Autumn 2001 - review: Belfast II
C97  | | Poster for Kissarama ; courtesy grassy knoll |
A contemporary art event, The International Language was launched in Belfast City on Saturday, April 28, and continued at various times and locations until Saturday, May 12. Organised and co-curated by Eoghan McTigue, Annie Fletcher and Phil Collins, it was set up to invite ten artists of local and international backgrounds to come and interpret Northern Ireland's present historical positioning. Most interesting were, in particular, the performances and events by those artists for whom political conflict has been a part of their own national environment, as well as an ongoing point of discussion in their work. This project provided them with an opportunity to respond to Belfast's current state of political and economic flux.  | | Eoghan McTigue: from Empty Stand ; courtesy Catalyst Arts |  | Phil Collins: from Holiday in Someone Else's Misery ;
courtesy Catalyst Arts |
One intrinsic, ubiquitous component to life in Belfast is the British army's surveillance helicopter with its distinctive sound of blades cutting the atmosphere. The aircraft hovers, suspended in the sky like an insect pinned in a glass case, and you down below continue living life, subconsciously aware of its all-seeing, all-hearing, all-recording powers. For one afternoon Kosovan artist Sislej Xhafa opened up the heavily controlled skies by inviting Trixie, a local jazz crooner, to fly in via helicopter and effectively serenade the people of Belfast. While orbiting the panorama of the city and its surrounding hills, he looked down on his audience singing Georgia , amongst a line-up of other classic Ray Charles love songs. On ground level, a sound system was set up outside the Art College, transmitting his songs via radio signal. Spectators stared upwards, turning as the helicopter circled above, linking in disbelief the music heard on ground level with its miniature source in the sky. Space and time were once again laid bare in their magnitude; the alliance between land and air revived in our minds. It was a truly quixotic performance offering reprieve from, and subliminally subverting, the military presence overhead. Alas, a misjudged combination of time (Saturday afternoon, away from busy shopping streets) and location (the Art College on a weekend) meant that few passers-by or students were in the vicinity to chance upon and appreciate the spectacle.  | | Heather Allen: from Klub ; courtesy Catalyst Arts |
During the following weekend, Belfast artist Heather Allen, in collaboration with Stuart Watson , Seamus Harahan and dj Torsten Lauschmann, performed in Bennie's A1 Press Bar. A prefab pub with its imperative strip lighting and tacky décor, they transformed it into a pinkly lit, disco-balled Klub with dance music and projected visuals inside. Outside, under a darkening sky, Heather Allen delivered an incisive, poetic reading about Belfast's paranoiac violence, dedicating the piece to Margaret Wright, a young woman victim to a particularly brutal sectarian murder. Accompanied by three backing dancers, tension was momentarily eased by her sudden break into dance to mainstream pop songs (e.g. Baby Spice's What Took You So Long? ). Elements of the act appeared not to be fully prepared, and the artist herself seemed reluctant to perform, but this nervous uncertainty somehow heightened the raw poignancy of her reading. Let's have a love affair, let's have a fight, and you're a dark one, and I'm close behind, neck in neck I'm catching up, moving up fast on the inside on the outside right behind you, against the fuckin' rail... Meanwhile out on the streets, Northern Irish artist Philip Napier had reprogrammed a digital display board to read a number of metaphoric phrases plucked from the rhetoric used by politicians when referring to the Good Friday Agreement. Placed on a stand in open spaces, namely carparks and major road junctions over a number of days, passing motorists and pedestrians had the full expectation to be reading the standard traffic warnings such as 'ROAD WORKS AHEAD' or 'DRIVE SLOW'. Instead, they were catching glimpses of slogans that echoed the terminology for the Northern Irish Peace Process; catch phrases like 'CORNERSTONE OF AGREEMENT', 'ARCHITECTS OF PEACE', 'BUILDING BRIDGES', 'BLUEPRINT OF PROGRESS' flashed up in succession. Disconnected from their associated context, the words found themselves in stark contrast to the reality of the present political inertia in Northern Ireland, rendering them insignificant and in turn seeming to question the capabilities of those that habitually utter them.  | | Philip Napier: from Future Language ; courtesy Catalyst Arts |
Bringing The International Language to a theatrical close, artist and businessman from the politically precarious Basque country, Asier Pérez González ambitiously planned to beat the Guinness World Record for the most couples kissing simultaneously (achieved in Canada with 1,588 pairs) by organising a Kissarama . A major undertaking, it was held in the Pavilion of the Odyssey, a sizeable new entertainment complex in the docklands of Belfast. Large, mercenary and architecturally cool, the Pavilion was hardly a space conducive to romantic snogging. The Kissarama flyer stated boldly, "no right no wrong no colour no label no words no friction," but given the sobering atmosphere of the venue and prevalent misgivings of 'politicised' events amongst people in the North, it was perhaps unsurprising that no more than 370 couples felt inclined to turn up. One conjecture would be that this generation no longer values the effectiveness in congregating en masse , unless, that is, for clubs, pop concerts or football matches. Increasingly we loiter as passive onlookers with a decreasing tendency to mobilise ourselves for any 'greater good'. The media spoon-feeds us, and consequently the need to assemble for politically motivated rallies has become all but obsolete, our perception of the world localised within the limits of the television/computer screen. Another consideration, more relevant to Belfast, is that people are evidently not yet prepared for such a public demonstration of intimate affection! This may have been one oversight made by the artist when planning to stage the Kissarama ün Northern Ireland. The customary practice of publicly kissing as a form of greeting can certainly be associated with Mediterranean countries and elsewhere. But with our Irish and British decorum/reserve/shyness, you are lucky to be offered a handshake. On a plainly logistical level, Pérez González's aim to attract over 3000 people could have been achieved had there been at least three-fold more time, distribution and publicising made available to invest in the project. However, those that did come to join on the day contributed to creating a memorable occasion. Picture a space filled with hundreds of people simply kissing. Be it passionate, reserved or abashed...  | | Die Kunst: from Die Kunst Video Showcase ; courtesy Catalyst Arts |
Posthumously, the continuing existence of The International Language 's (time-based) events now depends on them being part of a well-documented, condensed 'package'. It makes for an attractive piece of publicity, which, when presented to potential funders, will undoubtedly help to endorse future public art events hosted by grassy knoll and other groups in Belfast. In retrospect, it became evident that considerably increased emphasis needs to be put into the advertisement and publicising involved in such events. The ethos of the producers, grassy knoll productions, is to bring art to public spaces. But, though members of the artistic community attended throughout, there was a conspicuous absence of people who were not involved in the activities, directly or indirectly. (Whose Language is it?) Understandably, the State's frugal funding made available to the Arts, and, until more recently, a lack of support for the individual artist, makes it seem like one is perpetually swimming against the general tide of opinion. Subsequently, the near futility of trying to reach a greater audience under these meagre circumstances tends to tempt artists to navigate on an inward trend towards each other for affirmation and support. During The International Language all pieces had the potential to communicate to people outwardly; some achieved it and some by-passed this objective. All told, the standard of work by the artists that partook was high, which makes what incommunicado there was all the more regrettable.
 | | Jeremy Deller: from Divine ; courtesy Catalyst Arts | The International Language , April/ May, 2001
Susan Philipsz: Victory , Lagan River, April 28, 2001
Sislej Xhafa: Georgia , Ulster University at Belfast, April 28, 2001
Jeremy Deller: Divine , Altos Café, April 28, 2001
Heather Allen in collaboration with Stuart Watson, Seamus Harahan: Klub , Bennie's A1 Press Bar, April 28, 2001
Liam Gillick: various locations around the city between April 28 and May 12, 2001; lecture at Queen's University 10th May, May 4, 2001
Philip Napier: Future Language , various locations, May 5, 2001
Phil Collins: Holiday in Someone Else's Misery , city centre, May 5, 2001
Eoghan McTigue: Empty Stand , Customs House Square, May 5, 2001
Die Kunst: Die Kunst Video Showcase , Catalyst Arts, May 5, 2001
Heather Allen in collaboration with Torsten Lauschmann: Klub , Bennie's A1 Press Bar, May 5, 2001
Asier Pérez González: Kissarama , The Odyssey, May 5, 2001
Miriam de Búrca is an artist based in Belfast. |
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