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CCA Derry~Londonderry

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CCA Derry~Londonderry

Centre for Contemporary Art (CCA) fosters a wide range of artistic, curatorial, and critical practice CCA developed out of the Context Gallery in The Playhouse.

Since its conception in 1992, the gallery has exhibited emerging artists from Northern Ireland alongside international peers. CCA’s activity builds on the history of the Context Gallery but has a wider mandate, fostering a range of artistic, curatorial, and critical practices, locally, regionally and internationally. CCA opened in the autumn of 2012 in a space designed by Michael Carr Architects.

In 2021 CCA is honoured to be one of five shortlisted for the Art Fund Museum of the Year 2021, the world's largest museum prize for CCA's work supporting artists and audiences over the pandemic. CCA is grateful for the continued support of our primary funder, the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. CCA also acknowledges funding and support received from Derry City and Strabane District Council, Caldwell & Robinson Solicitors and The Art Fund. CCA is a member of Plus Tate. Plus Tate is a network which comprises thirty five cultural institutions – including the Tate galleries – that have strong artistic vision, a focus on contemporary art, outstanding public programming and a commitment to local community engagement through art. Plus Tate aims to support the development of the visual arts across the UK. Centre for Contemporary Art Derry~Londonderry Ltd
Registered in Northern Ireland NI041649 | Registered Charity Number NIC101414

08/06/2026

🪨 LAUNCH: ‘All I see is the present’ by Christopher Steenson
🗓️ Friday 19 June 2026, 7–9pm
📍 CCA Derry~Londonderry

🦴 IN CONVERSATION: Christopher Steenson & Brian Lacey moderated by Catherine Hemelryk
🗓️ Saturday 20 June 2026, 2pm
📍 CCA Derry~Londonderry

For Christopher Steenson’s solo exhibition All I see is the present, the artist combines sound photography, installation and archival material to explore the ways in which moments from prehistory can be used as a gateway to the present. The exhibition is the first manifestation of the artist’s long-term engagement with research exploring the prehistoric past of the island of Ireland.

A centrepiece of this exhibition is a new installation The Dragon’s Teeth (2026), which takes its inspiration from the Beaghmore Stone Circles and Alignments, located in the heart of the artist’s native home of East Tyrone.

The exhibition runs until 12 September 2026.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

With a practice that spans sound, lens-based media, text and digital systems, Christopher Steenson’s (b.1992, North of Ireland) work bridges historical and speculative narratives to interrogate the politics of time, environment and more-than-human-relations. In approaching these concerns, he seeks to make work through which we can ‘listen across tenses’. Recent solo exhibitions include: They haven’t gone away you know, mother’s tankstation, Dublin (2025); Breath Variations, Flat Time House, London (2023); and Soft Rains Will Come, VISUAL, Carlow (2022).

IN CONVERSATION

An In Conversation between Artist Christopher Steenson and Historian Dr Brian Lacey moderated by CCA Director Catherine Hemelryk will take place on Saturday 20 June 2026 from 2pm as part of Heritage Month across Derry City & Strabane District.

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‘All I see is the present’ is supported by:

Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Derry City & Strabane District Council, Garfield Weston Foundation, The Arts Council of Ireland, The Elephant Trust, Northern Ireland Screen Digital Film Archive.

Images courtesy the artist

03/06/2026

Final few days to catch 'Glimmers' by Yasmine Robinson
Open Tuesday–Saturday, noon–6pm
Install shots by .bee & CCA Derry~Londonderry

01/06/2026

🗯️ CCA x Ulster University Lunchtime Reach Talks
🗓️ 16–19 June 202, 1:15–1:45pm
💻 via zoom. Link available from CCADLD.org/news / ig stories from 1pm on the day of each talk.

CCA’s next series of bitesize talks vie zoom with Ulster University are taking place every lunchtime from Tuesday 16 to Friday 19 June 2026 as part of UU Research Week. Get your lunch, zoom in and hear a different PhD student or researcher introduce their practice. The informal talks will be 20 minutes long with 10 minutes for Q&A.

This series aims to provide a way for everyone to find out about the research that is taking place across our region with topics as broad ranging as the students and researchers themselves!

The zoom link will be available from CCA’s social media from 1pm on the day of each talk or by emailing [email protected]. Follow for updates.

You can watch all four talks from our pilot season by searching for CCA Derry~Londonderry on YouTube or from the link at CCADLD.org/Research.

If you are a PhD student or researcher and would like to get involved with our future seasons, contact us at [email protected].

💬 Programme:

Tuesday 16 June 2026
Sandra Fisher: Shaping Possibility - A deep dive into the creative process of making theatre for young audiences. (Drama/Performance Studies)

Wednesday 17 June 2026
Lorna Allen: Genre Without Borders: Shudder Subscribers and the Global Circulation of Horror. (Film and Screen Studies)

Thursday 18 June 2026
Tabassum Islam: Listening to the Lived Experience of South Asian Women Working in the UK Film Industry. (Film and Screen Studies)

Friday 19 June 2026
Latifa Yeasmin: Citizenship Without Belonging: Biragona Women, State Recognition, and the Crisis of Memory in Contemporary Bangladesh. (Drama/Performance Studies)

Photo courtesy of Chandrayee Sengupta, provided through research conducted by Tabassum Islam.

Supported by Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Derry City & Strabane District Council, Garfield Weston Foundation.

29/05/2026

📣 CCA Director Catherine Hemelryk is part of the National Selection group of judges for The Artist Prize, a new prize now open for submissions.

🎯 The £30,000 prize for the winner and exhibition for 20 shortlisted artists at has its applications now open.

The Artist Prize is the first UK art prize of this scale built on open submissions, national curatorial judging, and full transparency - no nominations required. Open to artists at all stages of their careers across Northern Ireland, Wales, Scotland and England working in any medium. Entry fees start at £10.

Visit theartistprize.com for more information and how to apply.

14/05/2026

🔄 RECAP I 🌱
WORKSHOP: MHANI X CCA DLD
Seed Library with Conor O'Kane

Formed as a second pop-up of the CCA DLD Seed Library, this workshop invited us to consider how seeds are adaptive — no matter where they come from in the world, they can adjust to the circumstances and place in which they grow. The plants' offspring grow in ways suited to their habitat; seeds are a model of adaptability and belonging.
We were joined by members of the public and an afterschool art club, where they planted squash, broad bean and lupin seedlings (from seeds collected last year) in recycled containers.
Thank you to Conor O'Kane for the workshop and to Mental Health Arts NI Festival for the collaboration

ℹ️ Not subscribed to our newsletter? Register at www.ccadld.org to be the first to hear about upcoming events.

09/05/2026

📝A date for your diary
🖍National Drawing Day
📍CCA Derry~Londonderry
🗓Saturday 16 May 2026, 1.30–3.30pm

Sketchbook Session with Colleen McSheffrey

As part of Drawing Day 2026, CCA is holding a free, drop-in session to draw together in CCA hosted by artist Colleen McSheffrey. This informal event invites you to bring your sketchbook to draw and chat. No theme and no pressure. Materials provided or bring your own!

ℹAbout Colleen McSheffrey

Colleen McSheffrey is an artist based in Derry. She graduated in 2024 with a BA in Fine Art from the Belfast School of Art and has been painting since then. Colleen works primarily in oil paints on canvas or linen. Her work is centred around an archive of found images collected over time. She considers the transformative potential of painting, as a way to elevate seemingly inconsequential moments. Through her work Colleen aims to un-tap a rich array of evocations lying dormant in the overlooked aspects of daily life.

04/05/2026

WORKSHOP: MHANI X CCA DLD
Seed Library with Conor O'Kane
🗓️Wednesday 13 May 2026
📍 CCA Derry~Londonderry 2–5pm

As part of MHANI–Mental Health Arts NI Festival come to CCA to learn about the CCA DLD Seed Library, plant seeds, considering how seeds are a model of adaptability, being part of the environment to which they belong. Free, booking through CCA's online shop.

Book your place at CCADLD.org/Shop

01/05/2026

🌝 PROJECT SPACE: Ronan Bowes
🗓️16 April–16 May 2026
📍 10-12 Artillery Street

Ronan Bowes is spending the month with CCA’s Project Space, creating new work. He is considering the principles of Polyvagal Theory in response to Yasmine Robinson’s exhibition Glimmers and her exploration of colour, light, hope and resilience.

Central to Ronan’s practice is a cyclical rhythm of construction, deconstruction, and reconstruction. He views the act of tearing down and rebuilding not as destruction, but as a cathartic necessity. This aims to mirror the fluidity of the human nervous system—moving through states of tension (mobilisation) and release (social engagement). During his time in the project, he will physically break apart his drawings and paintings, reassembling them into complex, layered structures that move onto and off the wall and into the physical volume of the project space.

ABOUT THE ARTIST:
Ronan Bowes (born 1986) is a contemporary painter based in Omagh, Northern Ireland, whose work explores themes of identity, memory and auto-biographical elements whilst intersecting with art history and current issues in a contemporary art through an experimental and cyclical use of drawing, collage, painting, sculpture and installation.
ronanbowes.com

🌚

Supported by the National Lottery through the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Derry City & Strabane District Council & Garfield Weston Foundation

02/04/2026

📕 booksvscigarettes: Radical reading group with Cara McLoughlin
🗓️ Friday 17 April & 22 May 2026, noon
📍 CCA Derry~Londonderry

booksvscigarettes is an (intermittent) monthly reading group where we come together to explore radical texts—no preparation required. Inspired by Paolo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed, we are trying something different to out manoeuver the inner (or outer) voices that can make these events feel exclusive or intimidating.

You don’t need to read the book beforehand. You don’t need a degree. You don’t need to have set foot in a gallery before. Come with beginner’s eyes, read a chapter together, ask questions, and shape what we read next. This isn’t a tutorial—it’s community learning in action and practice.

Friday 17 April 2026 session: Robert McFarlane, Is A River Alive (2025)
Friday 22 May 2026 session: Paolo Friere, Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1968)

Copies of excerpts will be available at CCA.

Free and open to all.
Bring your curiosity.

31/03/2026

💬 CCA Roundtable Podcast with Susan Connolly, Ciarraí MacCormac & Yasmine Robinson
🎧 Spotify, CCADLD.org, YouTube and all good podcast providers

The latest episode of CCA Derry~Londonderry’s Roundtable podcast is now live!

In this episode, three painters, Susan Connolly, Ciarraí MacCormac and Yasmine Robinson came together in February 2026 to have a conversation about their practices. The artists shared their routes to art, approaches to paint, colour and what it is to be a woman working with abstraction in NI today.

🎙️ You can find out more about the speakers and CCA at ⁠⁠⁠CCADLD.org⁠⁠⁠/news and in the episode description 🔗 link in bio

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With thanks to:
Arts Council of Northern Ireland
Derry City & Strabane District Council
Garfield Weston Foundation

Address

10–12 Artillery Street
Derry
BT486RG

Opening Hours

Tuesday	12pm - 6pm
Wednesday	12pm - 6pm
Thursday	12pm - 6pm
Friday	12pm - 6pm
Saturday	12pm - 6pm

Telephone

+442871373538

Website

http://www.ccadld.org/

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