You may have heard me mention that I’ve been working on a project called The Big Picture, well it’s culminating in Brum this weekend with the unveiling of an artwork that should break the World Record for the largest photo mosaic ever.
But, the world’s largest anything takes a lot of putting together, and for weeks now volunteers have been sticking photos together on the 288 panels that will make up the final piece. There are about 113,000 photos in all and still a lot of work to do. So, if you have any free time this week everyone working on the Big Picture would love to see you at Thinktank to help build this huge artwork.
Stan’s Cafe’s “Of All the People in All the World” is to hit Birmingham from the 13th September to the 5th October. The show uses grains of rice to represent each person on earth, and they are arranged and rearranged to illustrate statistics. I’ve made it sound like a dull, but edible, PowerPoint graphing solution. But it’s phenomenal:
You will be given a grain of rice. This grain is you. Inside lots of people are waiting for you, billions of them, each represented by a grain of rice. 112 tonnes of rice – 6.7 billion grains – one for everyone on the planet.
As you explore the extraordinary landscape of rice hills and mountains stretching out in front of you, you discover every pile represents a different population and that together these piles tell hundreds of stories, stories of the world’s people and politics, history and current affairs.
Light Night, is being held as part of this year’s ArtsFest (which is fast approaching —12th to the 14th of September). While I struggle to see anything particularity arty about “architectural lighting of iconic city centre buildings and iconic landmarks”, it promises to be an interesting evening - especially if they project the painting from the art gallery of penguins onto the Town Hall as they seem to be suggesting: (that’s this one).
International art facilitator Donald Savage is a genius, if you didn’t already know a quick Google will soon fill you in. The US art producer and curator is bringing his hand-picked group of individual international invisible artists to Birmingham from the 9th to the 21st of August in Chamberlain Square.
Highlights include:
The gourmet Victorian garden – George Macdonald (UK) — “MacDonald’s street art is rather curious as he often paints small discrete symbols in the middle of the night.”
Affordable luxury – Atsuko Haru (JAPAN)— “I am pleased to have managed to invite him to perform Affordable Luxury here in Birmingham. He has a habit of using rather subtle, yet distinctive hand luggage as part of his disguise.”
To top it all he’s social media savvy too - Donald is blogging the inspiration and perspiration behind the creation. He’ll explain how he does what he does, not that we can hope to compete:
“I have self invested my own knowledgeable energies, to ensure that this exhibition effects the city of Birmingham – as a portal into psychic significance. That is all I am prepared to say at this time.”
Paul seems dismissive of the known facts about the statue namely:
“1) That it was given to the city on 2nd March 1993 by the Trustee Savings Bank which had, at the time, its HQ in the city.
2) That it was cast at Bradley and Fosters Castings (now Firth Rixson Castings) in Willenhall.
3) That at the time of its installation it was ‘controversial’ but when TSB moved from the city there was strong support to retain it.”
The third could probably do with some thinking around, controversy being mainly a media invention most of the time, but the first couple are not only verifiable but probably uncontested…
It would be a pity to think that there were those in Brum that were against the rusting, leaning, dude when he was installed.
The old statue of King Kong that people in Birmingham periodically decide they miss is still towering over markets the length and breadth of the country. allybeag on Flickr has found him in Penrith.
She’s even done the research that I’m too hungover to attempt:
“He was designed by one Nicholas Munro in 1972, and made his first public appearance at the Manzoni Gardens near Birmingham’s Bull Ring Shopping Centre, where he stood for about 6 months before being sold to a local car dealer by the name of Carl Racey. Mr Racey changed the name of his business to King Kong Motors and displayed the statue at his premises at the Camp Hill Flyover.
Not long after this, however, Mr Racey sold the statue to Spook Erection, a company that organises various street markets, and in particular, the infamous and sadly-missed Ingliston Market just outside Edinburgh. Here he stood for maybe 30 years, providing a useful focal point for lost children, until the market closed down, leaving many of his fans wondering what had happened to him: there were even suggestions that he’d been melted down!
I was delighted to find him gracing our local market at Penrith, where I hope he’ll develop a new army of fans as loyal as his previous ones. Long live Kong!”
Elizabeth Ingram is a jewellery designer of no mean talent and — despite living in Scotland —she’s designed rings based on one of Brum’s most potent forces. She says: “I have just designed some jewellery based on Spaghetti Junction, which seems to confuse people no end as they seem to think I should be taking design inspiration from rare orchids or Picasso or something.”
“I used to travel over the Spaghetti Junction every day, and there is a beauty and chaos apparent even in its smooth concrete functionality, I wanted the attractive side of this criss-crossing mass to be there, but I wanted the dark side to lurk in the bushes, as surely we all do”
No word on the blog about whether this is the sort of thing I can afford to buy for the other half, but they’re really nice.
