The Exhibition

‘Re: New Wallace Collection #9: Ornament and Omission’ presents composer Matthew Whiteside’s immersive sound installation responding to the collection - through its archives as much as its objects, tracing the systems of labour, wealth, and administration that sit beneath the museum’s refinement.

Drawing on extracts from historical archives, items from the collection, and sounds of weaving and textile machinery, the work creates an immersive sound world in which elegance gives way to bureaucracy, repetition, and omission. The piece turns attention towards those largely absent from its narratives: the workers whose labour underpinned the wealth from which such collections emerged. In bringing together the language of record-keeping with the machinery of production, we invite audiences to listen to what has been seen as significant enough to preserve, and notice what has been excluded from those records. 

‘Re: New Wallace Collection #9: Ornament and Omission’ is the ninth of a series of successful residency projects offered by R-Space to artists to carry out research about/at the collection and create an innovative artistic response to it. These projects also highlight Sir Richard Wallace’s historical and cultural legacy, and his connection with Co. Antrim and Lisburn in particular, where he was the local MP and land-owner. 

Throughout the project, the artist was assisted by specialist advisor Anthea McWilliams.

About the artist

Matthew Whiteside is a  composer and Artistic Director of The Night With…, a concert production company and record label based in Glasgow. He won the SMIA Award for Creative Programming at the Scottish Awards for New Music in 2020 and was named One to Watch by the Scotsman. Recent works include commissions from the United Strings of Europe, Scottish Opera Connect, Glasgow Barons and Crash Ensemble. www.matthewwhiteside.co.uk

Re:New Wallace: artworks for sale

A selection of original artworks for sale will be in the exhibition space. These are visual responses to the Wallace Collection created by talented artists from Northern Ireland in previous years. Among them stunning glass swords and breastplates by Alison Lowry, exquisite brooches by Emma Whitehead, and unique prints by Robert Peters.

Support

‘Re: New Wallace Collection #9: Ornament and Omission’ - Both the research and the exhibition are supported by the National Lottery through the Arts Council of Northern Ireland (principal funder).