Flatpack Festival 2013

Birmingham Arts Lab in the 1970s . Credit: Hunt Emerson

Flatpack Festival returns for its seventh edition of film and much more across Birmingham from 21-31 March. Expect a solar powered cinema, film poster exhibitions, 3D thrills, walking tours…

As well as their usual events, this year Flatpack will be celebrating Birmingham Arts Lab. Arts Labs sprung up across the UK throughout the 1960s. However, Birmingham’s version flourished long after the others had fizzled out. It became fertile ground for new talent across a range of artforms and helped launch many careers in the creative industries. Traces of the Lab can still be seen embodied in the likes of Stan’s Café, BEAST, Capsule, Fierce, BE Festival, Birmingham Opera Company, Flatpack and Ort café.

During the festival there will be an exhibition of the Arts Lab’s pioneering screen-printed posters, a screen-printing workshop, discussions, archive film and Vivid Projects will be presenting an event featuring sounds, films and memories celebrating the sprit of the time. The full programme of Arts Lab related events can be seen here.

Thrift Radiates Happiness

Thrift Radiates Happiness is the first contemporary arts exhibition to be held at the Municipal Bank in central Birmingham. Taking place from 14-17 March 2013 the former Grade II listed Municipal Bank on Broad Street will showcase a creative programme of drawings, images, sound and light, video and music from local, national and international artists.

The title of the exhibition has been taken from an inscription found carved across a main beam within the building.  All the art projects featured will appropriately focus on finance and investment.

The showcase event is the result of an arts and business collaboration between Birmingham based gallery TROVE, the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), the Birmingham Architectural Association (BAA), Birmingham City Council and global architect practice Aedas.

Entrance to the exhibition will be free thanks to funding awarded by The Arts Council, RIBA and Aedas.

Artist Development: Outside the Box

OUTSIDE THE BOX

Developing art projects for beyond the gallery space

The New Art Gallery Walsall

Saturday 23 March, 2013

1.30pm - Registration & Tea/Coffee. | 2.00pm - Start

This event will be chaired by Deborah Robinson, Head of Exhibitions at The New Art Gallery Walsall.  The speakers are:

 

Anne de Charmant - Anne is Director and Curator of Meadow Arts in Shropshire.  Anne’s team specialise in developing contemporary art projects for heritage sites such as stately homes, castles and gardens.

 

Nina Coulson - Nina is half of the artist duo Yoke & Zoom and has also set up Movement Gallery on Foregate St Railway Station in Worcester.

 

Deborah Kermode - Deborah is Deputy Director at Ikon Gallery, Birmingham.  She will speak about the gallery’s offsite programme.

 

The event should be of particular interest to artists who are keen to explore opportunities for presenting work outside of traditional gallery spaces.  We will explore inspirational projects but will also consider the kinds of issues and practicalities integral to working beyond the gallery.  

 

The event is free but please book a place by calling 01922 654400 or by email to Hannah Anderson andersonh[@[walsall.gov.uk  Capacity is limited to 40.

 

Latest Artists' News & Opportunities Bulletin published

The latest Artists' News & Opportunities Bulletin has been published. Click to find out all about New Art West Midlands and the latest opportunities and events for artists within the region and further afield... ISSUE 58.

The next issue will be published on Thursday 28 March 2013.

Worcester newspaper becomes international art work

Chris Shaw HughesOn Thursday 28 February every household within the city limits of Worcester received an edition artwork, one of 41,000.  Four artists -  Robert Barry, Candice Jacobs, Elizabeth Rowe and Chris Shaw Hughes - who work with the media, print, public space and newspapers were asked to create a front cover for a special artist edition. The exclusive edition is the first in an annual presentation entitled Est. 1690 presented by PITT Projects and Division of Labour.

The lead artist Robert Barry along with established and new artists have been have been specially commissioned to respond to the Worcester Berrows Journal, the oldest newspaper in the world. The printed press industry is in a fragile state. Local, regional, national and international papers are folding under the strain of news on demand and the network of Internet based news, rolling news channels and social media that deliver the news faster than print can follow. Homogenisation, monopoly and cartels, news groups and consolidation of the printed press networks is rife. Increasingly the independence of local news is under threat.

The editions will be shown at PITT Project space in March and Division of Labour in April

Artist Development: Wolverhampton Art Gallery residency announced

Shadows on the Sun. Mixed media, 2011

Wolverhampton Art Gallery is delighted to announce that Staffordshire-based artist David Bethell has been selected for a 3-week practical studio residency (11 March – 28 March 2013).

The selected artist articulated a distinct area of study for the residency, proposing site-specific, multi-media works influenced by Wolverhampton Art Gallery’s collection of Victorian and Georgian artworks and Geology.  Constructing Victorian machinery, specifically agricultural, David’s practice references man’s intervention on landscape, the downturn in agriculture, and the values we attribute to our landscape and our history. Through durational performances, the objects that David constructs begin to break down, representing our aspirations, tolerances and failure both as individuals and as a society. Of the residency, David says:

‘I am extremely excited about this opportunity and cannot wait to explore the collections to help inform new directions for my work. The studio will be open, so please feel free to pop in and say hello to discuss how the residency is developing.’

An artist talk by David will be held at 11am on Saturday 23 March, during which he will discuss the development of his work throughout the residency process. You can find out more about the artist and view examples of his work by visiting his website: www.davidbethell.com 

Many thanks to all of you who applied for this residency opportunity. We received an overwhelming number of very high quality applications. Unfortunately individual feedback cannot be offered in this instance.

Wolverhampton Art Gallery would also like to thank The New Art Gallery Walsall and Turning Point West Midlands for enabling us to create this opportunity and for their help and support with the selection process. 

TPWM Artists in Residence: Juneau Projects Make Music in Worcester

Artist-duo Juneau Projects are to create an album of songs for people to download at locations in Worcester.

The Worcester-based residency, one of five TPWM artist-residencies awarded to institutions in the region, is being led by the University of Worcester, working in partnership with Movement Gallery and Worcester City Art Gallery.

Juneau Projects will be in Worcester in early 2013 to research and develop new work in, for and with the city.  Building on their long-term project of collaborative music making, they will produce a short album of songs downloadable for free via contemporary ‘shrines’ to the sometimes perverse and always weird back-to-nature techno-urban 21st century culture of modern Britain.  

The shrines will relate to the city centre venues in which they are housed. After a period of on-site research in February and March, they plan to write and record a song for each venue, collaborating on the songwriting and recording process with venues’ users. Juneau Projects will present the outcomes of their work in May, when Worcester residents and visitors will be invited to gather all the tracks that have been produced by plugging a USB stick into the shrines located in each venue taking part. They hope that experience of collecting the songs will offer an antidote to the ever increasing speed of the worldwide web.

TPWM in partnership with the National Trust announces new Artist in Residence at Dudmaston Hall

Planes. Photo: Nathan Spencer

 

TPWM in partnership with the National Trust announces new Artist in Residence at Dudmaston Hall.

Elizabeth Rowe will be the Artist in Residence at Dudmaston Hall, a National Trust property in Shropshire. The residency is part of TPWM's Residency Programme and is supported through funding from Arts Council England.

During her residency Elizabeth will respond to the collections, work with National Trust volunteers and meet groups and individual visitors.

The property will open to the general public from 17 March 2013 until the end of Autumn. The residency is to November this year and Elizabeth will be there every Monday and the last Sunday of each month as she sets up her studio in the former kitchen.