Insatll of the Drawing Machine a large roll of paper for people to draw on at will Beuys 50 Years later Ulster Museum Belfast curator Anna Liesching Arts Council of Northern Ireland ACES recipient Artist in Residence Sally ODowd. Courtesy of National Museums NI
Beuys 50 Years later Ulster Museum Belfast curator Anna Liesching Arts Council of Northern Ireland ACES recipient Artist Sally ODowd. Courtest of National Museums NI
Beuys 50 Years later Ulster Museum Belfast curator Anna Liesching Arts Council of Northern Ireland ACES recipient Artist in Residence Sally ODowd. Courtest of National Museums NI
Beuys 50 Years later Ulster Museum Belfast curator Anna Liesching Arts Council of Northern Ireland ACES recipient Artist in Residence Sally ODowd. Courtesy of the artist

Beuys 50 Years Later: Action, Society, Performance and Change

18 October 2024 – 18 May 2025

Ulster Museum, Belfast

 

On the 18th November 1974 the German artist Joseph Beuys gave a four hour performance lecture, or ‘Action’ in the Ulster Museum Fine art gallery. Beuys came to Belfast in 1974 as part of the touring exhibition ‘The Secret Block for a Secret Person in Ireland’. As was his practice, he illustrated the lecture with blackboards that have been in the museum’s collection since that day. The tour was organised by art critic Caroline Tisdall. Of Beuys, she said

“’Everyone is an artist’ is the clearest formulation of Joseph Beuys’ intention. It means a widened concept of art in which the whole process of living itself is the creative act.”

Sally O’Dowd interventions
Transformative Lines: Art as Action

Anna Liesching invited me to select drawings from the Ulster Museum’s works on paper collection that connected my own practice to the themes of Beuys’ work and the history of performance practice in Belfast. These were shown with my own drawings from previous experimental drawing workshops, in which participants were encouraged to make their mark, creating a collective map of ideas and experiences.

The work explored the impact of performance art through a series of drawings (and performances) that encapsulated moments of change. In conversation with Joseph Beuys, these works emphasized the connection between individual actions and collective movements, revealing how seemingly ordinary moments can become extraordinary when practiced together. 

My response served as a glimpse, inviting viewers to engage with the potential for art to foster social transformation. Drawing is not merely a creative act; it becomes a catalyst for dialogue and change. Set among Joseph Beuys’ Blackboards, the selected drawings, the drawing machine, and the performances, reclaimed the museum as a conversational space — an environment where art is an exchange with its audience even in messy forms.”

Drawing inspiration from Beuys 1970s socialist peers, I was keen to represent women artists in my selection and drawings of labour, specifically women at work, as well as drawings which made visible ‘lines of thought’ and drawings connected with performance.

The Drawing Machine

The Drawing Machine was inspired by Sally’s 2011 project “The Big Rollout”, which invited open participation in a living archive of messy conversations.

“The hand and mind that guide the pencil or arrange the material must be in tune with the forces that are being expressed”

Caroline Tissdell, The Secret Block for a Secret Person in Ireland, Joseph Beuys.

The Exhibition Programme

The exhibition programme had facilitated performances and workshops including;

“Root to Crown, a Joseph Beuys Symposium” curated by Thomas Wells; 

“Beuys Ekphrasis: Writing and Art Pamphlet Launch” in collaboration with the Seamus Heaney Centre;

 ‘Beuys who Like Girls’, a performance by Emma Brennan; 

“Gnawing on the Bones – 50 Years Later”, a performance by Amanda Coogan; 

“Jane Fonda Inspired Experimental Drawing Sessions” by Sally O’Dowd.

This project was supported by the National Lottery through the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Cavan County Council Arts Office, and the National Museums NI.