About the Project
Artwork Title: Verdant Shifts
Medium: Interactive Generative Art and Felt
Venue: Cold, Wet, Humid Growth, Catalyst Arts, 6 Joy’s Entry, Belfast, BT1 4DR
Date Exhibited: 6 February – 8 March 2025,
Hosted by: Catalyst Arts, Belfast
Venue: An Teach Allais, An Chéad Tine Gallery, Kilkenny
Date Exhibited: 11 July – 2 August 2025
Hosted by: Mary Doyle Burke
Project Overview
Verdant Shifts, was selected for Cold, Wet, Humid Growth Catalyst Arts 2025 members’ show. We were invited to respond to the theme of moss. The exhibition brought together a wide range of responses to the theme. It was fascinating to see how each artist engaged with these ideas, whether through performance, installation, painting, or sculpture. Verdant Shifts generative installation explores the delicate balance between nature, technology, and human interaction. A virtual moss ecosystem reacts in real time to participants’ actions—moisture nurtures its verdant growth, while scarcity triggers decay.
Wrapped in wet-felted textures that echo moss’s shifting states, the piece invites reflection on our role in shaping ecological systems. It also invites touch, contrasting the perceived coldness of digital technology with the warmth and softness of felt. This tension between materiality and simulation highlights both the fragility and resilience of natural systems.
Olivia Hassett opened the show with a live performance that blurred the boundaries between body, environment, and material, leaving the audience with a fragment of moss. Other artists explored the theme in diverse ways, contributing to an engaging and thought-provoking exhibition.
The exhibition ran from February 6th to March 6th, 2025.
Exhibiting Artists: Brian Kielt, Laura Nelson, Gwen Stevenson, Oisín Tozer, Elina Medley, Hugh Martin, Lucy Lambe, Matt McCullough, Sara Fox, Olivia Hassett, Manuel McCarthy, Valderrama, Silvia Koistinen, Matthew Wilson, Sona Smedkova, Louise French, Niall McLaughlin, Fíne Holohan, Jay Potryku, and Amy Wilson.
Verdant Shifts was also exhibited as part of “Teach Allais”, a group exhibition inspired by Ireland’s ancient sweathouses – mossy stone chambers of fire, healing, and spirit.
Curated by An Chéad Tine Art Gallery, this evocative exhibition features the work of over 20 artists responding through ritual, memory, and performance.
The exhibition was opened Kilkenny County Council Heritage Officer Regina Fitzpatrick, followed by performance art from Darren Francis Caffrey.
