Jan McCullough’s work explores the human acts of labour, construction and DIY, and the communities of interest and place that form around them – employing the materials and languages associated with these activities to create sculptural installations, interventions and photographs.
Inventing / Devising presents a curated selection of McCullough’s recent works, from the series Constructions (2019) and Jigs (2024), together in a new commission that explores the themes of architecture and fabrication. The selected works resonate with the transformative journey of the Court House, a B2-listed stucco building in the Italianate classical style, built in 1866 and revitalised as a live music and arts venue opening in October 2022. The artworks are displayed in a setting of exposed floorboards, raw plaster walls and picture rails with workers’ handwritten annotations, subtly narrating the building’s renovation and repurposing, offering a tangible connection to its historical and architectural evolution.
In Jigs (2024), the artist collaborated with a number of fabricators to create a series of temporary architectural landscapes using their jigs – wooden custom made shapes that are used as tools to assist in the repeated cutting, placing and securing of their materials – in sculptural installations that she photographed. The fabricators included scenic construction workers who support the film and TV industry in Northern Ireland – their highly skilled labour involving the staging of partial cityscapes; slices of town scenes, portions of buildings etc – creating the unseen structures that underpin the authenticity of the sets. These images are intended as a series of temporary monuments to the inventive nature and evocative gestures of this usually invisible labour.
The framed and large-scale photographs Constructions (2019) document the artist’s playful use of printed architectural plans in the creation of ephemeral sculptures, suspended in air and sealed in time by the camera. The work was the result of a series of site-specific studies at Paragon Studios, Belfast.
Visit the exhibition in The Drawing Room while the Court House is open for events from Friday 2 August to Saturday 26 October. The exhibition is supported by the National Lottery through the Arts Council of Northern Ireland.
Please note this event is mix of seating and standing room. If you have any accessibility requirements please get in touch with us here.
Strictly 18+ | Free event, no booking required!