Drawn from the Ulster Museum's Post-war and Contemporary art collection, The Enemy is Time focuses on the frailty of human existence and the threats posed by the global climate emergency.

During the 1950s and 1960s, artists experimented with new ways of making art in a world profoundly altered by the previously unimaginable losses and devastation of the Second World War. Two of the most important paintings in the Ulster Museum collection, Head II (1949) by Francis Bacon and Golden Age (1958) by Morris Louis, respond in different ways to the uncertainties of the new Anthropocene era, an age dominated by the activities of man.

For many contemporary artists, the vulnerability of the natural world and the preciousness of human memory and experience have become dominant themes. Two new acquisitions, Blue Sky Thinking (2019) by Patrick Goddard and Interval V (2023) by Ailbhe Ni Bhriain, reflect the alarming speed and immensity of loss associated with unchecked climate change. Read more about the artwork included in this exhibition here and here.