Here’s a short video of artist Raycho Stanev talking to Simon Walker on a Bulgarian mountain about his installation The Great Excursion, an interactive artwork about the shocking mass expulsion of 360,000 Bulgarian Turks from the country in 1989 during the Communist regime. Raycho tells Simon the artwork was partly inspired by a visit to Birmingham, where he was struck by the diversity of out city.
The Great Excursion will be in Friction Arts’ home The Edge, Cheapside 3rd-19th June, and will kick off with a Critical Debate from 6pm this Thurs 3rd June, with a panel that includes Ammo Talwar (Punch), Paul Murphy (The Destroyers), Mukhtar Dar (The Drum) and Paradox (Munchbreak). Friction Arts highlight the relevance and need for discussion around the issues raised by The Great Excursion on We Are Eastside:
In a period of time when the BNP have been talking of repatriation policies, and belts are tightening, these issues are very relevant to us as we look for ways to come together, when external forces seem to be forcing us apart.
