Vacuum newspaper

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

There are very few or no other articles that link to this one.
Please help introduce links in articles on related topics. After links have been created, remove this message.
This article has been tagged since October 2006.

An editor has expressed a concern that the subject of the article does not satisfy the notability guideline or one of the following guidelines for inclusion on Wikipedia: Biographies, Books, Companies, Fiction, Music, Neologisms, Numbers, Web content, or several proposals for new guidelines.

If you are familiar with the subject matter, please expand the article to establish its notability. The best way to address this concern is to reference published, third-party sources about the subject. If notability cannot be established, the article is more likely to be considered for deletion, per Wikipedia:Guide to deletion. (See also Wikipedia:Notability)
This article has been tagged since October 2006.

The Vacuum is a free monthly newspaper published in Belfast, Northern Ireland by the arts organisation Factotum. Each issue is themed and contains critical commentary about the city and broader cultural issues. 15,000 copies of the paper are produced and distributed in bar, cafes and other public spaces. The paper was first published in January 2003.

1 A Topical Newspaper
2 2004 Controversy
3 See also
4 News Links on The Vacuum
5 External links

[edit] A Topical Newspaper

Each monthly issue of 'The Vacuum' is centred on a topical theme, to which readers are encouraged to contribute essays and articles. This assures a free forum of content, from social commentary, through satire to farce, focussed on one area of discussion. Rarely does The Vacuum avoid controversy, no matter what its chosen issue. Some of the past topics have included:

'Food and Drink'
'Danger'
'Prison'
'Education'
'The End' (in the month it was threatened with closure, see below)
'Waste'
'Security'

The most recent issue tackled 'Boredom'

In the past The Vacuum has published new writing by Northern Irish writers such as Glenn Patterson , Leontia Flynn and Newton Emerson.

[edit] 2004 Controversy

In June 2004 the paper caused great controversy when it published two issues themed 'God' and 'Satan'. Based on one complaint from a member of the public, some Belfast City councillors (Belfast City Council funded Factotum) denounced the publication as "filth" that was "encouraging devil worship" (reference needed). The council then withheld an agreed funding allocation of £3,300 until the newspaper apologised to the citizens of Belfast for any offence caused. The Vacuum responded by holding a tongue-in-cheek, city-wide 'Sorry Day' in December 2004.

Richard West, one of the paper's editors (along with Stephen Hackett) challenged the Council's demand for an apology in the High Court as a breach of the European Convention on Human Rights. In May 2006 the case was lost. Factotum, the publishers of The Vacuum where chosen to represent Northern Ireland by Hugh Mulholland at the prestigious Venice Biennale in 2005. They also received the Paul Hamlyn Award for visual arts in 2005.

The offices of The Vacuum are in the Cathedral Quarter, Belfast. There is a historical precedent for literary satire in the area; in the 19th Century, the area was home to a Punch (magazine) style satirical magazine, the The Northern Whig.