Archiving Place and Time examines the engagement of visual culture and art practice in Northern Ireland, investigating the socio-political and economic development of a post-conflict society. The exhibition engages with history, memory and archival material, in addition to current issues around urban regeneration in a post-industrial city and the reconstruction of post-conflict identity. It aims to imply a response to the changing definitions of space and questions of the inevitability of history raised by the Belfast Agreement / Good Friday Agreement. Over ten years on, there is a need to register, to record the investigations that are impelling artists working in this changed situation.
The work of artists and photographers from Northern Ireland registers these shifts and in a mediated way, present them back to the culture that is their source. The work for this exhibition has been selected from some of Northern Ireland’s most well-known, contemporary artists who are from, live or work in Northern Ireland. The work has been made in the last few years, embodying a more subtle and nuanced response to the huge changes signified by the Agreement.
Artist’s represented in the exhibition include Willie Doherty, Paul Seawright, John Duncan, Rita Duffy, Sandra Johnston, Conor McGrady, Mary McIntyre, Aisling O’Beirn, Philip Napier, Mike Hogg & Conor McFeely.
The initial showing of the exhibition at Manchester Metropolitan University in November 2009 was accompanied by a major conference: Irishness, Memory and Visuality, in conjunction with the British Association of Irish Studies. The exhibition will then tour to Wolverhampton Art Gallery from June to December 2010.
The exhibition was curated by MCAC Director Megan Johnston and Fionna Barber from Manchester Metropolitan Museum.
