Arts Catalyst

STATEMENT: SOLIDARITY WITH PALESTINE Arts Catalyst stands in solidarity with the people of Palestine in opposition to the actions of the Israeli government. As an organisation we do not condone any systems of oppression, we do not condone acts of violence against any civilians and call for this cycle of violence to end. Our programme supports shared values and promotes understanding of environmental and social justice issues. We work in ways which are both hyperlocal and responsive to planetary challenges and changes. We support our Palestinian programme partners Riwaq Centre for Architectural Conservation and Sakiya in their call for solidarity and acknowledgement of the humanitarian situation in Palestine. We call for interventions that will support the people of Palestine and secure safe humanitarian actions as a matter of urgency. Arts Catalyst directors, staff and trustees. . . . . Image description: white text on black background (text panels same as body text).

Programme Announcement 📢🚨 Across 2026, Arts Catalyst’s programme unfolds through deeply embedded artistic practices shaped by care, collaboration, and place. Featuring new work by Leah Clements, Aliaskar Abarkas, and a major public art commission developed with Bloc Projects, alongside a year-long curatorial residency with Nathalie Boobis, the programme facilitates and grows close relationships with communities, institutions, and environments. From hospitals and housing developments to exhibitions and the opening of our new community hub & garden at Exchange Place, these projects reflect our commitment to art that is made with people - grounded in lived experience, disability justice, and ecological thinking. Read more on our website! Link in bio. ___ Summer 2026: Apophenia exhibition by Leah Clements (@leah_r_clements ), co-commission with Peer (@peergallery ) Autumn 2026: Aliaskar Abarkas x Sheffield Children’s Hospital exhibition by Aliaskar Abarkas (@aliaskar______abarkas ), in collaboration with (@team.artplus ) Winter 2026: Newstead GN Estate public artwork, artist to be announced spring 2026, co-commissioned with Bloc Projects (@blocprojects ), in collaboration with the Public Art Officer with the support of Sheffield City Council (@sheffieldcitycouncil ) 2026 & 2027: Future Curators Programme Residency with Nathalie Boobis (@nathalieboobis ), supported through partnerships with DAO (@disabilityarts ) and DASH (@dashdisabilityarts ) Spring 2026: Arts Catalyst community hub & garden at Exchange Place designed by Studio Polpo (@studio_polpo ) with Yorkshire Artspace (@yartspace )

🚀Blast (off) from the past! Rob La Frenais (@eminencegris ), former curator at Arts Catalyst, has written a wonderful new blog piece about Arts Catalyst’s zero gravity programme in the early 2000s. Between 2000 and 2003 Arts Catalyst commissioned and developed ambitious and unique opportunities for artists, curators, writers, musicians, historians, and scientists to perform and experiment new projects in zero gravity at Moscow’s Star City at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre (GCTC). The work was developed within Arts Catalyst’s then mission – to develop new artistic work which critically engaged with science and technology. The essay explores the complexity of this work and also reflects back on geopolitical changes and the challenges of creating work in the post-soviet era in Russia. This period of work, Zero Gravity or MIR (Microgravity Interdisciplinary Research), sparked the next decade of experimentation and commissioning for Arts Catalyst – that explored a series of programmes from Space Soon (2006-2009), to Republic of the Moon (2011 & 2014). Read the full blog on our website now! Link in bio. The featured video is an extract from Gravitation Off!, a short film documenting the zero gravity projects by The Arts Catalyst with Projekt Atol (@projektatol ) between 2000 and 2003. Video Description: The video follows a large group of people floating in the air inside an aeroplane with no seats or windows, it looks like a large white room with crashmats on the floor. There are artists and dancers pretending to be asleep, performing choreographed routines, wearing electronic exo-skeletons, and conducting experiments in large perspex spheres with green goo, all spinning and floating through the air.

🌊 Opening 13 June: Apophenia is a new co-commission and the first major solo exhibition in the UK by London-based artist Leah Clements (@leah_r_clements ), produced by Arts Catalyst (@artscatalyst ) and Peer Gallery (@peergallery ). Leah Clements works primarily in moving image, photography, and sculpture to embody moments of transcendence. Her work is concerned with the relationship between psychological, emotional, and physical states, and focuses on sickness, cripness (a term being reclaimed by some disability activists), and disability in art, and how real and imaginary realms can operate as radical spaces to address collective experiences. For Apophenia, Leah has produced a new single-channel film with the same title, alongside a series of sculptural and audio works. The film travels to sites founded across time, in an attempt to discover meaning in the context of illness. It follows the voice of author Jenn Ashworth (@jenashworth82 ) slipping into a state of apophenia, which she describes as a ‘relentless, out-of-control pattern recognition’. 🗓️ Exhibition Dates: 18 June - 1 August 🎉 Opening event: 13 June, 2–4pm 📍 Location: Exchange Place Video description: A Black woman in her 30s walking slowly around roman baths, a historic well, and a spa bathed in golden light. She looks intensely around herself and at us but we can never be sure if what she is looking at is actually there or not. There are images that flash of ancient gargoyles. The woman holds a red light therapy face mask in front of her mirroring her own face. She swims in a blue pool lit with orange light and lays on a bed staring upwards at white shapes that move above her. The trailer ends with the title Apophenia.

THREE FIELDS was an international digital arts collaboration bringing together artists, cultural organisations and creative technologists across India, South Africa and the UK to explore environmentally conscious creative digital practices. Artists Kaajal Modi (@casualmouldy ), Deepa Reddy (@paticheri ), and Samukelisiwe Siphesihle Dube (@samukelisiwe_siphesihle ) chose to use binaural sound to weave stories of migration, preservation, exchange and distribution together. The prototype artwork creating an embodied, resonant experience without the environmental impact of other VR/AR technologies. You can now explore the soundscapes online, with an introduction from each artist. 🔗 Link in bio THREE FIELDS was an international co-commission between Abandon Normal Devices, Arts Catalyst, Fak’ugesi, Fast Familiar and Unbox. Funded by the British Council’s International Collaboration Grants and supported using public funding by Arts Council England.

Come and work with us at Exchange Place! Arts Catalyst are hiring an Audience and Engagement Assistant (part-time, fixed-term). We are looking for a friendly and experienced person to provide a warm welcome at our base in Sheffield city centre for the duration of an exciting new exhibition, Apophenia, by artist Leah Clements (@leah_r_clements ). The Audience and Engagement Assistant will welcome visitors, answer queries about the exhibition and events, look after the artworks, and ensure an excellent standard of service is provided to visitors at all times. Please download the job pack in our bio for more information on the role and the application process. We hope to hear from you soon! Deadline for applications: 5pm, 11 May 2026 Interview Dates: 19 or 20 May 2026 Salary: £13.45 per hour / 15 hours per week (Real Living Wage) Fixed Term: Saturday 13 June 2026 - Saturday 1 August 2026 Working hours: 12pm - 5pm, Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays #artsjobs #sheffieldjobs #werehiring #southyorkshire — Image descriptions: 1. A decorative text post that reads “We’re hiring! Audience and Engagement Assistant (part-time, fixed-term)”. 2. A decorative text post that reads “We are looking for a friendly person with customer-facing experience to provide a warm welcome during a new exhibition by Leah Clements at Exchange Place. Role: Audience and Engagement Assistant (part-time, fixed-term). Deadline: 5pm, Monday 11th May 2026. More information and how to apply: Download the job pack from our website artscatalyst.org (link in bio). 3. A child’s outstretched palm holding a piece of cardboard in the shape of a leaf. White play-dough has been spread across the top of the cardboard with pink paper butterflies and pink, orange, and green beads pressed into it. Underneath the palm is a busy craft table with lots of brightly coloured objects on it.

📣 The artists for British Art Show 10: A Chorus of Strangers have been announced! 📣 The prestigious multi-site exhibition will go on display in venues across Sheffield in October 2027 as part of a five-city tour launching in Coventry later this year and including Swansea, Bristol and Newcastle Gateshead. This landmark tenth edition comes to the city through a multi-venue partnership between @sheffieldcitycouncil Sheffield Museums, @sitegallery @yartspace and @artscatalyst @ekoweshun curatorial vision will bring together over 30 artists to provide a vital overview of the most exciting art produced in the UK during the past five years, including: @okikiakinfe ; @olddrag ; @lizjohnsonartur ; @alvarobarrington ; @shirazbayjoo ; @lubnachowdhary ; Shawanda Corbett; @jessedarling ; @ufuoma.essi ; @joygerrard ; @louise___giovanelli ; @hannah_quinlan_ and @rosiebhastings ; @mwana.wevhu ; Nnena Kalu; @_jasleen.kaur_ @itskimeze @julianknxx @matthewkrishanu ; Alastair Mackinven; @melaniemanchot ; @lindseymendick ; @e_m___m_a_ ; Dala Nasser; @_jackobrien_ ; @nengiomuku ; @devilintraining_ ; @hannahperryhannahperry ; Mohammed Sami; @raeyensong @talbot.emma Nicole Wermers; @osmanstudio . British Art Show 10: A Chorus of Strangers takes place against a backdrop of heightened anxiety intensified by a divisive political culture, an accelerating climate crisis, and growing public distrust in institutions. In polarising times, the exhibition asks: what forms might empathy or shared imagination take? At its core, it considers how art can challenge fears of difference often sparked in periods of uncertainty or change. Rather than framing the outsider or stranger figure as a threat, British Art Show 10 invites a shift towards empathy to explore the variety of perspectives that comes from looking through the eyes of others. You can find full details of the exhibition and its themes here in the link in our bio.

Arts Catalyst are proud to present a selection of illustrations from the new publication ‘Don’t Judge a Book by its Cover’ on a series of billboards throughout Sheffield city centre. 📍 ‘Don’t Judge a Book by its Cover’ is an English language exercise book by designer Bahbak Hashemi-Nezhad (@bahbak247 ), which was co-authored with attendees of the English language classes at City of Sanctuary Sheffield (@sheffieldcityofsanctuary ). The illustrations by Danielle Rhoda (@danielle_rhoda ) beautifully visualise many conversations rooted in hopes, challenges, desires and lived experience that participants shared with Bahbak during the weekly classes. Both in the book and on the billboards, participants’ words are translated in Amharic, Arabic, Farsi, Kurdish, Spanish, Tigriniya and Ukrainian. We are excited to share these drawings and texts with people in Sheffield, and to facilitate the encounter with stories told by people seeking sanctuary in the city. Have you spotted any of our billboards yet? We would love to see your pictures so remember to tag us! Photography by James Clarkson (@jamesklclarkson )

Arts Catalyst are thrilled to welcome curator in residence Nathalie Boobis (@nathalieboobis ) as part of the Future Curators Programme. 🌞 Nathalie’s curatorial practice is rooted in a drive to amplify the failings of our work, social, and political structures as experienced on a bodily level. Since 2025, Nathalie has led on Disability Arts Online’s (@disabilityarts ) accessible digital gallery, dis_place, curating exhibitions and commissioning work to foreground intersectional disabled perspectives. You can view a snippet of her recent dis_place exhibition, ‘I need to be more than a lesson you learned’, in this reel, or delve deeper via the link in our bio. We asked Nathalie about her initial research as part of the residency: “I’m following a thread of thought around the intersections of disability justice, the politics of liberation and crip time. I’ve been thinking about time and crip time for so many years but ironically have never had the time, outside of being a student, to really dig into it. So I’m very grateful to have this opportunity to really get into it and let the research lead the project.” The future curators programme is a residency programme for Disabled curators within mainstream visual arts institutions. Grounded in disability justice, the Future Curators Programme was founded by Disabled artist-led visual arts organisation, DASH (@dashdisabilityarts ). Cover image: Nathalie Boobis and Anna Santomauro, Head of Programme Video Description: A screen recording of a digital gallery with a green background. It begins with a large piece of text about this ‘room’ in the gallery, it shows many artworks with white plaques containing information underneath them that are being scrolled past horizontally by the user. The first artwork is a video of a person dressed as a clown with white face paint and a red and yellow jester hat, followed by black and white drawings of mathematical angles that seek to capture degrees of rage. Finally there are a series of ink drawings on brown paper containing a dog, a cat eating from a bowl, and lots of hand written text. If you would like to read the texts there is a link to the online gallery in our bio.

@artscatalyst , @fastfamiliarstudio , @fakugesi , @abandon_normal_devices , and @unboxcultralfutures are proud to present the THREE FIELDS podcast: exploring digital practices and food justice through the lens of its movement, migration, and distribution. The THREE FIELDS project brought together international artists Kaajal Modi (@casualmouldy ), Samukelisiwe Dube (@samukelisiwe_siphesihle ), and Deepa Reddy (@paticheri ) to meet weekly to reflect on and share their food based art practices. This two-part series gives a small glimpse into their conversations around climate and food justice across the three territories they were working from. This podcast is interspersed with field recordings and digital sonic interpretations of fermentation processes and ingredients, bringing together spices, salt, and microorganisms. Produced by Arts Catalyst. Sound design and production by Kitty Turner (@kitechy ). Click the link in our bio to listen now, or search ‘Radio Arts Catalyst’ wherever you get your podcasts.

Now on the Three Fields blog: Soil, Spice, and Sound, a blog post exploring food migration, international collaboration, and the journey of cinnamon by Samukelisiwe Dube (@samukelisiwe_siphesihle ). “When I first entered the Three Fields project, I thought I was coming in with a clear understanding of what food meant in my practice. I garden. I make paper from plant fibres. I print with organic materials. I learned from the Black women in my family that food is never just food, that it is care, survival, memory, and sometimes resistance. But this project stretched that understanding...” Available to read now - link in our bio.

We are deeply saddened to share that Steve Kurtz - artist, writer, and founding member of Critical Art Ensemble - died on 12 November 2025, aged 67. Over more than 15 years, Critical Art Ensemble collaborated with Arts Catalyst on groundbreaking projects confronting biowarfare, environmental degradation, and the militarisation of everyday life. Works included GenTerra, Marching Plague, and Graveyard of Lost Species - bold, provocative projects that challenged audiences to confront systems of power. Arts Catalyst’s founder Nicola Triscott (@nicola.triscott ) writes: “This [blog post] is a personal reflection on Arts Catalyst’s 25-year collaboration with this brilliant, principled, and steadfast artist, whose work fundamentally shaped how we understood art’s role in confronting systems of power. Steve’s death leaves an enormous gap – in the field of tactical media, in political art practice, and personally for those of us who counted him as a friend and intellectual touchstone.” Read Nicola’s full reflection on our website and watch videos of Steve on our YouTube channel. Links in our bio.