Archive for March, 2010

Eastside Projects open this Sunday

To coincide with the final day of the Flatpack Festival (opening tonight!), Eastside Projects will be open this coming Sunday, 28 March, 12-5pm.

You can also visit Curtain Show, featuring art works in curtain format within curtain exhibition design by artists including Douglas Gordon, Tacita Dean and Grace Ndiritu, every Thursday, 12-6.30pm, and Friday to Saturday, 12-5pm, until April 17th.

East Stride

As part of Flatpack Festival and the launch of We Are Eastside, local historian Ben Waddington will be conducting walking tours of Eastside. Explore hidden gems, learn more of its industrial heritage and discover the creative explorations in this creative playground.

Saturday 27th March 12pm
Sunday 28th March 12pm
Sunday 28th March 3pm

The tour is FREE, places are limited though so book ahead by emailing admin@capsule.org.uk with ‘East Stride’ in the title.

Meet outside the Old Crown pub.

Purple Ceiling Opening 25th March 5-7pm

PURPLE CEILING
Ella Lucas

‘Purple Ceiling’ is the culmination of a two-week residency at The Lombard Method by artist Ella Lucas. Working within the parameters of ‘the cinematic’, Lucas has produced new work for The Lombard Method project spaces.

Stuart from Mogwai at Flatpack Festival

Capsule are delighted to co-host an evening with our good friend Stuart Braithwaite from MOGWAI as part of FLATPACK FESTIVAL on Sat 27th of March. We’ll be starting off with a Q & A followed by a screening of BURNING dir. Vincent Moon, a documentary of the band, filmed during their residency at the Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn.

This event starts at 20:30pm at Ikon Eastside, 183 Fazeley Street, Digbeth
Birmingham, B5 5SE  Advance Tickets can be purchased from HERE

We’ll be DJing alongside Stuart at the Plasticine Party held at VIVID following the screening – more details HERE

There are loads of amazing screenings on during the festival, highlights include Palace Of The Winds (Sublime Frequencies), Until The Light Takes Us (feat Birminghams own Black Metallers Frost) and No One Knows About Persian Cats.

Check out the Flatpack website for full programme.

About The Boy

SSION (2009)

ABOUT
THE BOY 
Text: Morgan Quaintance

In preparation for the upcoming Flatpack Festival premiere of Cody Critcheloe’s BOY, a hyper-coloured tale of self-transformation featuring leather-clad punk bands, shamanistic fireside rituals and debased celebrity worship, I caught up with myself to find out what made Critcheloe’s work so different, so appealing. 

So Morgan, thanks for taking the time out to speak to me before the screening. I know things down at Ikon are pretty hectic what with the Ron Terada install happening.

Hey, no worries. It’s my pleasure.

Great. Ok so, maybe you could tell me a bit about how you discovered Cody Critcheloe and his performance art electro outfit SSION.

I first came across SSION when I saw the band open for CSS in 2009. They were playing the Mayan in LA, a massive venue designed to look like an ancient Aztec temple. It was a theatre in the 1920s; set up to accommodate musicals, revues and the odd burlesque display. Nowadays they use it as a sort of club curio venue that people say you absolutely ‘have to see’, which you do, but it’s a pretty nightmarish affair.

Wow, what’s it like?

The exterior is all carved stone serpent heads and long, plain columns, which open out into full chieftain headdresses at the top.  Inside ancient hieroglyphs and more serpent heads kind of reinforce the feeling that you’ve walked into the scene of your own ritual sacrifice. It’s a little disconcerting.

Cool.

Anyway, as I’d come to see CSS I wasn’t expecting much from the opening act, but the stage had been decked out to look like some neon, outsider art, acid-trip. When the band rolled onstage they completely owned the place and the crowd were sort of wide-eyed and opened-mouthed at the scene. It was one of those rare times when people genuinely didn’t know what to make of what was in front of them. I mean people always talk about this or that band being ‘performance artists’ and lately that term is being bandied about in relation to people like Lady Gaga. The thing with SSION, though, was that there was a definite knowledge of a fine art practice. I could see that there was an awareness of Naim June Paik or General Idea in their onstage video and the set itself really reminded me of Robert Wilson or Assume Vivid Astro Focus or something.

Yes! I know what you mean. It’s different to Fischerspooner and the whole electroclash scene, which was really about fashion, and it’s a lot more than what Chicks on Speed are doing, which is just running around in clothes made of paper singing songs about Jeffrey Deitch or moving to Berlin.

Definitely.  The SSION world just seemed so aesthetically complete and original. After the show I got talking to one of the backing dancers who I knew from another incredible group called Gravy Train…

Wait, is that the band we saw at the legendary Riot Girl night, Potty Mouth? The group whose male backing dancer performed naked for half the set after an audience member tore his y-fronts off?

Yep.  He kind of filled me in on all things SSION, let me know about Cody Critcheloe (the man behind the band) and promised to send me a T-shirt that never came.  They had these amazing tie dye T-shirts for sale that had the SSION face on them. You know, the handlebar moustache, monobrow and blacked out nose.

So how did you become aware of his art film BOY?

I checked MySpace as soon as I got the chance and just followed the band. They were producing these really great music videos and touring around the place supporting the Gossip and others. I saw a video blog of the Gossip’s UK album launch party and somebody was on there talking about a feature length art film that Cody had in production. I checked up on it and sure enough Grand Arts (a non-profit art space in downtown Kansas City) had commissioned and were premiering it and an exhibition was planned at Peres Projects. As soon as I saw that it was already done I got in touch with Cody and we talked about giving it its UK premiere at Ikon Eastside during the Flatpack Festival.

How did the pairing with Pink Flamingos come about?

Well originally I talked to Flatpack about showing a series of art films under the title Water Babies. The idea was that before Pink Flamingos we’d show some films that were influenced by John Waters. Showcasing the heir’s to the throne that Waters left un-flushed, if you will.

Nice.

We were going to have a piece by Kalup Linzy, a piece by Ryan Trecartin, then BOY followed by Pink Flamingos.

That sounds like a lot.

Exactly. So we made the decision to cut it to two films so that the length of the screening would run to three hours (which I think is the length of Avatar). It’s also a nicer space for both films to be in as they kind of complement each other. I’m loath to say it, because everybody throws the term around these days, but they are allowed to be in a kind of dialogue with each other and the audience.

I don’t really know what that means.

Well it’ll be a discursive space.

A what? I thought it was a screening?

Well it is but it should open up certain dialogical channels that will enable the audience to erm…explore stuff.

And you’ve got Twiggy presiding over the whole event.

Yep the First Lady of Birmingham drag will be there to harangue people at the door and host a little. She’s also doing her club night that night so she can only stay till about twenty past nine, but it’s going to be great to have her. The idea is that everyone can come in and just have a good time on the night, drink a few beers, hurl abuse at the screen, and each other, and prepare to witness the filthiest scene in cinematic history.

Awesome, thanks a lot for letting us have an insight into your curatorial process and everything.

Hey no problem. Just make sure you come down to Ikon Eastside on the 25th of March. Doors open at 8pm, it should be a good one.

I’ll definitely be there.

I know you will.

Extra Special People SALON: 7 Inch Cinema

Join us as Eastside Projects tonight, Thursday 18 March, 6.30-8pm for an Extra Special People SALON with Ian Francis and Pip McKnight, founders of 7″Cinema and directors of the Flatpack film festival. They will be talking about how their projects came into existence, what has happened along the way and showing a preview of selected works from the Channel 2 programme being screened at Flatpack 2010, including Memotech (dir: Marianna Morkore), The Bellows March (dir: Eric Dyer) and the Italian collective Flatform.

http://www.flatpackfestival.org.uk/event/channel-2
http://www.7inch.org.uk/news/
http://www.flatpackfestival.org.uk/

*Please note this is an Extra Special People event only – to join ESP check the website http://eastsideprojects.org/index.php?/extra-special-people/ or get in touch esp@eastsideprojects.org

At the Edge… – What kind of Fool are you?

From Friday this week, we have a residency starting by Jonathan Kay and the Nomadic Academy of Fools.  If you know nothing about their work, check their website. It’s a little difficult to describe, it’s not theatre, it’s not performance art, it’s something else…fooling I suppose.  jonathan has been developing this work for thirty five years, based on the idea of the Fool, such as the Fool in King Lear – the Fool sees through things, the Fool speaks the truth, while all around him are lying.  It is astonishing work, there really is nothing else like it out there.  We attended workshops with Jonathan over 15 years ago and the techniques and approaches he used still influence us today – and I’ve attended several of his legendary Glastonbury performances, which will stay with me forever. I really can’t recommend this work enough  – this is the first time the Fools have appeared in Birmingham for years and it’ll probably be years before we get a chance to see them here again – so don’t…bloody…miss…it.

Here’s the dates and ting:

Shows: This Friday 19th at 8pm, ‘Know One’s Fool’ – improvised wonder  from Jonathan Kay himself
Sun 21st until Wednesday 24th inclusive at 8pm – ‘Shakespeare’s Richard II Scratch’ -  ‘a magical performance without props or set, where the cast play all the parts’
Friday 26th at 8pm – ‘Feast of Fools’ - performances by all the fools of a comedie de tragik nature’ (f**ked up cabaret?)

Workshops – Sat/Sun 20/21st March, 10am until 6pm ‘Know One’s Fool’ - discover the dangerously daring art of fooling
Sat/Sun 27/28th March 10am until 6pm ‘Know One’s Fool’ – discover the dangerously daring art of fooling again (some people are attending both workshops, recommended) – then you can go and see a nice film at Flatpack.

Sorted.

Flatpack Festival 2010

Flatpack Festival, the eclectic film festival organised by 7 inch Cinema is nearly upon us! From 23-28 March, the festival will be taking over venues across Birmingham including Eastside.  Flatpack will be taking film to an array of unexpected places, from re-scored silent cinema masterpieces to plasticine parties, cult horror to fantasy musicals.

Highlights include a screening of F.W. Murnau’s 1927 marvel Sunrise with a new score by acclaimed jazz musician Alcyona Mick at St. Martin’s Church in the Bullring. French artist Julien Maire will also be performing at Birmingham Central Library and Vivid, playing with technology to create bewitching optical illusions.

Dublin collective Synth Eastwood will have a mini-residency at the Rainbow Warehouse, building up to a warehouse event blurring the boundaries between gallery and club on Friday 26 March. Expect an eye-opening stew of graphics, installations, music and performance. Live guests include Clark (Warp), AV duo Gangpol and Mit and YouTube provocateur Hugh Cooney.

The full programme line-up and tickets are available now at www.flatpackfestival.org.uk

Ella Lucas at The Lombard Method

London based artist Ella Lucas will be joining us at The Lombard Method for a 2 week residency in which she will explore themes of the cinematic. Combining sculpture, painting, text, and moving image Lucas’s practice is bold, subversive and above all playful. The residency, beginning March 15th will culminate in a 4 day exhibition from March 25th – 28th open 12-5pm daily. Launch party Thursday 25th 5-7pm. Admission is free.

Godfathers of IDM play Birmingham

Autechre, the godfathers of IDM on Warp Records, take over the Rainbow Warehouse with stellar support from a host of excellent DJs. This will be sweaty.

Autechre – Aside stable-mates like Aphex Twin, Boards Of Canada and Squarepusher, Autechre undoubtedly belongs to the absolute top of world-class electronica.
Rob Hall – Autechre’s regular tour DJ, he is also a member of the semi-permanent Gescom collective
Russell Haswell - extreme sound/noise fetishist
+ Didjit – the show’s unknown DJ!

Friday 12th March 2010 @ The Rainbow Warehouse . Digbeth High Street
Doors 9pm Advanced Tickets: www.theticketsellers.co.uk