The Festival’s 2023 Opening Provocation centred on the following question: How can we connect with a find mutual support internationally, platforming artists, individuals, and communities who find alternative ways to resist?

The Opening Provocation consisted of a conversation between Array Collective and Haven for Artists, examining this question in detail, presenting answers through the lens of their respective practices.

Haven for Artists is a cultural feminist organisation based in Beirut, Lebanon. A community of many people, they work together to organise, support, campaign, nurture and create in a country in a multi-dimensional crisis. Haven for Artists also took part in a residency during EAF 2023, connecting with local Scottish organisations working in artistic, feminist, and anti-racist missions.

Array Collective is a group of eleven artists from the North and South of Ireland, England, and Italy, who all live and work in Belfast. They create collaborative actions in response to socio-political issues affecting them and their communities. In 2021, they were the first artists from Northern Ireland to win the Turner Prize.