Some interesting things have come to my attention that are beyond the Digbeth borders (yes, I do occasionally look beyond them). Here are a few:
Oubliette
Above is Pete Ashton’s lovely ‘Through the Viewfinder’ picture of the sad, neglected Curzon Street Station, which as Pete rightly says, ’seems such a waste, sitting there in the middle of nowhere like an old man abandoned by the next generation, or something.’ Pete’s post touches on the whys and wherefores of the council seeing fit to watch their pennies and board the place up rather than allowing interesting things to happen there and concludes that ’something needs to be done’.
Too right, and if the current owners don’t have the means to do anything with it or allow others do so….how’s about just moving in and taking things over in the style of Dan Simon’s London Oubliette? This isn’t squatting, mind. Oh no: ‘They are using the enormous empty space to run what they refer to as an “artshouse”, an independent cultural organisation called the Oubliette (“the dungeon” in French), which aims to support the arts without the need for public or private sector funding.’ Right then, where did I leave my crowbar…?
Dumbo
No, not the big-eared baby elephant. Helga Henry has flagged up the rather brilliant dumbonyc.com, a site for the New York neighbourhood where ‘these old factories have been converted into luxury lofts and old warehouses into art galleries and theaters….Dumbo is not quite Brooklyn brownstone and not quite Manhattan glass condo. With its exposed Belgian block streets anchored by massive bridge structures, Dumbo has a unique character all its own.’
Sound familiar? Yep, Helga thought so too and already has ‘a whole Birmingham/Brooklyn and Digbeth/Dumbo comparison thing going on in my head.’ By far the best thing about Dumbo is, of course, its name, which ‘was conceived by resident artists as a way to make the area sound silly and unattractive to people looking to buy real estate here.’ Is that all we need to do to guard against the over-gentrification of Digbeth? Give it a slightly silly name? Suggestions in the comments box, please…
Grand Opening
Chris Unitt discovered Grand Opening, I’m guessing whilst doing some research for the now-open Created in Birmingham shop in The Bullring. Grand Opening, another one from New York, ‘create interactive stores and events that get public attention and engage the community’. They take over stores for about 6 weeks and theme them up beyond recognition, turning them into environments that range from a wedding chapel to a drive-in cinema. Let’s face it, the empty shell of the now-closed Cocoon store on the High Street will need something pretty spectacular to fill the latex shoes they left behind. Perhaps we take a leaf out of Grand Opening’s book and turn it into something extra special.
Capsule blog photo: Sara of Needles & Hooks as well as Stitches & Hos
Last week was the last week of Capsule’s residency in VIVID, in celebration of their tenth birthday. First up on Thursday was Knowing Me, Knowing You where Capsule and Created in Birmingham‘got together and invited a bunch of interesting people along to introduce themselves and say (for the sake of getting a conversation going) what they might do if they were to get their hands on VIVID for a little while.’ The results were interesting (especially the suggestion of packing the place with jelly) so fingers crossed that this can become a regular thing.
Saturday was the big bash closing party, culminating in a great performance by the poptastic and seriously circuit-bent Modified Toy Orchestra. It was the first time I’d had a chance to see them and they were brilliant. Hula Barbie stole the show in her new dress, there was a rather phallic rocket that counted to ten and some lovely projected visuals that reminded me of Brian Duffy describing how he once made the stars sing at Supersonic 2008.
Capsule have now cleaned up and moved out of the VIVID space, which is shut until 12th January.
Thanks to Created in Birmingham and More Canals Than Venice for reminding me that Capsule’s tenth birthday is almost upon us (I’m rubbish at remembering birthdays, as my poor mother will testify). It seems VIVID on Heath Mill Lane will be playing host to the month-long birthday party:
Capsule will be taking over Vivid, an arts space in deepest darkest Digbeth where you can expect a number of exciting concerts, exhibitions and workshops with special guests including LIGHTNING BOLT, GEOFF BARROW of PORTISHEADS latest project BEAK>, MODIFIED TOY ORCHESTRA and many more. There will also be a night at the very prestigious Town Hall Birmingham with old and new friends as well as an evening with two heavy weight doom merchants SUNN 0))) + OM and of course plenty of cake.
Glad to hear there’s lots of birthday cake. VIVID will be hosting:
The launch party on 1st Dec with Monotonix and special guests Beestung Lips, Cum Dogs and Esquilax.
Another gig on 11th Dec with Pram ‘creating an eerie musical nightmare’ and Light Trap. After seeing Pram perform at Supersonic earlier this year, this is definately one I’ll make.
Afternoon tea with 7 Inch Cinema on 13th Dec with a light buffet with a healthy serving of films ‘of hairy men shouting and small dogs in space’. Weirdly, this is the one I’m most excited about.
Yet another gig on 16th Dec with Beak> (Geoff Barrow – Portishead), local lads Einstellung and Thought Forms.
‘Knowing Me, Knowing You’ (Aha!) on 17th Dec, a fee event with Created in Birmingham ‘bringing some of Birmingham’s most exciting independent creatives together for a quickfire evening of show and tell.’ There’ll be drinks, cake and music to keep the creative juices flowing.
A Closing Party on 19th Dec with the fantastic Modified Toy Orchestra, PCM, Calvados Beam Trio, Una Corda and Stinky Wizzleteat.
There’s lots more going on outside of the VIVID gallery over December too – check out Capsule’s Coming Up page for details.
The answer to both questions is YES. Belfast does have quarters. Seven of them because, “We’re Irish and we can’t count.” (Titanic Boat Tour Captain Derrick Booker’s words, not mine). The one in line for the biggest overhaul is the Titanic Quarter, which Derrick and Colin Cobbs tell us all about. It kind of reminds me of Eastside – not too much there at the moment but big talk of many ‘mixed-use developments’ (are there any other kind these days?).
It’s even got its own creative community website. It’s not quite not quite Created in Birmingham but the Community Arts Forum gave a fantastic collective response to proposed plans to develop the soul out of the area (sound familiar?). The Cathedral Quarter – Let’s Get It Right campaign ‘aimed to push forward the sensitive and successful development of the area’ by voicing the neighbourhood’s concerns and publishing alternative visions. What’s even more impressive is they succeeded:
In October 2004, in a move that was applauded by the Let’s Get it Right campaign, the Department of Social Development announced that Cathedral Quarter would have its own regeneration masterplan. This would push forward development of the area, while protecting its unique built and cultural heritage.
Go on.
In answer to Michael Grimes’ question, Belfast has The Belfast Metropolitan Area Plan 2015 (BMAP), which is ‘a development plan being prepared under the provisions of Part III of the Planning (Northern Ireland) Order 1991 by the Planning Service, an Agency within the Department of the Environment (DOE)’. I’d tell you more, but attempting to download one of the huge PDF’s the plan is made up of almost killed my computer.
So there we have it – both cities have more than four quarters christened with pet names by city planners and a city plan seemingly written for developers rather than residents, with a website that Could Do Better. It’s just too close to call, I declare this #brumvsbelfast round a draw.
The Gallery’s also got lots on, with ‘one for chocoholics and bird-fanciers everywhere’ Death by Chocolate and an exhibition of workby Farshad Sanaee.
I’ve been thinking ‘bloody hell, the Custard Factory’s busier than usual’. I suspect it’s not, it’s just that all the great stuff going on there is now getting posted on the blog. Great stuff!
This one kind of sneaked up on me yesterday, and judging by Chris Unitt’s post on Created in Birmingham I wasn’t the only one. When I saw them setting up I thought it was someone hanging out clothes to dry until I spotted the bloody great blimp.
Vika Verb’s Flying Graffiti installation at The Custard Factory looks like washing lines of T-shirts, which reads William Blake’s words: “The Road Of Excess Leads To The Palace Of Wisdom”. To be honest, I’m not quite sure what I think of it. But that didn’t stop me feeling a tad sorry for the deflating blimp today when I found it hidden behind a metal fence amongst all the crap under the railway arches:
There’s a private view at the Ikon Eastside later at 7pm of Mexican collective Tercerunquinto’s I Am What I Am, a new work that reacts to the gallery’s shifting surroundings. Stick around until 9pm to catch the Ikon bus to He An’s artwork in the Moat Lane Car Park.
Last Week of Flux-Fest at VIVID If you’re feeling creatively peckish go to FluxFeast 7.30pm at VIVID tomorrow, a Fluxfood event in seven acts by SharedTable. Tickets are £25, booking essential.
At 2pm on Saturday watch some FLUXFILMS: Anthologies at VIVID, featuring a compilation of 37 films produced 1963 to 1970. SharedTable are serving up again with afternoon tea and ‘subversive’ cakes.
The Flux-Fest art exhibition stays on display in VIVID’s gallery on Heath Mill Lane until Sunday.
Strange Ways Cheapside Show
On display at The Edge until their Landing Party this Saturday night from 6pm, when Helen Grundy and Angel Stripe’s sugar mice will finally be set free for eating. I went to see the exhibition earlier today and it’s a lovely reaction to the regeneration of Digbeth, reminding new locals like me that the area existed before our luxury flats were built by drawing on its colourful history and culture.
Capsule’s Supersonic Festival at The Custard Factory all weekend
I’ve only just started going to Capsule gigs. They didn’t appeal to me before because I never knew who any of the acts were. Having been to a couple, I now know that that’s the whole bloody point and am kind of kicking myself. So take a leap of faith with the Capsule girls and buy a weekend ticket before they sell out. Your trust in Jenny and Lisa will not be misplaced. Watch Frankie’s interview with them on Created in Birmingham if you need some persuading.
I went to Ikon Eastside last Friday for a guided tour of Soi Project, Island shortly before it closed. According to the guide, the artists wanted to find out how much time viewers were prepared to ‘waste’ on this artwork.
In my case, when I went to the Launch Night, it was about 2 minutes. No-one told me that the lighting over the three-dimensional island changed from daylight to pitch black over 24 minutes, with one minute marking an hour. I arrived at ‘night-time’, declared, “I can’t see a fucking thing,” and went home.
So I’m glad Created in Birmingham persuaded me to give the piece a second chance. I felt I got a lot more seeing it at the tail-end of its showing, rather than the beginning, because it was viewers’ reactions to it that made it.
Visitors were given one sheet of stickers each upon entry to attach to the island, of buildings, swimming pools, beach umbrellas, animals and billboards. The strict sticker rationing meant creating something sizeable called for collaboration – the billboard pleading for a jungle which was duly surrounded by others’ elephants and trees was particularly touching. It also left peoples’ projects wide open to sabotage by the more mischievous.
However the best additions weren’t those using the stickers, but the spaces around them cut for some totally new creations. Someone’s reproduction of the Cerne Abbas Giant was pure genius.
Apparently the artists were just as interested in these unexpected reactions as they were to the ones more prescribed. Which leaves me wondering why the gallery worker stopped my flatmate’s insertion of a new island made of scrunched up stickers near the entrance, saying people would stumble on it. I very much doubt someone could do themselves serious damage with a small sticky ball.
According to the girl leading the tour, the Ikon are hoping the interactive Island will help Ikon Eastside achieve their aim of moving away from the formal, ‘don’t touch’ atmosphere of the Ikon Gallery to a more open, participatory space.
The next exhibition by Mexican art collective Tercerunquinto I Am What I Am opens on the 10th July. I’m told it’s to be some sort of statement on the regeneration of Eastside, possibly related to similar built environments back home in Mexico.
