Created in Birmingham

April was a busy month by the looks of things. The 4am Project took the opportunity of the fourth day of the fourth month to take an early morning photowalk, there was a look at what could be expected from the MAC reopening, International Dance Festival Birmingham got into gear and all sorts of events popped up in the CiB Shop.

The CiB Shop window was jazzed up with the help of Birmingham Royal Ballet, Art Detection Services set up their workshop in store and Shady Bird popped by to play a set. In other CiB news, CiBmail was launched.

The Rainbow announced their plans for developments and expansion both upstairs and below, we said goodbye to more independent record shops and sampad celebrated their 20th anniversary.

Trove showed some science, we had a nosey at CBSO’s summer programme and some behind the scenes footage from The Electric showed up.

Not My Type brought together “a veritable who’s who of Brum talent” (to quote myself) and, in other illustration-related news, the Love To Print crowd released Patterns #1.

Other things to look back on and go ‘oh yeah, I remember that’ include Such Tweet Sorrow, BAP’s document on Birmingham’s Creative Capital, the Big Culture Blog and a call for “more of the Simon Rattle effect”. Also, In Our Backyard looked interesting and Chris Bates made a video for Munchbreak’s Television:

A simple idea, nicely done by Karen Strunks who’s managed to turn a personal photography project into something a little further-reaching. This’ll be the third outing for the 4am Project.

The aim of the 4amproject is to gather a collection of photos from around the world at the magical time of 4am. Everyone can take part and join in! All you need is a camera. We want to see what you see at that moment in time on that one day. What’s your view at 4am?

Here’s what to do if you want to get involved. There’ll be a photowalk somewhere around Birmingham at 4am on 4 April too – details about that TBC.

• Guest Blog: The Pharaoh of Film – Khaled El Hagar – profiled by Professor Roger Shannon
  “Acknowledged in his home country Egypt as the most controversial movie maker of his generation, Khaled lives quietly for half of the year in Kings Heath, in Birmingham, where he has established himself as the city’s leading auteur”
• Rhubarb and Apple — two new ways to listen « Rhubarb Radio in progress
  Rhubarb Radio is now listed in Apple’s Internet Radio directory
• 4am Project at the Bodies Revealed Exhibition | Karen Strunks Photographer
  I’m a bit late on this, but Karen’s organising another 4am Project – this one will be this weekend and the focus of the Birmingham activity will be at the Bodies Revealed exhibition. As I type this there are just 22 free tickets left
• Digbeth is Good » The funeral of The Site
  I had an invite to this but couldn’t make it (and, in a fortunate sense now that I think of it, lacked the mourning attire). Nice little write-up by Nicky and there’s still time to go see this before it closes on 13 Dec
• The Endless Descent « More Canals than Venice
  “The Endless Descent brings together artists from Birmingham, Bristol and London to exhibit in the distinctive 1930’s Modernist stairwell, lobby, lift and entrance area of Rea Studios”. Ah, this launched last night – I walked past and wondered what was going on
• Birmingham-based female performers wanted for site-specific show
  “Mem Morrison Company and The REP are looking for up to thirty female volunteers to perform in their current production, Ringside”
• D’log :: blogging since 2000 » Arts attendance has not increased since 2005
  Not only that but… “It now looks as though the same trend is continuing into 2008/9.”
• 100 years of The Electric Cinema – Birmingham: It’s Not Shit
  From the other night – “A cosy evening at The Electric with a ‘This Is Your Life’ of Britain’s oldest working picture house in the company of owner Tom Lawes to celebrate its 100th birthday” Happy birthday Electric Cinema!
• Middlemash
  “This blog, in conjunction with the Mashed Library wiki & Mashed Library Ning, will be used to provide information on the 3rd mashed library event, Middlemash at Birmingham City University on Monday 30th November”. Missed this, but there’s plenty to go rooting through
• Smash Bro’z In San Francisco! Part1 :) « Dancegeek’s Blog
  “we are proud to announce that we have just returned back from the prestigious San Francisco HipHop Dancefest event in San Francisco and successful in repping the UNITED KINGDOM and BIRMINGHAM with honours!!!!”

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!

A while back I mentioned a strange meet up named BARG happening in the back of an old pub in Digbeth  These meetings were for anyone with a creative mind or just a childlike desire to play, and looked at how we can use mobile technology and social media stuff to play interesting games.

These games, much like the Emergent Game a few years ago prove that interactive play doesn’t have to be homed exclusively online or in the playground but can explore geographical areas in new ways, look at how we now communicate online and off, and give a chance for grown adults to play.

Another Nicky doing good work in the city is Nicky Getgood who writes the blog Digbeth is Good. She uses social media stuff like maps, videos and games within her blog which demand importance in the real world and sets the context firmly within the geographical area and a real community. The most interesting projects I have seen recently rely on this process of interweaving online and offline participation, such as 4am Project and other activities like Flickr meetups which happen in the city.

Now spring has sprung the BARG group are taking games onto the streets of Birmingham, with the aim of  taking a fresh look at neglected parts of the city, and reclaiming them much like how skateboarders do. This Saturday between 2pm and about 7pm they will be hosting an afternoon of play and picnics on Curzon Street. For more information and maps etc go to Nikki’s personal blog.

At 4am on 4th April photographers left their warm beds to take photographs of their bit of the world for the 4am Project.

Here are some of the photographs uploaded to Flickr so far:

You can read first hand accounts of the 4am experience by Pete Ashton, RachelCreative, Nicky Getgood, Citizensheep and Jon Bounds.

Did you get up at the ungodly hour for the project? Please be nice pop your story or link into the comments.

About a year ago Karen Strunks came up with the crazy idea of getting out of bed and stepping out at 4am to photograph desolate streets and a sleeping city. A year on, the idea has grown into a fully fledged international event called 4am Project. The idea is spreading like wildfire, and it seems people all over the world are getting in on the bleary-eyed party. On Thursday the Guardian profiled the project in their Travel section, featuring 4am photographs taken around the globe.

Abandoned summerhouse, Bjärnum, Sweden by Steve Anderson

New York subway, USA by hy136

On Saturday 4th April 2009 photographers of all kinds will be dragging themselves out of bed and taking a picture of their world at 4am.

It can be of anything at all. A self portrait, the room you’re in, the view from your window. Perhaps you want to venture out a bit further, maybe you’ll be travelling, or at work – maybe you’re a night owl…

Whatever you’re doing, it’d be great if you could get involved and play a part in building up a big picture of the world at 4am.

Get out there, take your photo and either email it to them or upload to Flickr and tag with the word 4amproject.