Author: info@universityofatypical.org

Passages by Anushiya Sundaralingam

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The boats’ delicate frameworks echo the human skeleton—structures that support yet fracture, heal, and hold history. This duality invites viewers to contemplate how displacement shapes the body and psyche alike.

Passages reflects the fluid, often fragmented nature of migration—marked by disorientation, resilience, loss, and transformation. It is a layered, evolving dialogue about crossing boundaries, carrying histories, and the ongoing work of remembering and rebuilding. The exhibition is a meditation on movement as both physical passage and emotional journey—a shared, universal story.

About the artist: Anushiya is a multidisciplinary artist from Sri Lanka, now based in Belfast, working across printmaking, painting, sculpture, textiles, installation, mixed media, and performance. Her practice explores migration, cultural memory, identity, and belonging, shaped by my move from Sri Lanka to Northern Ireland in 1989. A graduate of the University of Ulster (1998), she exhibits locally and internationally, with work in public and private collections. Based at Queen Street Studios and Belfast Print Workshop, she also works as an arts facilitator. Her work seeks to build cultural understanding and create spaces for shared stories and meaningful connections through art.
A pivotal moment in her personal and artistic journey was returning to Sri Lanka from the UK in 1995, during the height of the civil war. That journey—marked by travel across land and sea, including small boats—left a deep emotional imprint. It underscored the complex

interplay between danger and safety, loss and reconnection, which continues to inform the emotional terrain of her work.

Exhibition times:

Late Night Art opening event: 6:00 – 9:00 pm on Thursday 2 October
Exhibition: Thursday 2 until Friday 24 October by normal opening hours (Tuesday to Friday 10:00 am – 5:30 pm)
Bounce weekend opening: 10:00 am – 5:00 pm on Saturday 4 October, and 12:00 pm – 4:30 pm on Sunday 5 October
Artist Talk: Friday 3 October from 2:00 – 3:00 pm in the Atypical Gallery (free, no booking required)

Culture Night Belfast – Bbeyond Performance Art at UofA

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Friday 19 September 2025, 5:00 – 8:30 pm
Drop-in event, no booking required
Ledger Studio

Bbeyond and University of Atypical present an evening of accessible performance art in the Ledger Studio. Drop-in from 5:00 pm to watch two members of Bbeyond perform their work. Performance art uses space, time and the body to create a reaction between artist and audience. You might not know what you’re going to experience during the evening, but we hope it will provoke a response! Audiences can enter and leave at any time during the performances, and no booking is required.

Bbeyond is an arts organisation based in Northern Ireland that focuses on Performance Art. Membership includes multidisciplined artists from many locations. Bbeyond are involved in local, national and international projects and in 2025 celebrate 50 years since Alastair MacLennan brought this art form to Ireland.

There are two artists performing at this event: Elaine McGinn and Sorcha Keeve. Sorcha’s performance will run from approximately 5:30 – 6:30 pm, and Elaine’s performance will run from 7:00 – 8:30 pm. There will be Bbeyond performance art film playing at the start and break of the event.

Sorcha Keeve, originally from Donegal, utilises their practice as a way of confronting and unraveling previous experiences and feelings. Specialising in sculpture and lens, the artist aims to create bodily manifestations of what lies in the psyche and simultaneously string together a cohesive narrative of what is seemingly unrelated. Through abstracting forms and manipulating material, the final body of work encapsulates the aforementioned aspects of Keeve’s practice, constructing a solidified collection of lived truths.

Elaine McGinn is a multi-disciplinary artist, born in Belfast and currently living and working on the North East coast of Ireland, where she has been active in areas of performance, community art and art education from 2004.  Elaine’s work draws from previous studies in art therapy and a focus on new directions in her art, taking on a contrast of media and material that serves to intersect and interweave throughout the performative space. It reflects on the poignant and precarious questions surrounding family, roles and relationships. The work resonates with both the domestic and the post-industrial environments of our time, spanning generations of storytelling, place and approaches to labour.

Content guidance: these performance sessions will involve direct engagement with audience members, if the audience member chooses. One performer will use eggs as part of their performance. One performer will be using wallpaper paste. Audience members should not come into physical contact with either material. If you have any allergies please let a volunteer know when entering the studio.

This evening will be presented with audio description which provides a spoken description of the visual performance to support blind and partially sighted audiences. If you would like to use the audio description please let a volunteer know when entering the studio and you will be given a headset. If you have any other access requirements to enable you to attend please email access@universityofatypical.org 

Atypical Book Club – The Haunting of Hill House

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Thursday 18 September 6:30 – 7:30 pm
Ledger Studio

In September, we will be reading The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson.

Alone in the world, Eleanor is delighted to take up Dr Montague’s invitation to spend a summer in the mysterious Hill House. Joining them are Theodora, an artistic ‘sensitive’, and Luke, heir to the house. But what begins as a light-hearted experiment is swiftly proven to be a trip into their darkest nightmares, and an investigation that one of their number may not survive.

Acclaimed as one of the finest ghost stories of the twentieth century and filmed twice as The Haunting, this is an unsettling examination of how fear can make us our own worst enemy.

The Haunting of Hill House is one of the classic haunted house stories, and was the inspiration for Mike Flanagan’s modern reimagining for Netflix in 2018. The novel is from the perspective of Eleanor, a young woman who so badly wants to escape her confined life that she accepts an invitation from an academic she has never met, to join a trip to Hill House. The house unsettles her from the start, as do the unfriendly staff, but Eleanor finds camaraderie with the others staying there. The four of them begin investigating the secrets of the house as an adventure, but soon begin to experience things that they cannot explain. As with so many good horror stories, the big question of the novel is what evil is in the house, and how much of the terror is what they have brought with them.

Some things we might discuss during our meeting are: loneliness, depictions of mental illness, family dynamics, queer subtext, and the house as setting.

Content notes for The Haunting of Hill House: Suicide, mental illness, hallucinations, depictions of violence, isolation, religious imagery.

All welcome! Book your free place online (booking is not required, but if you book in advance you can provide your access and dietary requirements)

Out of the Box

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<< All Events

Sunday 5 October 

6:00 – 8:00 pm

The Black Box 

£12

Comedy

Belfast

Book tickets here

Out of the Box

Please note: This event was advertised in our printed programme with British Sign Language interpretation, but unfortunately we can no longer offer BSL for this event.

Back by popular demand, Ross Mitchell presents a bold new lineup of Northern Ireland’s finest up and coming neurodivergent and disabled comedians. Ross has been performing standup across the island of Ireland for 13 years, with sets that often draw on his own experience with autism.

This year’s lineup includes Mustafa Said, Katriona Kirwan, Tiff Minson, William Callahan, and Leo Lardie. Each comic has carved out their place in the United Kingdom and Irish comedy scenes with their original voices and unforgettable humour. Get ready for a night of comedy that’s insightful, unapologetic, and refreshingly different.

The Black Box -
Venue Accessibility

  • Step-free access
  • Toilets Accessible toilets
  • Assistance dogs welcome
  • Reserve a space

You can find more information about accessibility at Bounce Arts Festival venues on the Venue Accessibility page.

Making an Access Request

You can also request other accommodations. You can see some examples below.

You can request these in different ways:

We require two weeks’ notice to organise a British or Irish Sign Language interpreter, or an audio describer, for an event. Our funds are limited, and some accommodations take time to organise. Please give us as much notice as possible so we can do our best to meet your requests.

  • British or Irish Sign Language interpretation
  • Audio description
  • Large Print documentation
  • Ear defenders
  • Easy Read documents
  • Braille documents

Eugene McPeake

Posted on by info@universityofatypical.org

<< All Events

Sunday 5 October 

3:00 – 5:00 pm

The Black Box 

£8 (+ £1 fees)

£5 (+£0.63 fees)

Music / Film / Storytelling

Belfast

Book tickets here

Eugene McPeake

This is a rich, immersive live performance from Eugene McPeake and The Urban Arts Centre. It blends folk, blues, jazz and original compositions, which are paired with a poetic short film to create a layered storytelling experience rooted in place, memory, and imagination.

Eugene is a Belfast-based musician, composer, and artist with deep roots in Ireland’s musical heritage. As a solo artist for over 10 years, he has created a significant body of work spanning live performance, film scores, and experimental projects. His band, The Urban Arts Centre, has performed at numerous festivals and cultural events, and is known for its compelling blend of traditional and contemporary sounds.

This event is funded by University of Atypical’s ‘Sounds Atypical’ music grant programme through Belfast City Council.

The Black Box -
Venue Accessibility

  • Step-free access
  • Toilets Accessible toilets
  • Assistance dogs welcome
  • Reserve a space

You can find more information about accessibility at Bounce Arts Festival venues on the Venue Accessibility page.

Making an Access Request

You can also request other accommodations. You can see some examples below.

You can request these in different ways:

We require two weeks’ notice to organise a British or Irish Sign Language interpreter, or an audio describer, for an event. Our funds are limited, and some accommodations take time to organise. Please give us as much notice as possible so we can do our best to meet your requests.

  • British or Irish Sign Language interpretation
  • Audio description
  • Large Print documentation
  • Ear defenders
  • Easy Read documents
  • Braille documents

From Berlin to Belfast:

Posted on by info@universityofatypical.org

<< All Events

Sunday 5 October 

11:30 am – 1:00 pm

Accidental Theatre and Online 

Free (ticketed)

BSL

Visual and performance art discussion

Belfast

Book tickets here

From Berlin to Belfast: International Perspectives on Disabled-Led Co-Creation

Join the creative team behind our Cultural Bridge project for an artist panel discussion exploring the insights from our international partnership. The discussion will delve into the challenges of international residencies for marginalised communities, and discuss the relationship of queer and disabled communities in the arts. Visual art curator, writer, researcher, educator and advocate, Dr Jane Morrow, will lead the discussion.

University of Atypical and COVEN Berlin have been working in partnership as part of the 2025-26 Cultural Bridge programme. During their residencies, artists Husk Bennett (Belfast) and Chris Yohei Tokunaga (Berlin) co-created new work together with d/Deaf, disabled, neurodivergent, and queer communities in both cities. The culminating work, Sick in the City, is queer and disabled-led, and rooted in taking back public space for bodies and identities which are frequently excluded or made invisible.

This project is funded by Cultural Bridge, which celebrates bilateral artistic partnerships between the United Kingdom and Germany, through the collaboration between Arts Council England, the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, British Council, Creative Scotland, Fonds Soziokultur, Goethe-Institut London and Wales Arts International / Arts Council of Wales. 

Accidental Theatre Accessibility

  • Step-free access
  • Toilets Accessible toilet

You can find more information about accessibility at Bounce Arts Festival venues on the Venue Accessibility page.

Making an Access Request

You can also request other accommodations. You can see some examples below.

You can request these in different ways:

We require two weeks’ notice to organise a British or Irish Sign Language interpreter, or an audio describer, for an event. Our funds are limited, and some accommodations take time to organise. Please give us as much notice as possible so we can do our best to meet your requests.

  • British or Irish Sign Language interpretation
  • Audio description
  • Large Print documentation
  • Ear defenders
  • Easy Read documents
  • Braille documents

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