Masaki Batoh at Bring To Light
Each end of year round up we’ve done in recent times seems to involve a few ‘wow, huge year’ mutters, but 2013 might have just surpassed them all. We produced a four-month opening season for Europe’s largest public library as well as our year round Capsule programme; to feature all the stuff we’re proud to have presented would be damn near impossible, but here are just some of our highlights of an epic year. Images by Katja Ogrin.
Discovery season at Library of Birmingham
Together We Breathe – opening day
The season began with a magnificent performance by over 100 brass players. Encircling the crowds on opening day in the Book Rotunda, Together We Breathe brought together horns, trumpets, trombones, cornets and tubas to create a mass of sound. The performance was created by Australian sound artists Super Critical Mass and the project was documented by the BBC for the Culture Show.
Pavilion Photography is by Gareth Gardner
The Pavilion and creative residencies
Studio Myerscough created a structure to act as a billboard for the entire Discovery Programme. Situated in the Library foyer, The Pavilion housed a rolling programme of creative residencies. A neon crown of signs uses words that originated from discussions and workshops with the Birmingham 2022 group. Residencies included Craftspace inviting stories of migration, the stunning Library of Lost Books, Stan’s Café’s Commentators and The Outcrowd Collective’s delving in the House of Beorma Archive.
Lucy McLauchlan’s piece spans the Book Rotunda
Discovery Trail
Capsule curated a trail of art works to lead visitors around the library. Laura Kate Chapman’s illustrations were inspired by the Parker Collection of Children’s Books and Games, Matt Watkins created an animation piece inspired by the world’s most expensive book and Lucy Lucy McLauchlan’s site specific work in the Book Rotunda gave some remembrance to John Madin’s library.
Discover New Music
A series of live music performances showcased some of the most exciting music around. Rhys Chatham and Charlemagne Palestine performed a UK exclusive collaboration, with added cuddly toys and audience debate and Portishead’s Adrian Utley headed a large-scale guitar orchestra. Rise of Birmingham saw some of Capsule favourite bands from the region perform in the library, including Victories at Sea and Free School.
Tucking into dessert at Down the Rabbit Hole
Other highlights included the literary inspired dining experience Down the Rabbit Hole, presented by Companis, and Volume: Birmingham’s Art, Book & Print fair with a keynote from Bill Drummond. We’re really proud of the Birmingham 2022 project, where a group of young people worked with us on Discovery season brochure, and were given a platform to ponder the shape of culture in ten years.
University of Birmingham artist residency
We embarked upon a new partnership with the University of Birmingham, supporting an artist to make new work in response to the university’s varied collections. Sound artist Sarah Farmer spent a number of months researching at the Lapworth Museum of Geology and the Winterbourne botanical collection and created a number of sound based works, as well as screenprints, in response to her time there. It was very exciting to introduce an artist to this collection, there’s a wealth of stuff to draw inspiration from and we look forward to doing more work with the university in the future.
Richard Dawson performed a Kids Gig
Bring To Light
Our mini Supersonic saw us invading the library with new music, from Masaki Batoh’s brain pulse noise, Robedoor’s bass heavy drone and the filthy noise rock of Evil Blizzard, we didn’t hold back. We kicked it all off at the Rainbow from a messy Friday night with Sleaford Mods (video), Dinos Chapman and the fabulous Shangaan Electro who also performed a free show in the library amphitheatre. Other highlights included Sarah Angliss and her theramin laden story telling, an info show around pioneer Delia Derbyshire and a Kids Gig performance from Capsule favourite Richard Dawson.
Shellac at the Rainbow Warehouse
Live shows
Our first live show of the year was such a standout, Barn Owl, Grumbling Fur and Ex Easter Island at the stunning St Paul’s church. Other highlights of the year have included Nazoranai (Stephen O’Malley, Keiji Haino, Oren Ambarchi) and Nicholas Bullen at the CBSO Centre and a night with Mississippi records exploring the phenomenal Alan Lomax archive with Vivid Projects. And let’s not forget that the mighty Shellac were back in Birmingham last month, thanks to all who came and made it such a fun show, the band said you were a particularly lovely crowd!
Thanks to all who have come along, watch this space for news of next year’s programme.
Active and Passive Love of Books
This blogpost was written by Cheryl Jones of Grand Union, they present Copy Rights panel discussion on Saturday 7th December at Library of Birmingham, part of Volume.
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This panel brings together artists Eva Weinmayr and Andrea Francke, creators of the Piracy Project, with artist and researcher Cornelia Sollfrank, to discuss the legal frameworks that we engage with when dealing with each others’ work.
Artists, writers and publishers are asking ‘What are the different ideologies behind these systems and what are their implications?’
The speakers will explore the political and social implications of cultural piracy through examples from The Piracy Project collection.
Andrea Francke and Eva Weinmayr jointly run The Piracy Project as part of AND Publishing’s research programme.
The Piracy Project is an international publishing and exhibition project exploring the philosophical, legal and practical implications of book piracy and creative modes of reproduction. Through research and an international call for submissions, The Piracy Project has gathered a collection of more than 150 modified, appropriated and copied books from all over the world.
The collection, which is catalogued online at www.andpublishing.org, is the starting point for talks and work groups around the concept of originality, notions authorship and the politics of copyright.
The Piracy Project is not about stealing or forgery. It is about creating a platform to innovatively explore the spectrum of copying, re-editing, translating, paraphrasing, imitating, re-organising and manipulating of existing works. Here creativity and originality sit not in the borrowed material itself, but in the way it is handled.
Cornelia Sollfrank, Ph.D., is an artist and researcher working at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design in Dundee, Scotland. Since the mid 1990s her main interest lies in the exploration of the challenges art has to face under digital networked conditions. Her experiments with the basic principles of aesthetic modernism implied conflicts with its institutional and legal framework.
Sollfrank is currently undertaking an artistic research project into copyright-critical practice titled Giving What You Don’t Have. She has filmed interviews with individuals Kenneth Goldsmith, Marcell Mars, Sean Dockray and Dmitry Kleiner, discussing their projects and ideas on peer-to-peer production and distribution as art practice. It includes the projects www.ubu.com or www.aaaaarg.org, which combine social, technical and aesthetic innovation; they promote open access to information and knowledge and make creative contributions to the advancement and the reinvention of the idea of the commons. You can see these video interviews at www.postmedialab.org/GWYDH
AND Publishing’s Piracy Collection will be on display at Grand Union from 7 December to 9 February. More details.
Saturday 7th December, 11am.
Grand Union presents Copy Rights
Library of Birmingham
Free, booking via www.birmingham-box.co.uk
Alex Brady’s comics will be on sale
On Friday 6th and Saturday 7th December, Volume: Birmingham’s Art, Book and Print Fair will be open to the public at Library of Birmingham. This selling fair will feature artist books, limited edition prints, rare books, zines and ephemera from a diverse range of publishers, distributors, artists, illustrators and bookmakers.
The fair will be situated in the Studio Theatre of the library, Friday 11-5 and Saturday 10-5.
Read more about the Volume activity taking place at Library of Birmingham, including workshops, performances and panel discussions and see the list of stallholders below.
Adam Bolton – Having painted thousands of square feet of murals at attractions such as Blackpool Zoo he has recently turned his attentions towards illustration.
Afterschool Club – comprised of four friends, proud of their individuality but with a common love for illustration as a means to learn about and comment on the world around them.
Alex Brady – printmaker, illustrator and comic maker. “Former Beano Club member and winner of the Ladybird comic competition 1994.”
Andrew Law – Studied at Wimbledon School of Art and Liverpool Polytechnic. I live and work in South Wast London.
BIAD Illustration students – Students from the Illustration subject area of the School of Visual Communication, Birmingham Institute of Art & Design, Birmingham City University, present an abundance of personal side projects produced alongside course-work.
Belly Kids – releasing books, prints, tapes and all sorts of odd accessories. We love collaborating with positive people and working on exhibitions and shows!
Birmingham Printmakers– Set up in 1982, we have regular workshops in all types of printmaking and take part in exhibitions throughout the country and abroad.
The Cassowary Press – a niche publishing house based in California. “The world’s most dangerous books”
Impact Press – part of the Centre for Fine Print Research at UWE, Bristol, specialising in artists’ books. We publish reference materials on the book arts, organise exhibitions and events, workshops and courses on artists’ books.
Inspired Comics – a diverse range of styles and stories, from the gritty and dark to the downright adorable. Inspired currently has eleven members, with a combined age of over 210 years.
Dan Berry – Illustrator, designer, cartoonist and lecturer based somewhere around the middle of the UK. The act of drawing pleases him. He travels a lot giving lectures and workshops on comics all over the place.
Dent-De-Leone – simply the misheard, misspelt, misunderstood flower know as the dandelion, or pissenlit in French. You can eat it in a salad. In this instance it is a publishing company based in London making books and other objects with artists, designers and dead people.
Dewi Lewis Publishing – Showcasing accessible but challenging contemporary photography. The company has a worldwide distribution network and is recognised as one of the leading photographic publishers in the world
Different Skies – In the face of cynicism, Different Skies champions sincerity and rejects the crude separation of form and content.
Elizabeth Willow – Elizabeth’s books are old-fashioned and new-fangled, limited editions and unique books; and made using various materials and techniques including collage, handwriting and printing, increasingly letterpress.
Ephemera Society– Established in 1975, the Society is today internationally recognised as the authority in the field of ephemera.
Essence Press – primarily publishes works by Julie Johnstone. Her works and installations concern perception, distillation, and contemplative experience.
Exitstencil – Where Alice’s ‘curiouser and curiouser’ blends with Sartre’s ‘useless passion’ into a heady mix of image, word and action. Books, Prints, CDs.
ESP (Extra Special People) – Presenting a range of zines, publications and prints that have been designed, written and printed by its members. ESP is Eastside Projects’ associate members scheme. It supports a membership of artists, designers, curators and art-writers.
Flarestack Press – Publishing grass-roots poetry pamphlets since 1995. Strong poetry collections in a no-frills format with bags of style.
Gemma Lacey – My work is concerned with the body and its environment. I primarily work with drawing, book forms and printing processes including etching, relief and screen.
HG Makes – Hazel Grainger’s practice has a focus on reconfiguring collected ephemera, and exploring the materiality of objects.
Ikon book shop – a Contemporary Art Gallery. We have created over 140 publications over the last 10 years for both up and coming artists to retrospectives of major artists of our time.
Inpress – Committed to delivering hidden gems from the world of fiction, poetry and non-fiction to book lovers everywhere.
Jane McGuiness – Scottish illustrator who enjoys making books by hand, drawing in charcoal, painting and screenprinting.
Karen Joyce – Most of my work derives in one way or another from landscape. I investigate ideas that snag my interest through printmaking and bookarts.
Karoline Rerrie – Karoline is an illustrator who creates images by hand using drawing, painting and screen printing. She sees her work as a craft and strives to maintain a handmade element which is what initially lead her to explore printmaking.
Katie Green – I’m an
feel… So tinidazole over the counter Great makeup purchased http://pyramidautomation.com/fadr/inhouse-pharmacy-biz.html clear that Personally.
author & illustrator, and this year my first two published books have been released: Lighter Than My Shadow published by Jonathan Cape and The Crystal Mirror published by Vala.
KLANK – Collaborative work that addresses issues of sustainability and environmental concerns are addressed through the use of recycled and found materials and a a range of traditional & contemporary print processes,
Krystyna Bacynski – Illustrator, comic book artist and designer of Yorkshire tongue and Ukrainian blood. I specialise in illustration, comics, typography, print and design.
Lizz Lunney – Comic illustrator from Birmingham and founder of the Birmingham Zine Festival.
Mark Pawson – self-published books that fit somewhere along the spectrum between artists books and zines, these are presented alongside print curiosities such as badges and cards most of which are handmade/handprinted in his living room.
Milque & Muhle – provides adventurous, underground vinyl and cassette, you will also find music fanzines, comics, presses and occasional art prints
Nine Arches Press – Founded in 2008, emerging from an awareness of the literary landscape and a desire to provide a platform for new and emerging poets.
Old Bear Press – Formed by a group of three artists,Kathryn Poole, Deborah Neely, and Heather Chou, based in the North West of England who share a common passion for fine art printmaking and bookbinding.
Pet Galerie Press – Angie Butler works predominantly in artists’ books, often using letterpress as a method of production, publishing under the press name, Pet Galerie Press.
Phillippa Rice – Philippia experiments beyond the bounds of paper limitation, using different materials as means to storytelling
Pink Parrot Press – An exclusive range of illustrated books, artist’s books and greetings cards.
R A Yardley Books – Specialising in out of print books and exhibition catalogues on art, artists, design, applied arts, collecting and architecture.
Sonda Editores – Richard Schofield started Sonda Editores as a means to realise projects that would exist only within the book form, but via accesible mass-print media rather than artisan production.
Roger J Knowles – Professional historian & archivist specialising in manuscript and printed historical documents as well as rare books and early newspapers.
Ryan Taylor – an illustrator from Wolverhampton working in the field of independent comics. He has contributed to numerous titles and anthologies over the years but is best known for his own on-going horror series ‘The Grinning Mask’.
Stephanie Turnbull – Documentation, discovery, collection, interaction and collaboration have become key elements within Stephanie’s work, inspired by her experiences and memories of travelling.
Stephen Fowler – An illustrator and printmaker based in London. He runs printmaking and bookbinding workshops and teaches drawing. check out his Rollerprinting workshop throughout the day on Sat 7th.
Sidney Nolan Trust – Supporting a group of book artists who work and exhibit The Rodd, a set of medieval buildings and 250 acres of farmland in the Border Marches.
Thomas Tomassaka – I specialise in bespoke books, combining traditional techniques such as collage, photography and drawing with digital processes.
Timothy Winchester – My name is Timothy and I love drawing… I love drawing dinosaurs, wizards and monsters. I can’t draw hands though. I hope that isn’t too much of a problem for you.
I make a web and print comic called People I Know.
Tombstone Press – A radical publishing house dedicated to exploring themes around architecture and committed to the physicality of print.
Werkplaats Typographie – Part of the ArtEZ Institute of the Arts, Werkplaats Typographie is a two-year graphic design masters programme founded in 1998 by Karel Martens and Wigger Bierma based in Arnhem, the Netherlands.
WhnicPRESS
WhnicPRESS – An imprint formed by an international collective of book artists who were brought together during postgraduate studies in London and are now scattered across the globe.
X Marks the Bökship – ‘Like a bookshop but not.’ A project space for independent publishers, specialising in publishing works and projects by artists and designers.
And what better tribute to the Pavilion than this? 2arttoyguys continue to bowl us over with their creativity and craft, they’ve created a miniature model of the Studio Myerscough designed Pavilion, and it looks amazing.
Enormous thanks to all the artists and programme partners who contributed to the whole season and to Lorna and Gush who took such good care of the Pavilion.
