What is more Christmassy than fibre-optics, glue and models?

November is an odd month to be sitting outside drinking coffee – in Belfast anyhow – but sometimes CultureNorthernIreland has to suffer for art. Luckily, the barista did give us some napkins to dry the seat.

‘It’s such a beautiful day,’ visual artist Deirdre McKenna enthuses. Perhaps a little over-generously, it has stopped raining but the puddles haven’t dried. ‘I spend all day inside, I have to get out for some fresh air at lunch-time.’

We pause for a second as a truck reverses into the street – beeping all the way – and an old man admonishes us to ‘Smile!’ on the way past.

McKenna is one of the artists contributing to Model Realities, the latest show at the PS2 gallery. The show doesn’t open until December 1, but construction of the set has already begun. (During the search for a parking space, I saw them carrying wood into the gallery).

‘It’s about, well, what the title suggests,’ McKenna says brightly. ‘Model realities. Artist and model makers, or artists who use model making techniques and miniature-scapes in their work, coming together.’