What if Belfast residents could access an evolving, library of interventions created by local artists and designers?
Tools for Togetherness is a new initiative led by Belfast City Council, grounded in the principles of the sharing economy. The project explores new approaches to commissioning public art.
At its core is the ambition to establish a growing Library of Interventions: a curated collection of artist-designed works that can be loaned, shared, and activated by citizens across Belfast.
The first three commissions reflect a breadth of scale and thinking. A collaboration between the Irish Architecture Foundation and Ardmackle Architects proposes apop-up cinema that reimagines public gathering.
A second commission with artist Phillip McCrilly explores the ritual of eating together.
The third project with Robin Price, explore a digitally augmented ping-pong table, which is developed to be open source to allow future users to create their own games. Transforming everyday play into an interactive, civic experience.
Join the artists at the Belfast Stories Building for an insight into their design process, featuring a short presentation and discussion.
Featured Artists
Philip McCrilly
Phillip McCrilly is a Belfast-based artist and chef from The Moy, Co. Tyrone. Working across food, hospitality, and education, his practice examines their potential as artistic and pedagogical frameworks, attending to the social, affective, and institutional conditions of shared eating, learning, and gathering.
Having exhibited at the Centre for Contemporary Art, Derry–Londonderry; Catalyst Arts, Belfast; Project Arts Centre, Dublin; The Dock, Carrick-on-Shannon; and Outburst Queer Arts Festival, Belfast, he has previously made commissions for EVA International and Belfast 2024. Formerly a co-director of the artist-run spaces FRUIT SHOP and Catalyst Arts, he participated in Gramouce’s first alternative MA in Food & Art Studies.
Robin Price
Robin Price is an artist-inventor, trans-disciplinary physicist, musician and cat enthusiast. He holds an MPhys in Theoretical Physics from the University of Wales, Swansea and a PhD in Composition and Creative Practice from Queen’s University, Belfast.
Recent solo exhibitions include Escape Sequence at CCA, Derry~Londonderry, Lambent Ambient, R-Space, Lisburn and Air of the Anthropocene at University of Atypical, Belfast. His work is held in the Arts Council of Northern Ireland’s public collection and has been covered in Source Magazine, New Scientist and the Guardian.
Irish Architecture Foundation
Irish Architecture Foundation are an independent organisation, founded in 2005, to connect people with architecture. Working island-wide, they bring audiences together to experience, explore and discuss the ways architecture shapes our lives, individually and as communities, as a culture and as a nation. Through festivals, exhibitions, placemaking and learning initiatives, IAF expands knowledge and understanding, sparks new ideas and advances new thinking about the role of architecture and the built environment in our shared future.
ARdMackel Architects
ARdMackel Architects are a chartered architectural practice located in Belfast established by Ciaran Mackel who has worked for many years with other architects in Belfast, Dublin and London. ARdMackel has an expanding portfolio of community, education and residential projects, and has a history of producing exceptional levels of quality and craftsmanship, receiving several regional and national awards.
Please note this is an unoccupied heritage building and unfortunately there are no toilets or disabled access in this venue, this will be a standing event although some seats will be available for those who need them