ABSTRACT
This chapter suggests that there are three phases in the politics of heritage in Northern Ireland since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement that have manifested around the former prison: a time of hope, a period of government management and another season of conflict. It also suggests that a contemporary global practice developed as a critique of conflict and its consequences might find a place in Long Kesh/Maze or elsewhere in contested landscape of Northern Ireland. The emptying of Long Kesh/Maze generated interest in the history of the jail for two reasons. First, former prisoners drew attention to their experience of imprisonment during the conflict. Second, the condition of the prison building changed; into now empty spaces, another future was projected. Photography, film, exhibitions of material culture and sculpture, and other artworks offered a series of perspectives upon the prison and its post-conflict heritage. The purpose of heritage is participation.
