Catalyst Arts

Catalyst Arts Catalyst Arts was formed in 1993 and it is Belfast’s primary artist-led organisation.

Catalyst Arts is always a gallery, but has also been a 24 hour cinema, a recording studio, a publishing house, a skip, a radio station, a jumble sale, a wrestling ring, a sauna, a distillery, an agnostic chapel, a banquet hall, a darts team, a leisure centre, a night club and most recently a shop. Beyond its gallery walls, it has staged exhibitions on billboards, on gable ends, under floor boards,

in a clothes shop, in the back of a van, car and a bus, on the airwaves, under the Lagan, in an airport baggage scanner, up a mountain, down the Falls, up the Shankill, over in Lisbon (not in Lisburn), in a helicopter, in an archive, in a museum, and in a haunted house. Working for Catalyst has been likened to handling a hot potato, holding onto the mane of a stampeding lion, a white-knuckle rollercoaster ride, running the gauntlet, a crash course in crisis management and a baptism of fire for those who believe in it enough to take the risk. It has accidentally shut down Stormont, been robbed, beaten and sued, has had to move four times and amazingly, it has survived through the madness of over fifty directors to date. Now in its teens it has reached the age of reason, is determined to stand up to adversity, conventional perceptions of what contemporary art should be, to socio-political correctness and the ever more stringent policing of freedom of expression.All these are objectives only a (possibly troubled) teenager would be brave enough to tackle. Although chronically under-funded, Catalyst Arts is probably best known for challenging the formal structures of curatorship by realising projects of an experimental nature which break the mould of the artist-audience relationship and confirming art as something to engage in or react to rather than something to “consume”. This is underscored by the fact that Catalyst runs the oldest biennial performance art festival in Europe. It also continues to showcase individual and groups of artists selected under the current directorship. During its 21 years of existence Catalyst Arts has hosted over a thousand artists, spanning continents, notoriety and stages in artistic career. The most important factors about Catalyst are that it is non-profit and a members-based organisation to whom the present committee is responsible to. Catalyst Arts welcomes anyone who wishes to get involved by volunteering their help, sending in proposals for exhibitions / projects and most importantly by applying to become a director. A directorship lasts two years only, in order to ensure Catalyst remains vibrant with new energy, never learns from its mistakes and thus completely avoids stagnation.

We’re super excited to be taking part in ALINE, an Artist-Led Initiative Networking Event By on Monday 28th April 🫶🏻I...
24/04/2025

We’re super excited to be taking part in ALINE, an Artist-Led Initiative Networking Event By on Monday 28th April 🫶🏻

If you’d like to know more about Belfast’s artist-led spaces and have a lil chat with the people who run them, then please come through! This is a free event open to everyone 💙

Our Co-directors Seán Ward and Tori Clarkson will be there alongside and our lovely hosts !!!

More info on the event can be found here: https://www.vaultartiststudios.com/aline

💙💙💙

Belfast’s artist-led creative studio groups and galleries are the cultural heart of the city. Did you know we currently have more than 20 separate artist groups working together, making creative things happen, each with its own very distinctive personality and approach?

Without these groups and artist-led workspaces there would be a lot less art and creative culture in our city: fewer festivals, galleries, theatres and markets; little live music and no Late Night Art. Without the spaces to develop their work, artists wouldn’t be able to take their skills and ideas to our communities, schools, parks and streets.

These are spaces for inclusion, for activism, and for amplifying perspectives that may not have opportunities to do so otherwise, leading the way in shaping new sets of societal values. These spaces enable artists to tell stories about who we are: from giving heritage cultural skills a new lease of life, to documenting our contemporary lives experience, to using pioneering technologies to envision new worlds.

🤸OPERATION TRANSFORMATION 🤸‍♀️A huge thank you to everyone who came down to the opening of Operation Transformation with...
09/04/2025

🤸OPERATION TRANSFORMATION 🤸‍♀️

A huge thank you to everyone who came down to the opening of Operation Transformation with us and last week !!

Introducing the most recent addition to the Catalyst Arts team: Tori Clarkson! 🌟💫 ~~~~~~~~~Tori Clarkson is a film edito...
02/04/2025

Introducing the most recent addition to the Catalyst Arts team: Tori Clarkson! 🌟💫

~~~~~~~~~
Tori Clarkson is a film editor and filmmaker based in Belfast with a BA(Hons) in Filmmaking and Photography from the University of Leeds and has specialised in documentary film editing at York University, Toronto.

Tori currently works within documentary filmmaking and moving image, with a strong focus on geographical landscapes and human relationship to the land at an individual and societal level. She has been working as a film editor on BAFTA and Grierson award-winning documentaries and has directed a number of short-form films including PÚCA and SOMA through Northern Ireland Screen and BBC.

Community and public engagement within the arts is at the forefront of her practice, acknowledging the importance of the arts as a way to communicate with and understand each other better within society. Political and environmental activism are consistent themes throughout her work.


~~~~~~~~~

Don't forget to check out our Graduate Award exhibition 'Operation Transformation', opening tomorrow for Late Night Art! 🤸‍♂️🤸‍♂️🤸‍♂️

PROPAGATE // You Wouldn’t Close A Club At 3amA lil collection of photos from a lovely weekend of music, conversation, sh...
12/03/2025

PROPAGATE // You Wouldn’t Close A Club At 3am

A lil collection of photos from a lovely weekend of music, conversation, sharing, T-shirt printing and dancing 🪩

Much thanks to all who contributed their knowledge, time and energy as we explored the past, present and future of DIY and grassroots club spaces in Belfast, for hosting our panel discussion and for a v fun t-shirt printing workshop 🫶🏻

Seeds were sown and ideas were rooted ! 🌱

🌱 cold, wet, humid, growth 🌱 Tonight is the last day to catch this year’s Catalyst Arts Member’s Show ! We’re open until...
06/03/2025

🌱 cold, wet, humid, growth 🌱

Tonight is the last day to catch this year’s Catalyst Arts Member’s Show ! We’re open until 6-9pm for

This year’s member’s show asked artists to respond to the theme/s of moss.

The dormant, unrooted observant, absorptive, spongy plant which climbs up a wall or blankets a forest floor. How do we, like moss, accumulate parts of our surroundings and sustain our environments.

Catalyst members have responded with works that ground, decay, persevere, generate, bind together, grow, sleep and decorate 🌿

1 & 2: Lucy Lambe ‘2025’
3: Gwen Stevenson: Generative Moss, 2025
4 & 5: Silvia Koistinen ‘Untitled’ (Cabbage leaf and water) .art
6: Louise French ‘Collection Display’ Glass vessels, glass flower-frogs .studio
7: Matt McCullough ‘Growth in Embrace’
8: Laura Nelson ‘Wet Picnic Field’
9: Oisín Tozer ‘Decayed Spectrum’ .va
10: Niall McLaughlin ‘Counterfeit’
11: Brian Kielt ‘Rolling Stone 2024/2025’ & Sara Fox ‘Grounded’ & Hugh Martin ‘Garden Wall IV’ .art

🌱 cold, wet, humid, growth 🌱Tomorrow’s the last day to catch this year’s Catalyst Arts Member’s Show ! We’re open 11-5pm...
05/03/2025

🌱 cold, wet, humid, growth 🌱

Tomorrow’s the last day to catch this year’s Catalyst Arts Member’s Show ! We’re open 11-5pm and then 6-9pm for

This year’s member’s show asked artists to respond to the theme/s of moss.

The Formant, unroofed observant, absorptive, spongy plant which climbs up a wall or blankets a forest floor. How do we, like moss, accumulate parts of our surroundings and sustain our environments.

Catalyst members have responded with works that ground, decay, persevere, generate, bind together, grow, sleep and decorate 🌿

🌱 cold wet humid growth 🌱It’s the last chance to catch this year’s Catalyst Arts Members Show tomorrow ! The gallery wil...
05/03/2025

🌱 cold wet humid growth 🌱

It’s the last chance to catch this year’s Catalyst Arts Members Show tomorrow ! The gallery will be open 11-5pm and again at 6-9pm for

This year’s member’s show asked artists to respond to the theme/s of moss.

The dormant, unroofed observant, absorptive, spongy plant which climbs up a wall or blankets a forest floor. How do we, like moss, accumulate parts of our surroundings and sustain our environments.

Catalyst members have responded with works that ground, decay, preserve, generate, bind together, grow, sleep and decorate.

A lil reminder of dates and details for this year’s Propagate: YOU WOULDN’T CLOSE A CLUB AT 3AM
24/02/2025

A lil reminder of dates and details for this year’s Propagate: YOU WOULDN’T CLOSE A CLUB AT 3AM

Next up for Propagate !! A panel discussion at on 28th Feb, 7-9pm 🪩Chats will be centred around the lack of opportuniti...
17/02/2025

Next up for Propagate !! A panel discussion at on 28th Feb, 7-9pm 🪩

Chats will be centred around the lack of opportunities for club nights and late night cultural events to take shape within Belfast. What are the causes of this? What are Belfast’s subcultural roots and where do they stem from? How can we collectively go forward in pushing for DIY/grassroots spaces and events within our city??

Panelists include with moderator 💫

This is a free event and tickets can be registered for here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/propagate-sound-advice-panel-discussion-tickets-1251806690509?aff=oddtdtcreator

We would love to see you there

YOU WOULDN’T CLOSE A CLUB AT 3AM // PROPAGATE 2025 // Design Call-out !!For this year’s Catalyst Arts programme we are g...
14/02/2025

YOU WOULDN’T CLOSE A CLUB AT 3AM // PROPAGATE 2025 // Design Call-out !!

For this year’s Catalyst Arts programme we are going to the club !!!

Clubbing and dance music culture has often been a pure celebration of community, collective experience and escapism from the drawling day-to-day. So for this year’s Propagate we are going to celebrate it

❇️ cold, wet, humid growth ❇️Opening 6-9pm, 6 February, This year's member's show asked artists to respond to the theme/...
31/01/2025

❇️ cold, wet, humid growth ❇️

Opening 6-9pm,
6 February,


This year's member's show asked artists to respond to the theme/s of moss.

The dormant, unrooted observant, absorptive, spongy plant which climbs up a wall or blankets a forest floor. How do we, like moss, accumulate parts of our surroundings and sustain our environments.

Catalyst Member's have responded with works that ground, decay, persevere, generate, bind together, grow, sleep and decorate.

Member Olivia Hassett will open the exhibition with a performance on the 6th of February at 7pm.

The exhibition will run from 6th February ~ 6 March 2025

The time has come to say goodbye to the wonderful and beautiful husk bennett as he moves onto pastures new 🌿 husk has be...
29/01/2025

The time has come to say goodbye to the wonderful and beautiful husk bennett as he moves onto pastures new 🌿 husk has been an integral part of the Catalyst team — bringing levity, laughter and love to every room he enters. husk’s immense spirit, determination and passion for our space and ethos has pushed forward new ideas and ways of working, whilst always maintaining principles of care and non-hierarchal working.

Always accompanied by a playlist full of the most heinous (yet incredible) donk music and a laugh that can soften even the most stressful of times, we have all learnt so much from husk and count our lucky stars to have him in our lives 💓

We loved seeing husk’s curatorial debut ‘*_*’ come to life in November of last year, as he brought together three artists to discuss themes of labour within a space husk himself has intensively laboured within. Making the curatorial decision to lay the installation of the show bare, allowing it to form part of the work itself, inhabiting the space in a way that confused yet thrilled visitors, again husk’s artistic vision shone through.

We cannot wait to see where husk’s next steps take him, as a dj, artist, curator, friend and co-worker, we are so glad to have spent time with someone who can only be describe as a bright force of life 💗🌀⭐

Address

Ground Floor, 5 College Court
Belfast
BT16BS

Opening Hours

Tuesday 11am - 5pm
Wednesday 11am - 5pm
Thursday 11am - 5pm
Friday 11am - 5pm
Saturday 11am - 5pm

Telephone

+442890313303

Website

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