Things are gearing up for what should be an action-packed Highgate Funday this Saturday 4th September. Friction Arts have been working hard filling up the Sports Zone, Kids Zone, Health & Beauty Zone and Arts Zone with treats such as a bouncy castle, 7 Inch Cinema tent, face-painting, Eastside Projects stall, pedal go-karting, dancing, eyebrow threading, trick tennis and a Graffiti Board workshop. There’ll be live entertainment throughout the afternoon from the likes of St Eugene’s Choir, Stand-up Stanhope comedy, Paradox, Nick Anderson and Buddy the Dog.
So join us from 12pm in Highgate Park on what should be a lovely sunny day. And whilst you’re there, please pop and by the Heroes & Heroines tent and say hi – I’ll be in the Heritage and Place section (look for the maps and sofas) collecting peoples’ Street Stories and would love to hear yours. Hopefully see some of you there!
Provide a day of celebration that includes a health zone, sports activities, arts workshops, live music and an information resource for local services
Provide pathways and information to both training and employment, future arts and training initiatives in the area including Friction Arts 3 year heritage project.
Provide an exciting day for people to remember and well as providing the opportunity for community members to meet their neighbours
If you’d like to help out or get involved then contact Friction Arts on 0121 772 6160 or email info@frictionarts.com. If not, just put Saturday 4th September in your diaries!
On 15th-26th July Friction Arts will be playing hosting Isaura Mendes their home of The Edge, Cheapside. The press release they’ve sent me says it all, so please excuse the copy-and-pasting:
Isaura is the founder of the Bobby Mendes Peace Legacy, a non-profit organisation, based in Boston, USA. The Peace Legacy is named in honour of Isaura’s oldest son Bobby who was murdered in 1995, which sparked a spiral of violence in her community which is still taking young lives today. It is rededicated to her youngest son Matthew who was murdered in 2006.
Isaura, a tireless campaigner against the violence which has blighted her community, first visited us here in 2006, along with her son, Matthew. We had an amazing time together, she met with young people at risk, appeared on New Style radio and at our Curio City Shop, but most importantly, got to have some great times with her son Matthew. Tragically Matthew was murdered just three weeks after their return home.
Despite this second tragedy Isaura has continued to campaign to save the lives of young people in her community. She works as a spokesperson, confidante and supporter of the bereaved, giving inspiring talks to men in prison, acting as a ‘Mama Christmas’ to young kids in her neighbourhood and takes every opportunity to try and give hope to her community through her work. Isaura works closely with Shannon Flattery of Touchable Stories, who partnered with us on last year’s ‘Echoes From the Edge’ and the arts are central to the way they work together in their community. We have more than a friendship with Isaura and are delighted that she will be returning to visit some of the people and places she visited with her son, just before his death.
In typical Isaura fashion, she doesn’t want this to be just a holiday, and has asked us to ask you if there are any opportunities for her to speak to, or meet with people who might benefit from her experience. She is particularly interested in meeting anyone involved in anti-violence initiatives, gun or gang crime issues, or young people at risk. Please get in touch with us here if you think you have a group or event which might be suitable for her to meet/address during her short visit.
We will be holding a debate here at the Edge on Thursday 22nd July at 6pm. This will begin by an address by Isaura, talking about her work with the BMPL , followed by a debate examining the question ‘How can we create a future free of violence for our children?’. This will almost certainly be followed by some of Isauras fantastic Cape Verdean cooking (she wouldn’t stay at the local hotel as they couldn’t provide her with a kitchen), and an opportunity to meet Isaura, and continue the discussion. Please RSVP if you would like to attend, as our debates are very popular, to info@frictionarts.com or telephone 0121 772 6160.
It was a very busy and bright afternoon, with lots of pretty things for sale and interesting things to look at when the money ran out, such as the rather good Emerging photography exhibition in the gallery.
And that’s what this post would have talked about – the Custard Factory pulling in lots of people to enjoy the sunshine and while a few hours mooching around the arts, crafts and clothes stalls and exhibition spaces. The nice things I purchased and spotted whilst I was there. But then, at the Urban Music Gathering in Space2 later that night, this goes and happens:
As has been well documented in the local and national news, four partygoers were shot in a fracas at the clubnight. And that’s possibly what will sum up the Custard Factory in many people’s minds for a while, which I find thoroughly depressing because I know how extremely far removed that is from the warm and welcoming vibe of the place. The most sensible reaction I’ve read about the incident so far has come from a person called Kiesnor on the DJhistory.com forum:
The Custard Factory is in Digbeth, an area I love and which is hosting some great nights, from Irish boozers to air/code nightclub, The Sanctuary (formerly the Institute), Rainbow pub and warehouse, Custard Factory and adjoining warehouses, The Irish Centre, Wagon and horses and other underground venues… but I think at one time it did have the worst rates for violence, low population and high number of drinking venues possibly to blame.
Anyway, I really hope this is not a sign of the bad old times returning, I have been feeling a bit uncomfortable walking around the city at night lately and I think there seems a bit of tension, it really is the last thing these venues need as well because the Rainbow has had problems with hosting live music a great deal, nimbys are moving in and the Conservative council seem very unenthusiastic about ground roots music in the city with the last major open air music concert cancelled after poor policing.
Last Wednesday saw the launch of the Bass Festival with the opening of Punch Records’ exhibition Fight The Power, of global protest and propaganda art.
Simon, Sandra and Raycho fighting the power. And each other.
Fight The Power got Simon Walker, Sandra Hall (Friction Arts) and Bulgarian Artist Raycho Stanev in an outspoken mood, which worked well for the following night’s critical debate at The Edge based around the issues stemming from Raycho’s installation The Great Excursion.
Paradox, Raycho, Sandra and Lee at the Critical Debate
I was a little late in joining it, but the critical debate was a lively and much-needed discussion which explored issues around ethnic, cultutal and class identity and how these can affect our own personal identities. Paradox really hit the nail on the head when she quoted Bruce Lee: “I’m a citizen of this planet.”
Birmingham’s City of Culture bid also entered the discussion, with people musing on how it can be truly multicultural rather than what Paul Murphy calls, “The 3 S’s: steel bands, saris and samosas.”
It was an incredibly special evening (which Friction Arts have written a more in-depth post about), which makes it all the more sickening that it ended with The Edge getting broken into after everyone had gone home. As Lee has wisely said, ‘Peace and love to the burglar, hope the karmic burden was worth it!’
Raycho Stanev and his beautiful technical assistant Annie have returned to Bulgaria, but his installation The Great Excursion, about his childhood memories of the expulsion of over 360,000 Bulgarian Turks from his country in 1989 under the socialist regime, is staying at The Edge, Cheapside until 19th June. Raycho’s very personal and touching work is well worth a visit to learn about a particularly sinister yet little-known episode in Bulgarian history that will make you reflect upon attitudes towards race, ethnicity and cultural differences in the UK today.
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.
An open invitation to Bulgarian artist Raycho Stanev’sThe Great Excursion:
We would love it if you were able to join us for the ‘Great Excursion’ critical debate on race, nationality and cultural identity on Thursday 3rd June at 6pm. This free admission event, in partnership the Bass Festival will be held at The Edge, 79-81 Cheapside, Birmingham B12 0QH.
Talking of Bulgaria, that’s where I’ll be from tomorrow for a week at the Goat Milk Festival with Friction Arts. I’ve scheduled some posts to publish whilst I’m gone, but if you find things are quiet or a little unresponsive, that’s why. :-)
There was a definite chill in the air last Saturday afternoon but that didn’t stop a good crowd braving the great outdoors for We Are Eastside’s East Stride, a tour of some of the area’s key arts venues led by local historian Ben Waddington.
We started off from The Old Crown, which as Ben pointed out, perhaps isn’t as old as it purports to be. We then made our way to where much of what makes up Digbeth all began, at Bennie Gray’s The Custard Factory. Those hanging about didn’t appear to be the usual skater kids that frequent its skate park, they seemed to be a much more rag-tag bunch.
'Aggressive Localism'
It turned out they were the creations of people participating in the Craftspace Collective ‘Aggressive Localism’ workshop led by Juneau Projects. You’ll be seeing these Morris dancer inspired costumes worn by skateboarders in the Lord Mayor’s Parade later this year.
The Uses of Enchantment at Rhubarb East
From thereon we visited the newly opened Rhubarb East Gallery in Rhubarb Studios on Heath Mill Lane, which is exploring The Uses of Enchantment with some lovely fine art photography from The Jackson Twins and Vee Speers, whose child portraits I found particularly captivating. Rhubarb-Rhubarb’s Creative Director Rhonda Wilson spoke of her joy in at last having a space to display work:
For years we have watched while the sometimes extraordinary talent emerging from our reviews and mentoring schemes, has been shown by other people, both in the UK and in international spaces. Now we have the pleasure of exhibiting the results of our efforts, in collaboration with some of the world’s most interesting image makers.
The pod space in VIVID
We carried on down Heath Mill Lane, stopping off at Eastside Projects to enjoy The Curtain Show and hear Gavin Wade talk about the artist-led, ex-industrial space and VIVID, where Director Yasmeen Baig-Clifford told the story of its versatile pod space developed by architect Ranbir Lal, a perfect solution for an arts organisation renting rather than owning their premises.
Jim Simpson
Ex Black Sabbath Manager and Birmingham International Jazz Festival founder Jim Simpson popped by and chatted with Lisa and Jenny from Capsule about the rougher, tougher type of music that seems to stem from industrial Birmingham.
St Basil's by Steve Cadman
Ben’s tour also included elements of local history and interest, such as the amazing brickwork on St Basil’s headquarters, which used to be a High Anglican Church.
Pip McKnight
Whilst we were oohing and aahing who should pass by but Pip McKnight, who told us all about how 7 Inch Cinema began whilst Birmingham Film Festival was folding, which was a cloud with a silver lining as they got a lot of the old equipment!
Spacesuit at Grand Union
We got to have a chat outside Ikon Eastside, where many of the tour later got to enjoy Flatpack and Capsule’s screening of Burning, before crossing the road to find the tucked-away Grand Union. The current exhibition Gon-goozler is well worth a look with a fun space-travel theme that includes a spacesuit, a weather-balloon and of course, cheese, some of which had disappeared before the night was out.
Grand Union artist studios corridor
What was really impressive about Grand Union was the studio space, where about 8-10 artists get their own, cheap self-contained work units to get creative in. The artists we met were as happy as pigs in mud in this place and spoke of the need for more like it. Like VIVID, Grand Union are tenants rather than owners of the old industrial space, but the units are flatpack so should they need to move, their studios can move with them to be reassembled in a new home.
James Langdon and Ben Waddington talk the We Are Eastside typeface
We bumped into artist James Langdon whilst we were there, who spoke with Ben about his development of the distinctive We Are Eastside typeface. If you look carefully you’ll find the A’s are a particularly curvaceous treat and as Ben pointed out, not unlike the outline of Eastside itself, although whether this is by accident or design I’m unsure.
Claudia Borgna installation at Rea Garden
Last stop on the tour was the Rea Garden on Floodgate Street, where Arlene Burnett of Behind Closed Doors spoke about their development of the space, and resident artists Claudia Borgna and Alex Lockett of Project Pigeon explained their very different installations. Claudia’s plastic bag flowers looked like seeds from another planet had landed in the bottom half of the garden and taken it over.
Bluen with her chick by Project Pigeon
Project Pigeon is a longer-term installation in the space, which means we get to see the pigeons develop from eggs to fully-grown birds. I got to stroke Bluen’s tiny chick (above), which is now the healthy, strapping 28-day old bird below.
Alex Lockett with Bluen's fully-grown chick
Unfortunately Ben didn’t have the time to take us to see Friction Arts’ The Edge or The Lombard Method, but both are well worth taking the time to venture over to the other side of the High Street.
Curtains at Curtain Show, Eastside Projects
There’s been some interesting online discussion about We Are Eastside since its launch, including a brilliant post by Jon Bounds at BiNS about increasing engagement in the arts, both by simple awareness raising and more in-depth local collaboration. The latter is something I’d like to see lots more of Digbeth – there’s some amazing cultural stuff going on around here, such as Irish Heritage and St Patrick’s Festival Birmingham which, for whatever reason, feels completely unconnected to much of the arts activity in the area.
Cheese at Grand Union. Mmmmmm....
From my resident’s perspective, both camps are making interesting, creative and exciting stuff happen, so it would be great to see them bounce off each other more. I suppose that’s why I’ve kind of fallen in love with Friction Arts, because they are so embedded within the community. I’d love to see arts organisations reach out more and work with local people who are already getting together and doing brilliant things under their own steam, my guess is that all involved learn an awful lot!
Last Friday night I got to ‘Know One’s Fool’ with a solo improvised show by Jonathan Kay. What a remarkably astute man he is – within minutes of getting me on stage to retrieve My Precious lip salve he had sussed my relationship with my lodger and my cat’s drug-like addiction to Whiskas. His impersonation of Samson Cat was a little worrying actually, now when I’m stroking him I hear in my head the desperate voice of a meaty chunks junkie crying out for his next fix.
But it was worth it to experience the joy of receiving a standing ovation. Everyone should know the feeling of getting a standing ovation, and on Friday pretty much everyone there did. Lucky Matt got about seven standing ovations, that’s more than most get in a lifetime. (There’s a great write-up of the evening on the Friction Arts blog.)
Over the weekend The Edge hosted Know One’s Fool’s workshops. I couldn’t make these but after hearing Sandra Hall’s reports I’m seriously considering going to Liverpool in April to do them myself.
Last night I went back again to watch Shakespeare’s Richard II Scratch - ‘a magical performance without props or set, where the cast play all the parts’. I’ve never seen a performance quite like it – the characters were defined by physical shapes created with two-three actors rather than the traditional one actor who embodies one role. I expected to get confused by this somewhere along the line but I never did – I always knew who was who at any given moment and I was surprised I managed to keep up with a Shakespeare play I knew nothing about beforehand when it was being performed in such an alien way.
The main things I noticed were that with several actors often playing one character at once, their splitting of the speeches between them really bought out the poetry of Shakespeare’s text by breaking it up a little. Also the performance was so incredibly intimate it made me feel quite exposed as an audience member. ‘Where’s that bit of space that separates me from the performance?’ ‘They can see my reactions to everything!’ ‘They keep making direct eye contact and holding my gaze!’ It felt very strange. I spent much of the next day thinking about the play, and how the performance style had meant it was something I experienced rather than observed, how it involved me in a way that wasn’t always comfortable (no bad thing).
The fools are about until the end of this week. There’s a Feast of Fools at 8pm tonight, where you can get a taste of the fruits of the academy’s labour in The Edge during the week. There’s also another weekend of Know One’s Fool workshops (tomorrow and Sunday).
My, my I’ve a busy weekend in store, what with the Flatpack Festival and We Are Eastside launch and all. I’d better make a list of all the things I’ve bought tickets for or promised myself I’d see, just so’s I don’t miss anything. Now, let me see….
On Friday I’ve got a ticket for Synth Eastwood’s Fast Forward Show at The Rainbow, which ‘has 27 heads, is part-Irish part-English part-French, eats loud repetitive beats, projects wobbly animations and wants to meet new friends in Birmingham’. I’m really looking forward it, but sad I’ll be missing the Feast of Fools at The Edge.
