Two questions that were put to me this week about art: How come Belfast School of Art is 175 years old? And what has been your favourite exhibition of the year?

Firstly, of course Belfast School of Art has not always existed in the same form as today but on 4 December 1849 "it was initially founded as the School of Design to support the needs of the city's rapidly-expanding manufacturing industries. It is the oldest provider of design education on the Island of Ireland as well as being one of the oldest creative arts schools in the UK."

There is an exhibition of its history running in the foyer of the college in York Street, curated by Dr Cherie Driver,  where you can peruse textiles, gaze at the silverware, ponder on the art and delight in the breath of experience and career possibilities within the college's history.

The core week-long series of events for the 175 celebrations last week initially seemed like an overload on top of the Joseph Beuys conference at Ulster Museum.

However, patrons found themselves returning day after day, night after night, to listen to the talks and discussions and participate in workshops. Key to the importance of this work is to help with the intergenerational transference of knowledge about what the college has been involved in.

For me, not having studied in Belfast but in the UK and the States, it filled some gaps in my knowledge, particularly when it came to artists Belinda Loftus, Rainer Pagnel and Alastair MacLennan.

The latter had the experience, along with 15 other Northern Ireland participants, of going to the art festival Documenta in Germany to work with Joseph  Beuys on the Free International University concept.

It was just after Ulster University's new campus at Coleraine was opened. While in Germany, our visiting artists put up a sandbagged wall, brought in Lambeg drums and stopped and searched people as they came into the allocated space. Just to give them a feeling of what we were up against locally. 

Anna Liesching, curator of the Beuys exhibition at Ulster Museum, where the famed artist once lectured, said Beuys did not solely bring his ideas to  Ireland. Rather, his presence here brought together local artists. 

Artist  Maud Cotter spoke of the transformative experience of attending his lecture in Cork and her integration of the experience over a period of days. It was interesting to hear of people from a community video project in Ballymurphy turned up at the lecture and asked, "why he was not doing the lecture in Ballymurphy?"

There was, of course, a Marmite aspect to Beuys: People either loved him or hated him.

Dr Sandra Johnston, performance artist and lecturer at Belfast School of Art, spoke of the transfer of knowledge she received from Alastair MacLennan now being taught to her students. This important legacy stream of knowledge is still continuing through the college.

This legacy is not without difficulty, as the spiritual aspect of the art impulse is always under treat from those who believe that creativity is something that can be commercialised and commodified, it can be seen in the Ulster University deciding that a bespoke glass box designed for students to learn how to do performance art in a safe space has been taken over by the main University and will now be used for selling branded University 'stuff'.

The selling of creative output has of course its place in a commodified world but I once heard North Belfast's own Oliver Jeffers MBE explain that the argument of what is the difference between an artist and an illustrator is easy. Put simply, an illustrator usually gets a brief and works on something that he sells to whoever gave them the brief. An artist makes whatever they feel like then sells it afterwards. 

Yet I and many others would argue there is another step: those rare beings that create for the sake of it as a spiritual act. Artists who make art simply because they have to. There is no opportunity to sell the liminal act of the creation but, as the mystics write, these artists step closer to the source of themselves.

So, to the question of what has been the most important exhibition this year, I opt for two: 50 years of Joseph Beuys at Ulster Museum along with the 175 years of Belfast School of Art. Both have brought people together to rejoice in creativity, ponder the unexplained, share intergenerational stories and insights and try and find a way to keep creativity flowing out locally, nationally and internationally. The world certainly needs it for all the challenges we face.

History shows us the the Free International University concept did not happen locally. However, some seed money from this idea was used to start Action Research Exchange. Located in Belfast city centre, ARE which hosted a gallery, Stiff Little Fingers' office (that's if punks can have an office), and a whole host of activities and outreach that served as a precursor in the city to all the artist-led activity that still exists — if on a knife edge of funding and lack of suitable studio space.

 

Beuys : 50 years later : Action, Society, Performance and Change at Ulster Museum until May 2025, Events of 175 years of Belfast School of Art continue to be delivered see  www.ulster.ac.uk/bsoa for details.