Created in Birmingham

Following on from my previous post, I was alerted to another site focusing on the digitisation of collections, offering similar functions to the Pre Raphaelites site, but covering a greater range of collections.

Inspiration Bank showcases rarely seen artworks and decorative objects from Midlands-based gallery, museum and library archives – currently including Birmingham Central Library, New Art Gallery Walsall, the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery and Wolverhampton Arts and Museums Service.  The easy-to-use site contains over 5,000 zoomable images, including artworks by Van Gogh, Lowry and Epstein, glazed ceramics from the heart of the potteries and locally produced objects from the time of the Industrial Revolution.  If you follow the links above, you’ll see that not all of these destinations have their own dedicated site, and so it seems even more important and exciting that Inspiration Bank exists to unlock some of their hidden treasures!

Whilst use of the site is completely free, you do need to register with them in order to collect and comment on your favourite zoomable images using an online album.  Schools and colleges interested in discussing how they could make the most out of the site within the classroom should contact Inspiration Bank manager David Allen at info@inspirationbank.com or 0121 204 9886.

Inspiration Bank was built by and is managed by Birmingham City University’s Media Content Lab, who do lots more interesting projects besides – so go have a browse of their site!

I’ve often wondered why museums and galleries aren’t using their web presence in more innovative and useful ways.  I worked within a gallery for a number of years, and this gave me the unsurprising insight that many factors contributed to this: underpaid overworked staff, simply no capacity (in terms of time) to explore new avenues, gallery staff restricted to working within strictly defined roles with little room for experimentation, and those who do maintain the web side of things being under supported and in need of upskilling.  Plus above all, there are many challenges facing gallery collections (from conservation to valuation to interpretation and beyond) that the additional pressure of creating new ways of accessing that information sits at the bottom of anyone’s agenda, particularly when it could just end up as a copyright/intellectual property/Digital Rights Management nightmare.

Finally, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery have been brave enough to tackle these issues head on with the decision to publicly release their world-class Pre-Raphaelite collection, the largest in Europe, becoming the focal point for this work.  With assistance from JISC, BMAG appointed Birmingham-based digital agency TAK! after a five way pitch to design and develop a website application to achieve their goal.  And the resulting site is a beautiful, delicate and sensitive piece of design.  Visitors will be able to access high quality content which will enable schools, universities, and the general public to have a greater understanding of the collection in their own time, and in their own space – which in turn could encourage new visitors and raise the profile of the museum.

“TAK! have helped us create the largest online Pre-Raphaelite collection in the world” concludes Linda Suprdle, Project Manager at BMAG. “It’s a fantastic resource and provides an unparalleled level of access and quality to the works on display. Anyone with an interest in art should visit the site and discover the importance of the Pre-Raphaelites.”

I hope that this project will encourage other museums and galleries to consider making their collections accessible online.  They have the opportunity to create such valuable learning resources which could cross so many diversity and access barriers, and it seems a shame that the majority of artworks only ever see the light of day if and when a curator deems them relevant enough. Using online technology, all collections could eventually be available to view regardless of current exhibition theme!

If and when that does happen, I will be interested to see how the role of ‘the curator’ responds to that change.  The Pre-Raphaelite collection site already encourages users to create their own personal collections, so how far a leap would it be for people to share those collections and reasons for their choices with other users?  Imagine an itunes playlist or an amazon reading list – but for art, complete with personal interpretations, anecdotal thoughts, factual evidence and academic input.  THAT would be something I could become obsessive about!

I’m a sucker for anything that is done, simply because.  Not for money, not for social status, not out of obligation – but just through the love of whatever it is that you do.  And Moseley Festival strikes me as one of those things.

Moseley Festival 2008 at the Patrick Kavanagh

Happening annually for over 30 years, organised entirely by volunteers from Moseley, this year’s festival has the biggest line-up to date featuring over 80 creative and community events in more than 50 locations happening between 26 June and 5 July 2009.  That’s a pretty packed line-up in a short space of time, so to make sure you don’t miss out on anything that particularly tickles your fancy make sure to visit the festival site which has all the latest news and details on all the events.  With a line-up that includes (but is certainly not limited to) Morris Dancing, jazz improvisation, burlesque, farmers markets, open gardens, Rocky Horror, Handel, and an art trail, you’re going to need to be quick on your feet if you want to see even half of what’s on offer!

Live music at the Fighting Cocks 2008

Moseley Festival street fair 2008

I was already aware of the extensive work of Arts & Business, an organisation determined to foster innovative partnerships between businesses and the arts – but had somehow managed to remain oblivious to the existence of their Visual arm.  With the imminent launch of an exhibition of works curated by Stephen Snoddy, director of The New Art Gallery, Walsall, this has all changed and I’m finding myself excited and curious about the schedule of events which run concurrent to the exhibition, as part of the Art of Ideas II programme.

Running from 30th June until 12th July, Snoddy has selected work from the Visual collection, taking nature as his theme.  The exhibition, held at Baskerville House, will feature works by a variety of artists including: Daniel Bosworth, Ian Bratley, Louise Cattrell, previous Ikon exhibitor Ravi Deepres, Anne Guest, the craft-tastic Betty Pepper, and award-winning Birmingham-based photographer Stuart Whipps.

The Art of Ideas II brings a second year of high profile debates to Birmingham audiences, endeavouring to instigate lively debate around the ‘Art of Collecting’ as well as the relationship between museums and collections in the UK.  You might wonder why this is currently so relevant to Birmingham, but with the Ikon gallery in the midst of a feasibility study (in association with Tate Connects) focusing on a proposed museum and permanent collection of contemporary art in Birmingham, it seems exactly the right time to be holding such discussions.  If this subject tickles your fancy, the free discussion, ‘A New Museum for the 21st Century’ will be happening on 8th July from 18:00 – 19:30 at Baskerville House.  I’ll be keen to see whether anyone dare broach the subject of the current economic climate and it’s impact upon collecting!

A wide variety of other free events are happening over the course of the programme, which include tours of the city’s cultural destinations, family fun days and other social events which celebrate the creative industries in Birmingham.  Hooray for summer fun – July looks set to be a lot busier than June, and I’ll be featuring many of these events on CiB!  Full details can be found on the Art of Ideas II site – although please note that many of these events are run by other organisations and you may need to book places.

So how many of you were awake at 4am on the 04/04/09?  And how many of you visually documented that moment?

As was previously mentioned here on CiB, the 4am Project is the genius concept of Karen Strunks, a Birmingham photographer who singlehandedly convinced thousands of strangers across the world that it would be a great idea to stay awake/get up at 4am to document that moment for no other reason than to be part of a larger group of people doing just that.

And people, in their droves, agreed that it was a great idea and stayed up (or set their alarms, like me!) and took photographs and sent them to the 4am website, or tagged them on Flickr so that everyone could see a snapshot of the world, of their world, at such an uncomfortably late/early hour.  Who knew you could create such extensive social capital before breakfast?!

Building upon the success of the previous event, 4am photos have continued to flood in, without being prompted to do so – and Karen has now decided it’s time to coordinate another 4am en masse.  The date of the next event is: 21/06/09.  (And in case you somehow missed it, the time will be 4am, and the place will be wherever you are!)

In addition, the 4am Project has been nominated for the Digital Press Awards, and if you think (like I do) that this project is a fab idea and a lot of fun, then vote for it to win!

Only 3 short months after their launch, Fazeley Studios are now hosting their own digital festival which aims to bring together the city’s creative businesses through a variety of events, including the usual seminars, debates and networking opportunities, but also including Fazeley’s own innovative slant of unconferences, swap shops and media mash-ups including Second Life, Twitter and live video streams.

The event which has most piqued my curioisity is entitled “My Dad’s on Twitter but he doesn’t know why”.  More than just another opportunity to ‘talk shop’, this event promises to collate the ideas and input of attendees into a collaborative group mind map exploring how and why people use social media.  In addition, after the event there will be an opportunity for an online audience to have input into the map as well.  I’m keen to see how this will utilise Bubbl.us – something I stumbled across earlier this week, and which looks like another great free tool.

The event which has most piqued my TASTEBUDS however, is definitely the festival finale – a grand high tea for 300 creative workers in Fazeley Studio’s magnificently restored 19th century chapel reception.  Fazeley currently provides a high tea for tenants every Thursday and have decided to build upon the success of this for the festival.  I’ve been promised there are exciting and secretive things planned for this event which will be unveiled on the day, but if the promise of the tea alone isn’t enough of an incentive, there will also be a preview of the latest Ikon Eastside exhibition – an installation by an emerging Chinese artist called Xu Zhen.

For more details on all of the events taking place during the festival, the Fazeley Digital website will keep you in the loop,  as well as provide opportunities to sign-up for certain events and provide feedback/interact with others.

Kate Chapman & Charlotte Goodwin - Amplifying the Map

I have to admit to be SUPER excited about the impending re-opening of the mac.  So ANY news, or any work linked to the opening, in turn excites me too.  In addition, my personal interests are deeply rooted in events which involve an element of participation – and with that in mind, I’m particularly excited to touch upon ‘Site and Sounds’.

“Site and Sounds offers a taste of the activities planned for mac’s re-opening in 2010 including workshops, walks and the premiere of a specially composed anthem for mac. mac’s Associate Artists Stan’s Cafe and Motionhouse Dance Theatre will also be presenting work as part of the summer programme including an adventure in the dark and some in-your-face dancing.”

There’s a substantial programme of events leading up to the re-opening – details of which can be found on the macartists website, as well as information on how to book for workshop places.  I was excited to see a screen-printing workshop advertised, then realised I am sadly 16 years too old to take part. Sniffle.  If you DO fit into that age category however, I think it’ll be a lot of fun!

I’m also curious about the recent theme of ‘mapping’ which keeps cropping up in projects and artist’s works of late.  This time, artists Kate Chapman and Charlotte Goodwin are exploring the mapping theme by inviting people who live, work or play close to mac to re-discover familiar places and explore places they have never visited before, sharing their thoughts and observations to create an audio map of the changing landscape.  All of these recordings will feed into an audio map – a web of downloadable audio tracks focusing on different locations in a mile radius of Cannon Hill Park.  I’m wondering if any CiB readers have experienced any other map-themed artworks/projects of late – if so, send me an email or leave a comment.

I will also be interested to see ‘Underground’,  performed by four dancers from Motionhouse Dance Theatre.

“Set within a rocking tubular structure, using physical dance, poignant imagery and surprising aerial encounters, ‘Underground’, explores the reality of train travel.”

Considering the title of the performance, I imagine it would originally by inspired by the experience of underground travel as opposed to regular trains.  How this will translate both to regular train travel as well as the open space of Cannon Hill Park will remain a mystery until the performance itself, which is happening Saturday 18th July at Cannon Hill Park at 11.30am, 1pm and 3pm.

Motionhouse Dance Theatre - Underground

Friday, 05/06/09, 19:00

Ten high-backed chairs, some seating elderly people and some seating younger people, spanned the back of the stage area at The Door, the studio theatre at Birmingham Rep. Above this seating arrangement was a large screen, showing slow panoramics of the Birmingham skyline. In front of them, a gently-lit bed with a man lying down, a wheeled trolley next to him and a fan pointed at him.

A short film entitled “Hats” began. The first shot panned out to show a woman, with coarse patchy hair and a massive grin cackling as she tried on the most extravagant yellow hat with massive straw brim. She looked into the camera and said, “Yes. This is me.”

At this point, I have to admit to no longer being able to see very well due to the large amounts of tears gushing down my face – so if my descriptions fall short somehow, I apologise.

Rosetta Life is a charity dedicated to working with people who have life-threatening illnesses.  “The Magical Glow of the Co Op” was a rehearsed reading as part of the Rosetta Live celebrations that featured the work of two hospices; Birmingham St Mary’s Hospice in Selly Park and St Giles Hospice Whittington, near Lichfield. Working together, more than 30 hospice users generated a performance script that looked at the choices people face when dying and the difficulties they face when making these choices.  In the 10 chairs sat 3 professional actors (the fourth was lying on the bed), 6 hospice users and one care professional.  Throughout the reading hospice users took to the stage to perform alongside the professional actors which really added weight and poignancy (as well as some unexpected laughs) to the evening.

The performance finished with an aftershow discussion called ‘The Big Conversation – Let’s Talk About Living’.  The audience were invited to ask questions of the panel of hospice users who had taken part in the perfomance, health care practitioners and the actors who were still in character.  Until then, I had kept my eyes focused on the stage, hoping to hide anonymously at the edge of a row.  However once the lights went up, I really looked at the audience – at those people who had chosen to spend a night in the company of such a taboo subject.   The audience consisted of every economic/social/cultural background you can imagine, all sat in one small venue watching their loved ones perform, or the words of their lost loved one performed by their peers.  And there were no dry eyes.  Not one.

I feel excited that Birmingham East and North PCT were brave enough not only to fund this project, but also to enable Birmingham to become the first UK city that is making steps to talk openly about how it’s citizens positively approach life as it draws to a close, as well as how they want to be remembered. Created in Birmingham has always highlighted exciting and relevant creative ventures linked to the city, and I can’t think of a more perfect project to write about in my first post proper.  Actors, hospice users, venue and funders are all citizens of Birmingham, breaking new and important (if at times uncomfortable) ground.  This was a performance that anyone touched by illness should see, not just the friends and families of those performing.

“The Magical Glow of the Co-op” was just one small part of the Rosetta Live celebration running throughout June. It culminates in a film premiere at The Electric Cinema on 29th June commencing at 6.00pm.  To book, please contact bookings@rosettalive.org – I know I’m going to be there.

'hello, my name is..'

I’d hoped to slip into CiB under the radar, anonymously, like a blog-thief in the night.  But it hasn’t really happened like that, and I’m now setting sail the CiB ship under what feels like extremely weighty expectations.

So, hi! I’m Adrienne.  I was born and grew up in Wolverhampton, I now work in West Brom, and spend nights out in Birmingham. (that’s not a Midlands hierarchy, just a train of thought..) I’ve worked in the arts forever and have a soft spot for anything handmade.  I ask a lot of questions, and sometimes muddle my words.  I find change stressful, but love being kept on my toes.  With that in mind, if you want to see anything done differently on here, let me know and I’ll see what I can do.

I love email, hate telephones, and as Kate quite rightly pointed out embrace using 140 characters or less.  I love technology, but not when it’s being mean – so I apologise for any error and/or warning messages you may have been seeing recently on the site.  I’m working on figuring it out, with the generous help of the CiB forefathers who’re infinitely more knowledgeable than me about such things.

I’m going to work on collating interesting Birmingham stuff for you to read, and in the meantime, whilst we iron out these glitches, don’t be shy.. say hello, and tell me something interesting!

Tomorrow I will be handing over the Created in Birmingham reigns to a new editor, Adrienne Frances. I have loved every minute of getting my hands on CiB and hope you have enjoyed reading my posts, and have forgiven any typos. Over the last five months I have played my small part in not only a thriving creative and cultural sector in Birmingham, but have got to know some of the most dedicated people in the region who are innovating the way we communicate online and off.

I will let Adrienne introduce herself properly in due course, but just to say that she was chosen as editor for her wealth of experience with the arts, her wit and for her hunger to ask the questions that need answering. You can follow Adrienne on Twitter and give her a personal welcome.

I will be going back to write about music on the Colour blog this month, organising live music events in Birmingham, and I will be popping back to CiB to post when I get the itch to write about something relevant. I will also get round to starting my own blog sometime soon as somewhere to put down my wandering thought.

Their are many CiB readers who have helped and inspired me over the last few months but to mention a few: Chris, Pete, Helga, Lyle, Katie Parry, Kay Stanley, Kasper Sorensen, Abby Corfan, Nicky Getgood, Rob at BCMG, everyone who bought tees and totes, but most of all Matthew. Thanks everyone, and so long for now!