International Curators coming to Backwater Artists Group

Backwater Artists Group are excited to announce that we will work with two International curators as part of our Artistic Programme for 2027.

The initial selection process will take place through the Backwater website.

Deniz Kirkali (UK/TURKEY) will curate a members group exhibition for The Punishment Block, Spike Island, in June 2027.

Deniz Kirkali is a curator and writer based between Istanbul and London. She holds an MA in Contemporary Art Theory at Goldsmiths, University of London and a BS in Media, Culture and Communication at New York University. She has co-founded topsoil, a transnational curatorial and research collective, and Garp Sessions, a summer programme in Babakale, Turkey. She was the curator of Reciprocity Muscles at Cala, Berlin, My Dear Friends at Depo, Istanbul and Make it Hot, Cool it Down, Turn it Over in London; and the assistant curator of the 10th BACA Award Exhibition at Bonnefantenmuseum, Maastricht, the Pavilion of Turkey at the 58th Venice Biennale, and BAHAR, the Istanbul offsite project of Sharjah Biennial 13. Her writings have been published in international magazines and platforms such as AQNB, Flash Art, this is tomorrow, Art Rabbit, We are Europe, Cogito, Art Unlimited and Manifold. She is the co-author of Otomy, published in 2022 by Onagore and winner of Volumes Book Award 2022. She has edited Fire Walk, an artist book by Ulgen Semerci and Burcu Yagcioglu, funded by the European Union. She is currently working as one of the editors of Garp Sessions Book, funded by SAHA. She is also currently doing her PhD in Advanced Practices at Goldsmiths, University of London.

Antonio Cervera Fontenla (ALICANTE/CUBA/UK) will curate a members’ group exhibition in Studio 12, in November 2027.

Antonio Cervera is a cultural manager, curator and researcher whose practice is grounded in contemporary art as a space for critical knowledge production. He has worked as assistant curator at Factoría Diseño and Factoría Habana, the latter affiliated with the Office of the City Historian of Havana (OHC), and has experience in curating, cultural research and the management of artistic spaces, including C5 Colección, Factoría Compostela, A Chocolataría, Interview Room 11 (Edinburgh), Espai Bigueta and Espai Art-Kos.
He holds degrees from the University of A Coruña (Spain) and the Università degli Studi di Pavia (Italy). His curatorial and research practice focuses on the analysis of cultural identity, territory and memory from a situated, relational and decolonial perspective. Drawing on applied anthropological research and fieldwork, his work is particularly concerned with the contemporary reinterpretation of intangible cultural heritage at risk of disappearance, understood not as a remnant of the past, but as a living system of knowledge, practices and relationships in constant transformation.
Cervera regularly collaborates with Print and Art Edition Magazine (G&E) and Fundación Ankaria, and is currently developing site-responsive, collaborative projects in international contexts.

Backwater studio member Ciara Rodgers is preparing to launch Soft City Circuits, a new site-responsive installation and participatory walking project that will unfold across Cork City from 13–19 June 2026 as part of Cork Midsummer Festival.

Developed through the support of the Jane Anne Rothwell Award, Soft City Circuits introduces playful, soft sculptural interventions into the urban landscape, inviting audiences to encounter familiar streets in unexpected ways. Through guided walks and temporary installations, the project creates moments of pause, reflection and discovery, encouraging a renewed engagement with the city and its everyday spaces.

Ciara’s multidisciplinary practice spans drawing, installation, performance and photography, exploring the relationship between body, architecture and our physical and psychological experience of place. The project draws directly from years of walking-based research carried out around Cork City, including her daily journeys to and from her studio at Backwater Artists Group.

Speaking about the project, Ciara notes:

“For a number of years my research for artmaking has involved gathering documentation and inspiration from the city streets on my walks to and from my studio at Backwater Artists Group. It is a pleasure to now have the opportunity to bring elements of the studio out onto the same streets, developed with the support of the Jane Anne Rothwell Award.”

Alongside Soft City Circuits, Ciara opend her newest solo exhibition Paper Facades make Tender Follies at Pallas Projects on 4 June. The exhibition continues her research into the relationship between body and building, bringing together sculpture, photography and installation to explore care, shelter and the rhythms of urban life.

Congratulations to Ciara on these recent achievements!