TOURING EXHIBITIONS |
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The Linen Hall is renowned for the quality of its touring exhibitions which reflect the Library's rich resources. Many have toured nationally and internationally to venues including libraries, galleries, arts centres, town halls, museums and heritage centres. The following exhibitions are available for hire, and talks, catalogues and activity sheets can be organised for your group or area: |
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| Fighting the Waves: Theatre in Ulster 1970-Present An exhibition of Ulster theatre photography by Chris Hill and Jill Jennings. Drawn from a collection of some 17000 images from the Linen Hall Library's Theatre and Performing Arts Archive, and featuring a range of Ulster theatre companies, venues and performers, the exhibition affords a rare opportunity to peruse a vital treasure-trove of performance history. From the feel-good musical to darker explorations of society, from shows of glitz and glitter to shoestring performances staged around old boxes, Fighting the Waves narrates in visual form the magic and hardship, good times and bad of this most public of art forms over the years. A vivid celebration of Ulster theatre's extraordinary journey over three tumultuous decades, Fighting the Waves captures the magic of theatre and brings it to new life. For further details, contact John Killen - T: (028) 9032 1707 or E: j.killen@linenhall.com
A major exhibition, curated by Public Record Office staff, is a pioneer collaboration between the Record Office and the Linen Hall with assistance from the Ulster Museum and others. It graphically portrays the various Ulster connections with the slavery issue with the assistance of original manuscripts, artefacts and contemporary books and pamphlets. Following display in the Linen Hall Library it will tour to the Down Museum, the Harbour Museum, Derry, the Ulster American Folk Park, and Lisburn Public Library.
This exhibition offers a vivid realisation of life in Ulster in the past century through the medium of 37 often stunning photographs selected with the assistance of leading photographic archives. Contemporary writers were invited to pick images and attach pieces of their writing to them: Chris Agee, John Boyd, John Campbell, Ciaran Carson, Daragh Carville, Paula Cunningham, Gerald Dawe, Seamus Deane, Anne Devlin, Brian Friel, Carlo Gébler, Robin Glendinning, Seamus Heaney, Jennifer Johnson, Marie Jones, Brian Keenan, John Kelly, Tim Loane, Michael Longley, Martin Lynch, Sam McAughtry, Owen McCafferty, Nicola McCartney, Medbh McGuckian, Frank McGuiness, Bernard McLaverty, Gearóid MacLochlainn, Derek Mahon, Gary Mitchell, John Montague, Paul Muldoon, Pól ó Muirí , Cathal ó Searcaigh, Glenn Patterson, Tom Paulin, Christina Reid and Graham Reid. They eloquently establish the point that we see photographs, even of an era previous to our own, through the light of our own experience, and remind us that, in terms of human understanding, there are limits to the pursuit of any ultimate factuality, and very few to the powers of the imagination. For further details, contact John Gray - T: (028) 9032 1707 or E: j.gray@linenhall.com
A fascinating exhibition celebrating the roots of Northern Irish drama. 'This Ulster has its own way of things? we recognise at the outset that our art of the drama will be different from that other Irish art of drama which speaks from the stage of the Irish National Theatre in Dublin?' Curated by the Linen Hall Library's Theatre and Performing Arts Archive, the exhibition celebrates the Ulster Literary Theatre and its founders.Performing first in 1904, the Ulster Literary Theatre was credited with having created a Northern Irish drama which 'put ordinary Ulster people in everyday dress, speaking contemporary Ulster dialect'. Plays such as Rutherford Mayne's The Drone (1909) and Gerald MacNamara's Thompson in Tir-na-nOg (1912) became Ulster classics and W.B. Yeats notably commended the company for being 'the only dramatic society, apart from our own, which is doing any serious artistic work'. The exhibition aims to shed new light on the foundation of the theatrical tradition of Northern Ireland. For further details, contact John Killen - T: (028) 9032 1707 or E: j.killen@linenhall.com
Exciting and pioneering work on theatre and society in Ulster. State of Play? is the first exhibition to trace a 'line' throughout twentieth century theatre and highlight key texts which have been of both cultural and theatrical significance in Ulster. For each production it has assembled detailed 'fact files' now encompassing not only extracts, but important scripts, images, context, critical responses and play summaries. Such information on plays across the century has never before been amassed in this way and in this context. Panel by panel, State of Play? builds to create an innovative and thought-provoking portrait of theatre practice, criticism and audiences across the century in Ulster. From education, work and women's experiences, to plays on contentious themes such as interrogation, sectarianism, mixed marriage and paramilitarism, State of Play? offers a unique look both at theatre's contribution to, and many aspects of, Ulster life in the last century. Focusing on 30 key plays (ranging from 'The Enthusiast' in 1904 by Louis Purcell , Ulster Literary Theatre, and 'Over the Bridge' in 1960, to 'Convictions' at Crumlin Road Courthouse in 2000 ), the aim of State of Play? is to build towards an understanding of theatre in its cultural contexts, and so move forward the debate on the role of the arts in our society. For further details, contact John Killen - T: (028) 9032 1707 or E: j.killen@linenhall.com
This exhibition gives a stark account of the famine years in Ireland between 1841-1851. Presenting the information that was available to the public and to decision-makers at the time, it allows the viewer to get as close as possible to the mindset of those who lived through the famine. Contemporary illustrations, accounts by relief agencies, government reports, parliamentary debates, newspaper articles and editorials, scientific comment, agricultural advice and eye witness accounts show a situation rapidly running out of control as the potato blight spread. The exhibition was launched to commemorate the outbreak of the potato blight 150 years ago. It has been taken on tour in the Republic of Ireland, shown at the American Embassy in Dublin, and at the House of Commons. For further details, contact John Killen - T: (028) 9032 1707 or E: j.killen@linenhall.com
This challenging and exciting exhibition, containing 33 framed illustrations and two large exhibition cases of books, sheds new light on political life in late eighteenth century Ireland, and addresses the circumstances which saw the formation of the Volunteer movement and of the United Irishmen. It tells the story of the United Irish movement from its Belfast origins through the 1798 rebellion to the Act of Union of 1800. Contemporary pamphlets, books, newspapers, periodicals and prints bring to life the drama and the tragedy of the 1790s, culminating in the disastrous series of rebellions in 1798. Maps of Ireland, plans of towns and sites of battle are juxtaposed with portraits and caricatures of the main participants by the leading artists of the day. For further details, contact John Killen - T: (028) 9032 1707 or E: j.killen@linenhall.com
Ulster 's twentieth century was, to say the least, eventful. The home rule crisis, partition from the south of Ireland, two world wars, depressions, recessions and recurring outbreaks of civil conflict culminating in the Troubles which dominated the last three decades of the century. Through it all, the political cartoonists kept up a running commentary on events and personalities ? Carson, Devlin, O'Neill, Hume, Adams and Trimble. Their cartoons reveal, as words alone never can, the prejudices, suspicions and sheer absurdities that the situation has engendered over the years. This lively exhibition presents historian and librarian John Killen's selection of 170 of the best of these cartoons, together with his pithy captions and text. Demonstrating the characteristic dark humour common to all sides in the north, the selection also suggests some interesting, if quirky, scenarios for a better future. For further details, contact John Killen - T: (028) 9032 1707 or E: j.killen@linenhall.com
Imagine a wall plastered with the posters of all the parties to the Northern Ireland conflict... The 70 posters on display illustrate our experience since the beginning of the Troubles, and reflect all sides in our conflict. Movements that have faded from view are there along with all of today's main players. The great tragedies of our time feature alongside moments of hope. They are all there in impossible but revealing conjunction. We have tried to include the most memorable posters in terms of historical significance, visual impact and artistic style, incorporating as wide a range of opinion as possible on the major events, issues and individuals of the past three decades. Inevitably, some of the posters reflect the violence associated with the Troubles. If they are controversial, it is because those years, and the pain associated with them, are still fresh in our memories. As the efforts to secure a peaceful future for Northern Ireland continue, we take this opportunity to look back at some of the troubled images of the past. For further details, contact Yvonne Murphy - T: (028) 9032 1707 or E: y.murphy@linenhall.com
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