Why do we have a housing crisis? Why are there children growing up homeless while acres of land in Belfast lie unused? Why are successive governments failing to build enough social housing to meet the growing demand, and why are migrants being used as scapegoats for this crisis by the far right?

Using the Steve McQueen artwork ‘Grenfell’ as a jumping off point, ‘The State of Belfast’ exhibition running in The MAC until the 21st September, hopes to explore and maybe even answer some of these questions.

In McQueen’s powerful piece of art about the Grenfell Tower fire in June 2017, in which 72 people lost their lives and hundreds more lost their homes, the audience are encouraged to reflect on the scale of the tragedy and the injustices, failures, and corruption behind it. ‘The State of Belfast’ exhibition, commissioned by The MAC and co-curated in partnership with PPR’s Take Back the City campaign, looks at how some of these same issues of power, inequality, racism, and poverty can be seen in the housing crisis in Northern Ireland.

The exhibition features a number of materials from the PPR archives, copies of the Mackie’s masterplan for more than 500 homes on unused public land designed by Matthew Lloyd Architects, as well as a detailed but non-exhaustive timeline of the housing crisis in Northern Ireland. The exhibition is designed to be as interactive as possible, with visitors encouraged to sign the Take Back the City petition, leave their own comments and ideas, and to add their own local and international events to the timeline. Throughout the week, PPR activists with lived experience of housing stress and activism also act as guides to the exhibition, to engage with visitors about their campaign.

The exhibition also features work from the StreetSpace architecture students at Queen’s University, who are displaying some of their design-led, human-centred research projects into housing on the Mackie’s site. Downstairs in the Sunken Gallery, local artist Marta Dyczkowska’s film ‘Hearsay at Point Zero’ explores life on the streets in Belfast city centre with the backdrop of relentless development.

As well as the physical exhibitions running throughout, ‘The State of Belfast’ also includes a programme of talks, tours, and film screenings that aim to encourage conversations around what it means to live in a city shaped by inequality, and what it would take to imagine something better. People have had an opportunity to explore the history of the housing crisis with PPR, to learn about communities organising for change with CATU, and create their own protest signs with artist Laura Nelson, among others.

Over the next month or so, as part of ‘The State of Belfast’, there are workshops for kids to imagine their dream homes and communities, a talk exploring the concept of home through geopolitics, as well as workshops delivered by the StreetSpace students and the artist Marta Dyczkowska. All workshops can be booked through The MAC website.

On Friday 5th September, Take Back the City activists will be joined by Matthew Lloyd, the architect behind the Mackie’s masterplan, for a panel discussion where people can learn about the next stage of the plans, and for our vision for housing in Belfast. You can book a free ticket for this event here.

To close out more than two months of talks, tours, and workshops as part of ‘The State of Belfast’, there will be two final events on the 19th and 20th September. The event on the 19th, ‘From Grenfell to Belfast: Race, Poverty, and the Politics of Housing’, aims to connect the structural inequalities that led to the tragic loss of life in Grenfell, to the housing crisis in Belfast. It will feature critical analysis and conversations with activists from Belfast and Grenfell survivors, a screening of the film ‘Seeking Home’ co-created by PPR activists, and refreshments made by Kind Economy chefs.

The event on the 20th September will feature a screening of the film ‘Mother City’, a documentary from South Africa, exploring Cape Town’s history with apartheid, and the fight for inclusive and affordable housing in the city, followed by a panel discussion with housing activists from Cape Town and Belfast.

The Take Back the City campaign are so thankful for the opportunity to partner with The MAC on this exhibition, and to have been able to have open, engaged, and creative conversations about the housing crisis in this beautiful space. ‘The State of Belfast’ represents the wealth of creativity, energy, and optimism in Take Back the City campaign, and in the people of Belfast. Despite political failures, far-right violence, and private interests profiting from the housing crisis, it is the people of Belfast who will dare to imagine something better, and who will make it happen.