RISE sculpture - Broadway Roundabout

Artist impression of RISE

What is it?

RISE is a new landmark artwork located at Broadway Roundabout, one of the main gateways to the city. It is the biggest public art sculpture in Belfast.

What's the idea?

The sculpture's two globes, cast in white steel, symbolise the rising of the sun and new hope for Belfast's future. It aims to help revitalise Belfast, bringing a new focus to the area and projecting a vibrant, confident image of the city.

Timelapse video

Launch

Photo gallery

Our Flickr gallery shows photos of the construction of the RISE sculpture as the project progressed.

How big is RISE?

At 37.5m high and 30m wide, RISE will be three metres taller than the Albert Clock and six times the weight of a double-decker bus!

RISE is located on the southern approach to the city at Broadway and is visible to the 65,000 people who use the M1 and Westlink daily as well as from the air by over 2.5m passengers who travel in and out of George Best Belfast City Airport every year.

Many pedestrians will walk underneath it on their way to the Park Centre shopping complex or the Royal Victoria Hospital.

Who is the artist?

Wolfgang Buttress is the creative genius behind RISE. An experienced artist and sculptor, Wolfgang has produced simple, elegant and contextual artworks for the public realm in the UK, USA, Europe and Japan.

What's the cost?

£486,000 has been invested in the sculpture (£330,000 from Department for Social Development, £100,000 from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland and £56,000 from Belfast City Council). The project has helped to sustain 140 jobs and 85 per cent of the budget has been spent in Northern Ireland.

Who made it?

Local steel company M Hasson and Sons Ltd in Rasharkin. And, as a result of their work on RISE, Hasson's will be working with artist Wolfgang Buttress on another major new public artwork commissioned for the centre of London.

Event - Make your own RISE at W5

On 11 February 2012, we teamed up with W5 to display pieces of RISE's engineering structure and give kids the opportunity to meet MMI, the engineers who helped realise artist Wolfgang Buttress' vision.

Kids were challenged to recreate the 'RISE' structure using a range of materials.

More information

For more information, contact us at:

Tourism, Culture and Arts Development
Development Department
Cecil Ward Building
4-10 Linenhall Street
Belfast
BT2 8BP

Telephone: 028 9027 0426
Fax: 028 9027 0325
Email: culture@belfastcity.gov.uk

Funding and partners

We commissioned the sculpture with partnership funding from: