Turner Prize winners to launch Arts fest programme

Launch takes place at Cavan Townhall on Thursday, April 13.

Turner Prize winners, Belfast’s Array Collective, will be on hand to assist in launching the exciting Cavan Arts Festival programme when it is unveiled later this week.

The official launch will take place at the Cavan Townhall Theatre on Thursday, April 13.

The Array Collective, a member of which is Killeshandra-born Laura O’Connor, are also exhibiting their latest creative output, ‘The Lay of the Land’, at Cavan Townhall Gallery, from Tuesday to Saturday, April 14 to May 27 (10am to 4pm).

‘The Lay of the Land’ is an exhibition curated by Array members Laura and Thomas Wells, and invited artists Emma Brennan, Marta Dyczkowska, Méabh Meir, and Sally O’Dowd, also from Cavan.

It takes the form of six banners or sigil representing the ancient land-splitting Black Pig’s Dyke.

Folklore and multiple theories surround the purpose of the Dyke, which some regard as an example of Ulster always being divided. Others see it as a barricade for enclosing animals, or even as a display of power. A day of performance art at the Cavan Arts Festival at Con Smith Park will present each artist's response to the folklore surrounding the Black Pig's Dyke.

Drawing on identity politics, queer histories and the body as a border, the artists in ‘The Lay of the Land’ take multiple approaches to responding to the ancient earthwork that stretches across north Leitrim and Longford, through Cavan, Monaghan and Fermanagh and as far as the Dorsey enclosure in Armagh and the Dane's Cast in Down.

The group won the Turner Prize in 2021 for their work in response to issues such as access to abortion, gay rights, mental health, gentrification and social welfare.