Joined by Aura Satz and a line up of DJ’s playing winter horror, creepy electronica and spectral pop, VIVID are offering an alternative to the office Christmas party, hosting Nightmare Before Christmas on 18 December.

Marking the close of their 2010 programme and LANGUAGE season, with work from artist Aura Satz, who will also be performing.

Satz’s work explores ghostly presence and illusions through performance and sound and is often focussed on unusual sonic devices, early musical instruments and automata.

Music throughout the evening will be provided by COLOUR, John Napier and Dan Le Trap, plus more to be announced.

The party starts at 8.30 and goes on ’til late. Tickets are £5 and can be bought online.

‘Language‘ is the latest offering from VIVID, opening on 2 December. The exhibition and events programme will explore the constructs of language and meaning from far reaching cultural perspectives.

The international selection of moving image, exhibition, discussion and print includes work from John Adams, William Burroughs, Barbad Golshiri, Gary Hill, Valerie Mréjen, Aura Satz, Guy Sherwin, Margaret Tait, and Olivier Zabat.

…the works cover four decades, spanning films which reflect the post-Structuralist theories of the 1970’s to documented actions and contemporary works newly commissioned by VIVID.

There’s a range of associated events including film screenings and performances within the programme, which can be viewed on VIVID’s site.

The exhibition is open until 18 December, when they’ll also be ending the season with a bang, hosting ‘Nightmare Before Christmas’. The “warped line up of winter horror, creepy electronica and spectral pop”, will include DJ sets from COLOUR, John Napier and Dan Le Trap.

This time round they’ve got a Commercially Inviable special starring World of Fox with support from James Summerfield, Friends of the Stars and Richard Burke.

Pixie Sixer’s already written all about it on More Canals Than Venice so check that for more info. I’m really posting this for an excuse to post Ruth Green‘s artwork for World of Fox.

Ruth is a recent addition to the Love to Print collective – a project explained on the rather wonderfully named Shoulder to Crayon. Most of that collective are also involved with Girls Who Draw, including Karoline Rerrie and Sarah Ray.

There seems to be quite a tangled web of ladies out there producing pretty, quirky illustrations. See also i heart joan and the Inkygoodness folks.

As you may know I co-run Colour live music events, and we are putting on our first ever Birmingham gig at The Victoria next Tuesday.

The evening will feature music from 3 live acts, projected vintage slides, free homemade cakes and us pretending we can DJ. If you do come along please come and say hi.

We are also really chuffed this month as we will co-hosting the closedown party of Flatpack Festival this year.

I should point out that I don’t live in Birmingham – I live in Wolverhampton, but hopefully my passion for Brum’s creativity should make up for that. I have a Fine Art degree, but have moved into more digital creative pursuits since graduating in 2004. In the last couple of years I have worked in marketing and creative business development at Light House in Wolverhampton, co-organised the Flip Animation Festival, including running the event’s blog. I also co-run Colour with my fiancé Matthew. We put on live music events and write a blog.

As well as listings and regular news updates, I want to investigate how your creative endeavours impact on the city as a whole, and to find out how creative types can get ahead. I would like to continue the good work of Chris and Pete before him, and encourage others to utilise online media and tools to create, promote and reach out.

Please say hello if you see me out and about and you can follow me on Twitter, if you like.

]]> http://www.createdinbirmingham.com/2009/01/13/and-its-hello-from-me/feed/ 19 http://www.createdinbirmingham.com/2008/11/05/another-big-weekend/ http://www.createdinbirmingham.com/2008/11/05/another-big-weekend/#comments Wed, 05 Nov 2008 14:50:51 +0000 http://www.createdinbirmingham.com/?p=2249 [Read more...]]]> Another big weekend with something for everybody (unless you happen to hate animation, music and design in equal measure, in which case you can just do one) with:

• Plus+ International Design Expo
• Flip Animation Festival
• Gigbeth

Plus+ kicked off today at Fazeley Studios, Digbeth.  I’m heading over in a bit and am not really sure what to expect other than the much-discussed tart cards.  I suppose I’m looking forward to catching a talk or two and just having a mooch about.

Flip is over in Wolverhampton at the Light House and consists of three days of animation goodness – screenings, portfolio dissections, talks and all sorts, with a closing party hosted by Colour.

Gigbeth kicks off with the conference tomorrow and carries on through to Saturday evening.  There’s loads of info out there for anyone wanting to look.  May I direct you to:

• The programme
• Jon Bounds’ round-up (featuring a link to his Gigbeth MySpace marathon)
• Info about 4Talent’s stage, featuring CiB’s Pete Ashton between the other acts
• Rich Batsford has blogged about playing the 4Talent stage and also at Drop Beats Not Bombs later in the evening
• Rhubarb Radio will be broadcasting live feeds from some of the stages