History of The Present - Maria Fusco and Margaret Salmon

Launch event Saturday 15th February at 1pm.

Together with the Golden Thread Gallery, Maria Fusco and Margaret Salmon present History of the Present, an exhibition based around the critically acclaimed work of the same name, History of the Present (2023). This 46-minute experimental opera-film was made collaboratively by Fusco and Salmon, featuring new compositions by Annea Lockwood, libretto by Maria Fusco and improvisational vocal work by Héloïse Werner. The exhibition takes place across both our gallery spaces in our new venue on Queen Street, Belfast.

History of the Present is an intersectional, intergenerational feminist work which forefronts working-class women’s voices to ask: who has the right to speak, and in what way? Layering sociological, cultural, and political themes from the recent history of Northern Ireland, the work exercises voice, breath and field-recording composition through a range of film techniques and operatic articulations, to amplify marginalised stories. Made on 35mm film and video on the streets of Belfast, in the Ulster Museum, and the Royal Opera House in London, History of the Present observes how defensive

architecture defines movement to enforce intersectional histories and identities within daily experiences in conflict and post-conflict zones on an international level.

Maria Fusco, who is from Ardoyne, North Belfast, wrote the libretto and co-directed the film, says “It’s a very beautiful piece, sensitively and movingly shot by artist-filmmaker Margaret… We take our ethical, reparative way of making this work very seriously. The subject matter can be challenging, seeking to present the heightened emotional state of a post conflict city”.

Margaret Salmon, co-director, adds  “Early on, Maria and I discussed the archive and a history of images representing The Troubles and Belfast’s segregated communities. We both felt strongly that any film representations should be made in the present, in Belfast today, not in the past.”

History of the Present opera-film is presented in our Upper Gallery, while in our Lower Gallery we are showing a site-specific installation with additional artworks, resources and research materials by Fusco and Salmon, to bring the collaborative work to audiences in Northern Ireland for the first time.

Images: Courtesy of the artists, Maria Fusco and Margaret Salmon. Production and research stills, Courtesy Margaret Salmon 2023. 

The film is supported by the British Council, Creative Scotland and the Royal Opera House, developed with the assistance of the Abbey Theatre/ Amharclann na Mainistreach.

Entrance Fee