'Jump Trump' Interactive Art Opens In Belfast

Visitors at an art gallery in Belfast now have the chance to jump onto an inflated crash mat emblazoned with an image of Donald Trump.

Jump Trump is an interactive visual art installation on display at the 2019 Belfast Photo Festival.

It coincides with the US President's state visit to the UK and Ireland earlier this week.

Created by Dutch artists Erik Kessels and Thomas Mailaender, Jump Trump is exhibited at the Golden Thread Gallery and challenges daring visitors to get up close to the controversial politician and express their feelings by diving onto the one-metre deep crash mat.

The photo festival has this year adopted the theme of 'Truth and Lies' and will examine how photography can be used to influence opinion, from carefully choreographed photoshoots to image manipulation and misrepresentation.

The festival's Director, Michael Weir, said: "Belfast Photo Festival works to make visual art engaging and interactive, so when we discovered the work by Erik Kessels and Thomas Mailaender it was a very strong fit with our organisational aim to make visual art engaging, but also with the theme of this year's festival.

"The fake news phenomenon is something many people closely associate with Donald Trump, both as a perpetrator and an individual who has made accusations about being subjected to it."

Mr Weir continued: "It is an installation that challenges audiences. The jump, whether one chooses to make the leap or not, is based on that person's own interpretation of the piece.

"There will be visitors who choose to jump and those who won't, but that's a very important part of the story of this installation. It reflects how the man and his politics can be divisive and how those views, both for and against, are played out in people's decision whether or not to engage with the artwork."

He added: "It's important for visual art to encourage debate and contribute to the dialogue around wider issues. Visual art can challenge audiences in ways other artforms can't."

Jump Trump forms part of a larger exhibition, 'Do Governments Lie?', at the gallery. Other works include Philippe Chancel's Kim Happiness, a series of photographs taken in North Korea exploring the management of happiness by the country's government, and Marc Lee's video installation which trawls social media in real time and seamlessly weaves tweets, Instagram posts and YouTube uploads by political parties and their election candidates into a dystopian live television show.

Jump Trump is at the Golden Thread Gallery until Saturday, 29 June. The accompanying exhibitions by Philippe Chancel and Marc Lee will remain on display until Saturday, 27 July.



(JG/CM)