Unlike most construction, Belfast’s urban bonfires are designed to be both a structure and an event. The autonomous production of a built form in the city (usually the exclusive domain of economic or state power), and its climax in pyrotechnics, are a unique and striking combination of Architecture and Theatre. In recent years, there has been a marked increase in the scale and ambition of bonfires. A wide variety of built forms has emerged, including a ‘campanile’, a Khmer temple, and a version of Norman Foster’s "Gherkin".

Could it be possible to give a new life to these contentious political symbols? Budapest’s Statue Park Museum demonstrates how the meaning of contentious political artefacts can be transformed through a change of
context and a process of negotiation. Cultural expression can be disengaged from political expression. The city bonfire, when ablaze, begins in any case to shed its attached meanings and to become pure urban spectacle.
The bonfire’s status as a cultural event is also qualified by concerns about public heath and safety: the illegal dumping of waste materials, anti-social behaviour associated with the event, visual amenity, damage to property, and the environmental and health aspects of air pollution and toxic emissions. Parallels can however be found in other cultural contexts such as Pamplona’s
‘running of the bulls’ whereby participants’ safety and issues of animal rights are deferred for the sake of cultural spectacle and tradition.

Events considered controversial, or in some way on the edge of state control, often become legitimised and normalised by incorporation into the city’s cultural and administrative apparatus. In the case of Belfast’s bonfires, this process of engagement has already begun. The City Council issues Bonfire Advisory leaflets, runs a "Best Kept Bonfire" competition, and recently launched
a pilot......Continued>>>