Catalyst Arts, Collective Histories of Northern Irish Art X

This publication was the accompaniment to the Catalyst Arts: Collective Histories of Northern Irish Art X Exhibition curated by Dr Cherie Driver at the Golden Thread Gallery in Belfast which centred on the artist led initiative established in 1992. The publication gives an introductory account to the history of the organisation and sets its formation into the context of the critical dialogues amongst artists in Northern Ireland at that time. It reflects on the practices and nature of documentation and the importance of the Archive and explores the possibilities of documentation to reactivate works and performances and be new encounters in the presence. The book also draws from the archive documentation material to present some of the works in the exhibition as they would of been initially installed in the Catalyst Arts gallery at the time. The problematics of re-staging, reconstruction and remaking work was in itself an interesting outcome of the research and has led to further work in this area.