Catalyst Arts is delighted to announce that Sinéad O'Neill-Nicholl is the recipient of the Catalyst Exchange. The Catalyst Exchange is an opportunity for a Catalyst Arts member to partake in a period of remote research with a research response that will be shared with communities in Belfast and Kilkenny in the future.
"I am absolutely delighted to have been chosen by Catalyst Arts to receive this award from Kilkenny County Council and Creative Ireland. The award will allow me to spend time researching a topic which resonates with my practice and will allow me to develop connections between the cities of Kilkenny and Belfast.
I am proposing to undertake an artistic research project examining the impact of gender, identity and socio-economic status on the outcomes of the criminal justice system. The project will place a particular focus on the first and last witchcraft trials in Ireland, occurring in Kilkenny and Carrickfergus respectively. Inspired by the resistance methods within storytelling, folklore and musical traditions in Ireland borne from a legacy of paganism, Celtic influence and mysticism, I want to investigate this seemingly, apparent tolerance in historical and contemporary Ireland towards broader ‘witchcraft’ practices, including cures, miracles and superstition. “
Sinéad O'Neill-Nicholl is an artist working with a range of new media to create audio installations and who engages in live art performance to explore themes of gender, identity, truth and justice. Through the creation of spatial audio environments, Sinéad uses the agency of sound as a method of resistance.
Sinéad’s practice has become increasingly focused on manipulating sound recordings of the female voice, through post-production techniques and audio editing software. Using these techniques, she examines the power structures created through language in the context of truth, knowledge and justice and is further interested in the methods used to silence the voice of the ‘other’.
By creating a kind of subversive ‘sonorous envelope’, Sinéad is interested in creating an experiential environment that moves beyond the ocularcentric system toward a phenomenological investigation; giving priority to spatial auditory experiences and allowing a place for the ‘other’ to be present.
Working at the intersection of contemporary Fine Art and technology, Sinéad is a current Trustee and active member of Vault Artist Studios and received the 2020 University of Atypical Graduate Award and 2019 Arts Council NI SIAP award.
This opportunity is a part of the Kilkenny Cultural Stimulus Project, funded under the Creative Ireland Programme and is an action of the Kilkenny Creative Ireland Programme.
