Continuing the theme of writing about some of the stuff I get out and about to, last night I followed the robots down to AE Harris for the Fierce Start Party.
The idea with these things is to introduce next year’s artists to Birmingham and vice versa. There are a few Fierce stalwarts and returning names in the 2011-2012 caravan but plenty of new faces too. Because I’m too lazy to type them all out and too impatient to wait for them to appear online, here’s the list of names:
I arrived in time to have a bit of a natter with some people, watch some archery (BE Festival‘s Miguel winning the competition there) and see a balloon-festooned woman dosed up on sleeping pills who had quite literally danced until she’d dropped. The usual kind of Fierce thing then.
I should probably have got down a bit earlier to catch some more stuff but that’s the problem with these ’4pm til late’ things – it’s hard to tell when to turn up to catch the action. Still, there was plenty on display around the venue. I particularly liked the look of what Ron Athey will be cooking up – something to do with automatic writing.
In conclusion: Excellent and I’m looking forward to seeing how some of the embryonic ideas presented will turn out in 9 months time.
The concept begins with an open call for art, welcoming anyone creatively minded to submit their work. Original drawings, paintings, screen prints, photographs, textiles, stickers, poems… anything that can be rolled up and transported with ease.
The art is collected over a duration of 2-3 months, exhibited, and then distributed for free to an unsuspecting public, via an atmospheric array of honkingly exuberant and ravishingly roadworthy Berliners Brummies on Bicycles.
The first game of lawn tennis was played in 1859 by Major Harry Gem and his friend, Jean Batista Augurio Perera, on a court at the latter’s home, 8 Ampton Road, Edgbaston. This unique show at the Barber – less than half a mile away – is the first ever to explore the subject of tennis in art
So says the Barber Institute’s website. They’ve got an exhibition of tennis-related art (the first ever, apparently) running from 27 May – 18 September.
Dirty secret time – despite going to Birmingham University and walking past the place practically every other day I’ve still never been to the Barber Institute.
Pete Ashton, occasionally of this blog, launched his first exhibition this evening at the Central Library. I couldn’t get there and was a bit gutted about this. However, there are photos up already courtesy of Fiona Cullinan and I’ve got until 17 June to get down and have a peek, so all is not yet lost.
Pete Ashton has created a series of slow animations consisting of sequential photographs shot through the artists own customised lens. The lens is made from a vintage camera which forms a process called “Through The Viewfinder”. The slow animations will be displayed on salvaged CRT monitors that have been converted into peep-show machines.
A frequent subject of Pete’s work is “unnoticed Birmingham”, the patterns and shapes that emerge as the city succumbs to and builds on the entropy of progress. For this show he invites you to view Birmingham’s pedestrian flow filtered through a nostalgic, intimate perspective of inner Birmingham. A second event will take place in June to view ‘outer’ Birmingham.
I was at the MAC the other day and spotted this attached to a tree:
It’s for RE:site, which is an exhibition put together by the Hive Collective and due to be shown at St Alphege Church in Solihull. It’s:
An exhibition of contemporary artwork at St Alphege Church, produced in response to creative exploration around the Solihull area.
In addition, artists Alison Saint, Claire Hickey, Emily Warner, Eva Bennett and Keeley Lowe will lead creative activities linked to the exhibition at the St Alphege Day community celebrations on Saturday 30th April 10am-3pm.
Better yet, turn up to the launch on Thursday 28 April (4.30-6.30pm). It’s free, you get to meet the artists and refreshments will be provided. Not bad.
Paste artist, Lisk, rising star of the local scene and famed for his robots scattered across the city will compose a large scale paste of his robots finally completing their invasion of the city.
Co-produced by VIVID & Fierce, this Saturday, 5 March, will see a public intervention held by artist Eitan Buchalter, from 11.30am – 3.30pm on Heath Mill Lane.
Buchalter will be expanding on his current body of work exploring how we flow through and interact with public spaces and what happens when aspects of our environment are disrupted
Not revealing what the full nature of this ‘intervention’ will be, he’ll be targeting the pedestrian traffic en route to the local derby between Birmingham City FC and West Bromwich Albion, with vouchers for free beer at a local pub. A quick flick through of his past projects and he seems to do a lot of standing… Perhaps that’s something to look out for?
‘Veer’ will also be broadcast live online at This is Tomorrow, from 11.30am.
As an In Association With … artist at VIVID and a Fierce Festival 2011 artist, he’ll also be featuring at this years Fierce Festival, with a talk, workshop and intervention.
After settling at 183 Fazeley Street back in 2008, Ikon have confirmed that as of April 2011, Ikon Eastside will be closing up for the final time, due to public funding cuts.
The large exhibition space at the heart of Digbeth, has provided the perfect setting for large-scale work, video and events over the past few years. It’s hosted work by internationally recognised artists, including Andy Warhol, Damián Ortega, Józef Robakowski and Siobhan Davies Dance.
We are extremely saddened to be losing Ikon Eastside, but our commitment to bringing internationally recognised art to the city is unwavering. Looking to the future, our goal remains to create a permanent museum of contemporary art for Birmingham.
- Jonathan Watkins, Ikon Director
It’s not all sad news though, since Ikon are intending to keep up their involvement with the Eastside district, focusing instead on site-specific events and promoting cultural regeneration through their membership of the Eastside Contemporary Art Consortium. Their current study into the feasibility of this permanent museum, (‘Ikon Two’) also remains unaffected.
Ikon are currently preparing for their latest round exhibitions, which open with a preview evening on 22 February, and will be on display until 25 April.
Marjolijn Dijkman Theatrum Orbis Terrarum (Theatre of the World)
The first UK solo exhibition of work by Dutch artist Marjolijn Dijkman, featuring archival works, video, animation, sculpture and an installation inspired by the dining table of Soho House, Birmingham, the 18th century meeting place of the Lunar Society.
Robert Orchardson Endless façade
The first European museum exhibition of works by Robert Orchardson (born Glasgow 1976, based in London), an artist who makes sculptures inspired by science fiction and futuristic design.
Rabbya Nasser and Hurmat Ul Ain White as Snow
Pakistani artists Rabbya Naseer and Hurmat Ul Ain present White as Snow (2008), a video short that challenges assumptions about women in the Islamic world.
On 23 February Robert Orchardson and Marjolijn Dijkman will also be in conversation with Francine Houben, the architect of Birmingham’s new library building. They’ll be discussing shared interest in notions of modernism, progress and utopian themes within the built environment.
The event is from 6.30 – 8pm and is free but should be booked by calling Ikon on 0121 248 0708.
‘Again, A Time Machine’ is part one of a five part touring exhibition from Book Works, allowing artists to play with words, creating work which begins to anticipate the past, forecast possible histories and re-visit alternative futures.
New commissions for Eastside Projects sees the start of a poster project by Jonathan Monk, the reimagining of a Polish–Iranian solidarity by Slavs and Tatars, readings of Dora Garcia’s All the Stories, artists’ talks, The Happy Hypocrite-Say What You See: a cycle of readings co-hosted by An Endless Supply and Maria Fusco, and a newspaper.
The exhibition comes with a string of events, starting with an artists talk from Jonathan Monk on the opening weekend;
In the spirit of ‘Curating the Library’ (founded by Moritz Küng at deSingel in 2003) Monk has been invited to select publications to become part of the Eastside Projects Library. Monk will discuss how each title informs his practice and his selections will be on display at Eastside Projects throughout ‘Again, A Time Machine’.
Welcoming ‘allsorts’ of artwork, from textiles to jewellery, garden art to ceramics and photography to watercolours, they’re offering both professional and emerging artists the opportunity to exhibit and sell their work, with stalls available for £25 or £40 depending on requirements.
The deadline for submissions in 25 March, to find out more and download the application form, visit the website.
The latest artist to grace the walls of the We Are Birmingham Gallery is Tom Tebby, with this exhibition, Chop, opening 19 February.
Featuring new pieces and a selection of more familiar, reworked pieces, the exhibition will consist of detailed montages rendered across wooden panels and canvases.
Inspired by inner-city sprawl, discarded objects, architectural foliage and influenced by Avant Garde posters and decollage, the familiar and mundane are transformed into unexpected environments. Many of the works spread out like chaotic viruses and others dwell in a post-apocalyptic world where dereliction and organic mass have fused.
For more information, take a look at the Facebook event page, plus more of his work can be found on Flickr. The exhibition continues until 5 March.
The project is being documented over on the Post-Industrial Revolution blog, introducing the artists involved and the research they’ve been doing. They also have a few events coming up in association with the final exhibition;
Artists’ Talk
Thursday 17 February 2011, 6.30 – 8pm
Eastside Projects, 86 Heath Mill Lane, Digbeth, Birmingham, B9 4AR
For further information visit http://www.extraspecialpeople.org
Preview
Friday 18 February 2011, 6-9pm
The Lombard Method, 68a Lombard Street, Digbeth, Birmingham, B12 0QR
Admission free
Exhibition
Saturday 19 – Sunday 27 February 2011
Open Thursday – Sunday from 11am -6pm
The Lombard Method, 68a Lombard Street, Digbeth, Birmingham, B12 0QR
Admission free
Parent & Children Workshop
Sunday 27 February 2011, 11am-12.30pm*
The Lombard Method, 68a Lombard Street, Digbeth, Birmingham, B12 0QR
For more information, also check out their website.
This bronze sculpture of Sir Jacob Epstien’s 15 year old daughter has inspired the latest exhibition at The New Art Gallery Walsall, The Life of the Mind: Love, Sorrow and Obsession.
The exhibition opened last Friday, and is open until 20 March, curated by artists Bob and Roberta Smith, featuring an eclectic group of historic, modern and contemporary artists including Vincent van Gogh, Tracey Emin, Louise Bourgeois, Theodore Garman, Chris Ofili and Helen Chadwick.
…The Life of the Mind seeks to expose the myth of the great male artist who has special insight into the minds of his more frail female subjects… Each artist resists easy interpretation and in Bob’s word, “sticks a sharp pair of scissors into the soft underbelly of male hegemony”.
On 26 February at 2pm, Bob and Roberta Smith will also be in conversation, joined by artist Bobby Baker to discuss the ideas explored within the exhibition.
2011 will be welcoming Polish artists to Birmingham as they collaborate with British artists on Post-Industrial Revolution, a residency exchange project between industrial districts in Birmingham and Gdansk, Poland.
The project is in collaboration with the Lombard Method (Digbeth) and Wyspa Institute of Art (Gdansk, Poland), where the artist residencies and exhibitions will take place.
An exhibition from Polish artists, Kamila Szejnoch and MASH/HER/DIP, will take place at the Lombard Method from 18 February. The exhibition will showcase new work directly responding to the district of Digbeth, its historical and social context, produced during their month long residency from 15 January.
The comparisons between Digbeth and the Gdansk Shipyard as post industrial sites are of significance, each city has at some stage been deeply affected by the demise of industry, its movement abroad, and more recently the development of cultural and leisure industries in these former industrial areas.
The call for British artists will be announced in the new year, so keep an eye on their website and blog for more information and updates.
