Through the Lens of the Secret Police: Images of the Religious Underground in Eastern Europe (9 October 2020 - 31 March 2021)
Through the Lens of the Secret Police: Images of the Religious Underground in Eastern Europe opens 9 October 2020 and runs until 9 March 2021. The exhibition is part of the European Research Council Horizon 2020 funded project Hidden Galleries. The exhibition is curated by Gabriela Nicolescu and James Kapaló. The exhibition is open in the Boole Library during the hours of the library. Check the website for semester and holiday opening hours.
This exhibition explores the legacy of secret police operations against religion through a visual cultural lens. The displays present a difficult kind of cultural patrimony comprised of images shot or stolen by the secret service police in four different countries: Romania, Hungary, The Republic of Moldova and Ukraine. Sometimes violent or intrusive, at other times personal or with a documentary quality, secret police visual materials had many uses at the time and today prompt varied interpretations. Images that at the time were used by the secret police as incriminating evidence against religious communities, today also represent the memory, cultural patrimony and creative spirit of these groups and individuals.
As far as possible, we tell the story of secret police operations through the photographs and images we found in the archives. The team of researchers sifted through hundreds of thousands of pages of files in order to find these uncatalogued, hidden visual traces of communities that had been targeted by the state. Today, members of targeted communities rarely know about the secret police archives or how to gain access. For this reason, whenever possible, the researchers approached individuals and communities to discuss their experience of repression and their presence in the archives. This exhibition includes the voices and reflections of members of these communities.
Full information about the exhibition is available on the Hidden Galleries' website.
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Heritage Week - Matters French: An Online Exhibition
Credit: Caussin, Nicolas. The Holy Court, in five books. Trans. Thomas Hawkins. Corke: Printed and sold by Eugene Swiney, 1767.
Matters French offers an overview of some of the connections between Ireland & France from the Anglo-Normans to Beckett. These interconnected traditions are represented in UCC Library's collections. Since the Anglo-Norman conquest Ireland has witnessed contacts with France that straddled confessional & political divisions. Irish scholars & intellectuals took refuge in Paris & Louvain, where Irish-language materials could be printed & where French was to become a medium of antiquarian & historical research that took Ireland as its object. Huguenot exiles arriving in Ireland created new French-speaking communities. Ireland looked to Revolutionary France in its quest for independence.
Guide to Exhibitions
Over the last ten years there have been exhibitions on Q floor of the Boole Library with all Colleges in UCC. These either have been exhibitions curated by departments and schools or exhibitions created in collaboration with UCC Library.
The exhibition space is available for three or six month periods and exhibitions can start in January / April / July / October.
Included in each booking time is mounting and dismounting the exhibition.
As a guide the schedule is booked up to two years in advance.
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Creating ExhibitionsIf you're considering creating an exhibition use this guide as a tool for the process.
Opening Hours
30 December 2020- 5 March 2021: As per Irish Government direction from midnight 30 December 2020 all counties are placed on Level 5 under the Plan for Living with COVID-19. The advice is: Stay at home with certain exceptions. Please note this time frame may be extended.
Update: 28 January 2021: From Monday 1 February we are offering the following as alternate means of access to Special Collections & Archives:
- Scan & Deliver for Special Collections' material including items in the Reference Reading Room, Microform and items that show Special Collections by Request / Special Collections by Appointment on the library catalogue.
- Reprographic requests for manuscripts & archival material via specialcollectionsarchives@ucc.ie
Every effort will be made to fulfil scan & deliver / reprographic types of requests, but this may not always be possible due to availability, copyright restrictions, size and condition of materials.
Previous appointment services in Special Collections and Archives are unavailable during Level 5.
If you have any queries relating to our collections please email specialcollectionsarchives@ucc.ie. This email address is monitored regularly.
