About

Named after the Celtic word for "sanctuary," CAIM is Slane Castle’s new art program dedicated to exploring nature and sanctuary through contemporary art. In September 2025, CAIM launched its inaugural exhibition at the iconic 18th-century estate, fostering dialogues between international contemporary art and Ireland’s cultural heritage.

In Irish Gaelic, CAIM signifies protection and sanctuary—a concept deeply rooted in ancient Celtic symbolism and ceremony. Traditionally, it refers to the act of encircling something in a protective prayer, evoking a sense of safety and sacredness.

Inspired by these themes of shelter, preservation, and ritual, the exhibition brings together 19 Irish and international contemporary artists working across various mediums, generations, and cultural backgrounds. Reflecting Slane Castle’s motto, "Nurture and Share," CAIM transforms the historic estate by engaging with and reawakening its connection to the surrounding natural landscape.

Meet the Curators

CAIM is co-curated by Jenn Ellis and Matilda Liu

  • Founder | Meeting Point Projects

    Matilda Liu is an independent curator based in London, with a global perspective shaped by her upbringing in the US and China. Her curatorial practice explores the intersections of contemporary art, design, culture, and cuisine, creating exhibitions and experiences that foster dialogue across disciplines. As the founder of Meeting Point Projects, Matilda curates exhibitions that frequently showcase emerging artists—often within three years of graduating from art school—alongside established artists from private collections. Her work is driven by an interest in cultural heritage, space, and human geography, seeking to expand the critical contexts in which contemporary art can be engaged with.

    Matilda holds a BA from Central Saint Martins and an MA in Art Business from Sotheby’s Institute of Art. She is an advocate for supporting artists at all stages of their careers. Through her projects, she is dedicated to fostering cross-disciplinary conversations and creating meaningful encounters between art, design, and lived experience.

  • Founder | Apsara Studio

    Jenn Ellis FRSA is a curator and founder from Switzerland, Colombia and the UK based in London following five years in Hong Kong. Passionate about the considered meeting of art, space and context, she has created over the last decade meaningful projects and connections between artists, galleries and institutions globally. As the founder of curatorial studio Apsara, Ellis has curated, led and conceived solo projects from Frieze 9 Cork Street to the UNESCO

    heritage sites in Burgundy, France. With a twin emphasis on care and collaboration, Ellis has worked with international galleries, foundations, institutions, fairs and brands including Frieze, South London Gallery, Sullivan+Strumpf, Lehmann Maupin, and Breguet. With a particular interest in global artistic dialogue, Ellis has curated shows with emerging and leading contemporary artists such as Dawn Ng, Sin Wai Kin, Edgar Calel and Mandy El-Sayegh. Ellis and Apsara’s projects have been featured globally from the Art Newspaper, Artforum and Forbes to Vogue.

    Jenn is equally the co-founder of acclaimed virtual platform AORA, which combines art, architecture and music to instill a sense of calm and wellbeing. Welcoming over 70,000+ unique virtual visitors since June 2020, and collaborating with 160+ artists, galleries and institutions globally, AORA has been profiled for its innovation and connection-making on the BBC to the Evening Standard. Beyond Jenn’s curatorial activity, she co-hosted podcast Between Two Curators, lectures at various institutions including Sotheby’s Institute of Art, is a Tate Young Patrons Ambassador and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. Ellis holds a Law Degree from King’s College London and a History of Art degree from the University of Cambridge.

Meet the Jury Panel

CAIM 2025 is honoured to be guided by a jury panel of writers, curators, and leading voices in contemporary art

  • Belinda Quirke is a curator, producer, musician and inaugural director of both the award winning Solstice Arts Centre, and most recently Swift Cultural Centre, Trim in County Meath. She has instigated a diverse cultural programme at Solstice, encompassing the curation of performance, gallery spaces, offsite and touring productions, including recent pivotal commissions with artists Niamh McCann, Willie Doherty, Isabel Nolan and Barbara Knežević. Her curatorial work has been presented from the MAC, Belfast to The STABLEarts, Washington DC, playing a critical role in Irish arts development and advocacy. A graduate of NCAD (MFA, Art in the Contemporary World), Crawford College of Art (Painting) and University College Cork (B.Mus), Belinda is currently a trustee of the Golden Fleece Award; an independent artistic prize fund established as a charitable bequest by the late Helen Lillias Mitchell.

    Quirke’s current sound research explores the attunement of ancient and electronic drone etymologies through analogue synths. Recent commissions include “The Hum of Earth's Uneven Breath”, Irish Museum of Modern Art, with collaborator artist Isabel Nolan. Belinda will perform at Hawai‘i Triennial 2025: Aloha Nō, as part of ‘Kipuka Ireland’ public programme.

  • Chris Fite-Wassilak is a writer and critic based in London, author of Ha-Ha Crystal and The Artist in Time. An Associate Editor of ArtReview, he has also contributed to Art Monthly, e-flux, frieze, The Quietus, Tate Etc and Vittles, among others. He is a tutor on the MA Writing at the RCA, London, and co-organises, with the artist Anne Tallentire, the biannual event hmn.

  • Dr Helen Pheby is Head of Culture, Heritage and Sport with the West Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority, which comprises Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees, Leeds and Wakefield. Helen was Associate Director, Programme, at Yorkshire Sculpture Park (YSP), where she worked from 2001-24. She gained her PhD in 2003 from the University of Liverpool. Her thesis explored equity of access to, and participation in, culture in relation to New Labour’s Policy Action Team 10 and social exclusion. Helen’s role at WYCA involves working in partnership to help deliver the West Yorkshire Plan and Mayor Brabin’s pledges and ultimately contributing to a happy and thriving region.

  • Jack Wilks is a collector, patron, and writer based in London, dedicated to supporting emerging artists and fostering critical conversations in contemporary art. Founder of Museum Addict, he shares essays on contemporary art with a focus on ideas of diaspora and cultural exchange. He works in the Contemporary Art Department at Sotheby’s and as an arts patron has helped facilitate acquisitions of works by emerging artists for institutions including the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston and the Albertina Museum in Vienna.

  • Michael Hill is Programme Curator at Temple Bar Gallery + Studios, Dublin, Ireland, and one half of the curatorial team (with Clíodhna Shaffrey) that represented Ireland at the 59th Venice Biennale 2022, and Irish Tour 2023, with artist Niamh O’Malley.

    In 2024 he curated two major off-site solo exhibitions in the active industrial setting of Dublin Port, integrating large-scale immersive installations into a disused pump house building with Yuri Pattison, and open-air graving docks with Liliane Puthod. In 2025 he will make independently curated exhibitions with Liliane Puthod at Weatherproof, Chicago; and Mairead O’hEocha at The Model, Sligo.

  • Alexander Burton Conyngham, 9th Marquess Conyngham, co-founder of Slane Irish Whiskey, hails from the historic Conyngham family of Slane Castle. After studying Art History at Trinity College Dublin and working at Christie’s, he returned to Ireland in 2006 and launched Slane Irish Whiskey in 2009, later partnering with Brown Forman to open Slane Distillery in 2018. He continues his family’s legacy by hosting the iconic Slane Concerts and supporting Rock Farm Slane, an organic farm and eco-glamping site run by his wife, Carina. Alex blends heritage with innovation, ensuring Slane Castle Estate remains a thriving cultural and sustainable destination.

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