Event Details
Personnel from ARK, Conflict Textiles, Queen's University Belfast and invited guests pictured at the launch of the inaugural 'ARK/Conflict Textiles' exhibition, McClay Library, QUB, 1 June 2023. (Photo: Mike McCool) |
| Rotating exhibition: | ARK / Conflict Textiles |
| Description: | This rotating exhibition is a collaboration between Conflict Textiles collection, ARK (Access, Research and Knowledge) and the McClay Library at Queen’s University Belfast. The primary goal of ARK, Northern Ireland’s social policy hub, is to increase the accessibility and use of academic data and research. It is based across the campuses of Ulster University and Queen's University Belfast.
Two core pillars of ARK from which this collaboration has grown include:
1) Conflict Archive on the Internet (CAIN). Conflict Textiles online archive has been designed, developed and supported by CAIN and is an associated site of CAIN since 2008.
2) Its suite of three annual public attitudes surveys, particularly the Northern Ireland Life and Times survey (NILT). A short film by Conflict Textiles and ARK "Refugees and asylum seekers in Northern Ireland" (2021) complemented the NILT 2020 survey results on public attitudes to refugees and asylum seekers in Northern Ireland.
Findings from the latest NILT Survey, themed on Political Attitudes in Northern Ireland 25 Years after the Agreement, were launched at a seminar titled Political priorities, attitudes and identities since the Agreement onThursday 1 June, 2.30-4.00 pm, in the Senate Room, Queen’s University Belfast. (Presentation slides are available in the 'Documents' section below).
Prior to the seminar, four textiles from Conflict Textiles collection, highlighting key issues on identity and society in Northern Ireland via textile language, were launched at 1pm in the McClay Library, Queen's University. This marked the beginning of the new ARK / Conflict Textiles collaboration. (The launch event was by invitation only).
Details of subsequent rotating exhibitions can be accessed at the links below:
ARK / Conflict Textiles (6th Mar. - 20th December. 2024). |
| Commissioned by: | ARK / Conflict Textiles |
| Date(s): | 1st June 2023 - 6th March 2024 |
| Venue: | McClay Library, Queen's University, Belfast
10 College Park Ave, Belfast BT7 1LP |
| Curator: | Roberta Bacic and Conflict Textiles team |
| Facilitator: | Paula Devine |
| Outcome: | This exhibition was significant as it was the first collaboration between Conflict Textiles and ARK. The selection of arpilleras provided viewers with a visual textual representation of the issues raised in the Northern Ireland Life and Times survey. The exhibition was located in the main foyer of the McClay Library at Queen’s University Belfast, and provided easy access to students and staff, as well as other visitors, who may not have proactively engaged with the exhibition.
In early 2024, the Story Threads: Creative Readings exhibition in the McClay Library complemented the ARK/Conflict Textiles display. These two exhibitions exemplified the relevance of arpilleras and textile language to a range of political and social contexts, locations and timeframes, as well as the links to literature. |
| Documents: |
• Textile list, ARK/Conflict Textiles, June 23 - view
• Presentation: Introduction to NILT, I June 20 - view
• Presentation: Survey Results - view
• Photo gallery, ARK / Conflict Textiles launch - view
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