Digbeth First Friday June 2019

This June, get out and about, discover something new and enjoy the fantastic independent culture Digbeth has to offer! Friday 7 June 10am until late.

On offer this month:

Bene Culture: 4 by Seven Nine Signs, 6–9pm

Our next Art event of 2019 is the showcase of Birmingham Sign Writer Seven Nine Signs. Over the past few years Jim of Seven Nine Signs has hand painted some of the most iconic pieces in and around Birmingham and the rest of the UK. Sponsored by Old Blue Last Beer.

Centrala: Lucy McLauchlan ‘Unfold’ exhibition opening & ‘Hex’ – journey of 6, 6–10pm

On the ground floor – Hex. It’s the journey of 6. Dichotomy to result. The final embellishment to the paths of fine art students flourishing in the socio-political landscape we reside. Hex. It is the end for 6, So, what is our result? On the first floor – opening of the ‘UNFOLD’ exhibition by international artist Lucy McLauchlan.

Cheap Cheap: Are we ready for the Borderlunds?, 5–9pm

In the main room, it will be a combination of live and pre-recorded sonic stimulation, and freestyle painting and drawing in a dark psychedelic mutated form, with AV from previous incantations in the lobby. The key contributors will be Frome based Los Mutartis (Unwelcome Relatives, Invisible Eyes, Caustik Disko, Miasma), and Birmingham based Jonny Primate (DeadNumbers, Caustik Disko), with guests.

Eastside Projects: Death Metal Changed My Life, 6–8pm

Borrowing from the model of Desert Island Discs, gallery visitors and invited guests, will be invited to introduce a song and play it to the Digbeth First Friday audience via Spotify. Come to play a tune that changed your life. This event will be housed within the installation created by Monster Chetwynd. Want to be guaranteed a spot to share your song? Tweet @xspecialpeople before the event with your song and your story.

Grand Union: Artist Roundtable – Residencies, 5–7pm

For June’s Digbeth First Friday, MAIA are launching a series of roundtables to explore the infrastructure that supports current and future creative practice. The first session is to explore artist residency and development provision in the West Midlands, hosted at Grand Union. Where are the existing opportunities for development, learning, funding, etc? What are residencies for? How do they facilitate exchange and dialogue? Where have we seen best practice? How might we reimagine residencies? What are our utopian versions? 

MAIA are currently developing plans and designing the programme for Birmingham’s first artist-led hotel and cultural hub. Join us in mapping out the current opportunities and designing for the future.

Melting Pot: THRIVE Graphic Design Exhibition, 10–7pm

THRIVE is a showcase of WE_ARE_FEED Level 4 & 5 HND student’s final major projects. Presented by the next generation of employable Visual Communicators. WE_ARE_FEED is a Birmingham based initiative that aligns education to industry practices within the creative arts.

Recent Activity: On-the-go – a new solo exhibition by Alex Frost, 7–9pm

Recent Activity present an exhibition of new work by Alex Frost.

Stryx: Element, 6–9pm

For June Digbeth First Friday Stryx presents Element – an active research space by Ana Rutter and Kirsten Adkins inviting the viewer to look again at both the ordinary and the unexpected. The artists have gathered materials from diverse locations and situations; news footage, rehearsal spaces, gardens, buildings and digital spaces. Through distilling, extracting, reformulating and repositioning sound, film, photo-graphs, objects and text the artists make new connections exploring the suggested, what is missing, the contradictory, the bits outside of the frame: The uncomfortable details which have been forgotten or the serendipitous moments which were mislaid.

Vivid Projects: VAGUE BUT EXCITING– Exhibition Launch, 6–8pm

Join us for the launch of VAGUE BUT EXCITING, an exhibition of ten artists and collectives responding to the 30th anniversary of a revolutionary concept: the World Wide Web. In 1989, British scientist Tim Berners-Lee conceptualised the World Wide Web (WWW) whilst working at CERN. Berners-Lee’s invention came during a revolutionary wave of successful civil resistance across Europe. Thirty years on, the web’s inventor has called for the fight to create a better web.

The exhibition includes new commissions and recent works exploring the origins, structures and consequences of the web using digital media, performance, live streaming and installations.