literally, caught with your pants down.
‘Lock your soul in the brain of my world…’, which is indefinitely on show in the Black Box, is exhausting – an MC Escher checker-board, trailing black on white glossolalia up the walls and ceiling, producing impossible perspectives, an explosion of words and ideas draped across every surface and everywhere snaking, sneaking language.
It is language as gnomic anti-communication: words push one way and then double-back on themselves or flip up, disappearing into ellipses. This effect is monomania, words that fail to signify anything beyond the proliferation of words themselves. It is a heady, bewildering experience.
Hamilton’s current exhibition piece, ‘Climb through the holes in my brain to get to my soulluos, I promise to wake up soon’, is part of Catalyst Art’s OUT / TUO exhibition, which runs in the Belfast gallery until February 7.
It is concerned with language in a very different way. It is a white cube set into the centre of the exhibition space and fitted with a large sub-woofer speaker which plays the bass frequencies of the artist’s voice repeating the words ‘I am’.
On top of the structure, three kilograms of salt dance along with the bass resonance. The voice has been overdubbed 65 times (like ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’) but with the top and middle range removed (unlike ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’). The resulting industrial rumble renders the words unintelligible, the tooth-rattling bass growl filling the exhibition space.
Does it matter to you that what you’re saying in this piece – ‘I am’ – becomes inaudible?
No, I wanted that. That’s why the piece is accompanied by a text. I don’t always do a write up, but there is a lot of significance in the numbers and you wouldn’t necessarily get that whenever you look at the piece. We did the recording and we layered it 65 times – equivalent to my weight in kilos – but then we changed the sub-harmonic generator to create low frequencies so you couldn’t hear what I was saying even if it was just one layer.
You wouldn’t have a clue that it was a human voice. It’s this big, scary, industrial rumble.
I like the way it makes the doors shake when you’re walking in. I wanted that, I liked the idea of it making you feel a little bit sick.
In some ways it reminds me of your permanent installation in the Black Box, Belfast, though it seems almost the opposite in its intent. With this piece there is a deliberate occlusion of language; with the installation there’s too much, you can’t really make out what’s going on.
And I like that. Words are essential to the way I work. A big influence on me would be the dictionary. A dictionary and a thesaurus: I always have one with me. This Black Box piece is the first piece I’ve done that actually will continue to exist. It’s something I struggled with, the idea of it staying, because I like the idea of the piece dying. If a piece is important to an individual they’ll remember it through memory and I never want to force any artwork on anyone. But I’m comfortable with it now. It is what it is.
A unique lavatorial experience!
Exactly, and I think it’s an interesting space. I’ve always wanted to work in a toilet. I think it’s the perfect place to put an installation. It’s very personal.
So why the use of salt in your exhibit in Catalyst Arts?
There are a lot of associations with salt – the salt of the earth, worth your weight in salt. It used to be a wage, hence the word ‘salary’. But it’s also a corrosive; if we eat too much it kills us. And there’s also the purity of it. I was obsessed with it falling. I placed some at the top of my studio space and it just falls so slowly, you couldn’t see it unless you stuck your hand out. It also dries up the air around it and you can actually taste the salt. It affects the atmosphere.
Do you see this piece as a self portrait? Especially as it has part of you, your voice, contained within it?
There’s a quote on my website from Arthur Schopenhaur: ‘Every man takes the limits of his own field or vision for the limits of the world.’ You can’t see the world through anyone else’s eyes, no matter how hard you try. So I very much like to explore that idea of ‘I’ and who ‘I’ is, because everyone refers to themselves as ‘I’.
All of my work is basically an exploration of myself and my ideas at the time. Some people have said, ‘Helena, it’s a bit egotistical’. But I can only explain things through my experience.
What are you doing next?
I’m actually working on a piece down in Cavan, in Bailieborough, though I’m not sure what it’s going to be. I always jump at the chance to be in exhibitions, it’s not everyday you get to try out what’s going on in your head. You can try it out as much as you want in your studio but you really need something to work towards. And you get feed-back, which is essential to your growth as an artist.
I want to make pieces that are relevant to anyone, whether it’s a teenager, or someone in university, whether it’s an artist or an older person, I want it to be something that anyone can engage with on a certain level, so they can enjoy it. I like it when kids come go up and feel the top of the box and go, ‘Hey, what’s this? Is this salt?’, or ‘What’s that sound?’ I like the layers.
OUT / TUOruns in Catalyst Arts, Belfast until February 7.
Catalyst Arts began life in 1993 in Belfast, with no fixed abode, and is now nearly 20 years old. It was formed as a not-for-profit, artist-led initiative in response to a perceived lack of exhibition opportunities for emerging artists living and working in Belfast and the surrounding area. By 1994 Catalyst had secured its first dedicated gallery space at Exchange Place, and has moved five times since. Now based at 5 College Court, Belfast, the organisation consists of eight voluntary directors who work together to deliver a dynamic contemporary art programme.
Catalyst Art’s constitution was initially modelled on Glasgow’s Transmission Gallery, an artist led space set up in 1983. Since Catalyst’s founding its model has in turn been adopted by 126 Gallery in Galway.
Catalyst is managed at all times by a committee of up to 10 unpaid directors who meet on a weekly basis to plan the gallery’s schedule for the week ahead. Each director volunteers at Catalyst on a two-year rolling basis. This ensures that the organisation continues to support new directors and produce a perpetually changing, ambitious programme.
This non-hierarchical system means that, as directors, we each have an equal say over, and responsibility for, the day-to-day running of the organisation. In nearly two decades Catalyst has had more than 60 directors who have served their term on the committee, and to this day many of them continue to support the organisation.
As directors, we aim to provide people of all ages with an opportunity to get involved with the organisation by becoming a member, submitting work for exhibitions, volunteering with the installation of shows, assisting artists with their work and, of course, by becoming a director themselves. As a members-based organisation – whose membership is made up of past directors as well as annually registered members – we strive to provide opportunities and support to hundreds of members every year.
All members have the opportunity to exhibit in the annual members show, submit for curated members-based exhibitions and can have their say in how the gallery should move forward in the future at the annual AGM.
We endeavour to create new opportunities for members and emerging artists to show their work, and aim to secure the organisation’s future by training new directors to continue to carry the Catalyst torch.
The gallery’s annual exhibition programme usually consists of over 20 exhibitions showing hundreds of artists at all stages of their careers. Catalyst also holds the oldest biennial live art festival in Europe, ‘FIX’. Since its inception in 1994 the festival has played an important part in the organisation’s development and has helped to define contemporary performance art in Belfast.
Admittedly this is quite an intense two-year experience for a part-time group of volunteers. However, this large workload gives directors the chance to obtain a broad skill set and to act in a range of supportive roles such as project manager, technician, administrator and curator. Often this type of hands-on experience is hard to gain in a more traditional gallery setting and Catalyst therefore functions as an important training ground for emerging arts administrative staff.
Catalyst is approaching its twentieth anniversary, and we have begun to focus on exploring our legacy, with an emphasis on evaluating the organisation’s considerable archive and promoting the sustainability of the Catalyst model (demonstrated by recent archive-based exhibitions at NCAD, Dublin and the MAC, Belfast).
With a newly elected archive committee, we are working on cataloguing and digitising Catalyst’s archive. In recent months, the organisation has also expanded its online presence, providing exhibiting artists and members with an opportunity to have their work viewed by an ever-increasing global audience. With thousands of new viewers to the website, we have achieved a marked increase in the number of visitors to the gallery and the amount of artists submitting to open calls for. The website also functions as an accessible archive of past exhibitions, projects and events as well as acting as a promotional tool for members’ websites.
Catalyst Arts remains an important part of Belfast’s visual arts culture; we continue to promote young and emerging artists and curators and to extol art as a viable career option for new and existing practitioners.
Our selection of students and recent graduates work ranges from performance, installation, painting, sculpture and inter-disciplinary practice.
Participating artists
Sarah Doherty, Marie Farrington, Eimear Friers, Debbie Guinnane, Barbara H. Larkin, Daniel McMillan, Holly Parmley, Jean-Philippe Paumier & Andrew Shannon
Sublimation – modification of natural expression of an instinctual impulse or desire into a personally and socially acceptable activity.
Catalyst arts presents Sublimation, a one hour lecture by Brian J Morrison exploring artists whose work has involved constructed identities as an alternate method to engage with the world.
Brian will also discuss the work he has produced for WE and his own experiences dealing with X, a constructed persona for an amateur Pro-Wrestler,
Amanda Ralph, Programme Director of the MA in Visual Arts Practices will conduct a meet and greet session to discuss applications to postgraduate art programmes. While there will be specific information provided on the MAVIS programme, Amanda will also discuss her own experience of applying to and studying in the United States along with general advice regarding proposals for study at Masters level.
The session will include a presentation entitled “You don’t do art for no good reason. It costs so much” James Turrell, Sunday Independent, 1991, which focuses on one of the research themes that will be taken up during the 2013 MAVIS programme.
MA in Visual Arts Practices is a Masters of Arts programme, provided by the Institute of Art, Design & Technology www.iadt.ie. It is based in the centre of Dublin, and encompasses pathways in art-making, criticism and curating. The programme runs February to December. From January 2012, this is a two-year programme which builds on the success of the original MAVIS course which began in 2004. In refining the best elements of the previous full and part-time modes into a two-year programme this single extended mode gives students the flexibility to access Dublin’s richly varied cultural opportunities and to build their practice within the networks and resources of the city, combining professional activity, studio practice or artworld employment and study, while maximising personal and professional development. For further information please visit www.mavis.ie
Amanda Ralph is an artist whose practice is based on ideas generated though consideration of material in the public realm. Amanda is Programme Director of the MA in Visual Arts Practices at Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology. She holds an M.Sc. from Trinity College Dublin, an MFA from the University of Arizona Tucson, and a BA(Hons) from the National College of Art and Design Dublin. Awards include Fulbright Scholarship, a one-year artist residency at the International Studio Programme at PS1 Museum of Modern Art, New York, a three-year artist residency at the Fire Station Artist’s Studios, Dublin and Arts Council of Ireland bursaries. Amanda has served on the board of the National Sculpture Factory Cork, the board of The Sculptor’s Society of Ireland and is currently a member of the International Association of Art Critics, Ireland and Advisory Board member of Askeaton Contemporary Arts
The Project Space is an opportunity for students and recent graduates to curate and exhibit their own work in Catalyst Arts.
The project Space events will run alongside our programmed exhibitions and can last up to two weeks max.
We are currently looking innovative submissions for our 2013 programme. If you are interested in submitting, please send a proposal, no more than 3 related images and a short artist statement before the 5th of december 2012 to catalystarts@gmail.com. All mediums are welcome.
In 1913, Donald Baxter MacMillen set out in search of a huge island known as Crocker Land. The island had been sighted, and named, in 1906 by Robert Peary. MacMillan had the co-ordinates – 83 degrees N, longitude 100 degrees W. The search covered 125 miles of ice and cost $100,000 – yet MacMillan never found a single pebble.
That is because Crocker Land was a Fata Morgana, a ‘complex superior mirage’, and also the title of the latest exhibition at Catalyst Arts gallery in central Belfast. Curated by Alissa Kleist, Fata Morgana uses sculpture, painting and video installations by a variety of national and international artists to examine and deny ‘aspects of reality’.
Kleist explains that her own artistic work, although not featured in Fata Morgana, frequently dwells on the balancing point between what is real and what isn’t. So the idea of an exhibition exploring similar ideas from the viewpoint of other artists appealed to her.
‘The exhibiting artists in Fata Morgana are Persijn Broersen, Stuart Calvin, Phil Collins, Martin Healy, Margit Lukács and Tim Millen,’ Kleist says. ‘We have a really good mix of sculpture, installation, photography, video and painting.’
Although the theme of ‘constructing and deconstructing’ reality is the unifying theme of the exhibition, the different artists each approached it in their own way – appropriately enough, since once you discard the idea of an objective, undeconstructable reality, then all that is left is an individual’s perception of what is real.
Some of the artists directly reference the Fata Morgana phenomenon. Martin Healy’s white neon sculpture is, in fact, entitled ‘Fata Morgana’ and uses the imaginary co-ordinates that MacMillen set sail for during his search. The piece is an odd blend of the utilitarian modern – what can be less mystical than an actual neon sign? – and the eerie.
Stuart Calvin‘s sculptural installation ‘Constant Bewilderment’, on the other hand, deals with actual smoke and mirrors. It consists of two large exhibition cases of wood and glass. One is empty – a control group of sorts – while the other gradually fills with mist and then empties again. ‘But there’s always a faint haze inside,’ Kleist points out, ‘so you know that something was there.’
Other artists explore new technological methods of creating, or debunking, reality bending myths. Kleist points out a huge painting by Tim Millen on one wall of the gallery, entitled ‘Wilderness Pleases (Virtual Matterhorn)’. The painting is striped with yellow sight-lines and dotted with small white flag-stickers.
‘The Matterhorn is traditionally an unconquered peak, a wildness that man has always wanted to explore,’ Kleist says. ‘But rather than going there physically to sit in front of Matterhorn and paint it, Millen sought out images on Google Maps.’
The various white marks that dot the painting are therefore where people have uploaded their photographs to Google. The unconquered peak is available to view on your laptop.
There is also a video installation created by Phil Collins on a constant loop in a constructed cinema at the back of the gallery. Commissioned by the Aspen Museum as part of the Jane and Marc Nathanson Dintiguished Artist in Residency Program, ‘soy mi madre’ deals with ideas of class and race. ‘It’s loosely based on Jean Genet ‘The Maids’,’ Kleist explains.
In ‘soy mi madre’ Collins uses the tropes and aesthetics of a telenovela to toy with the various ambiguous levels of reality and fiction involved in long-running soaps. Sometimes the camera follows the actors off the set, including the film crew in the shot, and the characters will change actors mid-scene with no explanation.
It also had a secondary layer of commentary, since the film was originally dual-aired. So while the wealthy art lovers were watching it, so were the people who worked for them.
Finally there is Persijn Broersen and Margit Lukacs’ ‘Mastering Bambi’, which removes the cuddly, anthropomorphic animals and replaces them with a constructed, ornamental nature and dissonant re-imagining of the Bambi soundtrack. The swooping, occasionally ominous score fills the empty gallery with the expectation that something is going to crack the peace any second now.
Fata Morgana will include a number of artist talks and screenings in the gallery. The next isFantasia on October 27 at 8. Fata Morgana is at Catalyst until November 9.
Open call to all undergraduate and postgraduate students, including those that graduated in 2012.
If you would like your work to be considered for the exhibition please submit a written proposal, an artist statement and no more than 5 images of your work to catalystarts@gmail.com
************** Return postage must be submitted with posted works **************
Catalyst Arts would like to invite all members to submit work for the 2012 members exhibition, scheduled to open on 27th September and centred upon the theme of ‘experimental’.
Each member is eligible to submit one piece of work in any medium, but we would ask that members take into consideration the large amount of submissions annually received, all to be displayed in the gallery, and to tailor the scale of the work accordingly.
Annual membership for 2012 is £20 waged / £10 unwaged, and new members may pay this when submitting their work or through Paypal on our website (www.oldcatalystarts.hilken.co.uk).
Deadline for submission drop off : 5p.m. Saturday 22nd .
Work may be submitted in person from 1st – 22nd September from 11am-5pm or via post.
Catalyst Arts
Ground Floor
5 College Court
Belfast BT1 6BS
Catalyst Arts welcomes expressions of interest applications for new Co-Directors
25 Years of Catalyst Arts
Open Call
THE BEST WAY OUT IS ALWAYS THROUGH
INTERZONE
Mullan (b. 1992 in Belfast) is an artist currently based in Belfast. His practise explores the use of new media drawing techniques as well as traditional printmaking and sculpture. He studied fine art at the University of Ulster and graduated in 2015, being awarded the award for outstanding graduate and has exhibited internationally. Since then he has volunteered in multiple arts organizations in Ireland.
Helena Hamilton at Catalyst Arts
Catalyst Arts began life in 1993 in Belfast, with no fixed abode, and is now nearly 20 years old. It was formed as a not-for-profit, artist-led initiative in response to a perceived lack of exhibition opportunities for emerging artists living and working in Belfast and the surrounding area. By 1994 Catalyst had secured its first dedicated gallery space at Exchange Place, and has moved five times since. Now based at 5 College Court, Belfast, the organisation consists of eight voluntary directors who work together to deliver a dynamic contemporary art programme.
