Events

The Public

Public Places

April 2005 - February 2006

Public Places is a programme of artist and community collaborations that encourage dialogue and reveal stories about places in Sandwell that transform how the area is experienced and perceived. The programme will be realised in both Sandwell and Birmingham.

The Public’s contribution to the Urban Fusion calendar is through a programme of activities and events that promote and highlight artists and communities’ contributions to the process of regeneration.

CIVIC LIFE
Artists – Desperate Optimists (Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor)
Location – West Bromwich Town Hall
Date – 29th May 2005

Commissioned by The Public, award-winning film makers, Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor (Desperate Optimists), will be making a unique film featuring hundreds of residents from the Greets Green area of West Bromwich. It is all still to happen – the plot to be thickened, the characters to be invented, sets to be designed and the finale to be orchestrated. The single take film will be shot on 35mm cinemascope in just one day on the 29th May 2005 and will be shown throughout the West Midlands later in the year. This is the fifth in a series of 6 films capturing civic life in locations from local parks, late night streets, housing estates to town halls and rivers.

Civic Life is supported by Arts Council England, the Greets Green Partnership, Screen West Midlands and Urban Fusion.

LOST AND FOUND
Artists – Curious
Locations – West Bromwich and Smethwick
Dates – 31st May to 4th June 2005

Commissioned by The Public, Curious return to West Bromwich for the world premiere of their new live art and film project, Lost and Found. Lost and Found pays loving attention to the small, seemingly insignificant, fragments of lives – items that are laden with memory, objects that have been lost or discovered and are imbued with personal meaning.

Curious will interview and film people in the six towns of Oldbury, Rowley Regis, Smethwick, Tipton, Wednesbury and West Bromwich, talking about stories of things that have been lost or found, ranging from personal effects to the less tangible experiences of loss when a neighbourhood is torn down to make way for new developments. These interviews will form the basis of a live performance trilogy by Leslie Hill, Helen Paris and Lois Weaver in a site-specific location in West Bromwich in summer 2005. A film will also be produced to be shown at a later date.

Lost and Found is supported by Arts Council England and Urban Fusion.

LOOKING FOR THE BLACK REDSTART
Artist – Clare Thornton
Location- Metro Route Snow Hill to Trinity Way
Dates – Wildlife picnic at Black Lake 3rd and 4th June 2005 12-2pm
Wildlife rambles along the Metro:
3rd June 2pm – 4pm starts at Black Lake Metro stop.
4th June 10am-12pm starts at The Hawthorns Metro stop

Join Clare and wildlife experts on a guided walk along the Metro footpath between The Hawthorns and Black Lake Metro stops – an unexpected location for wildlife in the midst of an urban landscape. Booking essential. All events are FREE and ideal for all ages. You will receive a free day travel pass for the Metro and binoculars on loan.

Looking for the Black Redstart is a project by artist Clare Thornton who is working with textile, performance, video and photography to explore the Metro route from Birmingham to Wolverhampton as a ‘nature corridor’. Clare has been investigating the nesting habits of the Black Red Start along the nature route created by the Metro line. This particular species has not been seen for some time but the environmental disruption of the Metro line has recreated the natural habitat and there are now many sightings. The textile piece that Clare has created as part of this project will be exhibited at Bilston Craft Gallery from January 2006.

Commissioned by The Public as part of the Platforms programme, working with Travel Midland Metro, Fierce!, Sandwell Valley RSPB, The Wildlife Trust and Bilston Craft Gallery. This project is supported by Urban Fusion.

LIVE/WORK SPACES
Artists – Sozo Artist Collective, Atelier Van Lieshout
Location- The Unit, Walsall Street, West Bromwich
Dates 17th June 2005 – 30th July 2005
Public open day as part of Architecture Week – Saturday 25th June, 11am-3pm

Come and witness the transformation of a disused building into a place of artistic, community and regeneration activity. We invite you to be part of a unique live/work experience! The Public, working in collaboration with Dave Pollard and the Sozo Artist Collective have developed the Live/Work Spaces project. 2005 will see the second phase of this two-year project take place in a disused building in the town centre of West Bromwich. Unit, a 1960s building that was formerly used as a place of worship, has been inactive for 5 years. Throughout June and July this year a group of artists and makers will remodel it into a versatile live/work environment. This will include guest residencies from Herman de Jongh and Marjolijn Jansen from Rotterdam-based arts group Atelier Van Lieshout and New York installation artist Wayne Bartlett.

The objective for phase two of the project is to explore the social factors that enhance a community’s experience of living and working together. By transforming a disused space into a place of activity and creative resource it enables people to become actively involved and engaged with the changes taking place in their immediate environment. The project encourages public participation in the development of building thriving communities. We invite you to come and see the project, and encourage you to consider how you might be able to use the space for yourself. Unit will be multi-functional and appropriate for many uses; this is your opportunity to use it for some aspect of your own work or life. It is also a great opportunity for you to see current activity happening alongside longer-term regeneration plans.

If you know how you might like to use this new vibrant space in West Bromwich or are interested in visiting then please contact Claire Appleby at The Public: 0121 525 6861 or by email: claireappleby@thepublic.com

This project has been funded by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister as part of their Special Grants Programme for Sustainable Communities and is supported by Urban Fusion.

KNOW YOUR OWN TRACK
Artist – Alec Finlay
Location – Metro Route Snow Hill to Wolverhampton St. Georges
Date – September 2005

Alec Finlay is proposing to publish a crossword for the passengers on the Metro. The design of the crossword will map the journey that the tram makes every day, and consist of extended horizontal clues, and have vertical clues for each station. All the clues will relate to the route and the view. The intention is to connect word and place. The crossword will be available to passengers free of charge through the station ticket office.

TALENT SPOT
Artist – Jake Oldershaw
Location – tbc
Date – tbc

Talent Spot is a series of projects and events which identify, showcase and celebrate the talents of local people in the Public building, public realm and in their own communities. The projects support local people and groups who through this programme gain new confidence, pride and raise aspirations. Artist Jake Oldershaw as agent Tony Gitane and his glamorous assistant are the M5 Talent Squad who make routine investigations into the high levels of talent in the Sandwell area.

WONDERS
Artist – Nicola Atkinson Davidson
Location – Throughout the Black Country
Date – tbc

The Wonders is a series of creative projects that challenge people’s perceptions of the Black Country and encourage a strong sense of place and identity amongst local groups. The commissions all focus on a ‘wonder’ of the area that may relate to the ordinary and the extraordinary, to historical events or persons, to physical spaces and buildings, to local groups, events and activities.

Nicola Atkinson Davidson is working on a project with The Public and theBosnia UK Network, based in Birmingham. These families come from communities that are hundreds of kilometres apart including, Prijedor, Lukavac, Sarajevo, Gorazde, Mostar and Trebinje. They have now made their homes together and are living within a few square miles of each other in the Birmingham areas of Bordesley, Small Heath, Sparkbrook and Balsall Heath.

From conversations with these community members, the artist has created an exhibition called Roots: Terrible Beauty II, a series of watercolours inspired by the landscape of Bosnia/Herzegovina – which has over 3,700 identified species of flowering plants – and the personal experiences of Bosnian families who have made the West Midlands their home. Following an exhibition at The Public in March, the paintings were given to the families involved in the project to display in their own homes. A touring version of
the exhibition is also available. The Public and the Bosnia UK network are now working with the artist to produce a bookwork for publication in the autumn.

SEMINAR TO DISCUSS ARTISTS TRANSFORMING THE PUBLIC REALM/ARTISTS’ CONTRIBUTION TO REGENERATION
Artists – tbc
Location – Birmingham venue tbc
Date – February 06

A seminar to promote and highlight artists and communities contribution to the process of regeneration.