Grand Union

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Apexa Patel review of Los Angeles Plays Itself

In collaboration with Self Service, Birmingham, thisistomorrow has been running a pilot writers mentoring scheme. Today they have published the first text from the programme by Apexa Patel, an examination of the film Los Angeles Plays Itself.

Outpost Summer Fayre

Grand Union and Eastside Projects will be off to Norwich next week to feature in Outpost’s Summer Fayre. Fancy joining us on a trip out of Brum? On Saturday 24th June will host a seminar on Artists, Spaces and Survival, followed by a closing party with DJs.

The Event Fundraiser: Silent Auction

We would like to invite you to The Event’s Silent Auction evening which will be held in The Waterside Room at The Bond Company on Fazeley Street next week on the 24 June from 7pm.

The Birmingham Contemporary Art Forum will be hosting the silent auction of over forty artworks as a fundraiser for The Event’s third bi-annual visual art festival due to be held in Birmingham, 21 – 30 October this year.

Artists who have previously worked with the groups in the festival have donated works ranging from painting to photography, from sculpture to vinyl recording.

It’s a great chance to purchase artwork and support a good cause – the proceeds go towards this years festival in Birmingham and also 20% of the monies go to the Red Cross for the Japan Tsunami Appeal.

The artworks are available for viewing on Flickr, to place your bid online please email Alli Beddoes: alli@the-event.org

http://www.flickr.com/photos/the-event/sets/72157626928791744/with/5817614935/

The works will also be available for viewing at The Waterside Room, The Bond Company, 180 – 182 Fazeley Street, Digbeth on the final evening, which will also include music, a raffle and live DJ sets.

The bidding will close at 9pm on the 24 June 2011.

Artist Talk: David Blandy, 6.30pm Tuesday 7 June 2011 at Grand Union

Grand Union welcomes artist David Blandy to talk about his video work Child Of The Atom, with his grandmother, Anne Piper, a novelist, playwright and anti-nuclear weapons activist.

‘There is a familial myth that my late Grandfather would not have survived being a Japanese Prisoner of War had the atomic bombing of Hiroshima not occurred. So it could be argued that I owe my existence to one of the most terrifying events of human history and the death of 110,000 people.’ David Blandy

Child of the Atom features in Amen Brother, curated by Tim Dixon and featuring work by David Blandy, David Raymond Conroy, Steven Dickie, Sara Mackillop, Rachel Reupke, Tom Smith and Jack Strange.

Free event, all welcome.

AMEN BROTHER opening at Grand Union Fri 27 May

Amen Brother from Tom Smith on Vimeo

Grand Union is proud to present Amen Brother
An exhibition curated by Tim Dixon, featuring work by David Blandy, David Raymond Conroy, Steven Dickie, Sara Mackillop, Rachel Reupke, Tom Smith and Jack Strange.

Opening night 6.30-10pm Friday 27 May 2011- All Welcome

Featuring performances by Steve Dickie with Stuart Bannister: The Mean and a Bit More and More than the Average Number of Ears; a collective performance using the audience and their mobile phones.

Exhibition continues 12-5pm, Thursday – Saturday, 28 May – 30 July 2011

Interrogating themes of appropriation, mediation and sampling within contemporary art practice, the exhibition takes its title from a piece of music recorded by soul band, The Winstons in 1969. The 5-second, 4-bar drum breakdown in the middle of the track has become arguably the most sampled piece of music of all time.

Drawing a parallel to these processes and extrapolating from the ideas set in motion by these practices, this exhibition seeks to identify and examine a variety of sample-based artistic strategies; strategies consisting of re-presenting familiar forms, arranging myriad objects and images into new configurations, inserting existing material into original new narratives and remaking elements from found sources, enabling the artists to focus our attention onto on the cultural ephemera that they find around them.

Accompanying this exhibition will be a specially commissioned text addressing Jacques Derrida’s ideas on communication, repetition and iteration by Peter Dennis, a PhD student in Philosophy at the University of Reading.

Events/Talks/Performances:

Tuesday 7 June 6.30-8pm at Grand Union
David Blandy introduces a talk about his video work Child Of The Atom, with his grandmother, Anne Piper, a novelist, playwright and anti-nuclear weapons activist.

Thursday 16 June 6.30-8pm at Eastside Projects


A Talk (The one that begins with Bruce Springsteen).
David Raymond Conroy presents a talk about empathy and sincerity. Guiding us through a series of clips found on YouTube; ranging from recordings of live music performances, to stand-up comedy, to Hollywood cinema, the artist discusses the highly personal relationships he has built with these short videos and how they have come to be points of influence and inspiration.

Still from Amen Brother 2011 by Tom Smith

SEARCH ENGINE | Grand Union | 21 March to 30 April 2011

SEARCH ENGINE | 21 March to 30 April 2011
1 cycle of open-residencies and workshops, 3 artists groups, 1 place of arrival and departure, 3 ongoing research projects and works.
A 6-week programme of new research, contexts of collaboration, creation and distribution.





For SEARCH ENGINE Grand Union has invited three artists groups – Manu Luksch & Mukul Patel, American Mountains, GOTO10 – to work in the project space for two weeks each; taking as their departure point the investigation of the relationship between history and technology, and the way it connects to Grand Union’s locale, Digbeth (Birmingham).

21 March – 2 April
MANU LUKSCH & MUKUL PATEL, Kayak Libre [[free thinking, free transport]]
Thursday 24 March, 6-9 pm: Opening
Artists’ talk at Grand Union, 6.30 pm
Screening of shorts by Manu Luksch at VIVID, 9 pm

Thursday 24 Mar – Sunday 27 March:
Water Taxi available to book from 19 March.

Saturday 2 April, 12-2 pm: Final open workshop

2 April – 16 April
AMERICAN MOUNTAINS : Greenway
Friday 8 April, 12-8 pm: Not Romania day
Event 6-8 pm

Saturday 9 April, 12-8 pm: Greenway day
Event 6-8 pm

Friday 15 April, 12-8 pm: We Fucked This Up day
Event 6-8 pm

Saturday 16 April, 12-11 pm: Final workshop and Launch event

16 April – 30 April
GOTO10, /!POP!: points of presence/

Saturday 30 April: Final open workshop

Friday 13 May 2011, 12-8pm
Grand Union presents an exhibition of material produced throughout Search Engines.
Artists’ Talk
At 6pm the SEARCH ENGINE artists discuss their experiences on the residency programme with the project curator.

chris+keir vs Melville Mitchell: Perform – Or Else

chris+keir vs Melville Mitchell: Perform – Or Else
A Night of Performance Challenges

Curated by Jimmy Lindqvist and Maria de Regla Garcia-Bernal

Doors open 7.30pm, performance starts 8pm

http://www.chrisandkeir.com
http://www.melvillemitchell.co.uk

This is the last event of Live Acts and Sound: February at Grand Union

Also check out events happening earlier in the evening at Vivid and Eastside Projects

My Imaginary Friend: ReduX

Come to Grand Union this Friday for a special performance by My Imaginary Friend, a Birmingham based band of artists and musicians.

Free admission, doors open at 7.30pm, performance starts at 8pm.

Vivid are screening All Tomorrow’s Parties at 6pm , and the Post Industrial Revolution residencies culminate in an exhibition opening at The Lombard Method, so worth making a trip out!

Graham Ball at Grand Union

The series of Live Acts and Sound continues at Grand Union this week end with Graham Ball, a collaboration between Cara Tolmie and Paul Abbott.

Episode 2 takes place on Saturday 7-9pm, followed by Episode 1 on Sunday afternoon 2-4pm.

Hope to see you there…

For more info see http://www.graham-ball.net and www.grand-union.org.uk

Live Acts and Sound at Grand Union

As part of our February live acts programme we have Tom Marshman performing Passion of the Pole this Friday  - doors open 7.30pm for the performance starting at 8pm.

Get a Grip.
In this controversial performance,  Tom Marshman confronts taboos of  mental disorders
and  religion.  Clinging to a dancing pole,  a sentimental character exposes  itself to you,
with layers of issues, a  crude honesty, and a wincing  humour.  The pole becomes a
crucifix: a site for Tom to expose  and execute his anxieties.