Digbeth is Good » Paradise Circus

Posts Tagged ‘Paradise Circus’:

Social Media Surgery

Written by Nicky Getgood on Sunday, November 30th, 2008 ( Start discussion )
Tags: Birmingham Ramblers' Association, bvsc, fix my street, john mostyn, jon bounds, mysociety, nick booth, Paradise Circus, podnosh, social media surgery, Stef Lewandowski

The Social Media Surgery for Birmingham’s voluntary organisations happened on Wednesday at the BVSC on Digbeth High Street, and again the turn-out was fantastic. In the Birmingham Bloggers Group’s reflections I was listed as a helper but thanks to my crappy laptop being unable to hook up to the wireless, I suspect I’d have been more help giving John Mostyn a hand with the tea. It will be great to see the blogs that are born from it, I’m especially interested in the Birmingham Ramblers’ Association Get Walking Keep Walking project, which is planning urban tours of the city.

I really do think I learnt more than taught at the event. Jon Bounds took me through mysociety and its various projects, my favorite being Fix My Street, where you can report, view or discuss local problems. And I got some gems from wisdom from Stef Lewandowski in a spick and span Hennessey’s pub afterwards, who had some great ideas for Digbeth is Good – watch this space!

I’m hoping these surgeries become a regular fixture, as much for my benefit as for the voluntary organisations!

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The Ikon in Eastside

Written by Nicky Getgood on Thursday, July 10th, 2008 ( Start discussion )
Tags: He An, I Am What I Am, Ikon Eastside, Moat Lane Car Park, New Langton Arts, Paradise Circus, Soi Project, Tercerunquinto

When I went to a tour of Soi Project: Island at the Ikon Eastside, the guide told me about Terceruquinto’s plans to post a statement on the gallery’s back wall and wondered aloud whether or not it would be enough to fill the large room.

The answer is yes. The piece’s title I Am What I Am is cut out of the wall, exposing the brickwork, insulation and electric cabling within and the building site that is currently the rest of Ikon Eastside beyond. It’s well cool, as are Tercerunquinto. Too cool even for past commissioners, it seems. Their proposal that New Langton Arts ‘sacrifice’ their only asset the artistic archive, which the gallery understandably chickened out of, makes for inspirational freesheet reading (PDF).

After Wednesday’s launch party the Ikon bus ferried us around the corner to the Moat Lane Car Park to see He An’s installation. Cute chunky neon lettering along the top reads in Chinese and English: ‘I talked to Ah Chang on the way to work. After work I ended the relationship. I stood in Paradise Circus and cried for hours…’ It is apparently the experience of a friend of the artist’s, whose relationship broke down after she moved to the city. Birmingham – it breaks your heart.

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