Vanishing Futures: Collective Histories of Northern Irish Art
Peter Richards
Golden Thread Gallery
English
Edited by Ciara Finnegan
Hardcover
Edition of 500
48 pages
100 x 100 mm
2015
ISBN 9781909989061
Welcome to this, the final installment of the Golden Thread Gallery’s Collective Histories of Northern Irish Art series, a series of exhibitions and publications whose aim is to form, collectively, a significant archive of Northern Irish Art from 1945 to the present. After ten years and twelve installments, the series is finishing with Vanishing Futures, Peter Richards, the series’ instigator, and his own personal history of Northern Irish Art.
Each installment has featured a different guest curator who has been selected to make their particular specialist knowledge and lived experience accessible to audiences. The project sets outs, in the absence of any relevant permanent public collection, to create a useful historical context from which audiences and educators can engage with the stories of this place through the art of our time. Central to the project is an acknowledgement that there are many versions of history. To date, the Golden Thread Gallery has realised eleven installments: Post-War – Pre Troubles; Icons of the North; Art and the Disembodied Eye; The Double Image; A Shout in the Street; The Visual Force; Art Beyond Ulster and Tears in Rain/ Dheora san Fhearthainn; Outside and Between; Catalyst Arts; and This is what Comes. In doign so, we have had the privilege of working with: S.B. Kennedy; Brian McAvera; Liam Kelly; Dougal McKenzie; Declan McGonagle; Slavka Sverakova; Brian Kennedy; Máirtín Ó Muilleoir; Shan McAnena; Cherie Driver; and High Mulholland. Each curator has shown us a unique and personal version of Norther Irish art history, influenced by their own expertise, areas of interest and chosen timeframe.
(Source: Foreword)
About the Artist
Peter Richards works as an artist and curator. Born Cardiff in 1970, based in Belfast since 1994. He completed an M.Phil. Re-presenting Representations of Representations, at the University of Ulster, Belfast in 1998. Whilst working as a co-director of Catalyst Arts, 1996-8, he bean sharing his time between a studio practice and creating contexts and opportunities to work with the works of other artists, a way of working that he continues to this day.
He became Gallery Director at the Golden Thread Gallery, Belfast, in 2001, and has devised its artistic program since. Richards has worked closely with many of the region’s leading artists, alongside their international peers, and has realised countless exhibitions for the Golden Thread Gallery, including international projects in China, the USA, Taiwan, and across Europe.
(Source: Acknowledgements section of book)
About the Publisher
Golden Thread Gallery is Belfast’s leading contemporary visual art gallery.
We use visual arts to open up the past, present and future, by offering the public a contextual experience of visual art of our time. Through our exhibitions, events, workshops, mentoring, and more, we create opportunities for people to include art in their daily lives and use art as a tool for making life better. We strive to be a welcoming, accessible destination where every visitor is engaged, educated, challenged and inspired by visual art.
https://goldenthreadgallery.co.uk
(Source: https://goldenthreadgallery.co.uk/about)
