There’s loads of stuff happening at Artsfest this weekend. I pulled out a few suggestions here (with more in the comments below that post) but to get an idea of what people are up to, here’s a live Twitter search to have a look at:
Meanwhile, I’m covering what’s going on in the Dance Marquee today. You can follow all of that on the Dancing for the Games website.
The programme for Artsfest 2011 is now online (in addition to the PDF brochure that came out a few days back).
As ever, there’s an unfeasibly huge amount happening. I’ve not had time to have a proper browse, but here’s what I’ve spotted after a swift glance through the listings:
I’ll be spending Saturday in the Dancing for the Games-sponsored Dance Marquee before nipping off to the (not Artsfest-affiliated) The Boat That OxJamBrum Rocked, returning to catch the end of Classical Fantasia.
Looking at that list it’s mainly the bigger names that have stood out, which means there’s probably loads of decent stuff I’ve missed – let me know if you’ve got any recommendations.
Sutton Coldfield based artist Michael Goodrum, aka, Visionary Glass, was another of the exhibitors in the Victoria Square marquee during Artsfest. Using individually hand-cut fragments of glass, Michael creates a range of stunning sculptural glass canvases depicting the abstract forms from nature and landscapes.
A bit more news in the follow-up of Artsfest, this time on the musical front. Over the weekend BBC Radio 3 recorded two homegrown jazz performances for the Jazz Line Up programme, which was broadcast last weekend, on Sunday 26 September.
Recorded at the Symphony Hall, Birmingham bands led by Ben Markland and Percy Pursglove played at the special edition of Rush Hour Blues. The show is currently still available to listen to on BBC iPlayer.
Take a look at this post on the Birmingham Jazz blog to read a bit more about it.
Louise Blakeway is another of the artists who exhibited work in the ArtSpace tent at Artsfest.
Consisting mainly of drawings, paintings and prints, her work is largely concerned with natural or found objects, architecture, landscapes and the human figure.
Don Henderson and Katherine M. Waters from Corpus Gallery were showcasing some of their work in the ArtSpace tent at Artsfest the other weekend.
Don (above) is a painter and mixed media artist working on canvas, while Katherine’s work in sculpture and paintings are concerned with the development and advancement of traditional laquering techniques. Below is one of her Birmingham Babies.
Picked this up at Artsfest. I can’t find much about it online, but it looks interesting.
20 – 22 September at The Victoria, Green Gorilla Presents – Polite Assassins – A play celebrating an almost forgotten heroine air-brushed out of history, Mary Seacole. Starting at 7:30pm, tickets are £7/ £5 concessions.
Just a quick round up of everything going on this weekend, there’s a lot and we wouldn’t want you to forget and miss out on anything!
Cum Clubbing – Hosted by VIVID, this art party does not look like something to be missed (although it’s happening now, so get down quick). From 8pm – late, VIVID’s project space will be taken over by live music, DJs and visual artists who’ll conspire to create an excitingly strange evening of camp disco. Tickets are £5.
To save time I’m going to be both lazy and efficient, and link you to everyone else who’s been talking about this. Take a look at Digbeth is Good, More Canals than Venice, brianduffyhasabigbrain, and Birmingham: It’s Not Shit.
Zine Festival - Not put off by the scale of Artsfest, this niche festival has a weekend full of events for you to get involved in.
Artsfest – As already mentioned, the weekend of free arts events kicks off this evening and will continue to entertain through to Sunday night. With live performances coming from Centenary Square and Chamberlain Square, along with short films and animations screened at the Crescent, plus various performances and workshops held at theaters and bars across the city, don’t let the miserable weather deter you from leaving the house!
This is a bit self-indulgent and it starts with a brief recap, so please bear with me.
Back in Feb, Ian posted something about BRB presenting some work choregraphed by their dancers. One of the pieces used a track called Printer Jam by Mistabishi and was spotted by the people behind the Drum and Bass Awards, who invited the dancers to perform it at their launch event.
Matt Murtagh saw the piece and tweeted about it. I posted a screenshot of that tweet on CiB.
Anyway… a screenshot of that tweet on CiB made it into a video intro that was featured at BRB’s Royal Gala Performance back in March, in front of a packed Hippodrome audience which included Prince Charles. I was there, and it was odd to see little old CiB up on all of those screens in front of all those people.
The point of all of this (in case you were wondering) is that I’ve just been told that the video’s now up online:
Printer Jam feature from Rob Lindsay on Vimeo.
Kit Holder is the man behind the piece and I’ve got a quote from him about it too:
I’m really happy about how successful it’s been. When I made the piece I didn’t think it would have such longevity, so I’m chuffed to bits that it’s being performed again. It’s a real testament to the dancers and the technical department, to be honest. I jokingly asked all these different things of them and they ran with the ideas and made it all into a real piece!
You can see the piece as part of Artsfest this weekend, with a few other things being performed from 3-4.15pm on the Centenary Square stage.
The People’s Archive is a new collaboration between the Library of Birmingham and local digital company In Cahoots, which is set to be piloted this month at ArtsFest, running from 10 – 12 September.
This interactive project invites members of the public both young and old to share their knowledge and help shape Birmingham’s past into a new online resource for the city’s collective memory.
For the very first time one of the Library’s most popular photographic collections, the Warwickshire Photographic Survey, will be made available online, offering a unique treasure trove of buildings, street scenes and events in the city between the 1880s and the late 20th century.
If you’d like to have a look at old Birmingham or think you might be able to recognise a face, or confirm a date, make sure you drop by the Library of Birmingham stand at Artsfest.
So the programme for this year’s Artsfest is now up online, complete with a nice little selection of search options so you can filter through the events that you’re interested in.
The festival runs this weekend, from Fri – Sun, and is the biggest free arts and culture festival in the UK, with around 600 performing, visual and digital artists at events taking place all across the city.
I would give you a run down of everything happening, but there are heaps of events, performances, screenings, workshops and all sorts of goings-on, so I’m not even going to attempt it. Chris did, however, mention a few things to look out for the other week.
Artsfest, the annual free arts festival is on 10-12 September this year, so not long now.
Most of the details are yet to escape but there’s a few bits and bobs to be found. The general theme will be ‘Landscape and Heritage’ and the latest copy of Forward has some info about some of the bigger items:
Birmingham’s People comes from the folks at Birmingham Photospace and is a continuation of the portrait project they carried out over the Artsfest weekend in September.
The website has been featuring the portraits taken, including the latest of ‘Radway’ (below) who, unless I’m mistaken, is none other than Violet Attack from the Birmingham Blitz Derby Dames.
The project will be exhibited at The Drum from 7 December 2009 to 29 January 2010. You can also sign up to attend the (free) private view and artists talk on 9 December.
