0:00:02 > 0:00:09This programme contains some strong language.
0:00:26 > 0:00:30This is The Arts Show, and over the next 30 minutes
0:00:30 > 0:00:34we cover culture, no matter what its shape or size.
0:00:34 > 0:00:38This is our mission, we hope you choose to accept it.
0:00:38 > 0:00:44Why Gulliver's Travels is more Saturday Night Live than we think.
0:00:44 > 0:00:48The mighty Julian Barratt on the art that first blew his mind.
0:00:48 > 0:00:52Is this the most censored artist in the past 50 years in Britain
0:00:52 > 0:00:56and Ireland? Poet Leontia Flynn counts the peace dividend.
0:00:56 > 0:01:00And new music from teenage Derry-Londonderry girl Roe.
0:01:00 > 0:01:02We're on Twitter now, @bbcartsshow.
0:01:04 > 0:01:09Public art is a bit like Marmite, you either like it or you loathe it.
0:01:09 > 0:01:11Some are given affectionate nicknames,
0:01:11 > 0:01:14while others win prizes for the worst ever.
0:01:14 > 0:01:17Joe Lindsay makes his views very public for The Arts Show.
0:01:20 > 0:01:23I believe public art is of great importance.
0:01:23 > 0:01:27Not only is it sculpture outside of the often restrictive confines of
0:01:27 > 0:01:31a gallery, but it is, apparently, anyway, art made for the public.
0:01:35 > 0:01:37Here in Belfast we have a dramatic backstory,
0:01:37 > 0:01:41ample amount of sites and a much-needed purpose for public art.
0:01:41 > 0:01:45So why, in my opinion, anyway, are we so bad at it?
0:01:48 > 0:01:49There are many questions to ask.
0:01:49 > 0:01:51Is it because of our recent history
0:01:51 > 0:01:53and our responsibility to reflect that?
0:01:53 > 0:01:56Is it the fault of the political parties who all have to sign off
0:01:56 > 0:02:00on it? Is it the Commissioner's fault? How is it commissioned?
0:02:00 > 0:02:03Are the public consulted? Should the public be consulted?
0:02:03 > 0:02:04Let's look at some evidence.
0:02:06 > 0:02:09The Statue of Harmony or, as we've now called it,
0:02:09 > 0:02:12Lula with the Hula. Now, it's in a perfect spot.
0:02:12 > 0:02:14Right by the river, overlooking the east of the city.
0:02:14 > 0:02:18I know it's supposed to represent the harmony after the peace
0:02:18 > 0:02:21process and all that, but I think that's part of the problem.
0:02:21 > 0:02:24I think there is this responsibility put on artists to reflect that,
0:02:24 > 0:02:28to make art for our wee country.
0:02:28 > 0:02:29And it doesn't work.
0:02:30 > 0:02:32It just looks like a woman holding a Hula Hoop.
0:02:36 > 0:02:39Now, if public art does have a role or responsibility in
0:02:39 > 0:02:43reflecting its environment or the city it's in, I think this is
0:02:43 > 0:02:46a very successful piece and one I happen to like very much.
0:02:46 > 0:02:49It represents the working women of Belfast.
0:02:49 > 0:02:52Belfast is a very matriarchal city in a very matriarchal country.
0:02:52 > 0:02:54But if you look at some of the details on the figures,
0:02:54 > 0:02:57you have children's dummies, scrubbing brushes.
0:02:57 > 0:03:00And to me, that just says Belfast.
0:03:00 > 0:03:03And if you look at the position, which I think is particularly the
0:03:03 > 0:03:05bit I love about it, they're right at the top of the steps, you have to
0:03:05 > 0:03:08kind of walk around them, you can't, you know, they're right in your way.
0:03:08 > 0:03:11And they're looking at you, saying, "We're not moving for anybody,
0:03:11 > 0:03:15"so we're not." And there's nothing more Belfast than that.
0:03:15 > 0:03:18Now, a very interesting and mildly controversial aspect of this
0:03:18 > 0:03:22piece is, it's on private land. And there is a reason for that.
0:03:22 > 0:03:24Oh, excuse me, ladies.
0:03:24 > 0:03:26The title is Monument To The Unknown Woman Worker
0:03:26 > 0:03:28because of the unknown soldier, really.
0:03:28 > 0:03:32I think the thing for me was about that kind of, how do you
0:03:32 > 0:03:36celebrate a bunch of people who have never been celebrated,
0:03:36 > 0:03:38who are everywhere and are yet invisible?
0:03:38 > 0:03:42The site that we got was behind the Crown bar.
0:03:42 > 0:03:46And it really defined the area in terms of prostitution.
0:03:46 > 0:03:50I won the commission, and when my work was being discussed,
0:03:50 > 0:03:54a local Unionist politician went on...
0:03:54 > 0:03:56out in public and said this
0:03:56 > 0:03:59was a monument to prostitution and there was some Southern young one
0:03:59 > 0:04:03- doing it and it was a disgrace. - Then the project took another turn.
0:04:03 > 0:04:07Because now it's on private land, outside the Europa bus station.
0:04:07 > 0:04:10Belfast City Council, they said, "If it goes up,
0:04:10 > 0:04:13"we won't maintain it." So that became a kind of political cause.
0:04:13 > 0:04:16But then I was kind of privately commissioned and it was
0:04:16 > 0:04:18technically private ground,
0:04:18 > 0:04:23so the upkeep is associated with that building and that site.
0:04:23 > 0:04:26And it's actually across the road from the Crown in
0:04:26 > 0:04:29a much more public space and it has become iconic.
0:04:29 > 0:04:33Should the public be consulted about it? My jury's out on that.
0:04:33 > 0:04:35I think it's like, what I worry about is
0:04:35 > 0:04:37the Daily Mail version of sculpture.
0:04:37 > 0:04:40You know, and I don't think that you shouldn't be consulted,
0:04:40 > 0:04:42I think you should be engaged.
0:04:42 > 0:04:46I think that there should be a kind of, if not a democracy,
0:04:46 > 0:04:48a sense of understanding,
0:04:48 > 0:04:51and I think work needs to be put out there and discussed.
0:04:55 > 0:04:59I mean, I don't want to be disrespectful to the artists, you know, taste is subjective,
0:04:59 > 0:05:03but when a piece of art is in the public domain, when you've no choice
0:05:03 > 0:05:06but to walk past it every day as you go around the city, it's yours
0:05:06 > 0:05:10to appreciate or to reject, you have some kind of ownership over it.
0:05:10 > 0:05:13This piece, I don't really know what it's about.
0:05:13 > 0:05:14I'm assuming it's about, you know,
0:05:14 > 0:05:18communication and tolerance and love and lack thereof.
0:05:18 > 0:05:20But the reason why I don't really quite know is because
0:05:20 > 0:05:23I've never really thought about it, because the only emotion,
0:05:23 > 0:05:27if you will, that it inspires in me is utter indifference.
0:05:27 > 0:05:29And art's not supposed to do that.
0:05:31 > 0:05:34See, it's not all bad. I love this piece.
0:05:34 > 0:05:38You'll recognise it, it's kind of like an Airfix kit of the Titanic.
0:05:38 > 0:05:40I wasn't taught it at school, but all of a sudden,
0:05:40 > 0:05:45after James Cameron's film, Belfast became Titanic town.
0:05:45 > 0:05:46What I love about this piece is,
0:05:46 > 0:05:50it almost puts the ship in, like, a pop cultural context.
0:05:50 > 0:05:53It's become this kind of object that's instantly recognisable,
0:05:53 > 0:05:56it's an analogy of the worst-case scenario.
0:05:56 > 0:05:58And just over there is where the ship was built.
0:05:58 > 0:06:02These men built what was supposed to be the indestructible.
0:06:02 > 0:06:06And by some kind of inexplicable bad luck, the rest is history.
0:06:08 > 0:06:10I just think it's lovely.
0:06:18 > 0:06:20Y'know, at the start of this,
0:06:20 > 0:06:23I couldn't quite put my finger on what my problem was with public
0:06:23 > 0:06:26art in Northern Ireland, but after looking at the work and particularly
0:06:26 > 0:06:28speaking to Louise, I think I've got a better handle on it now.
0:06:28 > 0:06:30I think I've got it.
0:06:30 > 0:06:31It's too cautious.
0:06:31 > 0:06:34It's trying to please everybody, and that just doesn't work.
0:06:41 > 0:06:46And do feel free to tweet us at #bbcartsshow for your thoughts
0:06:46 > 0:06:49on the best - and worst - public art.
0:06:49 > 0:06:53Well, one of the highlights of last month's Belfast Film Festival
0:06:53 > 0:06:57was the premiere of Mindhorn, a comedy homage to '70s cop shows
0:06:57 > 0:07:01with a soundtrack from local producer David Holmes.
0:07:01 > 0:07:06It stars Julian Barratt of the cult heroes The Mighty Boosh.
0:07:06 > 0:07:08But what art makes him tick?
0:07:17 > 0:07:24Alien was probably one of the most powerful experiences I had.
0:07:24 > 0:07:28And I watched it on a TV, because I was way too young to see it.
0:07:28 > 0:07:30I couldn't have gone to the cinema.
0:07:32 > 0:07:36So, that film has stayed with me now.
0:07:36 > 0:07:40Every day I think about stuff from that film and Giger's designs
0:07:40 > 0:07:42and the direction and the strange,
0:07:42 > 0:07:45compelling sort of horror of that film.
0:07:45 > 0:07:48It's still really one of my favourite sort of films.
0:07:48 > 0:07:50ALIEN SCREECHES
0:07:57 > 0:08:02I was very affected by concept albums in the '70s,
0:08:02 > 0:08:06when I was growing up, chief among them being War Of The Worlds.
0:08:06 > 0:08:10No-one would have believed, in the last years of the 19th century...
0:08:10 > 0:08:13I love the music, I love the narration,
0:08:13 > 0:08:15Richard Burton's sumptuous tones.
0:08:15 > 0:08:19..human affairs were being watched from the timeless worlds of space.
0:08:19 > 0:08:22# The chances of anything coming from Mars
0:08:22 > 0:08:24# Are a million to one, he said... #
0:08:24 > 0:08:28The music is great, I think still.
0:08:28 > 0:08:31# The chances of anything coming from Mars... #
0:08:34 > 0:08:37Before I did comedy, I would go to Edinburgh quite a lot to see
0:08:37 > 0:08:41comedians, and I was sort of obsessed with certain people.
0:08:41 > 0:08:44Steven Wright, the American comedian,
0:08:44 > 0:08:47I loved his one-liners and his view of life.
0:08:47 > 0:08:50I went fishing with Salvador Dali.
0:08:50 > 0:08:51He was using a dotted line.
0:08:54 > 0:08:57He caught every other fish.
0:08:57 > 0:08:58His timing was phenomenal,
0:08:58 > 0:09:01I couldn't really understand it and couldn't get enough of it.
0:09:01 > 0:09:04I was Caesarean born. You can't really tell.
0:09:05 > 0:09:09Although whenever I leave the house, I go out through the window.
0:09:09 > 0:09:11Steven Wright was pretty incredible, yeah.
0:09:11 > 0:09:15I was really amazed by his jokes.
0:09:19 > 0:09:24My dad took me to see lots of odd jazz-rock gigs
0:09:24 > 0:09:26in the '70s and '80s.
0:09:27 > 0:09:30I remember seeing a bass player, Jaco Pastorius,
0:09:30 > 0:09:31when I was very young.
0:09:31 > 0:09:33MUSIC: Birdland by Weather Report
0:09:33 > 0:09:37Very cool - he had a headband and used to have his...
0:09:37 > 0:09:40Never wore a top, you know? And he was playing the bass.
0:09:40 > 0:09:42And so I was really into Weather Report and Jaco,
0:09:42 > 0:09:47and when I took my sort of excitement to school,
0:09:47 > 0:09:52I was met with just stony silence and confusion as to why I wanted
0:09:52 > 0:09:55to listen to this strange music.
0:09:55 > 0:09:57So that's a bit of a guilty pleasure.
0:10:01 > 0:10:04Now, while size does matter for some works of art,
0:10:04 > 0:10:07other smaller works still carry an epic punch.
0:10:07 > 0:10:12Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift is a classic 300 years on,
0:10:12 > 0:10:15but if Jonathan Swift were alive today,
0:10:15 > 0:10:19I reckon he would be a scriptwriter on TV satirical shows like
0:10:19 > 0:10:22Saturday Night Live or Tracey Ullman,
0:10:22 > 0:10:25as writer and actor Ciaran McMenamin discovered.
0:10:28 > 0:10:30You are my prisoner and shall be presented to
0:10:30 > 0:10:32Our Royal Highness King Theodore.
0:10:32 > 0:10:34On the surface, Gulliver's Travels
0:10:34 > 0:10:36is a fantasy adventure for children.
0:10:37 > 0:10:40But if you look just behind the shipwreck and the little people
0:10:40 > 0:10:43of Lilliput, you'll find a satirical commentary
0:10:43 > 0:10:47on 18th-century society, politics and science...
0:10:47 > 0:10:50with a Northern Irish connection thrown in, as well.
0:10:53 > 0:10:56Swift was born in Dublin in 1667.
0:10:56 > 0:11:00After graduating from Trinity College, he moved to England,
0:11:00 > 0:11:03where his writing skills caught the attention of
0:11:03 > 0:11:05the Tory Prime Minister,
0:11:05 > 0:11:10who made him his "polemicist", or chief literary spin doctor.
0:11:10 > 0:11:13Swift had also been ordained in the Church of Ireland.
0:11:13 > 0:11:16Religion and politics would shape his future.
0:11:22 > 0:11:26Following the collapse of the Tory government in 1714, Swift returned
0:11:26 > 0:11:30home to Ireland and became dean of St Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin.
0:11:30 > 0:11:33His time in the hot seat of power in politics was finished,
0:11:33 > 0:11:36but his experience would certainly
0:11:36 > 0:11:39influence his most enduring literary work.
0:11:40 > 0:11:44When Gulliver's Travels was first published in 1726,
0:11:44 > 0:11:46it sold out within days.
0:11:46 > 0:11:50People loved the depictions of Lilliput, squabbling nations,
0:11:50 > 0:11:52savage Yahoos, or humans,
0:11:52 > 0:11:56and of course societies governed by civilised horses.
0:11:56 > 0:11:59But they also loved Swift's lampooning of the monarchy
0:11:59 > 0:12:03and high society after the events of 1720.
0:12:06 > 0:12:10George I was on the throne, and the country was in financial
0:12:10 > 0:12:14crisis after what was essentially the first stock market crash.
0:12:14 > 0:12:17In order to get to the bottom of things, King George put his
0:12:17 > 0:12:21good friend Robert Walpole in charge of an investigation.
0:12:21 > 0:12:24But as far as the people were concerned, all Mr Walpole
0:12:24 > 0:12:26was interested in was looking after
0:12:26 > 0:12:28the interests of his wealthy friends.
0:12:29 > 0:12:34Hogarth's famous cartoon of Walpole's bottom made it very
0:12:34 > 0:12:38clear whose ass you had to kiss to stay in favour.
0:12:38 > 0:12:43Let those who present themselves as c...candidates for the most
0:12:43 > 0:12:47high office of Principal Secretary of Private Affairs to
0:12:47 > 0:12:50Their Imperial Majesties...
0:12:50 > 0:12:53Swift was outraged by the behaviour of the great and good,
0:12:53 > 0:12:56and he used Gulliver's travels in fictional lands to satirise
0:12:56 > 0:12:59various aspects of English society.
0:12:59 > 0:13:01The route in, maybe, to satire in the book is through the first
0:13:01 > 0:13:03voyage, to Lilliput,
0:13:03 > 0:13:07and Gulliver gives us really detailed descriptions of their life,
0:13:07 > 0:13:11so we have all the political machinations at court.
0:13:11 > 0:13:15So, in order to win political office, high office, you might find
0:13:15 > 0:13:20yourself dancing on ropes or leaping or creeping over sticks,
0:13:20 > 0:13:22and the person who can leap the highest is the person who
0:13:22 > 0:13:24gets the highest office.
0:13:24 > 0:13:27So you can see that Swift is obviously poking fun of
0:13:27 > 0:13:29the kind of political machinery of his day.
0:13:29 > 0:13:32And the Lilliputians are a really good example of satire,
0:13:32 > 0:13:36because one thing we might say about satire is that it seeks to
0:13:36 > 0:13:39diminish its targets by laughing at them.
0:13:39 > 0:13:41Was Mr Swift a sort of trailblazer
0:13:41 > 0:13:44for what we think of as satire today?
0:13:44 > 0:13:47Satire has been around since classical literature,
0:13:47 > 0:13:50but satire's greatest age is the 18th century,
0:13:50 > 0:13:53so Swift wasn't alone, but he was certainly the best.
0:13:53 > 0:13:58And I think lots of contemporary political satire today -
0:13:58 > 0:14:02it might be Have I Got News For You, Tracey Ullman, I don't know whether
0:14:02 > 0:14:06they've read Swift, but certainly we would say their work is Swiftian.
0:14:10 > 0:14:11# Referendum-dum
0:14:11 > 0:14:13# For a Scottish kingdom-dom
0:14:13 > 0:14:15# Nearly won the last one-one
0:14:15 > 0:14:17# We were robbed, we were done-done-done-done
0:14:17 > 0:14:18# Referendum! #
0:14:18 > 0:14:20You see lots of kind of parallels today.
0:14:20 > 0:14:24Are you sure Russia was behind hacking?
0:14:24 > 0:14:26I mean, maybe.
0:14:26 > 0:14:30But are you really, REALLY sure?
0:14:34 > 0:14:35It was China.
0:14:35 > 0:14:37Er, I mean Canada.
0:14:37 > 0:14:40It was Meryl Streep. OK, this press conference is over.
0:14:40 > 0:14:44Chris Riddell, for example, a very famous political cartoonist,
0:14:44 > 0:14:47he was involved in a version of Gulliver's Travels that came
0:14:47 > 0:14:50out in 2004, when Tony Blair was Prime Minister.
0:14:50 > 0:14:53The most famous illustration in that book is an illustration where
0:14:53 > 0:14:57we see Tony Blair as one of the politicians.
0:14:58 > 0:15:03Armagh Robinson Library holds a very special copy of Gulliver's Travels.
0:15:03 > 0:15:06In fact, it's the only known one of its kind in the world.
0:15:06 > 0:15:09- We know without doubt that this is Jonathan Swift's own copy.- Wow.
0:15:09 > 0:15:11So it's one of the first editions.
0:15:11 > 0:15:15What makes it so, so special is it's the one in which
0:15:15 > 0:15:18he made changes in his own handwriting.
0:15:18 > 0:15:20But he didn't do it out of choice.
0:15:20 > 0:15:24He did it because he was very angry with his publisher.
0:15:24 > 0:15:28Benjamin Motte made changes without Swift's knowledge.
0:15:28 > 0:15:30You've got a great passage here
0:15:30 > 0:15:33about receiving silken threads from the Emperor.
0:15:33 > 0:15:35In fact, interpreted, that means
0:15:35 > 0:15:38receiving honours from the monarch of the day.
0:15:38 > 0:15:41So you've got the awarding of honours such as the Order of
0:15:41 > 0:15:44the Bath, Order of the Garter, Order of the Thistle,
0:15:44 > 0:15:47and each one of those has its own particular colour.
0:15:47 > 0:15:51Benjamin Motte knew straight away those are the people who have
0:15:51 > 0:15:55received those orders who are being attacked, so he changed it to
0:15:55 > 0:15:58colours which had no links with any Orders, any awards.
0:15:58 > 0:16:02Benjamin Motte's argument was he feared they'd both end up in court.
0:16:02 > 0:16:04Could you tell me anything about
0:16:04 > 0:16:07Swift's personal connections to Armagh?
0:16:07 > 0:16:09Yes. He certainly had friends in the Armagh area,
0:16:09 > 0:16:13and in particular the Acheson family of Markethill.
0:16:13 > 0:16:16They were great acquaintances, they were politically in favour,
0:16:16 > 0:16:20and he often went to stay with them for lengthy periods.
0:16:21 > 0:16:26Swift also satirised himself in verse. In his poem Lady Acheson,
0:16:26 > 0:16:31Weary Of The Dean, he acknowledges his own shortcomings as a guest.
0:16:31 > 0:16:34"The house accounts are daily rising
0:16:34 > 0:16:37"So much his stay doth swell the bills
0:16:37 > 0:16:40"My dearest life, it is surprising
0:16:40 > 0:16:43"How much he eats, how much he swills."
0:16:46 > 0:16:49Swift is really known for his connections with Dublin,
0:16:49 > 0:16:51and I don't think his connections with what he called
0:16:51 > 0:16:54"the northern part" of the island are nearly as well known.
0:16:54 > 0:16:58Swift begins his career as a clergyman in Kilroot.
0:16:58 > 0:17:02There's a good case to be made that the three major prose works that
0:17:02 > 0:17:05Swift published - Tale Of The Tub, Gulliver's Travels,
0:17:05 > 0:17:08A Modest Proposal - all have links with the North.
0:17:08 > 0:17:10I have it on good authority that there's
0:17:10 > 0:17:16a 1791 map of Belfast with somewhere on it called Lilliput.
0:17:16 > 0:17:20Can we lay claim to that being the influence for the Lilliputians?
0:17:20 > 0:17:22Well, it's VERY interesting.
0:17:22 > 0:17:26You know, 1791, a bit of time after Gulliver's Travels is published,
0:17:26 > 0:17:28but town lines and place names
0:17:28 > 0:17:32tend to have been around for a very long time.
0:17:32 > 0:17:34So I don't think it's beyond possibility
0:17:34 > 0:17:38that Lilliput existed in Belfast before 1791.
0:17:38 > 0:17:41- I think we should claim it.- Yeah. - I think we should just claim it!
0:17:43 > 0:17:47So, Swift's time here in the North certainly helped to inspire
0:17:47 > 0:17:51his masterpiece and nearly 300 years after it was first published,
0:17:51 > 0:17:53Gulliver's Travels has never been out of print.
0:17:53 > 0:17:56It's a genuine classic enjoyed to this day
0:17:56 > 0:17:58by children and adults alike.
0:18:03 > 0:18:05Newry native Sean Hillen has been dubbed
0:18:05 > 0:18:09the most controversial artist in Britain and Ireland
0:18:09 > 0:18:13over the past 50 years and despite an international reputation,
0:18:13 > 0:18:17he's only just had his first-ever solo show in Northern Ireland.
0:18:17 > 0:18:20So, what is it about his trippy, anarchic mash-ups
0:18:20 > 0:18:22that have divided the critics?
0:18:22 > 0:18:26MUSIC: God! Show Me Magic by Super Furry Animals
0:18:26 > 0:18:29Well, I'm a collagist and I work with postcards a lot
0:18:29 > 0:18:31and I make new worlds out of them.
0:18:35 > 0:18:36I want to stop you in your tracks.
0:18:36 > 0:18:39I want to make something you've never seen before.
0:18:39 > 0:18:41I want to grab your attention.
0:18:46 > 0:18:50Sean Hillen, it all began in Newry.
0:18:50 > 0:18:55I grew up... Born in '61 so I grew up
0:18:55 > 0:18:59in actually a very optimistic phase of human history, I think,
0:18:59 > 0:19:02you know, and then of course the Troubles happen
0:19:02 > 0:19:05and I remember the morning of internment
0:19:05 > 0:19:08and the big armoured cars, looking through the Venetian blinds
0:19:08 > 0:19:10at the neighbours being dragged away.
0:19:10 > 0:19:14I think I was, you know, a little bit weird and very sensitive
0:19:14 > 0:19:20and both traumatised and excited and energised.
0:19:20 > 0:19:23The work that you have become known for,
0:19:23 > 0:19:28this photo collage montage, when did that start?
0:19:28 > 0:19:32I was taking the photos and in the '80s in Britain,
0:19:32 > 0:19:35the papers had been full of it, and once Gilles Peress
0:19:35 > 0:19:36and Don McCullin have done it,
0:19:36 > 0:19:39there's not really a lot you can add to that
0:19:39 > 0:19:42and so nobody really wanted to see the photos.
0:19:42 > 0:19:43So I started making my own,
0:19:43 > 0:19:46which turned out to be these fantasy worlds,
0:19:46 > 0:19:51so I would take highly-coloured London tourist material
0:19:51 > 0:19:55and collide it with my gritty black and white photos of the Troubles.
0:19:55 > 0:19:59And it is sort of saying, "How would you like it up your street?"
0:19:59 > 0:20:03but it is also doing it in a very accessible way with humour.
0:20:03 > 0:20:08And I did that for about 13 years and got a lot of attention for it.
0:20:08 > 0:20:12For instance, "Who Is My Enemy?", which is where I took a photo
0:20:12 > 0:20:15that I took of an observation post outside Long Kesh, the Maze,
0:20:15 > 0:20:19and put it in Piccadilly Circus in the place of Eros
0:20:19 > 0:20:23and into a touristy late '50s,
0:20:23 > 0:20:27probably early '60s dreamlike Piccadilly Circus.
0:20:27 > 0:20:31And I've sucked the North back into it, you know,
0:20:31 > 0:20:32so it's a simple power inversion,
0:20:32 > 0:20:36but it is actually quite powerful, and the visual punchline
0:20:36 > 0:20:38is that I've taken a kind of James Bond figure
0:20:38 > 0:20:41from a pulp comic who's leaping towards the camera
0:20:41 > 0:20:44with his gun in his tuxedo
0:20:44 > 0:20:47and the comic book was called "Who Is My Enemy?",
0:20:47 > 0:20:49and so that's the punchline.
0:20:49 > 0:20:53So, say the one of... It's The Goddess, isn't it, Appears...?
0:20:53 > 0:20:55Yeah, The Goddess Appears In Newry, Easter '93.
0:20:58 > 0:21:01I was, like, the golden boy, to some extent, of the family.
0:21:01 > 0:21:04I was obviously weirdly, you know, sort of...
0:21:04 > 0:21:07I was technically a genius,
0:21:07 > 0:21:09but a genius who didn't know what fucking day it is,
0:21:09 > 0:21:12literally didn't know what day it is, and my mummy said to me once,
0:21:12 > 0:21:15"Seanie, could you not make pictures of lovely flowers?"
0:21:15 > 0:21:20So for her, I did that picture which is the whin bushes bursting through.
0:21:20 > 0:21:23- Cos the colours are so strong. - The colours are really beautiful.
0:21:23 > 0:21:26I can nearly smell the whin when I talk about it.
0:21:26 > 0:21:29And a little soldier that I photographed,
0:21:29 > 0:21:31a young soldier with a little moustache
0:21:31 > 0:21:35that I found hiding, basically, under a staircase
0:21:35 > 0:21:38in a block of flats in Newry around 1990,
0:21:38 > 0:21:41and I saw him and I had to have the photograph
0:21:41 > 0:21:44and I just said to him, "May I take a photograph?"
0:21:44 > 0:21:46and he said, "Oh, you want a picture, sir?"
0:21:46 > 0:21:49and posed for me, which was wonderful.
0:21:54 > 0:21:58Irelantis was a huge success for you.
0:21:58 > 0:22:01Talk to me about that particular series.
0:22:01 > 0:22:04In Irelantis, I was trying to show the world what it could be,
0:22:04 > 0:22:06letting the imagination go flying.
0:22:08 > 0:22:11So, the conflation of Ireland and Atlantis...
0:22:11 > 0:22:12It's just so evocative, isn't it?
0:22:12 > 0:22:14And it is humorous in itself.
0:22:14 > 0:22:16It's just a wonderful licence for me.
0:22:16 > 0:22:18- I knew immediately what I was going to do.- Which was what?
0:22:18 > 0:22:23Well, I was starting a series called Ancient Monuments In Ireland,
0:22:23 > 0:22:25but the joke was I was stealing them from elsewhere.
0:22:33 > 0:22:37Two years ago, you found out, you discovered that you had...
0:22:37 > 0:22:40- Yep, got diagnosed, really, by accident.- Autism.- By accident.
0:22:40 > 0:22:42It is autism.
0:22:42 > 0:22:44Somebody said to me that you might have Asperger's
0:22:44 > 0:22:46and I went and looked and I said no,
0:22:46 > 0:22:49and then I went and looked and I went, "Oh!"
0:22:49 > 0:22:53And then I read about it and I am a textbook Asperger person.
0:22:53 > 0:22:55- In what way? - Well, it is a bag of tricks.
0:22:55 > 0:22:58Look at this - this is probably quite Aspergery.
0:22:58 > 0:23:00The hoarding could be one thing.
0:23:00 > 0:23:02High anxiety could be one of the things.
0:23:02 > 0:23:06I went to New York for the first time in 2006
0:23:06 > 0:23:09and I got off the bus and threw up on the pavement.
0:23:09 > 0:23:11HE LAUGHS
0:23:11 > 0:23:13It's the opposite of what the Pope does!
0:23:13 > 0:23:14THEY LAUGH
0:23:18 > 0:23:20What makes you do it?
0:23:20 > 0:23:22I'm no good at anything else.
0:23:22 > 0:23:24Really probably no good for anything else
0:23:24 > 0:23:27and I don't see the point in life, actually, frankly,
0:23:27 > 0:23:29if I wasn't making art.
0:23:29 > 0:23:32Somebody once wrote in a visitors' book,
0:23:32 > 0:23:36"Fair play to you if you can get away with it."
0:23:36 > 0:23:39And I have got away with it to some extent, you know?
0:23:53 > 0:23:54What else is new, then?
0:23:54 > 0:23:59Belfast, long the blight and blot on lives has now brought to an end,
0:23:59 > 0:24:02or several ends, its grim, traumatic fight.
0:24:02 > 0:24:07The pay-off packet and the dividend amid the double-dealings,
0:24:07 > 0:24:08halts and heists.
0:24:08 > 0:24:12A building boom and shopping malls thrown up like flotsam
0:24:12 > 0:24:14by our new security.
0:24:17 > 0:24:21Here are our palaces of snow and ice and so, folks,
0:24:21 > 0:24:25with esprit de corps, we'll shop ourselves to civilised maturity.
0:24:28 > 0:24:30Belfast aspires to be, then,
0:24:30 > 0:24:33every place where shopping is done less for recreation -
0:24:33 > 0:24:36this might apply to all the Western race -
0:24:36 > 0:24:38than from a kind of civic obligation.
0:24:40 > 0:24:44The upshot - on the whole we're better dressed, as Auden wrote,
0:24:44 > 0:24:48though maybe on the whole we find we suffer no less from neuroses.
0:24:48 > 0:24:54Despite our retail therapy, "we are depressed, tired or infertile,"
0:24:54 > 0:24:56finds some book or poll.
0:24:57 > 0:25:00Each week, I hear of a fresh diagnosis
0:25:00 > 0:25:03among old friends, at least.
0:25:03 > 0:25:05It's not, I think, merely the fallout
0:25:05 > 0:25:07of a far-off war fought in our names,
0:25:07 > 0:25:11not so remote its stink can't reach us in our hiding places,
0:25:11 > 0:25:15nor fears for the planet that make us feel sad.
0:25:15 > 0:25:18The waste, the global warming, melting ice,
0:25:18 > 0:25:20our ravenous consumption of resources,
0:25:20 > 0:25:24though few would gainsay that this news is bad.
0:25:24 > 0:25:27I plugged my laptop in to read it twice,
0:25:27 > 0:25:30such are the depths of my profound remorses.
0:25:33 > 0:25:37Now, what is it about the North West Regional College
0:25:37 > 0:25:39in Derry-Londonderry that seems to produce musicians
0:25:39 > 0:25:41practically fully formed,
0:25:41 > 0:25:45from PORTS to SOAK to Our Krypton Son?
0:25:45 > 0:25:47Now, it's Roe.
0:25:47 > 0:25:5018-year-old Roisin Donald is getting serious traction
0:25:50 > 0:25:52in the music industry in Ireland.
0:25:52 > 0:25:56Here she is in her first-ever BBC TV appearance.
0:26:12 > 0:26:16# Tiptoe over people in their numbers
0:26:16 > 0:26:19# Watch the world go by
0:26:19 > 0:26:24# Bite your tongue and turn the other cheek, boy
0:26:24 > 0:26:27# Push away, push it all aside
0:26:27 > 0:26:31# I'm waiting on the last train home
0:26:31 > 0:26:34# Saving up my words
0:26:34 > 0:26:38# And I've been waiting on a time to come
0:26:38 > 0:26:40# But you're gone away
0:26:40 > 0:26:44# You're gone and I will run from you
0:26:44 > 0:26:46# Run from you
0:26:46 > 0:26:49# Honestly and I won't come back
0:26:49 > 0:26:51# I'll run from you
0:26:51 > 0:26:53# Run from you
0:26:53 > 0:26:57# Honestly and I won't come back
0:26:57 > 0:26:59# Come back to you
0:27:06 > 0:27:10# Cutting corners, walk the other way from
0:27:10 > 0:27:13# Everything you held so dear
0:27:13 > 0:27:17# Rarely do they walk from the surface
0:27:17 > 0:27:20# Sly hands with nothing in between
0:27:20 > 0:27:24# I'm waiting on the last train home
0:27:24 > 0:27:27# Saving up my words
0:27:27 > 0:27:31# And I've been waiting on a time to come
0:27:31 > 0:27:33# But you're gone away
0:27:33 > 0:27:35# You're gone
0:27:35 > 0:27:38# And I will run from you
0:27:38 > 0:27:39# Run from you
0:27:39 > 0:27:43# Honestly and I won't come back
0:27:43 > 0:27:45# I'll run from you
0:27:45 > 0:27:47# Run from you
0:27:47 > 0:27:50# Honestly and I won't come back
0:27:50 > 0:27:53# Come back to you
0:27:53 > 0:27:56# I'll be all right
0:27:56 > 0:27:58# I'll be all right
0:27:58 > 0:28:02# When I'm lost out here, I'll be all right
0:28:04 > 0:28:06# I'll be all right
0:28:06 > 0:28:10# When I'm lost out here, I'll be all right
0:28:11 > 0:28:13# I'll be all right
0:28:13 > 0:28:17# When I'm lost out here, I'll be all right
0:28:18 > 0:28:21# I'll be all right
0:28:21 > 0:28:23# When I'm lost, I'll run from you
0:28:23 > 0:28:26# Run from you
0:28:26 > 0:28:29# Honestly and I won't come back
0:28:29 > 0:28:31# I'll run from you
0:28:31 > 0:28:33# Run from you
0:28:33 > 0:28:36# Honestly and I won't come back
0:28:36 > 0:28:39# Come back
0:28:39 > 0:28:41# Come back to you. #
0:28:43 > 0:28:46And that's it for this month.
0:28:46 > 0:28:51We are back on the wireless
0:28:51 > 0:28:54and online, where we have a feast of digital content.
0:28:54 > 0:28:57In fact, we have you spoiled. Goodbye.