Interactive installation wins inaugural UCD Art Collection Award for emerging artists
29 May 2025
UCD Art Collection Award winner Nikolas Ryan Credit: Leon Farrell/Photocall Ireland
An immersive installation has been selected as the winner of the first-ever UCD Art Collection Award, which recognises up-and-coming artists.
‘Transcendent Archives’ by Nikolas Ryan will be displayed as part of the UCD Art Collection on campus later this year.
A new partnership between NCAD and UCD, the UCD Art Collection Award is open to all final-year students at NCAD, with the aim of expanding UCD’s dynamic and inclusive collection of artworks on campus.
As well as inclusion in the UCD Art Collection, the winning artist received €4,000 in funding.
Nikolas Ryan is an emerging new media artist currently completing his MFA in Art and Social Action at NCAD. His work often addresses themes of identity, power, and historical representation through the lens of digital technologies.
‘Transcendent Archives’ challenges traditional archival practices by centring transgender narratives that have historically been erased or marginalised.
The interactive archive invites users to co-create and navigate histories in a participatory, anti-institutional way.
As part of the application process, entrants were required to demonstrate how their work aligns with UCD Art Collection’s mission of fostering curiosity, encouraging dialogue and enhancing engagement through art.
“This work is a deeply moving and intellectually rigorous contribution to the UCD Art Collection,” said Dr Fernando Sánchez-Migallón Cano, UCD Art Collection Curator.
“Nikolas’s work is not only a striking visual and conceptual piece, but also an urgent and necessary intervention. This award highlights the significance of platforms that empower marginalised voices, and we are incredibly proud to see his work represented in UCD’s collection.”
“Nikolas Ryan is a very deserving recipient of this very important new award,” said Professor Sarah Glennie, Director at NCAD.
“NCAD has long been immensely proud of Nikolas’ important and distinctive practice, which developed during his time at NCAD as both an undergraduate and postgraduate student. It is a huge honour that this work is now entering the UCD Art Collection as he graduates from our MFA.”
By: Rebecca Hastings, Digital Journalist, UCD University Relations
To contact the UCD News & Content Team, email: newsdesk@ucd.ie
