Hopes for future ‘RISE’ on Belfast horizon
A time capsule is being buried to mark the end of work on the biggest public artwork ever commissioned in Northern Ireland. The capsule – containing messages from school children from the greater Village and lower Falls area, about their hopes for the future and how they would like to see their native Belfast in the year 2036 – was buried at the base of RISE, the landmark sculpture on the city’s Broadway roundabout.
The sculpture – by the Nottingham artist Wolfgang Buttress – is made up of two globes, one inside the other, cast in silver and white steel, symbolizing the rising of the sun and new hope for Belfast’s future. It appears to rest on a bed of reeds – a reference to the natural heritage of the neighbouring Bog Meadows, with lights at the end of each ‘reed’ reflecting on the two globes.
Commenting on the completed sculpture, the Mayor of Belfast, Councillor Niall Ó Donnghaile, said: “RISE is a truly magnificent structure – a new icon and a symbol for the new Belfast. It symbolises a rising city - one looking to each new dawn with hope and confidence. It provides a stunning welcome to visitors to Belfast and will be an inspiration to all our citizens for years to come.”
RISE cost £486,000, with £330,000 coming from the Department for Social Development, £100,000 from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, via Lottery funding, and £56,000 from Belfast City Council. Some 85 per cent of the budget was spent here in Northern Ireland, with the twin globes – made up of more than 65,000 individual parts – manufactured at the M Hasson and Sons Ltd steelworks in Rasharkin, who also assembled the sculpture at the Broadway site.
Revealing that, as a result of their work on RISE, Hasson’s would now be working with him on a major new public artwork commissioned for the centre of London, artist Wolfgang Buttress was full of praise for the commitment and skill of the local workforce who brought the project to fruition.
“RISE is a testament to the amazing engineering skills that can still be found in Northern Ireland,” he said.
“Hasson’s are the best steel fabricators I have ever worked with: without their dedication and perseverance, RISE would not be standing now, and the legacy which has been created is a celebration of what can be achieved here in Belfast and Northern Ireland. It is a fitting testament to the creativity and engineering excellence here, and is a landmark which hopefully will become a positive and iconic symbol for Belfast, and be celebrated as such.”
The majority of the funding for RISE came from the Department for Social Development and the Arts Council of Northern Ireland.
Roisin McDonough, Chief Executive of the Arts Council, added: “RISE is a bold artistic statement about our growing confidence in the future of this great city. Standing as a distinctive feature on the Belfast landscape and as a major gateway to the city, the sculpture is a positive landmark, signposting Belfast as a city that believes in and is prepared to invest in its potential”.
