A one of a kind singer and performer, we know Richard was a highlight for many at last year’s Supersonic Festival and he’s back in Birmingham at Bring To Light 25-27 October. We thoroughly recommend you listen to his recent record ‘The Glass Trunk’, an incredible record Richard created after some research time at Tyne & Wear Museum. The record is inspired by people’s histories and sounds like it was plucked from an archive itself.

www.richarddawson.net

Here’s a review of the record by Stewart Lee:

Richard will play at Bring To Light next month, and you can purchase weekend tickets for £40 from www.theticketsellers.co.uk

And Richard will also be delighting families with his twisted tales at a very special Kids Gig on Saturday 26th October. More details to follow.

Bring To Light full line up :

Dinos Chapman / Shangaan Electro / Josephine Foster / Clipping / Deafheaven / Masaki Batoh / Robedoor / Zomes / High Wolf / Kogumaza / Richard Dawson / Sleaford Mods / Sarah Angliss / Delia Darlings / Laurence Hunt / Hordes

This month’s playlist gives you a taster of the live music taking place this Autumn. From Bring To Light artists Deafheaven, Robedoor and Sarah Angliss (Spacedog) to Charlemagne Palestine and local bands Victories and Sea, Youth Man and the legendary Pram.

You can purchase tickets for Bring To Light via www.theticketsellers.co.uk. Tickets are £40 for three days of adventurous new music featuring Josephine Foster, Dinos Chapman, Masaki Batoh, Richard Dawson and many more.

Tickets for Rise of Birmingham, Rhys Chatham & Charlemagne Palestine (with support from Ex Easter Island Head large guitar ensemble) and Adrian Utley’s orchestra performing Terry Riley ‘In C’ are available via www.birmingham-box.co.uk

From Tuesday Studio Mysercough will be in residence in the Discovery Pavilion.

Studio Myerscough have created the structure which acts as a billboard for the entire Discovery Programme. Situated in the Library foyer, The Pavilion will house an 18-week rolling programme of creative residencies focused around the theme of Discovery.
Morag Myerscough is an award winning artist, founder of Studio Myerscough and member of the creative collective Supergroup. Often referred to as a ‘place- maker’ she has produced an eclectic — and sometimes eccentric — body of work that is frequently unclassifiable but always engaging. Morag & Luke were the exhibition designers for Home of Metal at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery. For The Pavilion, Morag worked with fellow Supergroup member artist Luke Morgan to create an upbeat and stimulating surrounding for the residents.

Entirely hand–crafted and hand-painted The Pavilion is a bold and engaging structure reflecting the diverse, and often radical, offerings of the Discovery Season. During the residency participants will have the opportunity to have a go at some of Morag’s design techniques and stencil some of the bespoke furniture for the space. Not to be missed, she is a truly inspirational artist.
See examples of more of Morag’s work – http://www.studiomyerscough.com/

Morag will also be doing a talk about her practice as part of  Volume, followed by a performance by Luke’s band The Highliners and a key note by Bill Drummond. We can’t wait – find out more HERE

Join us this Sunday from 12-4pm in the Library of Birmingham for Harvesting Stories where members of the public are invited to bring a picnic and join in a range of family-friendly, food-related activities – feel free to spread the word.

Together with the Hippodrome we will be hosting a RED PICNIC at 1-1.30pm on 3^rd Floor terrace area, and we ‘dare’ visitors to wear red, bring red food and drink and a red picnic blanket. They will be joined by some extra special guests – the Reds – and also the wonderful Katrice Horsley ( National Storytelling Laureate ) who’ll be there with her ‘Wagon Full of Wonder Tales’!

We invite you to B:READ by food-artist in residence Lizzy Bean on the superbly appointed 3^rd Floor garden terrace at the library. Lizzy Bean invites you to taste the architecture of Francine Houben’s beautiful building with wood-fired bread cooked in a miniature earth oven. Come and spell out your reaction to our new library in alphabet dough balls or simply eat them dipped in aromatic, golden olive oil infused with rosemary harvested from the roof-top terrace.

And there’s more…Small World Animation will be hosting a stop-frame animation workshop in the Children’s Library where visitors can help to create an edible alphabet.

All free – as part of the Discovery Season at the Library of Birmingham

Have a listen to Stans Cafe – The Commentators who are in residence in the Discovery Pavilion for the opening week of the Library of Birmingham – there is an archive of their last few days commentary via Sound Cloud.
https://soundcloud.com/the-commentators/sets/the-library-of-birmingham-1

and you can listen to a live stream from 10am tomorrow via http://www.stanscafe.co.uk/?p=2891

These lovely characters were born at yesterday’s opening day at the Library of Birmingham. Juneau Projects invited visitors on a vegetable quest, where families made vegetable people from plasticine.

There’ll be another Vegetable Quest workshop on Saturday 26th September, and you can see the Vegetable Quest as part of the Discovery Trail throughout Capsule’s opening season.

What a day! The Discovery season began yesterday, celebrating the opening of the Library of Birmingham.

The day began with the library’s official launch, with special guest Malala Yousafzai, the 16-year-old education activist and campaigner for the rights of women and girls. Malala launched the library in front of the world press, and there were over 10 000 visitors over the day.

The 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 . Here’s a little video of the performance and you can see footage on the BBC Culture Show next week

Juneau Projects also invited people on a vegetable quest; you can see their vegetable characters on the third floor terrace. They’ll be doing another workshop on Saturday 28 September.

The Commentators are in residency at the Pavilion all week, commenting on all the activity in the new building, from the peculiar, to the mundane (we’ve particularly been enjoying their sartorial judgements, big fans of the pashmina it seems) You can hear their commentary online.

There’s tons going on over the next four months. Read the brochure online and we hope you enjoy the Discovery season.

Together We Breathe performers in rehearsal over the weekend

Capsule have been hard at work this year, putting together a four month season celebrating the opening of the Library of Birmingham. We’re really proud of this season, and very excited that Birmingham is now home to the largest public library in Europe. In honour of the ‘people’s palace’, the Discovery season will feature performances, residencies, exhibitions and lots of opportunities to participate in workshops and try something new.

“For the LoB managers to choose possibly the noisiest, most experimental arts organisation in the city to open a library is a radical step.” www.paradisecircus.com

So, tomorrow is opening day, and below is a brief round up of what you can see and do at the Library of Birmingham this week. Read the full programme online.

Together We Breathe rehearsal, the performance will feature 100 players

Tuesday 3rd September

11.30 – Library of Birmingham opens it doors to the public.

12.30 – Together We

Breathe, Book Rotunda, Free
A large-scale performance installation created by the Australian sonic arts company Supercritical Mass, with over 100 brass players.

11.30 – 17.00 The Commentators, Discovery Pavilion, Free
Brought to you by theatrical provocateurs and internationally renowned performance company Stan’s Cafe, The Commentators will be in residence to carefully document everything they see, from the vital, to the peculiar, or the mundane.

14.00 – 17.00 Vegetable Quest Workshop, Third Floor Terrace Garden, Free
Join artist duo Juneau Projects to make your own vegetable characters

Juneau Projects invite you on a Vegetable Quest

Wednesday 4 September

19.00 Malorie Blackman, Studio Theatre, £5 www.birmingham-box.co.uk
Author talk by the Children’s Laureate

Leftfoot present soul singer Omar

Friday 6 September

20.00 Leftfoot presents Omar, Studio Theatre, £15 www.birmingham-box.co.uk
A British soul singer, songwriter and musician, his work is often compared to Stevie Wonder’s work of the 1970’s, he is described by some as the father of British neo soul.

Laura Kate Chapman’s illustrations can be found in the Children’s library

Saturday 7 September

14.00 Laura Kate Chapman workshop, Middle Earth, Free
Join artist Laura Kate Chapman whose work takes inspiration historic Parker Collection of Children’s Books and Games, celebrating the tradition of hand drawn artistic methods

Bring red food for the first of our public picnics

Sunday 8 September

12.00-16.00 Harvesting Stories, Free
Coinciding with ‘4 Squares Weekender’, we will be hosting a RED PICNIC at 1-1.30pm, and we ‘dare’ visitors to wear red, bring red food and drink and a red picnic blanket. Food-artist in residence Lizzy Bean will be making bread on the 3rd floor terrace. Small World Animation will be hosting a stop-frame animation workshop in the Children’s Library where visitors can help to create an edible alphabet.

It’s nice to see that there’s a been a bit of a buzz about the Discovery season, here’s some nice pieces of press…

Creative Review love the Discovery Pavilion

This month’s Brum Notes interview Capsule Creative Director Lisa Meyer

And Paradise Circus give a gracious salute to the Central Library

We’ll do regularly round ups here of things you can see and do at the library over the next four months. For more info see www.libraryofbirmingham.com/discoveryseason or read the brochure online