Created in Birmingham

• Business Link ‘a disaster’ says the Birmingham Post. “Designed to help small to medium sized businesses step up their act, it is instead being shunned by them. Nowhere near the anticipated numbers are getting in touch, it is claimed.” I’m not sure where I got the link from but it was probably D’log who, in another post writes that “The sad and sorry Business Link brand continues to wend its way down to the inevitable scrap heap. The switch to running it via local Chambers of Commerce hasn’t been a success, so Advantage West Midlands are breaking with the “one size fits all” area-based approach and are to move to a sector-by-sector business advice service from 2007.” Business Link’s website.
• Of interest to anyone planning to have an event in the streets, thus necessitating their closure for a period of time, comes news of the Council’s refusal to grant permission for the 30 year old Balsall Heath Carnival, meaning it has to take place on the pavements with no floats. Which is quite a sad excuse for a carnival really. Here’s hoping they do a reclaim the streets. “The Council’s change in approach towards the Street Procession could be due to the appointment of a series of Transport Managers across the country by central government about a year ago. Amongst other things they are concerned with traffic disruption and road safety.” And, doubtless, the cost of closing the roads. via UpYerBrum.
• As part of the relaunch, Town Hall are asking for memories and memorabilia from the venue over the years. They’re having three open days when people can drop in from Thursday 26 to Saturday 28 July and they’re looking for all manner of stuff. More details, and four great photos, at the link.
• Back to the prolific D’log, speculating on what effect the thousands of gay Poles currently fleeing persecution from their Catholic government will have on the creative industries in the UK given that, as he quotes, “gay people are considerably more likely to be involved in creative employment pursuits than straight people” and the effect this will have Poland’s own creative output. DzieÅ„ dobry, indeed!
• The next Boost workshop at Light House in Wolverhamton sees, amongst other things, our own Andrew Dubber doing his 20 Things workshop. I might go along just for that. (And the fact that I like Light House a lot.)
• Computer Club might sound like every other bloody guitar band out there but they have a song called Snobs about scoring at said nightclub and that’s enough to get them a mention. Ah, those wasted nights at Snobs…There’s something to have a memories and memorabilia thing for. pointer from UpYerBrum.
• SP/ARK UP “is an exhibition and collective of work from Artist Photographers, including graduates of the University of Wolverhampton and lecturers in both Graphic Design and Photography. The collective aim is to take work out of ‘the gallery’ environment and into public spaces such as shops, cafes and offices.” Kicks off in September.
• 383 have a blog! For a bloody long time by the looks of things and I just found it. Oops! They do design and are using their blog to shout about it. Nice stuff.

Youth charity Kikass are seeking creative submissions (virals/short film clips/animations) for What Would You Do For A Pound, over the next month, offering the best entrant contacts and work experience with top creative agencies (as well as over £2,000 of stuff like a Nintendo Wii, i-Pod Video Premiership tickets and career coaching). We’re looking for young creatives age 16-25 with the talent to produce a creative/foxy/inspiring clip on the theme of money/debt/financial challenges. And it’s for a good cause, too – part of a charity campaign to help 16-25 year olds get out of debt and avoid being the victims of predatory banks and companies. Kikass works with people and brands like Channel 4, Virgin, Levi’s and O2 and are always up for promoting new talent.

Do you know of any young creatives or students who are looking for exposure and additions to their portfolio, who might be interested?

They’re specifically targeting Birmingham at the moment so if you’re young and interested, or know someone who might be, contact Jo Worsley at Jo@kikass.tv or 020 7729 0092.

Okay, I think I’ve stumbled on a seam of activity in Birmingham that I wasn’t aware of. This happens to me a lot, as you’d imagine, but this time I’m going to keep a record as I travel through it. Let’s see where it goes!

We start with a Flickr search for Custard Factory Birmingham as I’m ostensibly looking for a nice photo to send my mum. But as is so often the case I get distracted by a photo. This one:

The photo is by little-lil who appears to be a sticker / graffiti artist from the West Midlands. She has a MySpace page where I find all manner of cool stuff. She’s very prolific producing canvases, t-shirts, shoes and numerous art projects like this painted VW van:

And she’s taking part in a collaborative art show. Which leads me to Monsters Monsters, a 26 year old chap who appears to be from Birmingham, who had this idea for a show and spread it amongst his MySpace contacts. The result is a show in August to be held at the Studio 4 gallery in the Custard Factory. Monsters Monsters makes plush toys of, you guessed it, monsters. Here’s a gallery of his work:

A quick google of Studio 4 reveals to me that they have a blog! It was most active in May but is still going. I like the technique of posting snapshots of the pieces on display – quick and easy and giving a good sense of what the gallery is like. I’m also reminded that Studio 4 is connected to Beat 13 and the Outcrowd Collective who I see also started a blog last month. But I know about them so I’m going to backtrack a bit.

(But before I do that I’ll quickly link to an article on Ten4 about collectives which I saw on their blog for future perusal.)

little-lil links to It’s Grand Central.

Its Grand Central is a host for Midlands Local: Urban Artists, Photographers, Graphic Designers and Illustrators. The aim of this site is to showcase work to support the creative talent and assist them in receiving the appropriate recognition within the area. Its Grand Central will soon be commissioning the artists featured on this site to design a series of Limited Edition clothing.

It’s basically a portal site for a bunch of like minded artists, mainly from a graffiti background though there are photographers involved. All of them have a little portfolio section which links to their sites, mainly on MySpace. From my perspective it’s not really Birmingham-centric enough to investigate fully but it’s a neat little example of using a relatively static site to tie together a network of more active ones and potentially launch them to pastures new. I think it comes out of Coventry and spreads at least as far as Lancashire.

So I pop back to Monster Monster to see who he’s linking to and find myself a slightly torn. These skater-artists are well connected across the globe which is fantastic as they cross-polinate their ideas through different cultures, but from my perspective it’s kinda frustrating as I’m looking for the Brummies. After a few beautiful dead ends (check this shit out from LA) I hit gold with another collective.

THEM LOT is a collective formed in Birmingham. We are illustrators, photographers, monster makers, fine artists, inventors and film makers. We like to create. We are Gareth Barnett, James Bourne, Gary Bugerlips, Joanne Conlon, Andy Council, Paul Gibbs, Mark Long, Katie Mallon, Nicki McCubbing, Bob Notley, Joel Peers, Laurie Richardson Paul Roberts, David Shillinglaw, Gregory Siff and Oda Valle. Our current project focuses on the theme of CONFESSIONS.

Here’s their slideshow:

While the Confessions show is taking place at the Custard Factory on August 15th some random clicking of their members shows them to be from all over the place. Rats! But it does get me thinking again about the blinkers this blog forces upon me. The fact that Birmingham artists reach out so much is really something to be celebrated. Gateway to the world and all that.

And so, after two hours of digging through this bewildering network I decide to call it a day. I still have to find that photo for my mum after all.

The 2007 Rhubarb-Rhubarb Festival of the Image runs from 26th – 29th July and takes place in the arts location du jour Curzon Street Station on New Canal St.

Welcome to rhubarb 2007 – open to photographers who have had at least one exhibition or publication in the last four years and absolutely understand the nature of their practice.

We say this because we want people to attend the rhubarb review when they are ready to meet the demands of the international fine art photography markets and can justify the investment necessary to attend the event.

The main draw of the festival is the portfolio review where a rather mindboggling collection of galleries, publishers, collectors and critics form around the world will be on hand to offer advice and potentially make purchases. Details of the reviewers are here including what they’re wanting to see.

As well as this there’s a Light Sale (Photography print fair, hosting some of the best local, national and international artists), Rhubarb Seminar (East meets Eastside, creative routes to trading in China and India) and Exhibitions (Profiling Midlands and International photographers).

If you’re interested in attending but don’t pass the qualifications, or just can’t afford it (£225.00 for one day, £375.00 for two days, £475.00 for three days) you can work the event.

We’d be happy for any time that volunteers can give us, as we realise that people’s free time is precious. But helping out at Rhubarb is a fantastic experience, and feedback from past volunteers can testify to that. We will feed and water you, and at the festival you will also get to meet international photographic experts, the rhubarb attendants, and generally meet like-minded people in an atmosphere of organised intensity and creative energy.

I’m quite tempted by that…

After saying there was bugger all news there’s been a flood of it this last week, and I’m stupid busy right now with work and a house move. But it’s still great to see all this stuff going on. Keep throwing the info my way!

This roundup is supermassive so do come back to it when you have a minute. It’s all good stuff I promise. And there’s still more to come.

• After much prompting 7 Inch Cinema have a blog. Yay! Who’s next? Fierce? Capsule? Rhubarb?
• Here are the Silver Footed Gig Slut gig listings for the forthcoming week with MySpace links for every band.
• The debate over the Spotted Dog noise complaints rages on The Stirrer although there appears to be only one voice arguing against the right for the pub to host loud music events outdoors – Moseley councillor Martin Mullaney. It’s a bit messy but worth a read.
• Richard McComb lays into Broad Street’s Walk of Stars but with a twist. “The superbly naff Walk of Stars is the perfect antidote to all this fluff, mocking the designer boutiques, those over-priced (and too often mediocre) restaurants, the identikit modern office buildings and ubiquitous “lifestyle” apartments decked out in red and black and bonsai. What a refreshing change then to remind people of Birmingham’s gritty past, featuring the good, the bad and the ugly – otherwise known as the nominations list for the Walk of Stars.”
• B:INS reviews Mick Scully’s Little Moscow and finds it good.
• CoCoMAD, the small but perfectly formed festival in Cotteridge Park, is this Saturday and The Destroyers are playing. Not to be missed, and it’s free.
• The CLUB is a blog / listings / community site that I’m still trying to get my head around. It’s already pretty invaluable though.
• Creative Wolverhampton has details of I Am Brand, a PDF yearbook produced by graduating students in BA(Hons) Graphic Communication and Design for Multimedia from the University of Wolverhampton. There’s some top work in there.
• Tunnel Vision continues to get a lot of coverage. Here’s a Guardian review. Who says they’re just Londo-Manc centric? Oh, everyone…
• Speaking of which, Dan Jones’ “Why can’t Birmingham do it like Manchester” post is getting a lot of thoughtful and interesting comments. They’re all good but Rhonda Wilson’s pithy piece of sense bears reprinting. “Its that sharing thing. Here everyone wants to own things so they prevent other people doing their thing. There people got it – one thing that everyone has a share of and some trust in the directors. And look at what’s happened. Let’s leave this antiquated idea about power and control behind us and work on some things together. Then we all might benefit.”
• The Community Musician is anxious about the Autumn.
• I love how Steve Gerrard is documenting his life as a professional photographer diving from rock gigs to wedding shoots. He and his wife are having a baby in four weeks – best of luck!
• Walsall-born supermodel Erin O’Connor reportedly commissioned designer Amy Lappin based on her show at New Generation Arts. “Talking about the catwalk show Erin told students that the standard was high enough to rival London showcase events.”
• The Nightingales are on tour with a Birmingham gig at the Actress on July 28th.
• Birminghamusic.com reports that local band Templeton Pek have been selected for a national tour of Academy venues.
• Jim Morton writes: “We’ve got a shonky web site called paper-jam and although we live in Leamington and Coventry we are often in Birmingham. Noticed that you were after some reviews, tend to get to quite a few gigs around brum and some of them make it up onto the site.” That’s not a shonky website. That’s a perfectly good blog that you can be well proud of. Welcome to the pool.
• Here’s the Arts Council West Midlands information bulletin for July (PDF) that’s has a nice summary of news, opportunties and events for the region. Be better as a blog though.
• Jazz Thrash Assassins, the “Metal-Flavoured Funked-up Jazz-Spazical Eclectics”, inform me they’ve made it through to the national final of the Surface Unsigned Festival which partly based on audience reaction. The final is at the Custard Factory on Sunday July 15th (the day after Supersonic) where 12 bands will perform, making it pretty much a festival. There’s a nice review of their qualifying gig here where they’re described as a cross between Metallica and the Go! Team. I think I need to see this.
• Photographer Craig Holmes has started a blog and I really like his relaxed, unpretentious style. “Went along to a restaurant in the centre of Birmingham today, and I spotted one of my large prints framed in the private dining area. No matter how long I do this for, it still feels nice to see a print on display.”
• Finally, I blogged some thoughts on the blogging event I attended at Light House on Monday.

There are photos

by XaOS

and a video

Starting with the simplest of sound material — sine waves — this piece slowly builds up into a noisy, yet tactile, interactive performance piece. Video projections onto the sheet become part of the user interface which can be controlled with physical gestures. Layers of sound differing in length are looped creating complex rhythms. Other techniques include feedback: contact microphones placed on harmonic ‘nodal’ points in the sheet are amplified back through the infra sound driver, creating rich harmonic oscillations.

I was kinda hoping there would be hammers. When faced with a giant metal sheet I generally think “hammers”. That’s why I’m not an invented instruments musician.

More info.

Song: Casio Cars
[audio:ruth_angel_casio_cars.mp3]

MySpace

An ongoing collation.

Longer reviews
The Hearing Aid
B:INS
Birmingham Mail

Shorter posts and mentions
Robin Valk
B:INS
Kent Davis
Caroline Horn (traveling with the Zulus)

Photos
Mine
Mr Hyde
Marc Reck
Caroline Horn

Meta
Google blog search
Technorati
Rootsville tag on Flickr

Let me know of any more in the comments.

Nunovo’s reflections on Tunnel Vision

On my return to the surface, I noted the standard city sounds with a sense of appreciation, hearing them as rhythmic ambient features of the sonic landscape. It’s not every day that the grind and roar of an approaching bus becomes an interesting element of installation art, or that the din of traffic, people, and other street sounds washes across the senses as a wave. This is probably the best thing I can say about Tunnel Vision. It didn’t reveal or animate subterranean architecture so much as it rearranged my perception of aboveground soundscapes.

Photos.

From harri b

Photos are posted here from the Birmingham Flickr community. Click on the image for more details.

Dan Jones of Ten4 goes to the Manchester International Festival and asks “Why can’t Birmingham do it like Manchester?

Last week I was invited up to Manchester for the launch of the International Festival, and the opening of Monkey, Jamie Hewlett and Damon Albarn’s ‘populist Chinese opera’.

You can find plenty of reviews of Monkey (and indeed the festival itself), so I won’t bother dwelling too much on that, other than to say that if you get the chance to see Monkey, you should, as it will probably be unlike anything else you’ve seen before.

I went back up for the Kanye West gig (generating sales of two hotel stays, four train journeys, two taxi rides, four meals, lots of drinks, and a croissant for the local economy incidentally) and I wanted to pose a question that was bugging me the whole time I was there. Why can’t Birmingham do it like Manchester?

By this, I mean put on a festival that

a)      gains national and international media attention for the city

b)      has a real presence within the city

c)      raises the bar in what a regional city can achieve

He goes on to expand on these points and, importantly, doesn’t want to suggest that Birmingham should be like Manchester, more asking what we can learn from them.

I’m not sure what the solution is – perhaps it is a Festival Ambassador, paid for by the city council, the regional development agency, or Marketing Birmingham, who has real vision, offering what Alex Poots (MIF Director) or Peter Saville (Creative Director) can. Perhaps it is bringing together several festivals over a two month period to become the Birmingham International Festival. Perhaps it is long term commitment from the development and funding agencies or the council to create this combined voice. Perhaps we all just need to think bigger.

Or perhaps we shouldn’t want to do it like Manchester at all…

I’d be really interested to hear your thoughts.

This strikes me as an important debate to be having. As Dan notes we now have an incredible number of niche festivals in the city and it would only take someone with a small amount of vision to tie them together in some way while maintaining their vibrancy. If you have any opinions on this leave them on the Ten4 blog.