Independent Curators International (ICI) supports the work of curators to help create stronger art communities through experimentation, collaboration, and international engagement. Curators are arts community leaders and organizers who champion artistic practice; build essential infrastructures and institutions; and generate public engagement with art. Our collaborative programs connect curators across generations, and across social, political and cultural borders. They form an international framework for sharing knowledge and resources — promoting cultural exchange, access to art, and public awareness for the curator’s role.
Kim McAleese
Eoin Dara and Kim McAleese are two Belfast-based curators who have been working collaboratively for over three years. They both completed a two-year directorship at Catalyst Arts, Belfast from 2009-11, curating various exhibitions and events together at venues across Ireland. In 2012 they opened Satis House, a gallery space in a domestic setting, where artists are encouraged to develop new work in response to this unique environment on a bi-monthly basis. Since opening, they have curated seven exhibitions, as well as facilitated film screenings, performance workshops, artist talks, and public discussions. Alongside colleagues in the curatorial collective Household, they organized the first Household Contemporary Arts Festival in South Belfast, which saw over 30 domestic spaces open up to display work from over 80 artists over the course of one weekend in August 2012. They continue to operate within the Household collective and have also been working over the past twelve months on the development of the visual art program in the Outburst Queer Arts Festival. Dara currently works as the Assistant Curator at the MAC, Belfast, and McAleese is the current recipient of the ACE award for curatorial practice from Arts Council Northern Ireland.
involved in:
Curatorial Intensive in Londonderry
Developed by ICI in collaboration with Centre for Contemporary Art (CCA) Derry~Londonderry, the Curatorial Intensive: From “Official History” to Underrepresented Narratives will examine the role of cultural production in addressing geopolitical landscapes and recent histories.
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