“Birmingham: The Magic City is a snapshot of overlapping perceptions, an exploration of the unknown underground sub-infrastructure of the city, a collage of 1980s Grindcore fanzines from the birthplace of heavy metal, a day in the life of walkers of Birmingham, an orgy of civic boosterism and a reconstruction of a ‘creepy’ wooden lath wall. Welcome to Birmingham.”

We Are Eastside have curated pieces of Birmingham’s history into an exhibition that’s part of the Liverpool Biennial,  running between 15th September–25th November, taking place in Liverpool (of course). It’s been organised by Capsule, Eastside Projects, Fierce Festival, Flatpack Festival, Grand Union, Ikon Gallery, and is supported by Birmingham City University.

More about the Birmingham: The Magic City exhibition on the Liverpool Biennial website.

Wondering if we could take CiB on tour and head up there for a weekend visit…?

On 25 February, Eastside Projects welcome their latest exhibition, ‘Again, A Time Machine‘, featuring Jonathan Monk, Slavs and Tatars, Dora Garcia, The Happy Hypocrite, which is ongoing until 16 April.

‘Again, A Time Machine’ is part one of a five part touring exhibition from Book Works, allowing artists to play with words, creating work which begins to anticipate the past, forecast possible histories and re-visit alternative futures.

New commissions for Eastside Projects sees the start of a poster project by Jonathan Monk, the reimagining of a Polish–Iranian solidarity by Slavs and Tatars, readings of Dora Garcia’s All the Stories, artists’ talks, The Happy Hypocrite-Say What You See: a cycle of readings co-hosted by An Endless Supply and Maria Fusco, and a newspaper.

The exhibition comes with a string of events, starting with an artists talk from Jonathan Monk on the opening weekend;

Jonathan Monk, Book Talk: No. 4
26 February, 3–4.30pm, Free entry

In the spirit of ‘Curating the Library’ (founded by Moritz Küng at deSingel in 2003) Monk has been invited to select publications to become part of the Eastside Projects Library. Monk will discuss how each title informs his practice and his selections will be on display at Eastside Projects throughout ‘Again, A Time Machine’.

Check the website or join their Facebook page for more info on both.

We’ve had 100 submissions, which seems like a good place to draw things to a close and have a look at the results:

Listings/what’s on

70 – Venues’ own websites
49 – CiBmail
30 – Birmingham City Council – What’s On
29 – Live Brum
18 – What’s on in Brum
17 – Ticketmaster
14 – Visit Birmingham
10 – Scene Central
6 – Birmingham Alive
4 – Birmingham Gig Guide
4 – What’s On Midlands (online)

Suggestions left in the ‘other’ box included The Ticketsellers, Last.fm, Songkick, Ents24, Brum Notes, finditinbirmingham.com, More Canals Than Venice, The Wire and Upcoming.

Arts/culture news

80 – Created in Birmingham
76 – Blogs/social network updates from individual artists/organisations
34 – Digbeth is Good
32 – BiNS
32 – More Canals Than Venice
24 – Birmingham Post/Mail (online)
20 – Arts Council England Arts News
15 – Audiences Central

Others included Ryan’s Gig Guide, An Craic, We Are Eastside and Area Magazine.

Who filled out the survey?

We had a roughly 50:50 male/female split, a wide spread of ages (with a slight skew to 18-25 and 26-35) and pretty much everyone has a B postcode, with a smattering of WV and DY’s too.

Any conclusions?

Nothing really concrete, but it was interesting. I’ve got an idea of the level of web traffic of some of the sites listed, so I know that the results certainly doesn’t indicate which are the most popular websites around the city. However, you could say that this shows which other websites overlap with CiB’s readership.

If anything, I was expecting the Post & Mail to come up a bit higher. Nice to see Live Brum up there.

Anyway, thanks to everyone who took the time to fill out and/or forward on the survey.

Pete took a break from the CiB Shop to give an update 2 weeks in, The Photography Collective formed and held their first meeting and We Are Eastside launched linking up Eastside’s creative organisations. Project Brutal was announced too.

The Bulls Head shared a few mixes from some of their guests and residents, Tindal Street released Alan Apperley’s Indeterminate Creatures, we had a look at As One’s work (as it seemed to be springing up all over the place) and Juice Aleem asked us to rock his hologram, with the video being filmed at Boxxed.

I’m just going to copy and paste the information:

The scheme intends to encourage writing practice within the West Midlands, giving a platform for new writers to gain public exposure, experience and professional development, whilst simultaneously promoting arts activity in the region to a wider audience.

The writer will receive 3 half-day mentoring sessions from the This is Tomorrow team:

• James Smith (focus on research, planning and editorial).
• Lorena Munoz-Alonso (focus on artists interviews / features).
• Josephine Breese (focus on reviews and writing style).

In addition the writer will have two half-day mentoring sessions with Sally O’Reilly which will focus on writing practice.

The writer will be expected to produce three pieces of critical writing (as detailed below), which will be published on www.thisistomorrow.info and www.weareeastside.com

• A review of Flatpack or Fierce Festival (500words), March 2011
• An interview/feature on a West Midlands based practitioner or artist-led organisation (1000 words), June 2011
• A review of all, or a part of The Event 2011 (1000 words),  October 2011

Application process

Applicants should send:

• A short letter of application stating why you have applied for this opportunity and what you hope to gain from it.
• Two examples of critical writing (around 500 words each).
• An up to date CV

To: jamessmith.lon@googlemail.com

Deadline: Friday 14th January 2011

We Are Eastside is a joint-venture of sixteen organisations, including VIVID, Eastside Projects, Ikon Eastside, The Lombard Method and 7 Inch Cinema, coordinated by Capsule, to link-up and expose the goings-on in the area, now dubbed Birmingham’s Creative Playground.

Here’s what they’ve said:

Underneath Eastside’s arches you’ll find a whole host of organisations making and presenting film, music, visual arts, digital media, craft, literature, and photography – and some great pubs and cafes too. We Are Eastside is a guide to some of these hidden treasures.

Arts enthusiasts, film and music fans, historians, city visitors and the downright curious from across the West Midlands will have the opportunity to explore creative work being produced in the area by taking in a film screening or magic lantern show, experiencing live experimental jazz or electronica, learning about pigeon fancying, training as a traditional jester or clown or by attending the opening of a new gallery during three days of activities.

To coincide with We Are Eastside’s launch there are a load of events going on over the weekend. There’s the Curtain Show at Eastside Projects, the East Stride walking tour, Purple Ceiling at The Lombard Method, and GONGOOZLER at Grand Union, as well as a bunch of other interesting things.

I’ve posted the listings here if you want to see what’s happening in full, but you can also check out the We Are Eastside blog for any changes and additions to the programme.

The blog looks like it’ll be an ongoing source of regular updates, programmes, event information, opportunities and contributions from the cluster of artists, collectives, promoters and spaces based in the Eastside area, so you can keep an eye on it here: www.weareeastside.org.