Update on the mysterious Pudelskern collective. They’ll be in Brindley Place from midday to 5pm Tuesday through Thursday. You are advised to “take your lunch and prepare for a comfortable experience.”
Performing Arts
Not sure when this happened, maybe it’s old news, I dunno, but I’ve just discovered there’s a whole gamut of video from the Fierce Festival on their site, combining recordings of the events as they happened with interviews with the artists. Lovely.
The programme of events for the Decibel Performing Arts Showcase is online. It runs from September 3rd to 7th and full details are here. I could be wrong but I think these are only open to paid-up delegates, in which case you’ll be wanting to register before the end of this month and save £50 on the £150 price.
The core aim of Decibel is “to provide African, Asian and Caribbean artists and companies based in England with a platform to promote their work to an audience of national and international promoters, Artistic Directors, venue managers, agents and producers.”
There’s something about the phrase “Piece for Large Metal Sheet” that just makes this a mildly unmissable event.
Takes place on Wednesday 27th June, 6.30pm in the entrance foyer of the Department of Art, Margaret Street as part of New Generation Arts. Which I guess means New Generation Arts is starting soon.
More info on the Ensemble Interakt blog. Hmm… Ensemble Interakt have a blog…
Interesting looking spoken word piece coming up at The Drum on June 15th.
If you though you understood Africa in relation to your own life in the West, even just a little, think again…
Africa attacks all the senses – an unparalleled cacophony of sounds, smells, colours and feelings from a continent with a rich, magnificent history and deep rooted culture. I Dream of Accra… captures this frenzied spirit in an epic multimedia poem featuring African and European musicians, poets, storytellers, DJs rappers and visual artists, including Tunde Jegede and his string quartet, MC poet B.R.I.E.S. and Kelly Budge from Your Mum.
Doors are 7.30pm and tickets are a fiver. More info.
Just a quick post (more later). This event jumped out at me from the Fierce programme as being pretty intriguing. And free.
Fierce Youth Panel commission: The Long and Winding Road
A large part of Fierce’s ethos is to hand power over to the audience and open up access to challenging contemporary art. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the formation of the Fierce! Youth Panel. A group of twenty young people from four Birmingham secondary schools (Handsworth Grammar, Harborne Hill Secondary, Queensbridge and St Albans Schools), the Fierce! Youth Panel have spent the last two years visiting contemporary arts events and organisations in order to seek out a work to commission for the festival. After a process of shortlisting and interviewing entirely undertaken by the Youth Panel themselves, they have decided to commission and produce ‘The Long and Winding Road’ by Nottingham-based artist Michael Pinchbeck. A five minute one-on-one performance, ‘The Long and Winding Road’ takes place inside a graffiti-covered car which Pinchbeck drove from Nottingham to Liverpool. It has been a highly personal and emotional journey for Pinchbeck as it was in Liverpool that his brother died in an accident in 1998. In memorial of his brother Pinchbeck packed the car with 350 objects wrapped in string and brown paper and each given its own unique car registration number – the significance of which the artist will be explaining to each individual who steps inside the car for this intimate and affecting performance.
Takes place at the Ikon Gallery on Saturday June 2nd, 12 – 5pm. You need to book in advance on 244 8084.
Photos from Ballet on the Buses are starting to appear. Here are mine (including the above), these are Matt Murtagh’s and Candice Smith has a few. There were loads of cameras out there (including, I noticed, a rather nice Leica, but I digress) so if you have any shots or even video online leave a link in the comments.
If you missed the last two shows because they were during the working day and happen to have woken up early on Saturday morning you’re in luck because there’s another unpublicised performance at Victoria Square (outside the Council offices) at 11am. Please go. You won’t regret it.
I was just making a note to go photograph the Birmingham Gay Pride Parade on Sunday when it occurred to me it easily fits under the umbrella of the performing arts, which makes it fodder for this blog. So here’s the route.
They’ll start gathering at Victoria Square at noon with the parade running from 2pm to 3pm.
Here’s some nice photos from last year.
I went to the Ballet on the Buses today in Victoria Square and can heartily recommend it, especially if you get into the bus itself so make sure you get there early-ish for a ticket. The proximity to the dancers is quite the experience and the general oddness of the performance, especially when they move outside and dance in… no, I won’t spoil it. I’ll be at the performance outside the Hippodrome tomorrow at 4.30 for the photos and really suggest you try to be too. Wonderful stuff.
How’s your Fierce Festival going? I’m already finding I’m missing stuff, such as the first two Cesare Pietroiusti events at the Ikon, and there’s still a good fortnight to go.
One thing I have managed to see is the Platinum showcase at Curzon Street Station which is also on Wednesday 23rd should you be free during the day, and I can very much recommend it because it’s just the sort of event I’d expect from the Fierce Festival, very accessible, quite challenging and a lot of fun.
The only thing is, to describe it would in some ways spoil it. What I most liked was how I went in completely blind, not knowing what was on or who was doing it. This really worked with the pieces as they’re about journeys and discoveries as you move around the rooms of the station never quite sure what’s going to happen next.
One thing to be aware of: there were no Fierce signs on the Station and the doors were shut so we initially assumed the events were cancelled. This is not the case so try and turn up on the hour and knock loudly. (That said, this lack of signage did add to the whole experience, that maybe the event wasn’t actually happening in that area of timespace. But I digress.) The whole thing is free, runs from 11am to 6pm (seeing all four events will take a couple of hours) and you get access to the basement of the Station.
The other reason for not describing the events is that I have a “no reviews” rule on this blog. If I do write reviews or commentary it’ll be on my own site and I expect I’ll do a big roundup when it’s all over. And if you’re writing about the festival do let me know as I’ll be posting a list here. (If you link to the Fierce website in your review I’ll pick you up from Technorati automagically, so make sure you link.)
The Fierce Festival kicks off this weekend with a somewhat dazzling array of events, the highlight for me being the return of Franko B with his new performance piece Don’t Leave Me This Way.
Don’t Leave Me This Way marks a challenge in Franko B’s performance practice, formalizing his recent departure from blood-based work. In Don’t Leave Me This Way Franko’s body is presented naked and unpainted. The piece is being developed in two formats in which Franko is seated on a raised plinth or altar, either in front of a mass audience or in a one-to-one encounter. A bank of bright lights will flood the audience to the point of averting their gaze. Carefully choreographed with well-established lighting designer Kamal Ackarie, this blinding technique will mimic the effect that Franko’s bleeding body has on audience members, while opening up a new range of emotional and bodily responses.
This is, by my reckoning, Franko’s third visit to Birmingham, following on from I Miss You in 2000 and Oh Lover Boy in 2001 (Did I miss any?), and takes place at the CBSO Centre on Berkley St on Saturday at 7.00pm. Tickets are a quite reasonable £8. More info on the Fierce Site.
If you like the notion of Franko B you might also like Ron Athey whose Incorruptible Flesh is on May 30th and is curating Revisions of Excess at the Fierce closing party.
There are a number of other events occurring on Saturday which I could list here but instead I’ll just point you towards the listings. (I’m quite keen to check out Haircuts by Children myself, even though I have very little hair.)
Animation © Franko B – used for promotional purposes.
The Fierce Festival Opening Party is this coming Friday at the Cotton Club (previously 52 Degrees North) on Hurst St. It’s free entry but you’re asked to email them to say you’re going.
This might be part of the entertainment for the evening, put on by Gob Squad who’ll be performing their Who Are You Wearing, um, show? Is that the right word?
The red carpet entrance has always fascinated Gob Squad for its sheer entertainment and breathtaking superficiality. All the “just be yourself” glitter, phobias and self consciousness of contemporary society are flattened and compressed into a surface as thin and as vivid as the red carpet itself. The audience themselves become the stars, filmed as they arrive. The interviews are transmitted live to a large screen where the audience then watches the red carpet ritual which many of them have just experienced.
(Gob Squad’s proper performance for the festival, Kitchen: You’ve Never Had It So Good, is on at the Warwick Arts Centre on the 1st and 2nd of June.)
There’s also a cabaret hosted by Mrs Barbara Nice and free booze.
Artsfest 2007, the tenth Artsfest in Birmingham, has been announced for the weekend of 14th – 16th September.
ArtsFest is looking for artists and groups from Birmingham and the West Midlands to join with us in creating a vibrant cultural spectacle that profiles the wealth of talent and diversity within the city and region.
Those of you who would like to participate over the weekend need to apply through our online forms. Please pick the category that best describes your piece of work. This will help the ArtsFest team programme your work effectively. The deadline for applications is 30th April 2007. You will then be contacted if you have been successfully programmed by the end of May.
If you would like to discuss your application prior to submission please contact the ArtsFest team on 0121 464 5678.
There’s also a Call for Volunteers:
The festival needs volunteers to help steward the events taking place, if you would like to gain some experience or just have fun and meet new friends then don’t hesitate to contact ArtsFest on 0121 464 5678 or alternatively email artsfest@birmingham.gov.uk
Volunteering is open to anyone over the age of 18 who lives, works or studies in the West Midlands, no previous experience necessary.
And you get a really neat shirt.
There are some rather neat photos from last year’s event on Flickr, even if I do say so myself. Check out this slideshow.
Birminghamusic.com brings news of the Breakin’ Convention 07 which is coming to the Hippodrome on the 15th and 16th May as part of a UK tour.
Witness the most incredible line up of poppers, lockers, house dancers, b-boys and b-girls, from the diverse world of Hip Hop dance. From pioneering artists to new skool visionaries, Breakin Convention brings you an line-up hard to match.
Judging by the websites this look to be heavy on the spectacle and more of a show than a convention but they are bringing in local “hip hop reps” on the tour. The West Mids rep is Marso.
Born in France, Marso (a.k.a Mickael Riviere) trained at the Rosella Hightower International Dance School from 1995-97. He then studied aerial circus skills & drama at the Circus Space and gained a certificate in theatre practice in 1999 from the London School of Speech & Drama. He has also graded and trained with the Northen school of Capoeira and Professor Tijolo since 2001. In 2000 he was employed as an Aerial and Ground artist performing on stilts, bungee and trapeze at the Millennium Dome as part of the New Millennium Experience Company. In 2002 he achieved an access certificate in Music Performance and Drama from South Birmingham College.
Marso is an established breakdance performer /teacher and teaches workshops internationally, he has also launched West Midlands first Urban Dance Agency, Bboys Attic.
In 2004 & 2005 he received funding from Arts Council England and was supported by DanceXchange to create his new work Decalage which was showcased as part of the New Vibes festival, British Dance Edition and Resolution! The Place, London (2006-2007). At the end of 2006 Marso launched Company Decalage and this is his first regional tour of a full evenings work “Decalage†and “Seeâ€.
Bboys Attic do a number of classes in the area at Aston Uni, the Hippodrome and the Custard Factory.
Update: BBC Birmingham has more details of the local acts appearing and covers more of the grass roots activity going on.
I got an email last week from Banner Theatre about their current production, Strangers in Paradise Circus, which is currently playing in schools across the city.
A bit of digging revealed the fascinating history of the Banner Theatre. Formed in 1973 at the inspiration of broadcaster and musician Charles Parker the theatre is avowedly political as Artistic Director and founder member Dave Rogers explains in this 1997 article.
We see ourselves as part of that tradition of theatre which has its roots in the Agit prop theatre of the Russian Revolution, the Blue Blouse troupes of Germany in the 1930s, the work of Ewan MacColl and Joan Littlewood in the early days of Theatre Workshop and the explosion of radical theatre companies in the 1960s and 70s.
As part of this tradition, Banner uses the characters and plot in its productions to expose and illuminate the political forces that overshadow and control so many aspects of our existences. [...] Our prime focus is to expose hidden political and social forces. We are, of course, interested in issues of power between individuals whether based on class, gender, race, sexuality or disability and we seek to make the connection between these relationships and the wider political, historical and economic environment in which these relationships are shaped.
The Banner Theatre Archive is held at the Central Library and forms part of the new Connecting Histories resource project which will be going live online late May early June.
On their approach to theatre Dave Rogers writes:
Banner is a theatre of actuality. Actuality for us is people’s experience, captured by the tape recorder. Used either verbatim or as a source, it is at the heart of Banner’s work. We use people’s voices because vernacular speech is powerful and dramatic, and people present at a deep level their beliefs and values in the jokes, stories and anecdotes they tell about themselves. Our use of actuality literally gives people a ‘voice’ in our productions.
Banner Theatre uses actuality as source material for script writers to develop characters and scenes, for song writers to develop rhythmic, melodic and thematic ideas and as a live theatre resource, played through our P.A. system, to complement, contradict and counterpoint action on the stage.
Strangers in Paradise Circus is going to be reworked as “They get free mobiles… don’t they?” for a national tour.
This live multimedia show, combining music, song, video, film and theatre, speaks for Britain’s newest arrivals as they dodge borders, bullets and bureaucracy in their quest for safety and security from war-torn lands in Africa and the Middle East. It tells the human stories of people in the wrong place at the wrong time, and cuts through the myths, lies and prejudice surrounding the search for sanctuary in England’s green but sometimes not so pleasant land.
But “They get free mobiles . . . don’t they?” also shows how our lives here in the UK are integrally connected to those of refugees from impoverished third world countries and exposes the big business interests that profit from the exploitation of children and slave labourers, particularly in the mining and production of tantalum – a key element in our mobile phones.
All very interesting and it’s nice to see an active community arts outfit with this kind of history.
