Ormeau Baths Gallery

Founded 1995
Closed 2006
Location 18a Ormeau Avenue, Belfast, BT2 8HS
Website ormeaubaths.co.uk

Ormeau Baths Gallery (OBG) now a home to tech and digital businesses, ¹ was a publicly funded gallery situated in the Linen Quarter of Belfast. The Victorian structure which stands on Ormeau Avenue used to be a public bath house and swimming pool. In 1990 – 1996 it was converted into one of Belfast’s leading contemporary galleries. The gallery exhibited a host of local and international work from award winning to emerging artists in the field of contemporary visual art and design.

Hugh Mulholland, previously the founder and Director of Context Gallery in Derry and current director of The MAC was the Director of the Ormeau Baths Gallery from 1997 until the gallery’s closure in 2006. The gallery programme included a mix of solo and group shows; national and international in all art disciplines.

OBG received core funding from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland and Belfast City Council as well as raising income from a range of additional sources including charitable trusts, foundations and corporate sponsorship. ²

History

The gallery received its core funding from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland and Belfast City Council, but in a surprise move, the Arts Council suddenly announced at the end of February 2006 that it was not going to renew its funding, and that the gallery would close. ³