Ulster Museum

Bill Wolsey on his idea to turn Belfast city centre into a living museum for Belfast? And the role of awkward individuals in making change happen! #imaginebelfast

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Bill Wolsey outlines his idea for Belfast city centre to be a living museum with museum artefacts displayed in shop windows, bring the museum to the people. His idea hasn’t had much traction with the Ulster Museum,but he’s pitched it again as part of Imagine! Festival’s Build Belfast Back Better initiative. He also explains the role of awkward individuals in making progress happen.

Border Polls, Referendums and the Question of Democracy #BelfastDebate

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“Unlike the moon landing of 50 years ago“, Bob Collins suggested that the current political turmoil would not land ”in the sea of Tranquillity”. Collins was speaking on the last day of the free-to-attend Debates on Europe event held in Belfast. You can watch back Sunday morning’s panel on Border Polls, Referendums and the Question of Democracy.

Free Event: History in the Making – The Ulster Museum and the ‘Troubles and Beyond’…

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On Good Friday 2018, the Ulster Museum opened its doors, and its collections, to a new commemorative exhibition entitled ‘The Troubles and Beyond’. Displayed across hundreds of objects and images, the gallery documents social, political, and cultural changes in Northern Ireland from the civil rights era to today’s post-conflict society. The ‘Troubles’ affected almost everyone who lived in Northern Ireland and many others from further afield. Inevitably the interpretation of this period of our history is contested in terms of …

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Annual Exhibition – Royal Ulster Academy

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Attending the annual Royal Ulster Academy exhibition can be a very overwhelming experience. There is just so much art. Everywhere. Mixed media, sculpture, photography, painting, video installation. It takes over a pretty decent chunk of the fifth floor in the Ulster Museum and if, like me, you visit at the weekend, it is busy. That is not necessarily a problem as such. Can it ever be a bad thing that so many people want to come and look at and …

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Art of the Troubles at the Ulster Museum

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The Ulster Museum’s Art of the Troubles exhibition is now open and runs through the summer until 7 September. A variety of styles, “sides” and periods exhibited: sixty works from fifty artists. Reactions to atrocities, depictions of politics (a particularly grim triptych by Joseph McWilliams of Sammy Wilson, Ian Paisley Snr and Peter Robinson) and peace talks, as well as reflections on how society dealt with conflict. The no photography rule was being strictly imposed in the gallery this afternoon, …

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#GiantsCauseway: Fenians lose out to Bible.

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*sigh* According to UTV, the Giant’s Causeway Visitor Centre now includes exhibits that acknowlegde the young-earth Creationist view of how the world-famous stones are formed. Pete has detailed the backstory to this before and others have picked up the creationist lobbying trail around the Ulster Museum. UTV report that The National Trust said it wanted to “reflect and respect” the fact that some people contest the views of mainstream science. With that, the National Trust have now neatly denigrated and rejected centuries …

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I wonder what they’ll spend the money on……

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It’s just been announced that the Ulster Museum has won the Art Fund prize of £100,000. Congratulations are in order but it does beg the question  can the Museum and trustees spend the prize as they wish or does the Minister for Culture & Arts  Nelson McCausland have the final say so? Moochin PhotomanPhotographer and visual artist based in Belfast. I have facilitated community based workshops with groups as diverse as visually impaired individuals in Dungannn, Travellers across Northern Ireland, …

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Is Nelson McCausland overstepping his remit?

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Culture minister Nelson McCausland has written to the trustees of the National Museums Northern Ireland asking them to give more prominence in their displays and exhibitions at the Ulster Museum to Ulster Scots, the Orange Order and alternative views as regards the origins of the universe specifically creationism. The letter, written as part of a consultation for the Ulster Museums business plan for next year (Shared Future Strategy) has led to the Director of the Museums Association Mark Taylor to state that the …

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Award winning Ulster Museum renovation short-listed for Art Fund Prize

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No doubt assisted by our own modest support [*ahem* – Ed], the recently renovated Ulster Museum in Belfast, which re-opened in October 2009, has been shortlisted for UK’s largest single arts prize – the £100,000 Art Fund Prize.  From the BBC report. Dr Jim McGreevy of National Museums Northern Ireland, said the museum had attracted “fabulous support from many visitors and via the online vote”. “We are grateful for the enthusiasm of the Northern Ireland public in helping get us to the final …

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