RAT TRAP collective (2016-22)
Co-founded in 2016 by
Carlota Sousa Nobrega, Gweni Llwyd, Joel Hurst,
Lily Wayne, Tom Rees

Current members
Carlota Sousa Nobrega, Elin Meredydd,
Gweni Llwyd, Rhys Aneurin and Tom Rees

RAT TRAP is an artist-led collective based in Cardiff that I co-founded IN 2016. Inspired by the DIY scene, we established the collective to create opportunities for ourselves and our peers to present work outside conventional gallery spaces. From the beginning, our focus has been on live, experimental events that bring together emerging and established visual artists and musicians, creating space for dialogue between artforms and blurring the boundaries between their audiences.

Since its formation, RAT TRAP has produces events in unconventional and disused spaces such as the Jacob’s Market basement, the Castle Arcade and the Cathays Cons Club, in Cardiff and also collaborated with arts organisations icnluding Made in Roath, g39 and A-N Artists Network.

In 2020, artists Elin Meredydd and Rhys Aneurin joined the collective and continue to shape its direction alongside us.

Our work has been profiled by Literature Wales, who described Rat Trap events as “often mix[ing] music and exhibition without one becoming the background for the other… works that evolve during conversations; the work is raw, unmediated, but considered and precise.” Rat Trap was also featured in a-n’s 40 Years, 40 Artists series, which highlighted our ethos of “celebrating creativity, testing boundaries and building a community around them with other artists who are interested in experimentation.”

Blue Saturday / Sadwrn Glas (2022)
6 weeks residency and exhibition
GS Artists, Swansea, Wales

Artsists:
Carlota Sousa Nobrega, Elin Meredydd,
Gweni Llwyd &. Rhys Aneuring

As part of GS Artists’ programme, Artsist At Work, between the 25th of July and the 3rd of September 2022, RAT TRAP undertook a 6-week residency in the GS’s gallery space. This residency gave us the chance to focus on our individual work whilst returning to and rethinking our collective practice.

The residency culminted in a closing event where we experiemented with the work produced during the residency.

RAT TRAP x g39 (2020)
6 weeks residency and public programme
g39, Cardiff, Wales

Artists:
Aled Simons
Carlota Nóbrega,Cybi Williams, Elin Meredydd,
Ella Jones, Gweni Llwyd, Hugo Brazão,
Inês Brites, Jennifer Taylor, L. Barron, Mark Hicken,
Molly Sinclair-Thomson & Rhys Aneurin

In Spring 2020, g39 invited us to take over their building for a six-week programme, RAT TRAP x g39. The programme showcased work by artists, musicians, and bands from Wales, England, and Portugal through a series of residencies, exhibitions, and live events, including an opening party on 22 February.

During the residency, we facilitated new collaborations by pairing groups of six artists to work on three 48-hour micro-residencies. Each residency began with a public candlelit meal and culminated in an end-of-residency party, where artists shared the ideas and work they had developed.

Alongside the residencies, we collaborated with Cardiff-based organisations and creative practitioners to deliver g39’s weekly Breakfast Club.

RAT TRAP x Castle Arcade (2018)
3 day residency and live event
Castle Arcade, Cardiff

Artists:
Alys Jones, Aled Simons, Elin Meredydd,
Gwyn Williams, James Green, Peter Slania,
Rhys Aneurin, Sam Whitaker & Tomos Williams

Bands:
Zac White, Eugene Caper and Rhodri Brooks, H. Hawkline,
Private World, French Alps Tigers, Red Telephone

In May 2018, RAT TRAP transformed an abandoned flat in Cardiff’s Castle Arcade into an experimental exhibition space - bringing together visual art, performance, and sound in unexpected ways.

Over the course of three days, the space became a site of creative exploration, culminating in a live concert that tookover the entire castle arcade.

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