Belfast is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 10th-largest primary urban area in the United Kingdom and the second-largest city in Ireland. Belfast City had a population of 293,298 in 2021. The population of its metropolitan area was 671,559 in 2011, and the Belfast Local Government District had a population 345,418 in 2021.
Brian Irvine is a composer from Northern Ireland. His work has been characterized as avant-garde, incorporating elements of "free jazz, rock, rap, thrash, tango, lounge and contemporary classical" music. Irvine was Associate Composer with the Ulster Orchestra (2007–2011) and Professor of Creative Arts at the University of Ulster.
The culture of Northern Ireland relates to the traditions of Northern Ireland. Elements of the Culture of Ulster and the Culture of the United Kingdom are to be found.
Hugh Mulholland is a curator based in Belfast.
Belfast Central Library is a public library in Royal Avenue, Belfast, Northern Ireland. Opened in 1888, it was one of the first major public library buildings in Ireland.
The Ulster Hall is a concert hall and grade A listed building in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Situated on Bedford Street in Belfast city centre, the hall hosts concerts, classical recitals, craft fairs and political party conferences.
Eva Rothschild RA is an Irish artist based in London.
The Vacuum is a free newspaper published in Belfast, Northern Ireland by the arts organisation Factotum.
The Cathedral Quarter in Belfast, Northern Ireland, is a developing area of the city, roughly situated between Royal Avenue near where the Belfast Central Library building is, and the Dunbar Link in the city centre. From one of its corners, the junction of Royal Avenue, Donegall Street and York Street, the Cathedral Quarter lies south and east. Part of the area, centred on Talbot Street behind the cathedral, was formerly called the Half Bap. The "Little Italy" area was on the opposite side of Great Patrick Street centred on Little Patrick Street and Nelson Street.
William Scott was a prominent abstract painter from Northern Ireland, known for his themes of still life, landscape and female nudes. He is the most internationally celebrated of 20th-century Ulster painters. His early life was the subject of the film Every Picture Tells a Story, made by his son James Scott.
The culture of Belfast, much like the city, is a microcosm of the culture of Northern Ireland. Hilary McGrady, chief executive of Imagine Belfast, claimed that "Belfast has begun a social, economic and cultural transformation that has the potential to reverberate across Europe." Belfast is split between two rarely-overlapping vibrant cultural communities, a high-culture of opera, professional theatre, filmmaking and the visual arts and a more popular or commercial culture. Throughout the short years of troubles, Belfast tried to express itself through art and music. Hi In the second decade of the twenty-first century, the city has a growing international cultural reputation
Peter Richards is a Welsh-born Irish artist and curator. Early in his career he worked primarily on video art and installations, later also working in performance art. Richards is living and working in Belfast, Northern Ireland, since 1994.
Vong Phaophanit and Claire Oboussier are artists based in London who have collaborated for the past 25 years. Their studio encompasses a wide variety of media including films, books, large-scale installations and photographic and sculptural works. They have created a number of major public commissions.
Ian Cumberland is an Irish visual artist. He was born in Banbridge, Co. Down, 1983. His work focuses on portraits with his paintings typically using oils as the primary media. He studied fine art at the University of Ulster. He has won several prizes, the most significant of which was the Davy Portrait Award in 2010. In 2019 and 2020 Cumberland deals in his work with increased commercialization, technological development and its effects on the individual. In doing so, he creates scenes that seem like a private snapshot and transport the viewer into a voyeuristic experience. He develops these by integrating his paintings into an installation consisting of audio and video works, neon light, sculptures and other plastic materials. Through this kind of deconstruction of his created sceneries he achieves a visual construction that alienates the human being within his culture, the influence of the mass media and data surveillance.
Daphne Wright is an Irish visual artist, who makes sculptural installations using a variety of techniques and media to explore how a range of languages and materials can be used to probe unspoken human preoccupations. Recent international exhibition highlights include Hotspot, Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Rome, curated by Gerardo Mosquera; Daphne Wright: Prayer Project, Davis Museum, USA, Portals; the Hellenic Parliament with ΝΕΟΝ, Athens; Infinite Sculpture, Gulbenkian Museum, Lisbon. Wright curated the 2018 exhibition The Ethics of Scrutiny at the Irish Museum of Modern Art as part of the Freud Project. Wright has received the Paul Hamlyn Award, The Henry Moore Foundation Fellowship, and The British School of Rome fellowship. She is a member of Aosdana and is represented by Frith Street Gallery, London.
Anna CheyneHRUA was a British artist and sculptor working with diverse media including batik, ceramics, papier mâché, stone, fibreglass and bronze. Cheyne was born and educated in England but moved to Northern Ireland after her marriage to architect Donald Cheyne.
Kathleen Mabel Bridle ARUA was a British artist and teacher. She influenced Northern Irish artists such as William Scott and T.P. Flanagan.
Niamh O'Malley is a contemporary Irish artist known for sculptures and moving image installations.
Sarah Browne is a contemporary Irish artist who works in public art, performance, sculpture, and collaboration.
Niamh McCann is an Irish visual artist. Her "work includes sculpture, installation, video and painting."
