See an immersive experience of the arts, as over 80 exciting emerging artists from various creative disciplines will gather and make Digbeth First Friday their stage.
We welcome you to meet Birmingham’s creative future.
Experience first-hand Birmingham & the West Midlands next generation of creative artists, which have been hand-picked to be a part of this years Gallery37 Residency; Birmingham’s flagship creative development programme. After an intense 2-week Residency, you will see the work which they have prepared for this showcase.
You will get the chance to see:
Brand-new work based on the theme of ‘Elements’
Exciting cross-artform collaborations
Live performances and digital & visual art exhibitions
Keynote speeches to be announced
This showcase will span various artforms and creative practices including: Music Production, Dance, Film, Vocal Performance, Digital Arts, Creative Writing, Visual Arts, Photography and Acting.
Visit wearepunch.co.uk/gallery37 for more information and keep up to date with #Gallery37 on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and TikTok
Help Is On The Way, Dear is a new project from Contemporary Other designed to provide care and encourage rest, by artists, for artists. This exhibition showcases the first of 5 of our commissions to create digital artworks that double as resources responding to different parts of the ‘artistic process’. So from brainstorming to burnout Help Is On The Way, Dear has got you covered. Featuring a meditative performance by Lou Robbin, soundscapes, comic book and more, this is a space for collective restoration and healing. To find out more about the artists featured check out our instagram @contemporary_other
Help Is On The Way, Dear is a commission strand for Midlands based artists from the global majority and will be returning in the Winter. To find our more or submit an idea for a resource contact us at www.contemporaryother.org
This project was made possible with the support of Arts Council England, the support of our artist community. With special thanks to Centrala, Grand Union and Plane Structure.
This project was made possible with the support of Arts Council England, the support of our artist community. With special thanks to Centrala, Grand Union and Plane Structure.
Exhibition of work made by young people from Ukraine, now based in Birmingham, working with artist Mark Neville and experimenting with forms of photography to express their thoughts and feelings on the war.
Over six months, the young people have attended workshops and made images that reflect their experiences, having left their homes to seek safety.
These photographs present the stories of twelve women. Many were rejected by their partners, landlords, employers, or they have been denied recognition by the state. Coinciding with International Refugee Week (19th – 25th June) these images of brides hugging street objects, provide a neighbourhood spectacle that forces us to recognise the impact of borders on human relationships, and the social changes occurring in the areas we inhabit.
Approaching its 17th edition (16-21 May), Flatpack Festival has long been bringing the very best and most audacious moving image work to Birmingham, and to whet your whistles for their upcoming iteration, they’ll be sharing shorts and trailers this Digbeth First Friday from 6pm here at Centrala.
Drop-in at any point and get a flavour for what’s on offer later this month.
Centrala presents Heterotopias in the turbulent zone, an exhibition about the role of art as a tool for social justice in a world of uncertainty, conflict and turbulence.
Drawing ideas from contemporary realities where the world is characterised by the clash of economic, political, intellectual and religious systems, this exhibition will present newly commissioned and existing work from Art Lab Yerevan, an art activist collective promoting socially engaged art.
Aiming to find a positive vision of the future, they involve diverse audiences in their activist artistic practices in order to create a vast network and a solidarity platform using art as a tool to achieve political change.
Read more about Artlabyerevan HERE
After the headline gig with C.A.N.V.A.S. at Centrala (see other listing) – we hand the keys over to CRUSH x Sisterhood for an afterparty.
A first for the CRUSH team – join us on Friday 3rd of March when our decks will be taken over by three incredible Sisterhood DJs!
CHILLZ started mixing drum and bass stems when she was a little girl, taught by her big brother Darryl. When Darryl sadly passed away at the young age of 21, 10 year old CHILLZ coped with her grief by turning dnb into a passion. Now turning this passion into a career, she knows how proud Darryl would be <3
EPIPHANY started her journey whilst living in Melbourne and being heabily involved in the drum and bass community there. She has a love for deep, soulful melodies with rolling basslines and slapping drums. A multi-genre DJ that loves to add a euphoric, psychadelic and wonky flare to her sets, Epiphany loves to bring people together on the dancefloor.
RINGERS sets reflect a true love for the British party scene, blending catchy garage breaks and shelling infectious old school jungle rhythms. She’s a co-founder of upcoming record label High Key, which champions safe spaces and inclusion. We can’t wait to welcome her to the CRUSH community!
A curated program of three artist films documenting electric live performances and audio-visual commissions from Outland’s archives.
Come and explore what Outlands is all about by experiencing selected moving image work from artists that we have commissioned.
AJA X BORA “SLUG” Live at Fat Out Fest 2021 (39 mins)
Interdisciplinary collaboration between BORA (France) and AJA (UK) incorporating 3D digital design, sound design, music video and performance.
Mothwasp: Unlive (17 minutes)
A digital commission for the Outlands ‘screen test’ series, Unlive investigates the juncture of expanded film and live musical performance for online audiences. “Rhythmic noise, feedback, and field recordings – both sonic and visual- are merged as a poem to the ‘live’, the analogue, the non-partisan, and the un-digital.’
Mothwasp is an ongoing audio-visual collaboration between Stephen J Taylor and Matthew J Watkins.
Pretty Grim (49 mins)
This extended live recording is the second featured work that was originally commissioned for our ‘Screen Test’ series, completed during Pretty Grim’s residency at Islington Mill in Salford in 2020.
Pretty Grim are Kaila, Anna & Meesha. Based in Birmingham, they are a supergroup made up of members of Dorcha ++
Outlands and Centrala, in close collaboration with C.A.N.V.A.S, will present live performances from Olan Monk w/Michael Speers, Alpha Maid, and 33 (Billy Bultheel & Alexander Iezzi).
Olan Monk is a musician, performer and writer from Connemara, on the west coast of Ireland. They also have the distinction of being a co-founder of C.A.N.V.A.S. Their debut album Love/Dead was released in June 2020, followed by Auto Life, an EP of songs released in October 2021. Past collaborations include recordings and performances with Actress, Ashley Paul, Elvin Brandhi, James K, Maria Somerville and Michael Speers.
Alpha Maid is a guitarist and producer from South East London who crafts compositions of lo-fi punk, grunge and glitch electronics. Also a member of CURL collective, who she occasionally joins for live shows. She released her debut EP, Spy, via their label in 2019. Her most recent release is second EP ‘CHUCKLE’ released in March 2021 via C.A.N.V.A.S which AQNB found Alpha Maid “at her folksiest sonic approach to date as she enlists her beat-up acoustic guitar to soundtrack introspective impulses”.
Through their collaborative project 33, Billy Bultheel and Alexander Iezzi further consolidate a partnership which has taken many forms.
This month, come take a look (and listen) to the beautiful Diaphonics by Andrius Arutiunian, the exhibition which presents an interplay of three sound and video works. ‘In Diaphonics’ the artist explores the notion of diaphony (both in musical and political frames) through various spells, sonic objects and resonances.
We also have a special treat, as this DFF features percussionists from Royal Birmingham Conservatoire ahead of their concert on 7th February.