Leading contemporary video artist Bill Viola is currently exhibiting ‘The Fall into Paradise’ at The Public, which runs until 17 October.
Viola’s video installations – submersive environments that envelop the viewer in image and sound – employ state-of-the-art technologies and are distinguished by their precision and direct simplicity. Using the inner language of subjective thoughts and collective memories, his videos communicate to a wide audience, allowing viewers to experience the work directly, and in their own personal way.
Here’s a nice folksie video made by Chris Keenan, a.k.a Prime Objective, for Birmingham based band Goodnight Lenin. Their debut single ‘Crook In The Creek’ is having a release do at Hare & Hounds on 6 August.
The British Glass Biennale only comes round every two years, and is happening 27 August – 11 September in Stourbridge.
The UK’s major exhibition of contemporary glass in association with the Worshipful Company of Glass Sellers and the International Festival of Glass
This is the UK’s top contemporary glass showcase and will feature work of over 80 of the country’s leading glass artists with £11,500 in prize money being awarded. This is a rare opportunity to see a huge variety of work in a selling exhibition, from finely crafted vessels to bold sculptural works.
A number of well-known individuals undertake a series of talks inspired by Desert Island Discs. Asked to select their eight favourite works of art, speakers will reveal their personal inspirations, illustrated by a slide show.
Places are free but should be reserved by calling Ikon on 0121 248 0708
He’s been described as a photographer, blogger and DIY culture enthusiast, which just about covers most bases. Should be good.
Hi8us Midlands will be hosting a series of free workshops for 14-19 year olds in association with the Film Nation: Shorts competition.
The workshops will give young film-makers the chance to meet professional film-makers and acquire new skills in film-making techniques using the latest state-of-the-art Panasonic equipment.
Film Nation: Shorts was launched by eminent film producer Lord David Putnam and actors Nicholas Hoult and Georgia Groome at BAFTA in London and invites 14-25 year olds to create short films that celebrate the values of the Olympic and Paralympic Games: respect, courage, excellence, friendship, equality, determination and inspiration.
The workshops will be held on 11th, 12th, 17th, 18th and 19th August from 10am to 4pm at The Bond and participants should be able to attend all dates.
Workshops for the 19-25′s will be popping up across the country, so check back to the Film Nation site if you’re interested.
Submissions for the first round of the competition are open until 1 October 2010.
Anyone interested in attending should contact Vicki at Hi8us on 0121 753 7700 or email vicki@hi8us.co.uk.
Finally something for the adults to do over the summer! Ikon are running a two day summer school on Wednesday 11 and 18 August.
To tie in with This Could Happen To You, this summer school gives those who remember Birmingham in the 1970s the opportunity to undertake a two day programme of reminiscing, remembering and recording. Working with the Learning Team, a variety of material processes are used to explore memories of Birmingham. Based at Ikon, Brindleyplace these creative activities also require participants to work across the city centre.
Materials and a tapas lunch from Café Ikon are also included in the price, which is £30 for both days.
There are only 15 places available so if you fancy treating yourself to an artsy day with tapas, call the Ikon Shop on 0121 048 0711 to reserve your spot.
A message that went up on Tak‘s website last month confirming the news that had been doing the rounds for a little while:
At the beginning of July 2010 – exactly six years from the day they opened – we closed the doors at TAK! Towers to explore new ideas & ventures. It’s been fun, thanks for having us!
Meanwhile, I’ve just heard (via Dave Allen) that Script, the West Mids agency for dramatic writers, are shutting up shop:
It is with great regret and reluctance that the Board of Script has taken the decision to dissolve the company as of the end of August 2010.
The loss of RFO status in March 2008 has had a serious impact on the company’s resources, and the reliance on ever-decreasing pots of project funding has made its future existence unsustainable.
Another Turning Point meeting is being held on 11 August, 6:30-8pm at Eastside Projects for those of you who missed the previous one.
These informal meetings are the first stage in a process to develop a Visual Arts Strategy for the West Midlands and will feed in to the Working Groups.
The TPWM Steering Group has identified Artist Support and Development as a key priority for the Strategy. The purpose of the meeting is to look at how we do this for the West Midlands and to outline progress to-date.
This is a free public event, if you are unable to attend views are welcomed through the feedback page of the new Turning Point West Midlands website .
If you’ve wandered by Central Library recently, you’ll have noticed a new addition to the decor.
Painted over the course of three days, artist Lucy McLauchlan was given permission by Central Library and Birmingham City Council Planning to give the infamous brutalist library a make over. The project is part of the ongoing work of EC-Arts.
It was Lucy’s wish to produce one of her infamous murals in Birmingham to simply ‘beautify the city’. This coupled with EC-Arts motivation to commission artistic interventions, temporary and permanent within the public realm, utilising architecture where possible was the foundation for the Library project.
I’ve just noticed that Paul Hadley’s been interviewing people named in the Birmingham Post’s Power 50 and has managed to get hold of quite a few of the creative nominees. Here are a few:
Behind every mistake is something beautiful. I am a design student at the ripe and fertile age of 21, i spend my hours high up in my nest situated in a city once valued at twenty shillings. I enjoy crisp paper, fine inks, poscas, organic substance and my squishy mind.
Venue: Austin Court, Birmingham Date: 3 August 2010 In the blue corner – David ‘the Prime Minister’ Cameron. Conservative MP for Whitney. In the (um, *checks website branding*) purple and orange corner – Ni ‘CEO of Audiences Central‘ Singh
Ni wanted to know:
what future role he saw culture playing in the development of his ‘Big Society’
Dirty Bristow, a new magazine, is due to be launched at a summer fete to be held on Saturday 28 August at The Edge. In fact, such events (tickets for this one are a fiver) will be the way that the magazine is funded. In return they promise absolute creative freedom for their writers.
I shall now copy and paste the events due to take place at this summer fete:
Music From: 8-Bit Ninjas * Glatze Brumcast (DJ Set — TBC) * The Gavin Wray Northern Soul Experience (from The Big Paws on Rhubarb Radio) Comedy From: Tom Lennon * Harry Vale * Jon Bounds
The Punch & Judy Stylings Of Professor Michael Grimes Stalls & Games:
Raffle * Splat The Rat * Tug O’ War * Darts * Teddy Bear Bungee *Guess The Weight Of The Cake * Human Fruit Machine * Beer Tent * Vegetable Competition * Tarot Readings * Peg Holding with Pete Ashton * Refreshments
The other day I went along to a meeting at Birmingham Chamber of Commerce to see what’s being done about forming the new Local Enterprise Partnerships (you may recall I mentioned these the other week). I might write up the event sometime, but I’ve got a feeling that things will have moved on again before I get the chance, so I’ll just pull out a couple of threads here.
I went along to see:
what kinds of issues are being discussed
how the artistic/cultural/wider creative interests of the city are being represented
As far as the issues being discussed are concerned, things seem to still be at an early stage. The main topic of discussion was what we might want a LEP to be responsible for and the responses were fairly wide-ranging. Bear in mind that the deadline for proposals to government is a month away and that other large areas around the country have already come to agreement and are settled and you start to get the picture.
From my position as a lay person in all of this, there seemed to have been two widely held opinions from the business folk in the room – we need to get on and do something fast and the local political infighting needs to stop.
The latter was put rather more strongly by some, but you didn’t sit through a two hour meeting in which that was the only light relief, so I’m keeping the exact phrases to myself. Next week I’m going to go to a nice exhibition or something and report back on that.
As for creative industries representation, a rough headcount revealed six of us – Lee and Rachel from Fullrange, Julia from Aquila, Lorraine from Weave Marketing and Creative Republic, a lady from Toye Kenning & Spencer (I can’t find her name just now) and myself. There may well have been others.
I also clocked Anne O’Meara who deserves a mention. She’s a fantastically experienced property/regeneration lawyer (and my one-time boss, as it goes) who also chairs the CBSO and has been named by Arts & Business as a Midlands Cultural Champion. She was there too and a good reminder that there are some people on the business/financial side of town that are committed to the arts/culture cause too.
