Northern Ireland – Belfast
Cutting Cultures – paper cuts – Part of Polish Cultural Week.
2nd – 18th May
PS², 18 Donegall Street, Belfast, BT1 2GP
Konrad Pawlaszek and Kasia Kochanska, two artists from Poland who live in Northern Ireland, would describe themselves as artists, without a national tag attached. Like many citizens here, they experience transitions and changes in identity. Their point of reference is steeped in traditional arts and craft, their chosen media is the paper cut.
Cutting patterns, designs and imagery out of paper is a tradition across many cultures. Poland has its ‘wycinanki’ (pronounced vee-chee-non-kee), the traditional Polish craft which creates intricate and beautiful designs from cutting paper. From abstract decors to folkloristic scenes, from silhouettes to representations of landscapes and rural idylls, the paper cut was a cheap way to create images. And by folding the sheet or sheets of paper, it allowed for mirrored and symmetrical compositions and abstract patterns. That the technique of the paper cut doesn’t have to be antiquated and sentimental is evident in Matisse, or more recently in the work of Felix Droese or Kara Walker.
Konrad Pawlaszek and Kasia Kochanska present a modern take on this tradition and Polish folklore in colourful and intricate examples. Half seeking reassurance from the past, half looking for contemporary inventions and updates.
Belfast / a method
3rd May – 8th June
Golden Thread Gallery, 84 – 94 Great Patrick Street, Belfast, BT1 2LU
Be a giant for a day!
The Golden Thread Gallery invites you to get a bird’s eye view of your city. Belfast/ a method is an exhibition by The Forum for Alternative Belfast, a community interest company that campaigns for a more connected built environment for the city of Belfast and its people.
This is the first 3 dimensional model to be built of the city. A team of five “mini builders” have accurately depicted the city’s buildings at a scale of 1.500, making Belfast City Hall the same height as cup of tea. The team have surveyed each and every building and created a large scale wooden model with the help of the FabLab, Queens University Belfast and the University of Ulster.
As the model grows visitors will be able to see their neighbourhood in relation to the city centre, with vacant sites highlighted in bright red. For the first time the challenges and opportunities in repairing our city can be clearly seen. The model will become a vital resource, setting a long term vision for Belfast.
Belfast / a method exhibition has a full programme of events that will inform and inspire government decision makers, planners and the people who use the city every day. Join the conversation!
Memories of a Place I’ve Never Seen
13th – 31st May | Opening: 16th May at 7pm
The Belfast Waterfront Hall, 2 Lanyon Pl, Belfast, Antrim, BT1 3WH
The Belfast Waterfront Hall presents Memories of a Place I’ve Never Seen, an exhibition in glass and light by international artist Sean Campbell. Inspired by years of travel Campbell has conjured up a body of work to ignite the imagination and inspire the creative story teller hidden in us all.
81E01
16th – 25th May | Opening: 16th May at 6pm
Platform Arts, 1 Queen St, Belfast, BT1 6EA
Gallery opening hours: Tue to Sat, 11am – 4pm
81E01 is an exhibition showcasing work by current Masters in Fine Arts students from the University of Ulster.
Current students practice range from painting, sculpture, photography, performance and video.
Students are: Aoife Brady, Pamela Byrne, Elizabeth-Anne Curistan, Cathy Droney, Andrew Glenn, Erin Hagan, Jade Magee, Jonny McEwen, Rosanna McKenna, John Robinson and Katrina Sheena Smyth.
Belfast-based curatorial collective HOUSEHOLD are delighted to have been invited to curate a visual arts programme for this year’s Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival in Belfast.
We have invited seven of Belfast’s most exciting artists and an experimental theatre group to work in three unused and unusual properties in the heart of Belfast: a retro 1970’s office building on North Street; a former ‘Mr Pound’ shop on High Street and the former premises of an architect’s office on Hill Street.
Make your way to the first floor of a mysterious unused office at 7 North Street, where Belfast-based theatre group Skinnybone have reanimated the space with their unique brand of surreal, immersive theatre and performance. Limited numbers during their performances guarantees their audience an intimate, unpredictable and thrilling experience. On the second floor artist Tonya McMullan has created interventions in the space that expand her performative and participatory practice and highlight the histories of everyday life in the office.
At an architect’s former office at 41 – 43 Hill Street, artist Liam Crichton will present a new monumental installation incorporating the whole of this impressive space.
Over on 18 High Street, five very different artists will complete a fast-paced, 10-day visual art ‘Exquisite Corpse’. Given a total of two days each, artists Laura McMorrow, Martin Boyle, Brian Morrison, Catherine Devlin and Colm Clarke will create work in response to that of their predecessors without knowing beforehand what they will encounter or what the final outcome will be! Expect an end result that will be unpredictable and a surprise for both the artists and the audience
Finally, join us for a tour of all three venues in the Cathedral Quarter on Saturday 11th May at 1pm, where we will walk around each venue offering insight into the artists’ work and the curatorial approach to this project.
Opening Times and Tickets:
- Skinnybone Theatre performances at 7 North Street: Friday 3rd, Thursday 9th, Friday 10th May at 7:30pm and Saturday 4th May 2:30pm. Tickets: Free (limited spaces, pre-booking required https://cqaf.ticketsolve.com)
- 41 – 43 Hill Street and 7 North Street: Artwork by Liam Crichton and Tonya McMullan can be viewed: Thursday 2nd May, 6pm – 8pm | Tuesday 7th May–Friday 10th May, 4pm – 6pm | Saturday 11th May 12pm – 6pm.
- 18 High Street: The Exquisite Corpse can be viewed: Thursday 2nd, Saturday 4th, Monday 6th, Wednesday 8th, Friday 10th May 6pm-8pm | and Saturday 11th May 12-6pm.
Household is a Belfast-based curatorial collective that encourages audiences to re-negotiate how they view and interact with art in urban and domestic spaces. The collective aims to create opportunities to experience new artworks in unrestricted, non-commercial and non-institutional contexts.
Northern Ireland: 30 Years of Photography
10th May – 7th July | Opening night: 9th May at 7pm
Belfast Exposed, The Exchange Place, 23 Donegall St, Belfast BT1 2FF
The MAC, 10 Exchange Street West, Belfast, BT1 2NJ
Developed as a partnership between Belfast Exposed and the MAC, Northern Ireland: 30 Years of Photography is a major exhibition, which brings together significant works by key photographers to examine the phenomenon of new photographic practices in Northern Ireland. Since the 1980s Northern Ireland has produced a distinctive body of photographic work by photographers from within and outside Northern Ireland. Many of the photographers to be included in the exhibition have established global reputations, but have not previously been considered in any sustained way as group of photographers interacting with each other’s work.
Photographers include Craig Ames, Sylvia Grace Borda, Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin, Ursula Burke, John Byrne, Victoria J. Dean, Willie Doherty, John Duncan, David Farrell, Malcolm Craig Gilbert, Paul Graham, Philip Jones Griffiths, Anthony Haughey, Kai Olaf-Hesse, Sean Hillen, Claudio Hils, Daniel Jewesbury, Peter Marlow, Gareth McConnell, Patrick McCoy, Moira McIver, Mary McIntyre, Sean McKernan, Eoghan McTigue, Jonathan Olley, Mark Power, Paul Quinn, Paul Seawright, Victor Sloan, Mervyn Smyth, Hannah Starkey and Donovan Wylie.
The exhibition is accompanied by a substantial publication written by Colin Graham. The exhibition is curated by Karen Downey, Senior Curator at Belfast Exposed.
Radhairc Bhéal Feirste agus áiteanna eile
25th April – 7th June
Cultúrlann McAdam Ó Fiaich, 216 Bothár na Bhfál, An Cheathrú Ghaeltachta, Béal Feirste, BT12 6AH
Although Úna O’Grady is probably best known for her paintings of Belfast, her insightful eye captures from many perspectives. You are invited to encounter her characteristic sense of synergy, freshness and, so often, that layer of humour mischievously spiriting from palette to canvas. This visit to Dánlann Dillon transports the observer through mystical landscapes, pausing to glance at those lurking city characters and onwards to the consummate panorama that is Úna’s beloved Belfast.
2nd May – 2nd June
BPW Gallery, Ground Floor, Cotton Court, 30-42 Waring Street, Belfast, BT1 2ED
A selection of print artists from different generations, including established, mid-career, and emerging printmakers working in Bulgaria, curated by Georgi Kolev.
This selection of Bulgarian print artists presents an encouraging picture for the future. Faced with the endless alternatives and the new challenges presented by the ‘ready-made’, infinitely available images from mass media and the IT world with its visual aggression, they have broadened the range of their tools, expanded the possibilities of photo-based expression in printmaking, and searched for new artistic expression through non-conventional approaches adopted from other genres.Yet each of the artists has also remained strong within the boundaries of his or her own categorical determination, their own loneliness, and their own response to world events and in Bulgaria. Their prints are the most objective answers to the durability and strength of art as an act of spirituality and responsibility.
BPW has a long history of bringing international printmaking shows to Belfast and this year that international link continues with the Contemporary Bulgarian Printmaking which opens as part of the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival. This striking exhibition has been facilitated by Janet Preston, Associate Lecturer in Fine Art Printmaking at the University of Ulster.
Part of the 14th Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival, the Arts & Disability Forum presents:
Plaaang Diddley
3rd – 30th May | Preview: 2nd May at 5pm
ADF Gallery, Royal Avenue, Belfast.
On Thursday 2 May, 5 – 7pm, there will be a preview at the Arts & Disability Forum of a show where not only are you welcome to touch, you’ll be able to make a noise too. Ceramicist Andrew Cooke makes unusual bespoke musical instruments: diddley bows. They are derived from instruments used in West Africa, where children play them, one beating the string with sticks and the other changing the pitch by moving a slide up and down. The instrument was developed as a children’s toy by slaves in the United States. People will be able to pick the diddley bows and play them in the gallery.
All visitors are welcome, including at the preview, and admission is free of charge. If you haven’t been to the ADF before, ask for Chris or Leo on arrival and we’ll introduce you onwards. Braille or BSL interpretation, audio described tours and group visits are available – please request in advance.
This exhibition has been programmed by the ADF as a contribution to the 14th Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival (www.cqaf.com).
Strange Loop
Curated by Ben Crothers and Phillip McCrilly
2nd – 25th May
Golden Thread Gallery, Switch Room, 84 Great Patrick St, Belfast BT1 2LU
Strange Loop explores the complex relationship between past, present and future, examining how the context in which we live determines our interpretation of history and our perception of the future. The works in the exhibition challenge and explore the ways in which we remember, re-imagine, reinterpret, re-enact, revisit and repress past events, demonstrating that history can be approached just as fluidly as our imagined futures. We are urged to question how human memory affects our perception of personal and global histories and the impact that this has on future events.
Within this, Strange Loop also considers artists, works and subject matter which are somehow out of place within their own contexts. Whether expatriates, beings from another planet or concepts within alternate realities, the lines between fact and fiction, past, present and future all become distorted, blurred or challenged. Anachronisms, inaccuracies and disproved theories abound in the coming together of multiple temporalities which create uncertainty as to where beginning, middle and end exist, if at all.
The exhibition features works by: Amanda Beech; Cliff Chiang; EASTERJESUS PRODUCTIONS (Stine Omar and Max Boss); Simon Fujiwara; Calla Henkel and Max Pitegoff; Pil and Galia Kollectiv; Beth Ka-Man Lau; and Ryan Moffett.
