The project space provides a chance to be part of a dynamic and exciting rolling programme of work made and curated by students, giving students a unique opportunity to curate and showcase their work at one of Belfast’s leading Galleries.

From an international call out for proposals the students will be chosen to curate the previous show and then show their own work, in a month long rolling programme.

Catalyst wants to give students the opportunity to work in a professional level with one of Belfast's leading art galleries, feeding new ideas and interest into our organisation.  

For more information or to apply to the Project Space contact Catalyst Arts at catalystarts@gmail.com

Rolling programme August-September 2009

Sarah McBride, 2nd- 13th August (Reception 6th August)

The theme that is apparent in my practice is growth. I am interested in the medium of knit using wool, wire and plastic to create the artwork. I am like the scientist experimenting with materials and time through duration and process. These knitted pieces that I create not only capture time but also my presence in the space. In these temporary site specific pieces I have knit the outline of familiar places using the architecture around me. 

Janice Steadman, 16th- 31st August (Reception 28th August tbc)

 The basis of my practice is formed around the question, can and how does, visual art practice play a part in bringing about awareness of social, political and ecological issues? The work is driven by the need for greater social and cultural consciousness and I strive to reflect this in sculptural forms. I work mainly with recycled, found or donated materials, transforming the useless into the aesthetic. Raising awareness and trying to connect people back to the natural world are elements I wish to achieve with the work. The introduction of mirrors has allowed me to experiment with the notion of locating the viewer and environment within the work, therefore creating a stronger link between the art work, location and audience. By responding to material, location and boundaries I let the work develop and strive to free myself and the work from preconceived aesthetics.

Belinda Loftus, 1st-15th September (Reception 3rd September)

MINOTAUR DRAWING

From Tuesday 1st to Tuesday 15th September, Belinda Loftus will be making a mixed media drawing on the wall of the Project Space in the Catalyst Art Gallery. This drawing will explore the myths surrounding the Minotaur, the half-man, half-bull monster who was imprisoned in the labyrinth in ancient Crete. In doing so, it will reflect on the nature of humanity’s relationship with the animal world and also with the animal element in all of us. The drawing is part of a wide-ranging body of work on the Minotaur theme made by Loftus over the past nine months.

Belinda Loftus is about to start the second year of a BA in Fine and Applied Art at the University of Ulster. She has previously exhibited with the Cill Broin artists in Harmony Hall in Rostrevor in 2004, with Megan McManus in a joint show in Newcastle Library in 2005 and in the summer show at the Seabright Gallery in Rostrevor in 2006.

Before her development as an artist, Belinda Loftus worked for over thirty years as an arts researcher, curator, critic, administrator and consultant. She has a BA in Art History from Cambridge and a Ph.D in Sociology from Keele University for her research on visual imagery related to the troubles in Northern Ireland. She has published two books and various articles on this subject.

 

Gavin Campbell, 16th- 30th September (Reception 26th September)

Andrew Cochrane, 1st -13th October (Reception 1st October)

Gerard Carson, 14th- 31st October (Reception tbc)

 Nika Oblak and Primoz Novak

Absolutely Fabulous 2

29 May – 4 July 

Special Preview Event 28^th May 6 – 8 pm

Catalyst Arts presents the first solo show in the UK or Ireland for the internationally exhibited Slovenian artist cooperative of Nika Oblak and Primoz Novak.

Oblak and Novak’s practise spans film, photographic manipulations and installations and their pastiches of popular films like Pulp Fiction and Taxi Driver and the feats shown in the Guinness Book of World Records are characteristic of their light hearted approach.

Their work investigates the influence of mass media on the individual living in a consumerist, gobalised society. Using the idiosyncracities of social interaction Oblak and Novak explore the issues with sensitivity and humour.

For Absolutely Fabulous, Oblak and Novak will be presenting their photographic and video series We Did This And That, reconstructing absurd Guinness World Records. They aim to examine the obsession with success and fame in contemporary society, influenced by the mass communication media. In carefully constructed photographs and videos they appear to be record holders and confront the viewer with constructed categories of fiction and reality.

Alongside this will be Shund and Cab Driver, frame by frame recreations of the trailers for Pulp Fiction and Taxi Driver, with all parts played by the artists. In this way they subject themselves to the influence of mass media, exploring the position of an individual as a passive consumer of monopolized, one way communicated media content, and materialize a common fascination with celebrities. 

  Slavek Kwi

Solvakian sound artist Kwi will transform the Tropical ravine with sound he recorded from the Amazon.

4th June Reception 6.00pm

5th - 11th June 11-5pm