National Museums NI Ticket Portal

'Flying Figures' Curator Talk

As part of European Heritage Open Day, join our Art Curator Anna Liesching for a relaxed gallery talk revisiting Belfast’s famous Flying Figures, once seen on the Ulster Bank at Shaftesbury Square, and explore their journey from city landmark to museum gallery.

For many people, these figures are remembered not from inside a gallery but from the street. For decades they were located on the Ulster Bank building at Shaftesbury Square, silently overlooking one of the city’s busiest junctions and through this, the figures became part of everyday Belfast life.

In this relaxed gallery talk, we will look closely at the Flying Figures within the context of the Elisabeth Frink exhibition, focusing on why these works captured the public imagination and how they came to define a place as well as a period.

Visitors will hear about the figures’ connection to modern Belfast, how public reactions to them have shifted over time and what it means for such a familiar landmark to now be encountered in a museum setting rather than on the street.

You’ll also hear about Elisabeth Frink’s wider body of work, and how Ulster Museum cares for a significant collection of her drawings, sculptures and prints, offering a fuller picture of her creative practice.

This European Heritage Open Day event offers a chance to reconnect with a shared piece of Belfast’s visual heritage, rediscover a work many people thought they already knew, and see how public art can shape a city’s identity just as much as buildings, streets or stories.

Ticket options

  • Adult
    Adult
    Free

    18 - 59 years

    0 30 max

    18 - 59 years

  • Child
    Child
    Free

    14 - 17years

    0 30 max

    14 - 17years

  • Senior
    Senior
    Free

    60 years+

    0 30 max

    60 years+

'Flying Figures' Curator Talk
As part of European Heritage Open Day, join our Art Curator Anna Liesching for a relaxed gallery talk revisiting Belfast’s famous Flying Figures, once seen on the Ulster Bank at Shaftesbury Square, and explore their journey from city landmark to museum gallery.

For many people, these figures are remembered not from inside a gallery but from the street. For decades they were located on the Ulster Bank building at Shaftesbury Square, silently overlooking one of the city’s busiest junctions and through this, the figures became part of everyday Belfast life.

In this relaxed gallery talk, we will look closely at the Flying Figures within the context of the Elisabeth Frink exhibition, focusing on why these works captured the public imagination and how they came to define a place as well as a period.

Visitors will hear about the figures’ connection to modern Belfast, how public reactions to them have shifted over time and what it means for such a familiar landmark to now be encountered in a museum setting rather than on the street.

You’ll also hear about Elisabeth Frink’s wider body of work, and how Ulster Museum cares for a significant collection of her drawings, sculptures and prints, offering a fuller picture of her creative practice.

This European Heritage Open Day event offers a chance to reconnect with a shared piece of Belfast’s visual heritage, rediscover a work many people thought they already knew, and see how public art can shape a city’s identity just as much as buildings, streets or stories.

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