Hugh Mulholland

Hugh Mulholland was born in Lurgan, Co. Armagh in Northern Ireland. He currently runs the art gallery The Third Space in Belfast, which opened in September 2006.

He was the director of the Ormeau Baths Gallery, Belfast from 1997 to February 2006. During this period he curated major exhibitions by prominent International artists including, Barbara Freeman, Jack Pakenham, Yoko Ono, David Byrne, Hans Peter Kuhn, Stan Douglas, Willie Doherty, Victor Sloan and Alastair MacLennan. He was previously the and Director of Context Gallery in Derry.

The Ormeau Baths Gallery closed in controversial circumstances in March 2006 following an announcement by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland that it would not be renewing its funding of the gallery after. This led to protests and claims from gallery staff and close friends that the closure was unjustified. The gallery reopened under Arts Council control in June 2006.

Hugh Mulholland was appointed the curator for the Northern Irish Pavilion at the 2005 Venice Biennale by the British Council Northern Ireland and the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. This was the first time that Northern Ireland was represented with its own pavilion at the exhibition. He has been chosen to curate the Northern Ireland presence at the 2007 Biennale.

In the 1999 Belfast Arts Awards Hugh Mulholland received the Visual Arts Trophy for the Ormeau Baths Gallery's 1998/1999 programme.He was a member of the jury panel for the £15,000 Glen Dimplex Artists Award 1999, which was held at the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Dublin.

External links

* http://www.recirca.com/artnews/324.shtml Circa
* http://www.britishcouncil.org/britishcouncil-arts-venicebiennale.htm British Council
*http://www.obgonline.net/ Ormeau Baths Gallery
*http://lettertoamerica.blogs.com/letter_to_america/2006/03/hugh_mullhollan.html Hugh Mulholland interview March 2006