Alan Clawley reviews Stuart Whipps's new exhibition at the Ikon gallery.
"On Sunday morning I attended the 4am Project / Project Brutal event held at Birmingham’s Central Library. With the building of Birmingham’s new library underway and with the chance to gain access outside of the normal opening times I felt this opportunity was not to be missed. Despite 4am Project being a photographic project I agreed in advance that I would mainly be recording the sounds within the library. This aspect fascinated me on two levels. Firstly, a library is meant to be a place of silence, “Shhhhh, people are trying to read”, but what we perceive as silence is just our ability to block out some sounds and not others. I wanted to focus in on these sounds as well as discovering what other sounds I might find in parts of the building one wouldn’t normally gain access to. Secondly, with the proposed demolition of the existing library, I considered this to be an opportunity to record the dying breathes of the building."
This April Birmingham photographers will have a unique opportunity to get brutal at Birmingham’s Central Library! The 4am Project has teamed up with Project Brutal and Birmingham Central Library is allowing photographers not only entry into the library, but also exclusive access to some truly magical and breathtaking areas not seen by the public! With the brutalist library currently on course for demolition this years 4am Project will provide a final chance for people to capture and celebrate this truly iconic building. Tickets for the 4am Project Tour will be made available via eventbrite on Thursday 24th at 11am. Spaces are limited to 50, and will be allocated on a first served basis.
Do you want to get involved with celebrating and documenting the wonderful Central Library building? You do? Good here's the place:
Seren Worton did his dissertation on Central Library, it's long but worth a read
Alan Clawley loves Central Library, I do too. He sees the planning process of the "new" library as tied up with the saving of the old building, I'm not sure: but this makes interesting reading.
Nice history of the Library and asks of the Government: "Will it support great architecture, or a group of powerful officers and councillors, lobbying hard, and bent on destroying it?".
So just what is it about the Birmingham Central Library that generates such loathing (and almost as as much passionate support)?
“While the Culture Department dithers on its decision on whether or not to list Birmingham Central Library, campaigner Alan Clawley is cheekily pursuing all the correspondence between the local authority and the Minister in the last year. Good for him. In the meantime, he re-assesses the arguments for demolition.”
