C95 Column

Visual Arts North

In praise of the Ulster Fry

Recently this column has been to North America and Northern Europe. Perhaps it is time to take stock again of one's immediate surroundings. Being back again has brought home to me just how difficult it is to survive in the North's art world

This was brought home to me recently in Dublin. People there were saying how wonderful all the artist lead initiatives in the North were, while sitting in offices being paid for their involvement in the art world. I was there because of a lack of opportunities in the North. It is true; artist's initiatives do create a wide range of opportunities, but they are run on an unpaid basis. Artist initiatives are exciting simply because it is the realisation of a dream rather than a decision made by a committee, and they can only be fully realised if there is a good professional structure in place into which the artist can tap. In the North, the artist usually has to do all the administration and foot work as well. Or as one artist who is involved in several projects said to me 'it brain drains artists.'

The lack of a professional structure also means that certain interesting projects pass Belfast and the North by. About eighteen months ago, the Polish artist and curator Artur Tiber was visiting. He was looking for opportunities to show Polish art in Ireland. He gave a talk at Catalyst with the idea that any interested parties would pick up the idea and get involved. While there was a lot of interest, no structure was in place that could actually make it happen. I then took Artur to Dublin where he had no trouble finding a suitable venue that could take over the project and administer it.

I have written in CIRCA 84 about the need for a well-funded alternative space. That was three years ago when it was thought that the Good Friday agreement would bring in more funding for the arts here. Well the regeneration has begun but there is still no cohesive policy for the visual arts. This was beautifully demonstrated in CIRCA 93 in article about the Cathedral Quarter, Susan Quail of the developers Laganside said, "It's creating this kind of café culture, with the whole idea that people can come into the Quarter, enjoy some art or cultural activity, but then also stay and have a drink, that European dimension." So café latte is to replace the historic Ulster Fry, and art or cultural activity is seen as a dimension. No doubt art will be used to extend the parameters of the cultural envelope - in a European sense of course. God help the Cathedral Quarter. So are the planners and developers to become the new curators? The sad answer is that in the present situation they will certainly have a curatorial impact.

The question of studio space highlights the lack of a cohesive approach. The Review of Visual Art in Belfast, when talking about studio space said "the lack of funding over many years has meant, not unavoidably, a significant degree of under development in the sector." The report came out over two years ago but seemed to hang around without anyone acting on it. The two commissioning bodies blamed each other for the delay and in the end nothing happened. This is in stark contrast to somewhere like Cork where the Corporation acquired a building, the Department of Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands and the Arts Council came in with money for the infrastructure and Backwater Artists Initiative now have excellent studio spaces.

The problem here seems to be historical. The main funding bodies have concentrated on what they saw as the most prestigious organisations. Crumbs were flung to a few good causes but never enough for serious development. This has created an unstructured vacuum. It now looks like people who see art as a marketing tool will fill this vacuum. Lets hope global warming is for real if we are all to sit on the streets of Belfast sipping our coffee instead of being inside tucking into our fries.

Brian Kennedy