Alissa Kleist

About

Alissa Kleist is a curator based in Belfast. She is interested in the act of making public, and in emergent and speculative artistic practices. Alissa is one of the founders and Co-Directors of Household, an organisation where she collaboratively curates site-specific exhibitions, residencies and events, often with other institutional and community partners in public and neighbourhood spaces. 

She is the Curator of the PS² Freelands Artist Programme (September 2018-December 2020), a UK-wide initiative funded by the Freelands Foundation, where she has supported the creative and professional development of two cohorts of Northern Ireland-based artists. From 2015 to 2018, she was the Curator (Exhibitions) at the Centre for Contemporary Art (CCA) Derry~Londonderry, where she worked on commissioning and delivering exhibitions and new projects with local and international artists. 

From 2011 to 2013, she was a co-director of Catalyst Arts (Belfast), where she collectively ran the organisation, curated exhibitions, and delivered projects in a variety of contexts. From 2013 to 2015, she worked for the contemporary photography magazine Source Photographic Review. She regularly writes for a number of publications and has edited and contributed to catalogues and books, including most recently Curriculum: Contemporary Art Goes to School.

As an independent curator, she has delivered projects at institutions such as Lismore Castle Arts, Black Church Print Studio, Golden Thread Gallery, Millennium Court Art Centre and PS².

She has given talks and lectures at the invitation of institutions and organisations such as a-n, the Institute of Art, Design and Technology (IADT) Dún Laoghaire, Ulster University, National College of Art and Design (NCAD) Dublin, Limerick School of Art and Design, Queen’s University Belfast, Gothenburg University, Goldsmiths, Belfast City Council, the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Artists Moving Image Northern Ireland, Visual Artists Ireland, the Contemporary Art Society, Tate Modern, and IKT. 

She holds degrees from Ulster University (Master of Fine Art, 2011) and Limerick School of Art and Design (BA Fine Art, 2008) and certificates in Postgraduate Executive Leadership (2019) and Professional Practice (2012) from Ulster University.

Alissa sits on the Arts Council Ireland peer panel (2018-2023) and is a Jerwood Arts Artist Adviser.

Website: www.alissakleist.com