LONDON -- It is now just over a decade since the historic Belfast/Good Friday Agreement was signed, bringing an end to some thirty years of bitter conflict in Northern Ireland. The 1998 Agreement has brought significant changes not just for people's everyday lives but for their awareness of the past and their hopes for the future.
Our ARTKABINETT collector network explores the healing, rapport, and discussion which manifest in the fine arts of this region of historic conflict.
The Agreement -- also known as the Belfast Agreement (Irish: Comhaont˙ BhÈal Feirste) or the Good Friday Agreement (Irish: Comhaont˙ Aoine an ChÈasta), and occasionally as the Stormont Agreement --was a major political development in the Northern Ireland peace process. It established the Northern Ireland Assembly with devolved legislative powers and marked a deescalation of violence in the Troubles.
The Agreement is an international agreement between the British and Irish governments. It comprises two elements: the legal agreement between the two governments and a more substantive agreement between eight political parties and the two governments.
That former text is very short. It has just four articles. It is that short text which is the legal agreement.
The Northern Ireland political parties were not involved in its negotiation. However, the short legal agreement incorporates in its Schedules the latter agreement reached by the eight political parties (the Ulster Unionist Party, the Social Democratic and Labour Party, Sinn FÈin, the Alliance Party, the Progressive Unionist Party, the Northern Ireland Womenís Coalition, the Ulster Democratic Party and Labour) and the two governments.
Technically, this Scheduled agreement can be distinguished as the multi-party agreement as opposed to the Belfast Agreement itself.
It was signed in Belfast on 10 April 1998 (Good Friday) by the British and Irish governments and endorsed by most Northern Ireland political parties. On 23 May 1998 the Agreement was endorsed by the voters of Northern Ireland in a referendum. On the same day, voters in the Republic voted separately to change their constitution in line with the Agreement. The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) was the only large party that opposed the Agreement. The Agreement came into force on 2 December 1999.
Archiving Place & Time reveals how a new generation of artists from Northern Ireland have responded to this changed situation. It includes photographs, installations and drawings that engage with history, memory and archival material, as well as issues around urban regeneration and the reconstruction of identities in post-conflict society.
Archiving Place & Time has been developed by Millennium Court Arts Centre, Craigavon, and Manchester Metropolitan University in association with Wolverhampton Art Gallery.
Through photographs, installations, paintings and drawings, Archiving Place & Time reveals how a new generation of contemporary artists from Northern Ireland have responded to the changed situation since the signing of the historic Good Friday/Belfast Agreement.
The Agreement brought to an end some thirty years of bitter conflict, where it has developed significant socio-political and economic changes in Northern Ireland, not just for peopleís everyday lives but their awareness of the past and their hopes for the future.
The exhibition embodies subtle responses to history, memory and archival material, examining the central themes and shifts in territory and place, urban regeneration and mapping in a post-industrial city, and the reconstruction and redefinition of traditional and post-conflict identity.
Over the last ten years, there has been a noticeable shift towards new forms of contemporary art practice and expression in Northern Ireland. The works selected for the exhibition have been produced by well-known contemporary artists who are from, live or work in Northern Ireland, and have seen first hand the re-building of their environment and society, and offer a personal response to these changes. They include artists Willie Doherty, Paul Seawright, Rita Duffy, Sandra Johnston, Conor McGrady, Mary McIntyre, Aisling OíBeirn, Philip Napier and Conor McFeely.
The exhibition was produced in partnership with the Millennium Court Arts Centre, Portadown, Holden Gallery, Manchester Metropolitan University and Wolverhampton Art Gallery. Launched in Manchester in November 2009, the exhibition was accompanied by a major conference Irishness, Memory and Visuality, in conjunction with the British Association of Irish Studies.
The exhibition at Wolverhampton Art Gallery continues to demonstrate Wolverhamptonís commitment to displaying work based around the theme of conflict, and follows the exhibition Fresh Perspectives, which explored the role of visual artists in presenting Northern Ireland's contested past and future using works from Wolverhamptonís significant collection of contemporary Northern Irish visual arts.
Archiving Place & Time was curated by Millennium Court Arts Centre Director Megan Johnston and Fionna Barber from Manchester Metropolitan Museum.
