The State of Belfast
The State of Belfast is an exhibition and discursive forum co-curated and designed by the MAC and our associated partner Participation and Practice of Rights specifically their ongoing campaign Take Back the City.
The State of Belfast uses Grenfell by Steve McQueen as a stepping off point to address the inherent injustices and inequality as well as issues of race and poverty which are inextricably linked to the Grenfell tragedy. The State of Belfast explores how these same conditions exist in Belfast and how we might collectively address them.
Throughout the duration of the project the galleries will be invigilated by PPR Activists whose communities have been impacted by housing stress.
This multi-faceted project draws connections between art practice and housing rights activism through an extensive public programme of talks, tours, screenings.
Included within the exhibition is StreetSpace at QUB which tackles Northern Ireland’s housing crisis through design-led, human-centred research in partnership with PPR through the Change Stories project. Students engage with communities, exploring housing, home, and neighbourhood through storytelling and ethnography.
Commissioned as part of The State of Belfast is a new film by Marta Dyczkowska - Hearsay at Point Zero which can be viewed in our Sunken Gallery that explores life at the heart of Belfast City Centre amid the relentless tides of redevelopment and neoliberal transformation.
This national tour of Grenfell is being coordinated by Tate in collaboration with the partner venues and is made possible thanks to support using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England and from Art Fund. Each presentation will be free to visit and will be accompanied by a public engagement programme of talks, workshops and community events supported by the Grenfell Foundation.
Supported by:
With thanks to our funders:
Hearsay at Point Zero
Hearsay at Point Zero is a meditative documentary by Marta Dyczkowska that explores life at the heart of Belfast City Centre amid the relentless tides of redevelopment and neoliberal transformation. Framed through the artist’s own journey across the city's Cathedral Quarter, where her studio and everyday life are rooted, the film captures the pulse of Belfast over several months—unfolding a 24-hour cycle that reveals the stark realities often obscured by glossy regeneration campaigns.
At its core, Hearsay at Point Zero centres on the people who inhabit this contested urban space—those living on the margins, small business owners under threat, and communities displaced or disregarded in the face of profit-driven development. Drawing from second-hand accounts and lived experiences collected during filming, including the haunting reflections of a Polish homeless man, Dyczkowska pieces together a collective narrative of resistance, loss, and resilience.
This exhibition is supported by:
With thanks to our funders:
