Venue: Eastside Projects

Everyone is invited to join us for the launch of two new projects ‘Sonic Signals’ by Abbas Zahedi and Chandos Primary School, and ‘God Pocket’, curated by Jaz Morrison and featuring Neoliberalizard, Tesha Murrain, Trixiebella Suen, Yusuf Dongo.

We are very pleased to once again host the Duplicate Publishing Fair, an annual celebration of printed matter which aims to explore what duplication means in a digital age.

Bringing together independent publishers from across the UK, the fair will feature over 50 exhibitors selling artists’ books, comics and zines. A programme of free artist-led workshops and talks on Saturday will explore themes surrounding self-publishing.

So come along, have a browse, find all kinds of exciting new things, and support some brilliant creatives.

I have invited three collaborative artist groups to Eastside Projects for a period of thinking, gathering and connecting.

GLOAM makes cool shit happen, an artist-led beacon, a collectively-run exhibition and studio space in Sheffield. Chaos Magic are Nottingham witches who change reality through ritual practice. The Field is a co-living project and DIY space in what was previously the headquarters of the National Coal Board, located in Derbyshire.

If It Thunders on All Fool’s Day* is an open offer to come to our city to ‘do something.’

I don’t know what is going to happen, I don’t know the outcomes, I hope this is a starting point. An open structure that allows for many outcomes, a picked mushroom that’s spreading its spores all over your hand and down your leg.

Join us for Digbeth First Friday and expect good crops of corn and hay!*

*old english proverb

Dinosaur is an artist that runs Cheap Cheap and is a member of the horrible collaboration Kühle Wampe. He is also Artist Curator Trainee at Eastside Projects.

Everyone is invited to join from 5–6pm for a guided meditation led by holistic artist Tesha Murrain.

This will be followed from 6–8pm by a screening of moving image works by artists including Amartey Golding, De’Anne Crooks, Larry Achiampong & David Blandy, and Tanazia Gabriel-Fleary that explore how displacement and marginalisation can create roadblocks on the journey to self-actualisation. 

Curated by Jaz Morrison for Digbeth First Friday. Come for the whole evening or drop in as you explore everything else that’s on offer.

For one night only, Eastside Projects is delighted to present the film programme ‘Seed Index’ with moving image works by artists Ana Vaz & Tristan Bera, Laura Huertas Millán, Pilar Mata Dupont, Pedro Neves Marques, Asuncion Molinos Gordo and Gerard Ortin Castellvi.

Come for the whole evening, or drop in anytime.

Curated by Eastside Projects’ Artist Caretaker Borbála Soós, the artworks in this screening programme reflect on the filmic representation of nature, and how nature is culturally, politically, and cinematically constructed. Together they explore how the current ecological crisis is intimately intertwined with the crisis of representation as well as political, health, economic and social crises.

December is here again (already … we know) so it’s time for festive cheer, chilly weather, and the Eastside Projects Winter Art Fair!

Grab your mulled wine and mince pies and complete your Christmas shopping list by grabbing a bargain. Whether you’re looking for limited editions, affordable artworks, handmade accessories, or novelty items there will be plenty to check out from stall holders including EOP, Grand Union, Modern Clay, Spike Island Associates, Turf Projects, Primary, and loads, loads more.

Please note that although some stallholders might be able to take card payments, cash is king. 100% of income from sales goes directly to the stallholders, so support local artists, grab yourself a creative bargain, and get that special someone their most memorable gift this year.

This First Friday, Royal Birmingham Conservatoire composition students and guests take over Eastside Projects for an evening of oneirology – the study of dreams.

The performers have been meeting and devising interdisciplinary and collaborative work at Eastside Projects throughout October. Inspired by the logic of dreaming and personal dream experiences from the banal to the surreally fantastical they’ll take us on a journey through a two-hour sleep cycle with different paces rhythms and intensities.

Drop in whenever you want!

Join us for the launch of the EOP Summer Camp Show. With live performances, film screenings, and artworks by over 50 artists it promises to be a fantastic evening with something for everyone.

Summer Camp is an opportunity for EOP members to try out ideas, collaborate, experiment, and take over Eastside Projects. This year’s artists include Crow Dillon-Parkin, Katayoun Jalilipour, Lucifer Sky / Indira Lakshmi, Alex Parry, Basel Zaraa, and many many more!

The Same Track uses archival footage of Commonwealth Games athletes, spectators, and administrators, cut together with promotional and other film materials. Through symbolic juxtapositions of scenes from different eras, and using tropes of public messaging, the work highlights both transformation and stasis through time.

Alternately playful and shocking, The Same Track works with the idea that the Games, including its current iteration, is implicated in an ongoing political project, centuries in the making.

It’s also your last chance to catch exhibitions by Rajni Perrera and Bijan Moosavi which both close on Saturday 6th.

What do you see when you stare at the Commonwealth connections of Birmingham’s industrial past? Monsters!

Descriptions of headless half-human people with gold-coloured skin, seen at the farthest reaches of the world, are in practically every ancient and medieval European document regarding monsters. For over 2,500 years, religious and political leaders, explorers, and scholars claimed that during their time in the ‘New World’, they encountered headless monster people.

These creatures, known as Blemmyes, have been seen climbing trees, hiding from people, talking softly, eating leaves, and generally being weird, and for one night only this Digbeth First Friday you will be able to spot them in Eastside Projects.

This project is part of our programme for the Birmingham 2022 Festival and is supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund, Arts Council England, Canada House and Canada Council for the Arts.