Platform Arts Belfast

Platform Arts Belfast Platform is an artist-led studio group and contemporary art gallery based in East Belfast

2 weeks to go until our next  solo exhibition by .dhuinn in This will be our last exhibition for the next couple months ...
17/03/2026

2 weeks to go until our next solo exhibition by .dhuinn in

This will be our last exhibition for the next couple months as we work behind the scenes on some new exciting ideas (we're not going anywhere 😶‍🌫👀)

We look forward to seeing you all there!

Exhibition text:

Since caging myself out of the apps and websites that drag me into a wonderful downspiral
of time-wasting, the most visited website on my phone has been https://www.met.ie/. Prior to
my metaphorical / digital barriers being put in place, I used my access to the entire world to
track national and international storms (weather or otherwise) via social networking
websites, amongst other unhelpful things.
internet-enabled storm chaser, sad :/
***
The work seen in Hair Pin Bends was prompted by Hito Steyerl’s Too Much World: Is the
Internet Dead?, a text which explores the seeping of the online into reality and uses words
like twisted, spinning and stumbled to describe the behavior of images that leave our
screens; flitting about, jumping out, and latching on AH!. Paired with Ni Dhuinn’s personal
fascination with storms and weather warning systems, tracking and following storms across
the world through live tweets from X (formally twitter) users, she considers how morbid
curiosity or ‘crisis fascination’ afflicts all of us who are plugged in to The World Wide Web.
Hair Pin Bends discusses how the internet is an agent in our overindulgence, and the human
compulsion to sensational content and its related anxieties.
Through spinning, rolling and twisting seen in imagery of tornados, vortexes and rolling down
a grassy hill, these works reflect on the adrenaline associated with being sucked into an
internet rabbit hole and the hypnotic state caused by digital rubbernecking (doom scrolling).
I’m feeling vastly different at each edge of these hairpin bends

 is around the corner and we're so excited for our next solo exhibition with   in  !! ✨Save the date next week and we'll...
23/02/2026

is around the corner and we're so excited for our next solo exhibition with in !! ✨

Save the date next week and we'll see you there 👀

🍬THURSDAY 12TH FEBRUARY 2-3PM🍬A chance to learn about the wonderful world of Lorcan Cassidy's 'Saccharine Visions' durin...
11/02/2026

🍬THURSDAY 12TH FEBRUARY 2-3PM🍬

A chance to learn about the wonderful world of Lorcan Cassidy's 'Saccharine Visions' during tomorrow's artist talk + q&a

We are very excited and hope to see you there! 🍭

Location: 28 Bedford Street

Artist:

Some sneak-peeks from the wonderful ‘Saccharine Visions’ 🍬🍭🍰 by Lorcan CassidyCurrently on display at our new space, 28 ...
10/02/2026

Some sneak-peeks from the wonderful ‘Saccharine Visions’ 🍬🍭🍰 by Lorcan Cassidy

Currently on display at our new space, 28 Bedford Street, Belfast. Gallery open from 11-4, Mon-Fri (hours set to change).
Send us a message on Instagram or select the buzzer ‘1’ and we’ll let you in!

These are only a small selection of the delicious treats inside….🪅🌸

Location

Artist:

Our first exhibition in our new temporary space will launch on 5th February 2025 🪅🪩🍾 Address: 28 Bedford Street, BT72 7F...
27/01/2026

Our first exhibition in our new temporary space will launch on 5th February 2025 🪅🪩🍾
Address: 28 Bedford Street, BT72 7FE, Belfast (see previous post)

We are pleased to announce an incredible solo-exhibition featuring Lorcan Cassidy. We are still working away on our new space- we’re nervous, we’re hopeful but most of all we’re excited. Here’s to our launch and an incredible artist:

Lorcan Cassidy

Lorcan Cassidy is a visual artist based in Dublin, Ireland. He graduated from NCAD with a BA (Hons) degree in Fine Art Sculpture and Expanded practices and is currently a member of BKB Visual Arts Studio in Glasnevin, Dublin.

As a visual artist, his work revolves around creating alternate realities, worlds and narratives through making and drawing the objects, artefacts, creatures and specimens that manifest from these various fictitious realms. The abstract ideas and feelings are given physical form through hybridisation and amalgamation, often building on, or corrupting pre-established, mythological or scientific lore. Other times, he simply constructs his own entirely.

A main emphasis of his work focuses on the uncanny. An example being candy which some may associate with carefree innocence, reminiscent of our childhoods. Alternatively, candy could also be considered evil, a corrupting force, an addictive substance that causes various ills from manic energy to tooth decay. It is brightly coloured, but simultaneously sinister on closer inspection. Building on these themes, inspired by HP Lovecraft and his Cthulhu mythos, Cassidy created the ‘Candinomicon,’ a malevolent tome from another plane of existence. Within its pages it reveals a world of sickly-sweet monstrosities, all waiting for the chance to invade our reality, corrupt it and consume us all.

Looking forward to our first Late Night Art since September 🖤‼️

Image:
Poster: .vidamour.art

Announcement 📣 ‼️Yes, it’s true! We have moved! Our new address is 28 Bedford Street, BT27FE, 1st Floor, Belfast (2min w...
24/01/2026

Announcement 📣 ‼️

Yes, it’s true!

We have moved! Our new address is 28 Bedford Street, BT27FE, 1st Floor, Belfast (2min walk from City Hall)

The Arts are once again facing displacement from ongoing development, construction and corporate outsourcing within the city centre. Whilst this looks like a positive change; many if not ALL the arts organisations that we love, are greatly impacted.

It seems that there is a ‘vacate the premises’ notice on one of our doors every other week. However! We will not be discouraged, nor will we let it get us down.

Our friends at have very kindly let us use their space until we find a permanent home. We are very grateful for their support, please show them some love ♥️

We’ve been busy getting things ready and we are excited to announce that we will be launching our new space on the 5th Feb with a brand new exhibition (details to follow).

Can’t wait for you all to visit and see the space 🖤🍾

Platform Arts is currently seeking expressions of interest for the role of Co-Director.Platform was founded in 2009, on ...
07/12/2025

Platform Arts is currently seeking expressions of interest for the role of Co-Director.

Platform was founded in 2009, on the basic principle of supporting and promoting the creation of innovative contemporary art. Its mission is to actively promote the creation, presentation of and access to contemporary art through its studio, gallery and education programs.

A rolling board of voluntary directors is responsible for the operation of Platform Arts. It is the responsibility of the Directors to manage the operational, administrative, public, and financial affairs of Platform Arts. Each Co-Director term lasts two years, with the opportunity to curate your very own show after completion.

Link in bio on how to apply.

Thank you to everyone who donated in cash & online, we were able to send £70 to  from the sale of our Palestine Cola. We...
16/11/2025

Thank you to everyone who donated in cash & online, we were able to send £70 to from the sale of our Palestine Cola. We have a few cans left which will be available at our future exhibitions and the proceeds will continue to go towards Aid groups in Palestine. Thank you all again! ❤️💐

Graduate Show 2025 • Sophia SikorovaSlovak artist whose practice explores womanhood, memory, and cultural identitythroug...
16/10/2025

Graduate Show 2025 • Sophia Sikorova

Slovak artist whose practice explores womanhood, memory, and cultural identity
through the lens of Slovak folk traditions and rural life. My work reflects on theexpectations placed on women across generations, particularly the pressures ofdomesticity, marriage, and motherhood, and how these roles have shaped andlimited their lives.
My practice is deeply personal, rooted in my own Slovak background and shaped bystories passed down in my family. At the same time, it extends beyond personalhistory to speak about universal experiences of womanhood and the social
structures that define it. I often reflect on the passage from girlhood to womanhood,
considering the ways in which freedom, celebration, and individuality are gradually
reshaped by cultural and societal expectations.
Through painting, clay, and mixed media, I seek to give voice to women whoseexperiences were often hidden or silenced. My work is a space where tradition andcritique coexist, where colour and ornament mask deeper truths, and where the
resilience and complexity of womanhood can be seen and remembered.

📷 .wellyboots

16/10/2025

Graduate Show 2025 • Jonathan Pratt

Jonathan Pratt is a new media artist and curator. His work combines compressionstudies and glitch; in the nuances, anomalies and intricacies of the digital realm, andhow this can be visually manipulated, or shown tangibly to an audience. He createsimmersive experiences – many of which curated by himself and throughcollaboration – that invite viewers to reconsider the boundaries between virtual andtangible. Exposing and even appreciating technical errors as a form of art, there isan evident playfulness in presenting digital quirks, flaws and anomalies as an
interesting and thought provoking alternative to digital efficiency.

📷 .wellyboots

Graduate Show 2025 • Naomi McClurgNaomi McClurg is a visual artist from Belfast, Northern Ireland and has recentlygradua...
16/10/2025

Graduate Show 2025 • Naomi McClurg

Naomi McClurg is a visual artist from Belfast, Northern Ireland and has recentlygraduated with a degree in Photography with Video from Ulster University, Belfastand achieved the Jill Todd Memorial Photography Award 2025 for her graduate work.
Her photographic work deals with themes of perfection in domestic life; her workexplores this in a generational manner, by discussing the tropes of the family albumand the concepts of breaking generational cycles. Through her experience from
being raised by family from different generations and who have had varyingperspectives on home, meaning of family and its values, she uses the strategy ofperformance to convey the feelings that resulted from this to challenge these ideals.
A Very Fine House (Mantlepieces) explores society’s focus on domestic perfectionusing portraiture with several generations of family photographs. It aims to challengepreconceptions by breaking family cycles. This work is created in collaboration withfamily members through rebellious intrusions that disrupt their home environments.
This project takes inspiration from historical portraiture with staging and bodylanguage that juxtapose the formal subject and the chaotic environment. This workaims to break down traditional ideals in a destructive but playful manner throughexpressions and gestures that are reflected in the family archives.

📷.wellyboots

Address

Connswater Shopping Centre
Belfast
BT55LP

Opening Hours

Wednesday 11am - 4pm
Thursday 11am - 4pm
Friday 11am - 4pm
Saturday 11am - 4pm

Telephone

+442890311301

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