The Spectacle Works provides affordable live/work accommodation tailor-made for designer makers and people in the creative industries who are starting up or already running their own business. It is based at Hylton Street in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter and provides a rolling 3 year tenancy for people and their businesses before they move on to more permanent accommodation.

On the subject, The Lombard Method were advertising available studio space about a month ago.

Getting to wander around Curzon Street Station (although there’s some good stuff in there, I have to admit I was excited enough about the building itself), finally making it over to The Lombard Method, Simon Faithfull’s window piece at Grand Union, meeting the guys behind BAZ (and Athletico Tortured Artists), Crowd 6‘s exhibition and all sorts of other bits and pieces.

Not that it was all my cup of tea, necessarily, but then that’s all part of the fun too. Charlie Levine’s written a post of her own about what’s going on – she’s got pictures.

The Event is on until 30 October. If you don’t know your way round (and even if you do) it’s worth joining one of the guided tours.

The last one was good. Lots to see and lots to do, so go discover on The Event website. Or read on for some blurb:

Birmingham Contemporary Art Forum is delighted to announce it will be hosting The Event’s third bi-annual visual art festival from 21 – 30 October 2011 from their galleries, studio spaces and empty buildings in various locations in and around Eastside, Birmingham’s creative quarter in Digbeth.

Groups presenting works in The Event 2011 are: AAS, An Endless Supply, Companis, Crowd 6, Eastside Projects, Grand Union, The Lombard Method, SLICE and TROVE.

BAZ are a semi-satirical ‘think-tank’ sporadically documenting the Birmingham Art World

I mentioned The Baz Top 20 Most Powerful People & Organisations in the Birmingham Art World thing a couple of years back. Little did I know they’d updated their website with some videos and a musical based on the Grants for the Arts application form. Barmy, but some of the videos made me laugh – I liked the one for The Lombard Method.

Since we last told you about The Post-Industrial Revolution, Polish artists Kamila Szejnoch, Christian Costa and MASH/HER/DIP have arrived in Digbeth and are currently undertaking their residency at The Lombard Method.

The project is being documented over on the Post-Industrial Revolution blog, introducing the artists involved and the research they’ve been doing. They also have a few events coming up in association with the final exhibition;

Artists’ Talk

Thursday 17 February 2011, 6.30 – 8pm
Eastside Projects, 86 Heath Mill Lane, Digbeth, Birmingham, B9 4AR
For further information visit http://www.extraspecialpeople.org

Preview

Friday 18 February 2011, 6-9pm
The Lombard Method, 68a Lombard Street, Digbeth, Birmingham, B12 0QR
Admission free

Exhibition

Saturday 19 – Sunday 27 February 2011
Open Thursday – Sunday from 11am -6pm
The Lombard Method, 68a Lombard Street, Digbeth, Birmingham, B12 0QR
Admission free

Parent & Children Workshop

Sunday 27 February 2011, 11am-12.30pm*
The Lombard Method, 68a Lombard Street, Digbeth, Birmingham, B12 0QR

For more information, also check out their website.

The project is in collaboration with the Lombard Method (Digbeth) and Wyspa Institute of Art (Gdansk, Poland), where the artist residencies and exhibitions will take place.

An exhibition from Polish artists, Kamila Szejnoch and MASH/HER/DIP, will take place at the Lombard Method from 18 February. The exhibition will showcase new work directly responding to the district of Digbeth, its historical and social context, produced during their month long residency from 15 January.

The comparisons between Digbeth and the Gdansk Shipyard as post industrial sites are of significance, each city has at some stage been deeply affected by the demise of industry, its movement abroad, and more recently the development of cultural and leisure industries in these former industrial areas.

The call for British artists will be announced in the new year, so keep an eye on their website and blog for more information and updates.

Manchester (specifically, at Rogue Studios) 5-6 June: