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Array Collective

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Array Collective is the alias of 11 Belfast-based artists and activists. In 2021 they became the first Northern Irish winners of the Turner Prize.[1]

Work

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Array Collective are known for projects that support "gay rights, marriage equality, feminism, reproductive rights and anti-austerity activism".[1] The Turner Prize judges commended the group for their work to "inspire social change through art" and "working collaboratively with local communities".[2]

Array Collective's activities have included placard-making workshops and participating in activist events and demonstrations with elaborate costumes and props.[3][4][5][6][7]

The Druithaib’s Ball

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The Druithaib’s Ball - for which they were nominated for the Turner Prize[8] - has had several forms to date.[7] The first was an event held at the Black Box venue in Belfast in 2021. The event was conceived as "a wake for the centenary of Ireland’s partition",[9] "which involved a phantasmagoria of performances, stories and wild costumes bringing a carnivalesque lightness to an often dark, difficult and divided political backdrop".[4] A second iteration of the work was installed at the 2021-22 Turner exhibition held in Coventry during its year as UK City of Culture.[1][2] The installation took the form of an immersive síbín space [anglicised spelling shebeen] or a “pub without permission”,[10] filled with banners, photographs, ashtrays, and snacks.[10][4][11] A film of the Black Box event was shown in the síbín installation.[4] The group imagined the space as “a place to gather outside the sectarian divides”, in reference to the historic conflict between Irish Catholics and Protestants.[5] The performers of "The Druithaib's Ball" event and subsequent installation are Vasiliki Stasinaki, Richard O’Leary, Cleamairí Feirste, Phillip Hession, Méabh Meir and Rosa Tralee.[12] A third was an exhibition across two sites in Galway, in 2022. The installation ran in Galway Arts Centre’s performance space, Nun’s Island Theatre, from 13 August – 30 September 2022 whilst a wider exhibition of works were displayed in Galway Arts Centre’s gallery space.

The fourth showing of the work was in their local city, Belfast, at the Ulster Museum. The museum also purchased the work for their permanent collection. Whilst the The Druithaib’s Ball was showing, there were a number of programming events including the Melt Gala, The Night Draws Near[13][14], The Sky Gives Way[15] and a short documentary titled, Wholly Trinity[16] was filmed inside the síbín featuring Alice Maher and Helena Walshe.

Critical reception

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Array's nomination and their Turner installation had a mixed critical reception. The White Pube review notes that "The whole room takes a jumble of things: queer aesthetics, performance, drag and activist aesthetics (and all the loaded meaning and weighty content that comes with them) as its main vocabulary, all in its true and messiest sense [...] The resulting work is palpable and urgent; it made me want to scream, but in a good way".[17] The Guardian's art critic Jonathan Jones questioned the "aesthetic achievement" of the installation while noting how it represented the "work of people who deploy their gifts in useful ways far from London galleries".[18]

The Druithaib's Ball came to viral prominence in early 2022 when a TikTok content creator uploaded an 8-second long video entitled, "Welcome to Coventry" on 12 January. The video's verbal exchange between the user and an artist in the street became a widely used TikTok sound for its wholesome and absurd delivery: "What's this?"/ "It's an art project."/"OK, I like it. Picasso. That way."[19] As of 5 April 2022, the video has been viewed 46.7M times, and its original audio has been used by over 200K users,[20] amassing around 989M views in total.[21]

Members

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Array Collective are Sighle Bhreathnach-Cashell, Sinead Bhreathnach-Cashell, Jane Butler, Emma Campbell, Alessia Cargnelli, Mitch Conlon, Clodagh Lavelle, Grace McMurray, Stephen Millar, Laura O'Connor, Thomas Wells. Campbell, Cargnelli and O'Connor all gained Doctorates from Ulster University, and Bhreathnach-Cashell, Butler, Lavelle and Millar are all Ulster alumni.[22]

Exhibitions and installations

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  • November 2023 - September 2024: An Dún, a multi-narrative environment by Array Collective commissioned by IMMA for the major museum wide exhibition Self Determination: A Global Perspective, as part of The Decade of Centenaries.[23]
  • 14 February - 3 May 2025: The Goose and the Common: Array Collective presents The Goose and the Common, a new exhibition commissioned by Rua Red, Tallaght, Dublin[24]
  • 2021-2022: The Turner Prize exhibition at The Herbert, Coventry, 29 September 2021 – 12 January 2022.[25] Array Collective also added an etching of The Druithaib's Ball into the Gallery 2 displays at The Herbert.[9]
  • October - December 2019: an installation 'As Others See Us' and a symposium 'If You Don't Play the Game, Don't Make the Rules' at Jerwood Collaborate! London.[26][27][28]

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Turner Prize 2021: Irish pub installation wins award". BBC News. 1 December 2021. Archived from the original on 5 January 2022. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
  2. ^ a b Tate. "Array Collective Win Turner Prize 2021 – Press Release". Tate. Archived from the original on 1 December 2021. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
  3. ^ "Culture Night at The Black Box - Full Programme". The Black Box. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
  4. ^ a b c d "The 11-strong Array collective on winning the Turner prize: 'We'll have to have a meeting about this!'". The Guardian. 2 December 2021. Archived from the original on 5 January 2022. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
  5. ^ a b "Northern Ireland art group Array Collective wins 2021 Turner prize". The Guardian. 1 December 2021. Archived from the original on 22 December 2021. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
  6. ^ "Array Collective win the 2021 Turner Prize". artreview.com. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
  7. ^ a b Magazine, Wallpaper* (1 December 2021). "Array Collective wins the Turner Prize 2021". Wallpaper*. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
  8. ^ Laws, Joanne (21 July 2021). "The North is Now | The Visual Artists' News Sheet Online". Retrieved 29 July 2022.
  9. ^ a b "Good luck to Array Collective who are finalists in #TURNERPRIZE2021 | Arts Council of Northern Ireland". artscouncil-ni.org. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
  10. ^ a b "Winner Array Collective brings political charge to Turner Prize conversation". www.itsnicethat.com. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
  11. ^ "Array Collective Shine at this Year's Edition of the Turner Prize |". Flash Art. 9 December 2021. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
  12. ^ "Array Studios/Collective on Instagram: "Array Collective have been so grateful to be given an opportunity to shine a light on the ecology of art and activism in the North of…"".
  13. ^ "The Night Draws Near". www.ulstermuseum.org. Retrieved 18 May 2026.
  14. ^ Antosik-Parsons, Kate (2025). "'Stop Ruining Everything': Array Collective's Disruptive Encounters with Art, Irishness and Nation". Irish University Review. 55 (1): 113–127. doi:10.3366/iur.2025.0712. ISSN 0021-1427 – via euppublishing.
  15. ^ Accidental Theatre (21 December 2021). Array Collective: The Sky Gives Way. Retrieved 18 May 2026 – via YouTube.
  16. ^ OpenLearn from The Open University (28 June 2024). Wholly Trinity: Abortion, Art and Activism in Ireland. Retrieved 18 May 2026 – via YouTube.
  17. ^ "The White Pube | Turner Prize 2021, Bumper Pack". the-white-pube. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
  18. ^ "'If only it actually served pints': our critic on the pub that took the Turner prize". The Guardian. 1 December 2021. Archived from the original on 4 January 2022. Retrieved 3 January 2022. Alt URL
  19. ^ "The "OK I Like It, Picasso" TikTok Trend, Explained". www.hercampus.com. 7 February 2022. Retrieved 5 April 2022.
  20. ^ ReefaTV. "Whats this I like it Picasso Yeah datway created by ReefaTV | Popular songs on TikTok". TikTok. Retrieved 5 April 2022.
  21. ^ Yedroudj, Latifa (22 February 2022). "Coventry student goes viral on TikTok for "I like it Picasso" trend". CoventryLive. Retrieved 5 April 2022.
  22. ^ "Ulster University PhD Researchers and Alumni in Array Collective win Turner Prize". www.ulster.ac.uk. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
  23. ^ "Self-Determination, A Global Perspective - Artist Commissions". IMMA. Retrieved 18 May 2026.
  24. ^ "Array Collective". Rua Red. Retrieved 18 May 2026.
  25. ^ "ARRAY COLLECTIVE WIN TURNER PRIZE 2021 - The Herbert Art Gallery & Museum". www.theherbert.org. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
  26. ^ "Symposium: Array Collective presents 'If you don't play the game, don't make the rules'". Jerwood Arts. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
  27. ^ "Jerwood Collaborate!". Jerwood Arts. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
  28. ^ "Array Collective win the Turner Prize 2021 – Jerwood Arts". 2 December 2021. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
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