The 51st International Venice Biennale of Visual Arts, in the year 2005. The first participation by Northern Ireland in a space separate from the national pavilion of Ireland. That decision, taken by the commissioner and curator Hugh Mulholland, is not a separation from the Republic of Ireland for political or historical reasons, but rather the fitting context in which to give voice and relevance to panorama of artistic activity in Northern Ireland.

Ulster is not a very extensive region, but it is one that is original and interesting in terms of its artistic development. Art often succeeds, despite a world which often devotes itself unconditionally to globalisation, in focusing on and making stand out the experiences of diverse territories, preserving their identity and uniqueness. Michael Hogg Pivot, 2005 installation shot, Venice courtesy the artist

Fourteen artists, eight 'permanent' and six invited to participate with performances during the Long weekend from 6 to 10 October, exhibited in the ample and bright spaces of the Istituto provinciale per l'Infanzia Santa Maria della Pietà, in the Castello district, a stone's throw from Piazza San Marco. Despite the notable number of artists whose works the commissioner wished to present, the path through the exhibition did not present any particular difficulty in terms of finding a connecting thread in the various artistic experiences: there is in fact a common point of view, a look turned to the future with hope, detached from the Troubles of the past.

There is generally no strong reference to the political, nor to religious complexity; no politicisation of culture, no veiled propaganda message: the artists of the latest generation, fortified by having lived in a substantially peaceful period, create works in which the aesthetic and purely poetic are to the fore, but in a practical sense, with an eye on the international artistic scene. The leitmotif of the show, The Nature of things, indicates an investigation of the reality of things at different levels of reading and interpretation: above all, it is a taking stock of how the world is, a serene look at the mechanisms that dominate reality, a way of looking which is simultaneously detached but not disillusioned, rather one of acceptance and consensus. But there are other paraphrases: the nature of things, understood as the link with surrounding nature; the nature of things, understood symbolically as the political and historical reality in which one lives.

Each artist chose the interpretation which most closely approached his or her form of expression. The oil canvases of Darren Murray, Wailma Falls, Brassocattleya clifontii 'magnifica', Cattleya, shown along the central corridor, are natural, stereotypical landscapes, with trees, waterfalls and hills whose contours are barely sketched. The backgrounds, in contrast, are monochromatic and of deep blue or bright red; and Murray plays with small highlighted elements rendered in a more naturalistic manner, such as flowers, orchids, birds and leaves. The effect is fairytalelike and surreal, visionary: a reinterpreted nature which takes on images from traditional figurative art only in their contours, to arrive at scenes freed of all formal convention.

Taking the viewer back to reality, at the end of the corridor, On or about December 1981 by Katrina Moorhead is a sculpture of wood and plywood which returns to a relatively recent period of history in Northern Ireland: the year in which the De Lorean Factory, a sportscar industry, opened its doors in Belfast, creating the utopia of new jobs for Catholics and Protestants at a time when unemployment was touching very high levels. The winged doors of the car, the truly innovative aspect of the design, are the symbols of this dream of progress; in the symbolic language of the artist, however, they represent already the failure of the factory - shut after a few years; two broken wings, no longer able to fly. On the left side of the corridor other rooms opened up like little niches; caskets. Ian Charlesworth presented the very original work From dark passages, a charcoal and gesso drawing on the ceiling of the room: traces of a continuous, circular, harmonious passage, at the same time mysterious, originating in a sense of solitude.

Mary McIntyre brings the viewer back to photographic realism with her prints in which architectural images based on chiaroscuro effects (That afternoon I - II), the subtle presence of humanity in a city park in autumn (Reverie), and the sacrality of the penumbra inside the Louvre follow one after the other. The artist is playing on two levels: on the one hand, there is a look at nature and its elements, on the other there is a presentiment, perhaps a warning, which can be breathed in the air which is heavy with the tension and pathos of the images, inclining the spectator towards an interpretation which goes below the surface.

Sandra Johnston's video, Conduct best calculated for obtaining victory, is a celebration of the resistance of the citizens of Northern Ireland against the forces of order in 1869. The artist skilfully relives the event, through witness testimonies, while documentarystyle images slip by accompanied by the musical track. There are images of processions and bonfires which mark, with detachment but also with awareness of the popular, nationalist force behind them, episodes of guerrilla warfare against the army.

And there is nature once again. Hidden and intimate, the niche created to accommodate the pencil drawings by William McKeown, Nest, The bravery of birds, was a window on a world through which the visitor could grasp and appreciate its beauty and the works' aesthetic pleasure - the soft, pale subject matter, the lines and the flowers sketched and rendered almost as though to suggest the sacrality of the natural world which surrounds us.

Michael Hogg also played on various levels of interpretation in his Pilot installation, in which the principles of physics function as pivot and balance as a means of exploring a political theme, the elections in Northern Ireland.

Finally, one entered the space dedicated to Seamus Harahan's video Holylands: the poetic qualityof the images is evident in the continuous attempt to sublimate the quotidian activities of workers ready for their shift in the factory, the scenes of marginal and marginalised life in this residential district of Belfast, the zoomed images which capture dandelion seeds in flight, a can lifted by the wind which rolls down the street. Here also nature and culture meet each other, in a work of social character, though not one of judgment but of taking stock; with a melancholy, absorbed glance at real problems, ones that are often too close for us to notice them.

Following the same curatorial line of the exhibition, the short week dedicated to performances represented an opportunity to create a stronger connection between Northern Ireland and Venice. Apart from the involvement of the occasional tourist, it proved the most natural way of making contact with lagoonside life, observed in its habitual activities and in the images of the city known throughout the world.

Peter Richards's work attempted to observe Venice, using a camera obscura to capture its most famous views, taken from paintings by Canaletto, Guardi, Bellini and Carpaccio. This installation, mounted each day in a different location between Piazza San Marco, Rialto and the Ponte dell'Accademia, played with the spectators by involving them, and created a direct link back to past figurative art in Venice. Paddy Bloomer and Nicky Keogh in contrast played on the Canal Grande, constructing a boat from a rubbish bin and letting it slip round on the lagoon waters: privileging the recycling of old objects, the artist couple gave the objects a new identity, and the boat let itself sway in the neardreamlike dimension of the voyage and the unknown, looking trustingly towards a future on the open sea.

The other artists invited to participate in the event chose to distribute to Venetians and tourists information related to Belfast, with the aim of letting emerge an image of Northern Ireland capable of dismantling the political and civil images which all the world knows. Thus Factotum created a special edition of The Vacuum for the occasion; the publication is important within the panorama of Northern Ireland, because it represents a medium of communication, critique and cultural discussion for Belfast and its environs.

Aisling O'Beirn posed herself the task of investigating the diverse ways in which representations of a place are transmitted. Her chosen media were coffee/ cappuccino cups and bags of pigeon feed sold on the stalls of Piazza San Marco: these objects became the supports for myths, legends, stories and curiosities about Belfast, casually bringing the locals and visitors closer to the Northern Ireland imaginary.

Thus was The nature of things. A comprehensive review of the artistic horizons of Northern Ireland, presented in a direct, guileless, involving manner. A contribution to an international Biennale, capable of taking and expressing the best of contemporary art, in all its cultural and historical diversity.

Translated by Peter FitzGerald

Francesca Bonetta holds an MA in History of Art and Conservation of Artistic Goods from the Università Cà Foscari, Venice; in 2004 worked at the Irish Museum of Modern Art on a Leonardo fellowship, and during the 2005 Biennale she collaborated with Commissioner Sarah Glennie as Project Coordinator for the Irish Pavilion.

Northern Ireland at the 51st Venice Biennale, Venice, June - December 2005