Congratulations to Array Collective on their Turner Prize nomination!

CCA Derry~Londonderry sends a huge congratulations to Array Collective from Belfast on their 2021 Turner Prize nomination. Two of their members are CCA Research Associates; from the 2020 cohort, Alessia Cargnelli, and from the 2021 cohort, Sinéad Bhreathnach-Cashell.

Array Collective is a group of Belfast-based artists who create collaborative actions in response to issues affecting Northern Ireland. Their work encompasses performances, protests, exhibitions and events. The jury commended the way Array Collective fuse seriousness with humour, and address contemporary issues using ancient folk imagery. Recent projects include public artworks in support of the decriminalization of abortion in Northern Ireland, challenging legislative discrimination of the queer community, and participation in the group exhibition Jerwood Collaborate! in London. “Over the last four years we have been part of the continuing effort to change the laws in Northern Ireland for our human rights,” says the activist collective on Instagram.

Sinéad Bhreathnach-Cashell invites people to play. Building communities of practice, sharing spaces and getting together to do things has always been part of how she works. This kaleidoscopic practice includes interactive installations; performance art and curating. Reality sparks off an unknown alchemy of serious thoughts and fanciful imaginations. The results are rarely predetermined or understood by the artist, however the work is often absurd, brightly coloured and handmade. Her work is made possible by generosity of family, friends, colleagues and strangers. Born and based in Belfast, Sinéad is a member of Bbeyond, the Array Collective and BBDB weekly zooms. She works as a curator for Northern Ireland Screen’s Digital Film Archive, developing live cinema projects using the Ulster Television archive. Sinéad studied her BA Hons Fine and Applied Art in the Belfast Art College (Ulster University) and Post Graduate Studies in Art Room Methodology in Bath Spa University.

Alessia is a former co-director of artist-led initiative Catalyst Arts Gallery (2016–2018) and currently a PhD researcher at the Belfast School of Art, with a combined theory and practice-based study on artists collectives and feminist-led collectives dedicated to social justice, civil action and activism in the island of Ireland. She completed her BFA at IUAV University and MA at Ca’Foscari University in Venice, Italy. With a background in artist moving image practice, subsequently informed by artist-led initiatives and collaborative productions, Alessia’s interests expand towards alternative forms of education, feminist methodologies, collective self-organisations, activism, and artist moving image production and programming. Along with artist Emily McFarland, she is co-founder of Soft Fiction Projects (2018–ongoing), an artist-run initiative dedicated to producing digital and printed matter on artist moving image culture.