Famous European art installation ‘The Disappearing Wall’ coming to Northern Ireland

The interactive art installation entitled The Disappearing Wall will be situated on the roof of CastleCourt Shopping Centre.

Visitors to the piece are invited to take home a block which will contain one of a wide range of quotes, from the likes of Albert Einstein, Adorno, Rosa Luxemburg, Sartre and Jonas Mekas, to Beatles’ lyrics and lines from Winnie the Pooh or the film Amélie.

Belfast is the only city within the UK to host the installation which is based on an idea proposed by Maria Jablonina in a workshop carried out by the architect and engineer Werner Sobek and initiated by the Goethe-Institut.

As more and more blocks are removed, the Wall will ‘disappear’ with only the clear Plexiglas grid that held them remaining.

Goethe-Institut London has commissioned Belfast-based Urban Scale interventions (USI) to bring The Disappearing Wall to life in the city.

Claire Hall, USI projects producer, said: “We are proud to help bring The Disappearing Wall to Belfast as it is an important project for NI as we celebrate our country’s diversity.

“Encouraging visitors to take away inspirational and thought-provoking quotes and therefore destroying the wall to leave a clear view across the city symbolises how we can come together to destroy any barriers that are holding us back.”

Katharina von Ruckteschell-Katte, director of the Goethe-Institut London, added: “This installation will not only celebrate Northern Ireland’s diversity but also the potential to symbolically overcome borders visible and tangible.”

Mirroring the project’s aims of celebrating the diversity of Belfast and Northern Ireland, Belfast arts collective Catalyst Arts is running a programme of workshops that will engage with the community through sharing stories, experiences and history.

Thomas Wells, Catalyst Arts said: “Over the next couple of months, Catalyst Arts will develop and present a series of engagement events looking at a re-mapping of the city beyond geography by inviting participants to share lived experiences of Belfast. The outcome of which will be shown as part of an ongoing engagement with the installation of the Wall in Castle Court Shopping Centre kicking it off.”

Other cities to host the The Disappearing Wall include Antwerp, Barcelona, Brussels, Gdansk, The Hague, Madrid, Vilnius and Warsaw.

*The Disappearing Wall will be at CastleCourt Shopping Centre from October 1-12.