Who Are Eastside

We are..
7 Inch Cinema
Since first flickering into life as a regular short film event at The Rainbow pub in 2003 7 Inch Cinema have roved around the world, bringing small but perfectly-formed visual nuggets to many arty festivals including Aurora, Green Man, Rotterdam, Supersonic and even an inflatable decontamination tent at Shambala festival.

In 2006 the organisation launched the impressively larger Flatpack Festival, now extended to a six-day event that takes their “mixtape programming” to spaces all over Birmingham. Diverse Flatpack venues include the UK’s oldest cinema The Electric, Birmingham Town Hall, IMAX at Millenium Point, St Martin’s Church and various bars and warehouses around Digbeth. Flatpack has gone from strength to strength, receiving warm praise from its Google-eyed audience and plaudits from local and national press.

Birmingham Jazz
This group of jazz-niks are committed to bringing energetic drum fills and mind blowing sax solos to all parts of the city. Birmingham Jazz pleases more than the purists with an interesting three pronged approach: The Concert Series, The Club Series and Rush Hour Blues. They promote up to 100 events a year in various venues around the city. These include 30 to 35 concerts at concert halls and arts centres such as the CBSO Centre, The Adrian Boult Hall, the Recital Hall at Birmingham Conservatoire and the Town Hall. Birmingham Jazz also believes strongly in presenting jazz in club venues, notably The Jam House, the Yardbird Jazz Club and The Rainbow pub. The Club Series is the best place to find music at the more interesting fringes of the jazz  spectrum. With a keen interest in spreading their infectious beats, Birmingham Jazz also has a healthy Education programme for all ages – from early years to undergraduates.

Capsule
Capsule are promoters, curators, a record label, illustrators, photographers and even bakers. Together they have brought intriguing sights and sounds (and cake) to Birmingham for the last ten years.
An interest in experimental music used to mean traveling to London or Manchester regularly but now it feels like there is so much going on in this city. It’s difficult to imagine that being the case without Capsule. Over the last decade they have given a stage to amazing non-mainstream artists with almost legendary sets from Battles, Efterklang, Fugazi, Tunng and The Rapture as well as exhibiting the artworks from Shepard Fairey and Beat 13. They also give an international push to some of the most interesting regional artists through their record label and regular nights including Modified Toy Orchestra, Einstellung and Pram. This devotion to the music created in the region can also be seen in Capsule’s Home Of Metal project, which aims to celebrate Birmingham & The Black Country as the birthplace of Heavy Metal.

Craftspace
Craftspace collaborates with artists and communities to present all forms of making. It organises nationally touring exhibitions, which highlight the exceptional work of some of the best international artists and makers. For example, the current Taking Time: Craft and the Slow Revolution exhibition curated with Helen Carnac features 19 leading makers and artists. It considers how contemporary craft shares values and philosophies of the Slow Movement, which developed as a response to increasingly fast lifestyles and unsustainable consumer culture.

The Custard Factory
The genesis of the Custard Factory is a love story. The wife of nineteenth century industrial chemist Alfred Bird was allergic to eggs: a tragic state of affairs because she loved puddings. Alfred devoted himself to making egg-free delicacies and came up with Custard Powder in 1837. Soon a favourite dessert up and down the nation, it even fed the British armed forces in the Boer, First and Second World Wars. The custard has now gone but in its place is a roly-poly pudding of small creative businesses.

Renovated almost 20 years ago, The Custard Factory became the beating heart of Birmingham’s new arts and media quarter. It is a hive of buzzing creative companies ranging from PR agencies, TV production offices and award winning design teams. In addition to this there are social enterprises, magazine companies, AV technicians, fashion agencies and new media creators. The wide variety of spaces can cater for anything from sole illustrators or self employed artists to medium sized web design companies.

Eastside Projects
Not many public galleries come with their own manual but for Eastside Projects it was standard operating procedure. Conceived by artist-curator Gavin Wade, who runs and founded the space with a collective consisting of Simon & Tom Bloor, Céline Condorelli, Ruth Claxton and James Langdon, the gallery continues to break moulds. On the first page of the manual it proudly proclaims, “Eastside Projects is an artist-run space, a public gallery for the city of Birmingham and the world.”
Incorporating, and making visible, principals of art and architecture, artists are encouraged to tailor the large warehouse space to suit their exhibitions. Ambitious installations, films, plays, sculptures and a dynamic artists associate scheme, called Extra Special People, encourage audiences to question their movement and positioning within the space. Unusually, artists often leave parts of their exhibition in place which adds to the gallery overall and creates a cumulative effect of progress. Permanent works include the Eastside Projects office – a mutated wooden shack called Pleasure Island by Heather and Ivan Morison. Other long term works have been installed by artists Matthew Harrison, Peter Fend, ISAN, Mark Titchner, Lawrence Weiner, Barbara Holub, Scott Myles, Susan Collis and Liam Gillick.

Grand Union
Grand Union is an artist-led project bringing together nine established and emerging artists: Helen Brown, Mark Essen, David Miller, Harminder Singh Judge, Juneau Projects, Joanna Spencer, Matt Westbrook and Stuart Whipps; designer James Langdon, and curators Cheryl Jones and Alexandra’ Lockett.

This March, Grand Union opens its doors to the general public to showcase its attractive yet affordable workspaces and start its dynamic exhibition and events programme. If one grand theme unites this diverse bunch it would be a healthy dose of DIY attitude. The artists and curators will also be forging links with like-minded independent arts organisations worldwide.

One of the first steps towards making this intellectual hook-up at the space was an artists’ book fair last November which included books and ‘zines from the likes of Via Vaudeville, Milk Two Sugars, Serena Korda, BAZ, Gallery Of Owls, and Ellie Harrison. To celebrate this pre-launch the group also produced their own publication, which can still be picked up from the space.

Grand Union’s first exhibition will coincide with Flatpack Festival where you will also be invited to visit their working studios and meet the artists and curators involved with the project. Over the next two years Grand Union will hold many inspiring exhibitions and events.

Ikon Eastside
Although Ikon’s contemporary art gallery is firmly located within a distinctive redbrick building on Brindley Place, the organisation succumbed to the lure of Eastside’s industrial charms in 2005. Since then it has run an ambitious programme of exhibitions, off-site projects, artists’ residencies, talks and events in the area.
Ikon was one of the first organisations to make its presence known in the area, which spearheaded the artistic resurgence in Eastside. Moving between disused industrial buildings and off-site locations, in 2008 Ikon Eastside moved to its present Fazeley Street location, an ideal space for showing large scale sculptural and film/video installations.

Project Pigeon
Tucked away in Rea Gardens on Floodgate Street is a pigeon loft with a difference.  Project Pigeon is an art and education project run by Alexandra Lockett and Ian England who have become ‘pigeon fancying’ artists. In August 2009 Project Pigeon curated the exhibition Pictorial. Twelve pigeons flew from various locations across the country, carrying artworks from artists’ studios, including work by Lisa Chung, Justin Carter, Tom Dale, Ole Hagan, Lindsay Seers and Simon Woolham. At the opening the audience watched as the pigeons arrived and moments after they were “called in” the artwork was installed in the loft.

But the project is more than artists just playing with pigeons. Since its inauguration Alexandra Lockett and Ian England have been serious about their activities with Lockett even managing to secure a position as Assistant Auditor of the Aston and District Pigeon Flying Club. They’ve recently published a newspaper that described how to look after pigeons alongside fascinating pigeon facts and a guide to pigeon terminology. Throughout 2009 Project Pigeon ran workshops for community groups using the pigeons to teach maths, science, geography and history. A film is also being produced about pigeon fancying which will be screened in Rea Garden later this year.

Punch
Punch Records got into the groove in 1997 as a Perry Barr record store selling Black music. It soon developed into Birmingham’s leading independent supplier of vinyl and their outspoken counter staff quickly became known for having sharp ideas. Today, the record store has closed but Punch has developed into a cultural resource for the city and the UK, through its advocacy for Black music, productions, festivals and innovative live music events.
Gigs and events have included a Dub To Dubstep tour that took the Channel One Sound System on the road alongside a live band. On the flipside Punch organised a meeting of spoken word and graffiti heads in The REP theatre production Writing On The Wall. They’ve also pulled together tours and staged one-off performances for artists such as South African singer Simphiwe Dana, soul and R’n'B sensation Keith Sweat or Chicago 9 piece brass band Hypnotic Brass Ensemble.
Alongside these projects, every June Punch produce BASS an annual festival spread across the Midlands. Previous festivals included working with artists such as Baby J, Skinnyman, Bashy, Sway and DJ Sarah Love (BBC 1xtra). Last year’s Africa themed BASS featured a retrospective on the life and art of Fela Kuti; this year’s event will take a different tack with the theme of DNA.
Punch are also running or supporting events related to the anniversary throughout the year, holding art exhibitions and gigs including a Nigeria 50 supergroup featuring legendary Afrobeat drummer Tony Allen.

Rhubarb-Rhubarb
An internationally renowned West Midlands-based Development Agency for photographic artists working with traditional and new technologies. Rhubarb aims to nurture talent, inspire growth and create opportunities for future work. The regional and national programme of events and support is showcased at the Rhubarb International Review, held annually in Birmingham, which brings together photographers with international experts who can influence and advise on current market matters and share image world knowledge.

This agency also commissions work, curates, organises and manages exhibitions, championing new talent such as The Jackson Twins, alongside established names such as Brian Griffin and Antony Crossfield. Rhubarb East – Birmingham, the new company gallery, opens in March 2010, in the Rhubarb building, Heath Mill Lane, Digbeth.

The Edge
As the name suggests, this warehouse space is on the edge of the Eastside area but it also prides itself with being on the edge of the experimental and the unconventional. The Edge is an artist-led space and venue that embraces the unexpected and unseen with an emphasis on being informal. Managed and directed by four easy going artists Darryl Georgiou, Sandra Hall, Mitra Memarzia and Lee Griffiths, to date the Edge has hosted friendly exhibitions, events and socials for artists and others. An example of their proactive events programme is Happy Artist Social Club, which takes place on the last Friday of the month and is the ideal place to both network and socialise.

The Edge also houses Friction Arts who have a national and international reputation for making extraordinary art work in awkward places. Working alongside and outside the mainstream arts system, Friction Arts works with communities to let them tell their stories and translate their thoughts and feelings into contemporary artworks. Exhibitions that have taken place at The Edge include Echoes From The Edge an interactive living history exhibition that took the audience on a two-hour tour through the past, present and future of Digbeth and Highgate.

Tindal Street Press
Championed by luminary novelists Jonathan Coe and David Peace, this independent Eastside based publisher specialises in regional literary fiction. Over the last few years they’ve gained a strong national reputation with a prize listing record that is the envy of many established imprints. Since 2003, they’ve received three Man Booker nominations for Astonishing Splashes Of Colour, The Girl In The Blue Dress and the heavily garlanded What Was Lost. Other awards and nominations include British Book Awards Newcomer of the Year, Guardian First Book and the Orange Prize. Most recently Tindal Street Press won another Costa First Novel Award for Beauty by Raphael Selbourne.

Tindal Street Press aims to find in England writers of national and international significance from places other than London and the South East – where nearly all of the UK publishing industry is based. It has a reputation among readers and the publishing industry for finding and developing new literary talent, and several of its authors have gone on to international success.

Interesting books in store for this year include a novel based inside a religious cult (Chosen by Lesley Glaister), a sharp-tongued relationship drama (Indeterminate Creatures by Alan Apperley), the follow-up to the award winning The Polished Hoe (More by Austin Clarke) and the paperback issue of Heartland by Anthony Cartwright – one of last year’s success stories and ‘the World Cup novel for the Summer’ (Esquire).

The Lombard Method
The newest artist-led kid on the Eastside block, The Lombard Method is another independently run studio and project space this time operated by eight Birmingham based artists. One of The Lombard Method’s core principals is being able to chat to and work with other artists whilst developing your own art, and the main space in the building is open plan communal studios, rather than individual units, to facilitate this. The studio houses 11 artists in total and special guests are invited to take up residency in their project rooms for exhibitions and events designed around their collective desires.

The Lombard Method invited the Crowd6 collective to launch the space in November 2009 with What/Takes/Place. Their programme for the next 12 months includes a series of residencies and collaborations between artists and art groups from around the UK. Link-ups and connections include Bristol Diving School, Open/Close, and British Racing Green. Residencies and projects don’t always culminate in exhibitions, The Lombard Method are keen to hold discussion groups, talks, and events centered around early development rather than quietly revering their finished work.

VIVID
Established in 1992, VIVID has a longstanding commitment to the development of media arts in Birmingham through research, production, and commissioning programmes.

VIVID moved to Eastside in 2005, converting a former car garage into a dedicated project space designed to accommodate artist production and exhibitions. The VIVID space is used to introduce audiences to both emerging local talent and work of international significance, with a specific focus on the moving image and innovation.

Since 2005, VIVID has exhibited artists who work across the arts and media spectrum and the exhibition programme has juxtaposed new artist research and practice with key historical works. From unsung heroes of the eighties such as electronic art pioneers The Vasulkas, to local boy and Turner prize nominee Richard Billingham, the space allows artists to work in residence on site before exhibiting new work. VIVID has also introduced new audiences to seminal yet little seen works from legendary live artists, film makers and digital experimenters including Marina Abramović, Ron Athey, Stuart Brisley, Valie Export, Tehching Hsieh, Kurt Kren, George Maciunas and Yoko Ono to name just a few. Alongside the exhibitions, VIVID runs a screening programme, working with partners across the UK and internationally to bring a diverse range of rare and new works to Birmingham on a regular basis.

VRU
It’s a brave new digitally enhanced world and artists that stay analogue risk being left in the slow lane. The BCU School of Art established the Visualisation Research Unit or VRU in 2004 to develop digital technologies for creative practices. In the past five years VRU have developed software and hardware which push creative computing forwards, including work in 3D visualisation, motion capture and broadcast graphics. They’ve also used their powerful Apple Xserve computers to become involved with Creative Supercomputing. Networked computers have been used to process large files and complex datasets quickly without losing quality, and help filmmakers and artists realise their visual ideas. The Unit has been involved in finding creative solutions and visualisation tools for many different sectors including healthcare, sciences and engineering. It has also created some unlikely performances (like Jonathan Green’s Piece For Powerbook And Cello, or Carla Wright’s mix of live action and 3D animation, Pretty Unreachable.  These experiments have contributed to understanding how technology developed for the arts can extend to other areas. It is also the home of the cutting edge MA Digital Arts in Performance, whose graduates from different backgrounds have extended or enhanced their skills using technology.

Their recent move into Digbeth will give greater access for individuals and organisations working in the arts. Based at Eastside Projects in Heathmill Lane, the VRUdio is an HD video, animation and sound recording/editing facility. It is already in regular use for practice and research, and lots of artists are waiting to login and get their digital boots on.