The life-blood of a community is its people, and no one knows this better than photographer Brian Homer. Brian is enthusiastic about recording locality through self-portraits, and is giving Birmingham the opportunity to celebrate its homegrown individuals. Brian developed the Birmingham Self Portrait project, with the aim of capturing each Brummie’s personality, and creating a snapshot of contemporary life. The shutter release cable (a remote controlled camera switch) is designed to aid the subject in portraying themselves in the light they desire. His rationale is visible when he says ‘there is a clear difference to the portraits where the photographer remains in control’, wishing for every unique personality to shine, he allows people to be their own photographer.

As one of the crucial figures involved in the Handsworth self portrait project in 1979, Brian’s current version is a direct development of this project on a larger scale. The original images were stored in the city’s Central Library, so it only seems fitting that this modern day re- imagining will be introduced upon the opening of the new Library. New photographs will be taken during the Discovery Festival, and uploaded to big screens so that they can be viewed quickly after being shot. The photographs will be stored in the archives of the new library, for future generations to enjoy. As well as representing and celebrating the cultural diversity of modern Birmingham, these images hope to give an insight into modern life.

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The Pavilion will host a rolling programme of Creative Residencies. Artists, film makers, book makers and a range of other creatives will set up home in The Pavilion for a week, making new work and offering a variety of free activities for Library visitors.

Each week, visitors entering the space will be treated to a different experience, ranging from interactive pieces such as audience inspired theatre and film workshops to exhibitions of sci-fi sculptures made from junk and artefacts honouring lost mythical deities. The Library’s collections and literary resources inspired much of the programme, and each residency will encourage audiences to discover something new in the Library of Birmingham.

Part of the Discovery season.

Brought to you by theatrical provocateurs Stan’s Cafe, The Commentators will be in residence to carefully document everything they see, from the vital to the mundane.

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The Pavilion will host a rolling programme of Creative Residencies. Artists, film makers, book makers and a range of other creatives will set up home in The Pavilion for a week, making new work and offering a variety of free activities for Library visitors.

Each week, visitors entering the space will be treated to a different experience, ranging from interactive pieces such as audience inspired theatre and film workshops to exhibitions of sci-fi sculptures made from junk and artefacts honouring lost mythical deities. The Library’s collections and literary resources inspired much of the programme, and each residency will encourage audiences to discover something new in the Library of Birmingham.

Part of the Discovery season.

The Discovery season began with a magnificent performance by 100 + brass players. Encircling the crowds in the Book Rotunda, Together We Breathe brought together horns, trumpets, trombones, cornets and tubas to create a mass of sound to a huge crowd of visitors .

Sound artists Super Critical Mass have been invited by Capsule to present an innovative take on the traditional fanfare. Together We Breathe is a large-scale performance installation created by the Australian sonic arts company to celebrate the opening. The free event brings together over 100  local brass players of all ages and backgrounds, to set the tone for Europe’s largest civic building. The participants (drawn from schools, colleges and professional ensembles) will stand throughout the library, filling the air with sound as its first visitors wander through its sights and delights.

The process and performance will all be filmed for a special episode of the BBC’s Culture Show, which will air on September 11 2013

Supported by Sound and Music + PBone
Partners CBSO, Birmingham Conservatoire, Town Hall Symphony Hall, Youth Brass, Brass Band of Birmingham, Performing Arts Services

Inspired by the Library of Birmingham’s most treasured works and collections, and their iconic new home, Capsule has curated a trail of art works which will lead visitors around the new building and encourage visitors to explore more of what the library has to offer. The works encompass a wide range of media, including sound, digital media, and extraordinary objects. Some are new commissions, and others we have chosen for their ability to stimulate ideas and questions about what a library can be.

Artists featured:

Laura Kate Chapman has created a series of contemporary illustrations and characters that inhabit the Children’s Library.

Matt Watkins created a new animation inspired by The Audubon Book of American Birds, thought to be the world’s most expensive book.

Serena Korda’s Library of Secrets is a mobile library conceived from the love of keeping and finding things amongst the pages of books.

Su Blackwell’s newly commissioned sculpture references the Birmingham Shakespeare Collection.

Leon Sparks has created a new piece of work using the collection of technical drawings by Boulton and Watt

Lucy McLauchlan has created a site-specific work responding to the spectacular surroundings of the Book Rotunda.

Rebecca and Katy Beinart reference Victorian era plant collectors with the piece Adaptation

Juneau Projects have created new work inspired by the Library of Birmingham’s 3rd floor terrace garden

Theatre Jukebox is an arcade-style cabinet that plays stories instead of records

Anna Francis and Andrew Branscombe have created a series of bird sculptures that are placed throughout the library

Jennifer Collier’s delicate work Paper Typewriter references recently obsolete technology and knowledge.

The Book Apothecary have created a new audio work inspired by compose Granville Bantock.

Read more detailed information on the artworks here.

Part of the Discovery season.

Nazoranai

“Advanced doom and psychedelic out-rock wiggery from three undisputed masters in their field: Keiji Haino, Stephen O’Malley and Oren Ambarchi...The Japanese icon is in tremendous form, shredding like a maniac, capable of coaxing both plummy riffage and abstract sheets of sound out of his axe, often at the same time; his vocals, meanwhile, veer from pseudo-religious incantation to feral squawks and growls. Almost needless to say, O’Malley and Ambarchi are the perfect accomplices, and depending on what Haino requires they supply delicate ambience, apocalyptic battery or loose-limbed rock ‘n roll swagger. For confirmed fans of any of the three principals this is obviously a buy-on-sight item, but we’d also recommend it to anyone looking to understand why Haino is so revered – the face-melting dervish of a show documented on this release will leave you in no doubt whatsoever.” Boomkat

editionsmego.com/release/SOMA009

Oren Ambarchi is an Australian composer with interests in transcending conventional instrumental approaches. His work focuses mainly on the exploration of the guitar.

Stephen O’Malley is a musician from Seattle, who has conceptualised numerous drone, doom and experimental music groups, most notably,Sunn0))).

Keiji Haino is a Japanese musician and composer whose work has included rock, free improvisation, drone, noise and minimalism.

Nicholas Bullen – Component Fixations

An artist and composer based in Birmingham. Working across a range of media (including sound, text, film, installation and performance), his work explores strategies for the transmutation of elements and systems of communication.

Beginning as a founder member of the ‘extreme’ music group Napalm Death at the age of 13, he has an over 30 year history of composition (releasing over 40 recordings) and live performance (both solo and collaboratively) . Recent sound performances focus on the use of environmental recordings as the basis of fixed media acousmatic composition alongside live improvisation and signal processing in real-time.

Nicholas will be launching his new record Component Fixations at this event, released on Type*.

nicholasbullen.com

Flyer design by David Hand

Film, stories & images from the Mississippi Records and Alan Lomax archive

A film, music and aural presentation by Eric Isaacson of Mississippi Records, Portland, USA. Featuring archival film, images & stories spanning 1890 to the present day, illustrating Eric’s own special history of underground music movements and bonafide individuals. The live footage performances are culled from rarely seen film shot during Alan Lomax’s North American travels between 1978 to 1985 and Mississippi Record’s own enormous library of folk blues, gospel, esoteric, international & punk music.

The endless cycle of conflict and incident that exists between the subterranean and marginalised music scenes and the mainstream music industry will be explored by Eric without using language or images associated with simplified boring dogma, slogan chanting or political rhetoric. Mississippi Records, in a short time, has bypassed most antiquated record label conventions and has, through a few guiding principles and great taste, gained cult status, lots of sales and love and praise from all quarters.

The core footage from the moving image show will feature video footage from the 400 hours shot by Alan Lomax between 1978 & 1985 (an era that seems to have been overlooked by archivists). Highlights include the first R.L. Burnside moving image, Skip James’ buddy Jack Owens, Otha Turner leading the Rising Star Fife & Drum Band at one of his picnics, Boyd & Ruth May Rivers, the Hicks and Proffitt families of Beech Mountain, North Carolina (from whom the song “Tom Dooley” originally came), Quad-Split camera footage of the 1982 Holly Springs Sacred Harp Convention, a funeral parade with the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, the Pretty White Eagle Mardi Gras Indians, Ernie K-Doe at Winnie’s in New Orleans, One String guitar playing, breakdancing & much more. This footage is remarkable because it shows folk cultures in full blossom during a time when pretty much no one gave a damn about them & barely anyone was bothering to record them. As is always the case with vibrant cultures, the blues, country, folk & jazz that Lomax was filming was rapidly mutating to fit the times, so the footage has a feel very contemporary to the late 1970s & early 1980s, yet it is very foreign to our popular mass culture image of what was happening during that period.

Beyond the Lomax footage there will be rare film of musicians associated with the Mississippi Records label such as one man band Abner Jay, angel channeling Bishop Perry Tillis, Rev. Louis Overstreet & his four sons, legendary folk singer Michael Hurley & many more. Each film segment will be introduced with brief stories about the musicians. There will also be a short slide show that tells the story of the underground music industry & Mississippi Records.

Mississippi Records has produced over 150 releases on LP & 100 releases on cassette tape that crisscross’s borders, digging up joyous albums, singles and unheard songs and sounds that where being left under the bed, out in the shed and unloved by most record companies. They have managed to do this on a shoestring budget, without ever advertising or engaging in promotion of any kind & distributing only through DIY avenues. Among it’s catalogue you can find Fred McDowell, Mahmoud Ahmed, Irma Thomas, Dog Faced Hermans, George “Bongo Joe” Coleman, Kleenex/Liliput, The Georgia Sea Island Singers, The Clean, Alamayahu Eshete, Dead Moon, Clara Rockmore, The Ex, Washington Phillips, Philip Cohran & The Artistic Heritage Ensemble, G.I. Gurdjieff and boxes full killer comps as well as artists like Marisa Anderson, Peter Buck and Michael Hurley.

‘The Lomax footage is being provided by the Association for Cultural Equity as part of their continuing effort to make important cultural information available to all who seek it.’

This event is produced in partnership with Vivid Projects and will be presented at their new space:

16 Minerva Works
158 Fazeley Street
Digbeth, Birmingham
B5 5RS

www.vividprojects.org.uk

Tour preview:

Mississippi Records Tour Preview Film from plastic shaman on Vimeo.

Satomi Matsuzaki plays bass and sings, Greg Saunier plays drums, John Dieterich and Ed Rodriguez play guitars. But what is Deerhoof really? Hell if we know. Pitchfork went so far as to label Deerhoof as “the best band in the world.” The New York Times described them as “one of the most original rock bands to have come along in the last decade.” From their humble beginnings as an obscure San Francisco noise act, they’ve become one of indie music’s most influential bands with their ecstatic and unruly take on pop.

http://deerhoof.net

Support comes from:

Free School
Bringing the sunny Balearic sounds of summer and the icy kosmische sounds of winter to a venue near you, Free School are maximalist and minimalist all at once. But in a good way. The Birmingham duo signed to the internationally renowned Tirk label in 2011 and recently released their critically acclaimed LP ‘Tender Administration’, following two 12” EP releases and a string of remixes for the likes of Roots Manuva, Phil Oakey and Maps (Mute).

Their cosmic delights have won the support of Jacques Renault, Lauren Laverne & Gilles Peterson. Last year saw the duo play live supporting Andrew Weatherall, Walls, Parts & Labour, Ulrich Schnauss, Fujiya & Miyagi and Supersonic Festival & The Garden Festival in Croatia.
www.wearefreeschool.com

VICTOR are a Birmingham based noise quintet whose diverse influences blend to create a mash up of genres, creating a new sound that has something for every alternative pallet.

“Heavy grooves and dark noise give a beautiful backdrop to the reverb drenched power vocals that melodically dance around the room. Big choruses and dangerously boisterous breakdowns make VICTOR a band to keep your eye one and a band that definitely deserve a breakthrough into the public eye.” – Counteract Magazine
www.facebook.com/victortheverbose

A firm Capsule favourite, we are delighted to announce a show with the inimitable Daniel Higgs.

Daniel Arcus Incus Ululat Higgs is a musician and artist from Baltimore, Maryland on whose behalf superlatives are destined to fail. It’s not that his artistic output – spanning three decades, numerous albums, books of poetry and collections of drawings – simply eludes classification, it defies it. Often we hear that a true work of art is meant to speak for itself, and with the work of Daniel Higgs the maxim rings truer than ever. His art is of the cosmos, we on Earth merely lucky that it happens to be confined to our atmosphere, in our lifetime.

Higgs is known primarily for his work as the sole lyricist and frontman of the band Lungfish, a four-piece dedicated to charting, in this listener’s estimation, nothing short of the evolution of all species, known and unknown. That the band has undertaken this pursuit in the guise of a humble rock outfit, in the absence of any public relations fanfare, metanarrative, or manifesto has been enough to endear them to tens of thousands. They are enshrined as one of America’s last true folk bands, and Higgs anointed as a patron saint to artistic purity.

In recent years, Higgs has released a number of solo outings that can only be described as the ultimate in isolation, worlds away from the hypnotic, communal rock of his band. On Atomic Yggdrasil Tarot, Higgs weaves meditative, casually ruptured drones using acoustic and electric guitar, upright pianos, banjo and jew’s harp, recorded entirely at home on cassette recorder. www.dischord.com/band/daniel-higgs

“Where to start to describe The Horse Loom? The best acoustic guitar player in the country? Maybe. The most unique marriage between British folk music, avant garde guitar playing and punk rock spirit? Certainly. Wonderful? Definitely. Under-rated? You’ll have to ask him about that.

Northumbrian guitarist and singer Steve Malley would doubtless be extremely embarrassed to read any of these things. That says a lot. Steve played guitar in Crane in the early 90s, whose post-Husker Du take on The Byrds-meets-DC hardcore earned them a deserving reputation as one of the UK’s finest live bands. He would go on to play in Kodiak, Four Frame and then most notably The Unit Ama. The Unit Ama existed in direct contrast to their (musical) peers from America. Whereas a cold and cool approach was favoured by the bands from across the pond, The Ama dropped any of this façade and opened themselves and their music to possibilities of accident and misfortune creating a live experience that was truly inspiring. I say with total sincerity that they changed a lot of people’s musical outlook forever.” www.thehorseloom.com

Adam Beckley plays ambient drone guitar, creating hypnotic sounds reminiscent Tim Hecker. You can stream Adam’s performance at St Paul’s Church last year, supporting Esmerine, via his bandcamp

Poster designed by David Hand www.alongbirdalley.co.uk