Project B: Avlija is an interesting looking art project that, like many things at the moment, falls under both the Architecture Week and New Generation Arts banners.
A trans-national collaborative public art project looking at the functionality of ornament and its transformative quality on architectural space.
Avlija is a Bosnian word that describes the enclosed garden that surrounds a traditional Bosnian house. It is a place used for socializing in the privacy of the house’s grounds. Sebilj is an Arabic word for a kiosk shaped public fountain. Project B: avlija brings together two artists:
Françoise Dupré and Myfanwy Johns, in collaboration with with Sabina Faslic, community leader with the Bosnian Cultural Centre-Midlands and the Bosnian community in Birmingham and the region.
This two-year project is to be developed in 2 stages: Stage One from 14 April to 29 June 2007, Stage Two: from July to June 2008. The first stage, avlija, leads to a large digital print and stitch installation at Block 4, 39-46 Floodgate St. The second stage outcome, Project B, is a public art/architectural structure for Architecture Week 2008 to be exhibited at the New Generation Arts Festival in 2008 and will result in a life-size sebilj, an architectural and Bosnian design influenced public structure.
The launch is on Friday 15th June from 6.30pm at 39-46 Floodgate St in Digbeth. It’s then open from 10am – 5pm until June 29th.
One of the good things about gig venues in Digbeth is they don’t have to worry about the neighbours, because there aren’t any. A gig in, say, the Jug of Ale in Moseley in the summer months can resemble a sweat lodge thanks to noise pollution restrictions keeping the windows shut but the Barfly can keep the doors open letting the steam pour out into the night.
According to The Stirrer (warning – will resize your browser) this might soon change thanks to the influx of city living flats in the area, a theory given credence by the closure of the Fiddle And Bone after noise complaints.
The Stirrer’s contacts at a residents meeting in Digbeth last night report that “newbies” to the area who’ve bought flats in the Abacus Building on Alcester Street are now trying to take action against some of the established businesses there.
Air nightclub? The Medicine Bar? The wonderful Spotted Dog pub?
They were all the subject of complaints to the Environmental Health officer on the grounds of noise, even though they’ve all been trading for years before any of the residents moved in.
City living and mixed use complexes seems to be the cornerstone of urban redevelopment these days and I have a reasonable amount of sympathy for the notion. It keeps an area alive 24 hours a day keeping crime down and fostering pockets of community that will hopefully prevent the inner-city rot of previous generations. In this regard a Digbeth that has a significant residential population is not a bad idea.
But just as you wouldn’t expect people to live in an industrial estate and complain about the noise you shouldn’t do the same in an entertainment one. The thing about Digbeth / Eastside that I always think of whenever someone talks about regenerating the area is that it’s already alive. It might not look pretty to some eyes but there’s a hell of a lot going on there. It’s also has, I think, the largest concentration of live music venues in the city. Any commercial development should take that into account and work with it, not try to eradicate it with laws designed for the suburbs.
One of the special things about events at the Custard Factory like Supersonic is how they drain the pool and turn it into a huge outdoor stage with very loud music going on until the early hours. If that had to be stopped because people started living nearby and bitched about it the world will be a sadder place.
From Gareth Courage
Photos are posted here from the Birmingham Flickr community. Click on the image for more details.
From ikkio_too
Photos are posted here from the Birmingham Flickr community. Click on the image for more details.
Yesterday I popped along to St Chad’s Cathedral, which is a very interesting building so I’d recommend you follow that link. I was there to meet Sian Hindle, a jewellery designer who was taking part in the Architectural Jewellery and Conceptual Design strand of New Generation Arts and Architecture Week. This project, curated by Susan McNally, gets four designer-makers to work with a building of architectural interest in Birmingham. As well as St Chads there’ll be work in the Central Library, Big Peg in the Jewellery Quarter and Moor St Station.
Sian has produced six birds from a sheet of metal which has been acid etched with a dream story about flight. The birds are then suspended in the air at St Chads – you’ll find them in the far right corner.
Sian graduated from BIAD a couple of years ago and now works in the Jewellery Quarter as a jewellery designer. She can be contacted here.
The show officially starts on Monday 18th and runs to the 29th but if you’re passing you can obviously see Sian’s work right now during cathedral opening hours (8am – 5pm). The other installations are going in over the next few days.
And it goes without saying the cathedral is well worth a visit on its own. Be sure and check out the 15th Century Christ.
From nobody knows anything
Photos are posted here from the Birmingham Flickr community. Click on the image for more details.
Along with a rash of festivals we seem to be having an epidemic of debates at the moment. When I first saw this I assumed it was part of the Arts Council’s Arts Debate but The Big Debate Birmingham turns out to have a wider remit and is organized by the NEC Group and the Birmingham Post with previous debates being about Congestion Charging and the question of what exactly a City Region is. I’d have liked to have been there for that one if only to try and get an answer in English.
But the next one is relevant to this blog asking the question “Is there life in the regional arts?”
As the centrepiece of this year’s New Generation Arts Festival, The Big Debate will explore the health of Britain’s regional arts scene and question the perceived cultural hegemony of London. This event is designed to provoke wide-ranging debate across a broad spectrum of interests, including business, politics and local communities.
On the panel are Christopher Frayling (Chair of Arts Council), Germaine Greer, Anthony Sargent (The Sage Gateshead), Terry Grimley (The Birmingham Post) and Richard Morrison (Chief Culture Critic for The Times)
The debate takes place at the ICC Hall 5 on Monday 18th June from 4.30 – 6.30pm. That’s next Monday. Kinda short notice really. I’m pretty sure it’s free but you need to register.
Given the panel and context this could be a really interesting event, as long as twattery from the floor is kept to a minimum. I’m always tempted to bring a fog horn along to these sorts of things for when the inevitable knob-end asks something long winded and pointless. But we can always hope for sanity.
Here comes another festival, hot on the heals of the last one. Keeping track of all this stuff is getting to be a full time job!
Architecture Week starts on Friday 15th and runs until the 25th. There’s a load of stuff going on all over the city on the theme of How Green Is Our Space. As I’m finding with these events it’s easier to get a feel of what’s going on from the paper catalogue than a website so I’d highly recommend downloading the West Mids Architecture Week booklet and having a browse. It’s a 2.4mb PDF and is refreshingly readable off the screen.
Mara Cruzado and her winning photo in the World in One Region photography competition currently on show at BBC Mailbox.
Photo by John Seedhouse
From tina_manthorpe
Photos are posted here from the Birmingham Flickr community. Click on the image for more details.
The Museum of Lost Heritage are the lovely people who opened up the old Science Museum on Newhall St last year prior to its demolition. As well as giving access to a lovely piece of Birmingham history they also had a couple of artists work with the detritus left after the move to ThinkTank. Here are my photos from that weekend.
Despite the area now being mostly a building site it would appear they’re still finding stuff to work with as there’s another weekend long event coming up entitled Stuff and Nonsense:
Artists Alistair Grant and Stuart Mugridge have created a mysterious archival installation inspired by salvaged item collected from the site of the Former Science Museum and Elkington Works. Ravi Deepres’s film evokes memories of people, the place and time passing.
The event is highly recommended to anyone with a passion for Birmingham’s history and exploring stuff and nonsense. It continues on Friday 22 Â Sunday 24th June from 11 – 5 pm and the Artists will be hosting guided tours for small groups every hour. Advance Bookings are welcome. Please tell your friends!
The opening is Thursday 21st June at 6pm. Here’s the invite. If you click on it you’ll get a readable PDF version.
From kate&drew
Photos are posted here from the Birmingham Flickr community. Click on the image for more details.
