Space Shuttle

SPACE SHUTTLE  is a multi-functional structure, a scaled replica of PS² project space in Donegall Street, Belfast. Approx.12m² internally, this portacabin type module is sent into ‘orbit’ for six missions, each at significant locations in Belfast. For up to two weeks, interdisciplinary artists/initiatives and (community) organisations will use the device as a platform for urban creativity and social interaction.

SPACE SHUTTLE can be used as an onsite work base, as office/meeting point for activities, as a creative laboratory or non- profit use in order to create- with the participation of the residents and social environment- new and site influenced work. All ‘mission’ findings will be documented in a publication along with an exhibition back at mother ship- project space.

SPACE SHUTTLE is supported by Belfast City Council through Celebrate Belfast 2006 and the Arts Council of Northern Ireland through the National Lottery.

For more information see project website

SPACE-SHUTTLE is a multifunctional, creative box, a scaled down replica of PS² project space. This easy to assemble/ dismantle module will be sent into 'orbit' to outside locations in Belfast and possibly further, where it will be temporarily used as a working platform for interdisciplinary artist groups and community organisations and initiatives.
At various stages SPACE-SHUTTLE will be brought back to PS², to be exhibited with all its scars/damages, discoveries and project documentation. It will then be reconditioned and launched again.

Launch exhibition

11 - 19 August 2006
Opening: Thursday 10 August 2006, 7-9pm
Location: Lower Garfield Street and PS² 18 Donegall Street
Opening hours: Tues-Sat 12am-5pm

Mission One  22 - 29 August 2006: Donegall Pass  ‘Pass Odyssey’

Call Centre Collective- Saoirse Higgins, Aoife Ludlow, Emma McClintock, Ruth Morrow, Doris Rohr.
The interdisciplinary group of artists, designers and architects from Interface, University of Ulster, work with young people and residents of Donegall Pass. Using the shuttle as a multi-functional stage, the group initiates a series of events and provocative multi-media activities that use the environment as their theme; spatial explorations with and for the community.

Mission Two  31 August–16 September 2006: Titanic Quarter ‘Episode 306: Dallas, Belfast’

Sarah Browne/Gareth Kennedy.
“The future is entertainment, and entertainment becomes the future”.
In a collaboration, the two artists turn the interior of the shuttle into a film set. Together with a group of people selected by invitation and open audition, they make a film based on a fictional script of the 1980s TV show Dallas, investigating issues of development, prosperity and choice in the context of Belfast’s ongoing regeneration.

Mission Three  18 September - 05 October 2006: North Street/ Waring Street 'some things about belfast (or so i’m told)'

Aisling O’Beirn
Dealing in her work with urban myths and a personal approach of mapping a city, Aisling O’Beirn uses the shuttle as an unofficial transmitter and receiver of informal, unofficial contemporary information about Belfast. Visitors can check out and add to a selection of hand drawn maps, urban anecdotes and nicknames, transforming the shuttle into a local/ private ‘tourist information’ for exchange and dialogue, like a two-way information booth.

Mission Four  9 - 19 October 2006: Blackstaff Square ‘ 7 by 7 ‘ a game by Siraj Izhar and the Health & Wealth syndicate

All around the mulberry bush The monkey chased the weasel, The monkey thought 'twas all in fun. Pop! Goes the weasel. A penny for a spool of thread, A penny for a needle. That's the way the money goes, Pop! Goes the weasel. Establishing a National Lottery syndicate on site, where everyone could be a member, '7by7' was a complex game, combining permutations of emotional values and personal/public space with the49 numbers of the Lottery. A playful and scientific approach which links the National Lottery with urban, social and economic values. A mythic, utopian fable about basic social and economic realities, which feeds on the aspirations of its peoples, spinning and winning hearts and minds, confusing past and future.....

Mission Five  23 October- 02 November 2006: Dublin Road/Shaftesbury Square  ‘FIND YOUR PERFECT LOCATION’

Mobile apartment, adjust to suit your specific needs. Now on view on Dublin Road/ Shaftesbury Square. Desirable location, intersecting the cultural and economic hub of Belfast. Spectacular views overlooking a variety of High Street shops, banks, restaurants, public artworks, traffic island, furnished with benches and trees…… With the promotion of Belfast as with Dublin and other cities bidding to become the desirable cultural and economic centre, Mick O’Kelly converts the shuttle to a mobile unit/apartment, where the selling point is the buyer, who can choose their desired location.

Mission Six  19 - 30 March 2007: St. Aidan’s Christian Brothers Primary School, Belfast H.I. (Humans Identified)

Amy Russell in partnership with Barnardo’s. www.spaceshuttle.org.uk/mission6.htm Community Organisations. As experts in direct community actions, the charity organization Barnardo’s together with the artist Amy Russell are invited, to open up the ‘art’ field and to challenge the topic of social intervention. This will allow SPACE SHUTTLE, to question and expand the boundaries of ‘art in a social context’ and the subject of ‘social engagement’ in art.

SPACE SHUTTLE- Discoveries  27 April - 05 May 2007: Royal Avenue

PS² and shuttle at Royal Avenue/North Street; presentation of all projects, edited work and launch of publication.

After six projects between August 2006 and March 2007 at different locations around Belfast and with different artists as crew members, space shuttle returns for the last time with Discoveries. From locations as diverse as the front of a pub in Donegall Pass- the water edge at the Titanic Quarter or a school yard in Ballymurphy, mission-finding from these creative space explorations will be on display.

Artists and multi-disciplinary groups gave each project a distinct profile and demonstrated a spectrum of work practices and strategies in urban creativity. Each project- lasting up to 2 weeks- exposed the shuttle and its team to real and sometimes alien encounters with the social environment. The projects invited the public to participate and take part in an exploration of the urban space, small side streets, squares and sites, which normally are of no cultural attention or public interest. A journey which mapped the city in many different visual forms, from film- to objects- to surveys. Discoveries takes place in two locations; PS² shows objects and relics from the mission tours and can be used as a study room for the publication. The space shuttle at Royal Avenue/North Street is turned into a cinema, with films, interviews and footage from various projects.

Publication

SPACE SHUTTLE, six projects of urban creativity and social interaction in Belfast.
Published by PS², Belfast 2007, 94 pages,  ISBN:978-0-9555358-0-2
This publication is intended as a handbook and space-map and contains short portraits of all six projects, essays about creativity in an urban context and the artist as an urban practitioner, plus reading and web list.

For the link to a free download see