Getting Craftily Radical

Radical Craft is an exhibition currently on tour throughout the UK, today marking its last day at Oriel Davies in Wales. (A lovely gallery, free to visit, worth a look if you're ever in that area.) It's off next to Beecroft Gallery in Southend opening 10th September 2016. After that it will be making the rounds to: Scunthorpe, Carlisle, West Kilbride, Aberystwyth and Dorset. (All venues free!)

The display is a strong one showing a diverse range of work. More established artists such as Judith Scott, contextualise the theme of this exhibition while artists such as Joanna Simpson and her Good Luck Gum Nut Folk (as seen above) showcase the practice of today's contemporary makers.

Definitely worth a visit, for more info on the tour and dates, look no further than here on Craftspace's website. (One of the fantastic organisations behind this exhibition. You should definitely keep an eye on what they do.)

If I could, I'd dance instead of walk.

A quick mention of something I definitely should have typed about before: the International Dance Festival Birmingham! It finishes tomorrow so there still might be something you can catch a look at. The city has been taken over by dance. 

I had the fortune of seeing 'In a Landscape'. Here is the brief summary as written on the festival's website:

Featuring Shun Ito, Kei Miyata & Ex Easter Island Head.

Inspired by the writings of Japanese poet Kenji Miyazawa, In a Landscape blends the spiritual and the scientific in a pulsating and atmospheric production which allows audiences to wonder at the invisible rules of nature and the universe.  An unmissable treat for fans of electronic music, art, Japanese Zen and genre defying performance. 

This extraordinary kinetic landscape will be created in the Municipal Bank, directed and choreographed by Kei Miyata (also performing in the piece), in collaboration with Shun Ito and EEIH, and an ensemble of local people.

I'm not normally a person who would go and see dance. But this was something I really enjoyed. The best way for me to describe it is slow. It was very slow but in the best possible way. It was very rhythmic and meditative. Reminded me that sometimes it's best to take your time. This performance was a beautiful example of a successful collaboration. The artist, the dancers and the musicians.

This was a great example of the types of performances programmed during the International Dance Festival. So if you didn't catch anything this year, definitely keep your eye out for when the next one springs up in Birmingham.

Flatpack Film Festival 2016

We interrupt this Glasgow slurry of posts to give you an update about goings on in the middle of the country: Birmingham.

Flatpack is a film festival (and so much more) that is currently taking place in the city until 24th April. Many events are free and some are paid for. They have a variety of things programmed for this annual festival, all of which can be found here.

Today, I saw a free screening in Birmingham's Gas Hall in the west of the city. Aptly named 'Pic 'n' Mix' the screening played a range of international shorts that have been played across the film circuit.

Five shorts were shown in total. Each very different from the next. The first was perhaps my favourite. It was a small snippet of an exchange between three brothers trying to recreate a childhood photograph of them in the bathtub for their mother's birthday. Only they are full grown adults now and argue as siblings do. It was a very true, realistic and funny story of family. I loved the premise, the actors were brilliant and the writing completely natural. They cleverly kept it very simple and in doing so allowed the message to carry through. Perhaps because it was so relatable is why I was so drawn to it. Anyway, here are the details of the film: The Bathtub, Director: Tim Ellrich (Germany/Austria 2015 – 13 mins)

The others were all really enjoyable (bar the second one which was about farming which I didn't connect to - found it boring). One told the story of a widower wanting to buy the plot next to his wife's grave but things going array (eye). The other, an animation following one creature's obsession with a red coat. And a family's small talk captured at key points throughout a year.

If you want to catch the second half of this showing (focusing on home grown talent instead of abroad) you can do so on Friday (tomorrow) at: BM&AG - Gas Hall at 5.30pm until 6.30pm

Definitely check out what is going on and go go go to something if you can.