Over the past few days i’ve been watching trailers for various flatpack festival screenings as well as checking out some of the short films included in the sessions that i can’t make. I favourited ones that looked interesting, so thought i might as well embed them here in the hope that they might intrigue some of you enough to actually get you down to see them. For those of you already armed with your tickets it’ll just get you even more excited. For those of you in Selly Oak check the last clip in particular. Flatpack Festival gets into full gear today and runs until Sunday, tickets available on the door, many events are free.

Showing as part of Shorts on Walls and Colour Box Shorts

Showing as part of Short and Sweet

Showing as part of Channel 1

Showing as part of Channel 1

Showing as part of Channel 1

Showing before Sacred Places

Showing as part of Darklight

Showing as part of Paul Sharits

Showing before The 5000 Fingers of Doctor T

Showing as part of Colour Box Shorts

Showing as part of More Films About Buildings (Selly Oak!!!)

http://www.flatpackfestival.org.uk/

I’m Done.

Flatpack Festival starts in Birmingham this Tuesday (running until Sunday). It’s probably one of the top 5 artsy things that happens in the area maybe along with Fierce Festival, Supersonic and presumably some other things that i can’t currently think of. There’s so much to say (and it’s an effort to write even this much at this time on a friday night) but i’ll have a go at summing things up – the sentiment’s there/here? at least.

Flatpack’s a festival of film, but not in the traditional ‘movie’ sense. There’ll be art films, experimental films, docs, performances, clubs nights etc. Last year was pretty great and it’d be cool if everyone tried to get along to something hence why I invited everyone on facebook.

The programme’s pretty big and things could easily get expensive so i’ve picked out my ‘recommendations’ for what they’re worth. As there are so many clashes i always think it’s best to cross all the movies and docs off as it’ll be pretty easy to source most of them on dvd/lovefilm some point down the line. This leaves the more event/performance based happenings which are usually more fun anyway.

On Wednesday night the Uncle Hans-Peter Party sounds pretty fucking weird. It’s meant to be mysterious hence why the write up barely says anything but the bad thing with that is it puts people off going. One of the flatpack co-ordinators was hesitant to give me too much info but she advised me to bring some friends, have a few drinks before hand and ‘just go with it’. Sounds pretty intriguing, probably make a nice change from Snobs too. Tickets are only £4. Prior to this there’s a screening of fucked up horror ‘House’ at the library but it’s not part of flatpack – just bad timing.

On Thursday there’s some queer shit on at Ikon Eastside – SSION BOY: Whatever! An evening of filth and fantasy. It’s hosted by local drag queen Twiggy and includes a showing of Pink Flamingo’s which is most well known because of the scene where Divine (RIP) eats a real dog turd. It’s £6 but should be worth it. Before that at Vivid there’s Shorts on Walls which is free. In fact most of this years free stuff is at Vivid so maybe just camp out there for the weekend if you have no money?

On Friday they’re showing some old British musical Evergreen (think Busby Berkerley) at the Electric and it’s only £3 – bargain. There’s also free performances throughout the day by some artist at the library – i think.

Ghostbox on Sunday at Vivid looks cool – music and film and stuff. Not really sure – read the website. They’re also showing the new film by the director of Gummo, called Trash Humpers – on late Sunday night at the Electric.

Oh and Friday night there’s Fast Forward with Synth Eastwood the Rainbow. If people actually turn up to this it should be pretty fucking mega. Clark (warp records) is pretty awesome. You can find some of his records on spotify: http://open.spotify.com/album/0gb2PNFcBB91jDychNjAUF My friend says Gangpol and Mit are good. Local band Health and Efficiency are alright too. But it’s not just lives music, there’ll be live mixing of weird visuals all night – so loads of films projected on screens all over the club – COOL. plus some weird performance art and art exhibits dotted around the place. Apparently artist Hugh Cooney will sit in a box and wait for people to post ideas for a film through a little slot before he makes the film for you or something – in his box? I have no fucking idea basically but if i’m drunk he’ll freak me out and that’s always fun. See a video of him at work below…

This is such a shit blog post. But basically -you should all go to something but if you can’t be bothered to do any of that if you pop into the created in birmingham shop – come say hi – we’ll be hosting an art installation for the duration of the festival with mannequins and tv screens.

I realise this isn’t very coherent (i’m tired) but neither is flatpack – this puts a lot of people off – it can seem a bit intimidating and ‘hipstery’ but it’s not, so you should come.  Also that weekend all over digbeth the various creative hubs are having an open weekend, so come and have an explore and go to all the places you always mean too… boxxed, rea garden, vivid, eastside projects – and that’s all free. basically – dont plan anything for weds, thurs, fri, sat, sun this week and do this instead. Oh and Vivid’s really easy to find – it’s on heath mill lane (by custard factory), just keep walking – you’ll see it.

My plan, join me?

Weds – Straight 8 @ Vivid – 6.30 FREE or Walking Down Bristol Street @ Ikon East – 6.30,
Uncle Hans Peter Party @ Vivid – 8.30

Thurs – Shorts on Walls @Vivid 6pm FREE
Whatever! A double bill of filth and fantasy @ Ikon East – 8pm or maybe i’ll just stay on for sweet and sour shorts?

Friday – Julien Maire, Digit @ Birmingham Library – 12pm FREE
Evergreen @ Electric Cinema – 3pm
Made in Shipyard @ Vivid – 7pm FREE
Fast Forward with Synth Eastward @ Rainbow – until late (apparently turn up early for cheap entry – possibly?)

Saturday – Plasticine Party @ Vivid – 9pm

Sunday – Belbury Youth Club/Ghostbox @ Vivid – 5pm

anyway, bye!

http://www.flatpackfestival.org.uk/

Capsule have got a performance from sound artist/musician Atsuhiro Ito on Wednesday night at Vivid in Digbeth, tickets £5. Looks pretty heavy but that’ll make me feel clever if nothing else. http://www.capsule.org.uk/event/atsuhiro-ito-guests

Cineworld have a one off screening of Andrea Arnold’s Fishtank on Wednesday night. If you like that you should see Red Road and Wasp (her earlier work) or even Morvern Callar and Gasman by Lynne Ramsay who is also Scottish and female.

Soweto Kinch is playing a free gig at the Yardbird on Thursday night as part of the Harmonic Jazz Festival which is happening this weekend: http://www.harmonicfestival.co.uk/artists/soweto-kinch-lluis-mather/

digbeth is good posted about this installation that opens on Thursday in Digbeth which looks pretty interesting. The new Eastside Projects exhibition opens on Friday too.

the now monthly Atta Grrl night hits Island Bar this Saturday and should make for something a bit different to dance and jeer to.

oh and is the Banksy film actually worth seeing? let me know. it’s on at the electric until thursday.

completely unrelated… the Maverick “crew” just passed this colour test around. it’s quite interesting, took me about ten minutes. I scored 7 which is apparently pretty good – i can do no wrong: http://www.xrite.com/custom_page.aspx?PageID=77

I’m currently working in a pop-up shop in the bullring (above). it’s called ‘created in birmingham’ and it’s spawned from the website of the same name: www.createdinbirmingham.com – if you know all about this great, but i don’t think you all know how it works, and some of you might be able to make really good use of it…

created in birmingham aims to link and promote various creative and artistic endeavors in and around brum. crazily the bullring has given us a free shop (dont ask), it’s opposite h&m and apple on the top floor; prime position, to sell stuff made in the local area. we need stuff to sell – art (photography, painting, posters, prints, illustrations) music (cds, vinyls etc) badges, books, stickers, bags, t-shirts, clothes, cards, hats, zines, accessories and loads of other shit. the only real rule is that it was ‘created in birmingham’ or thereabouts. for the past couple of weeks we’ve had loads of arty types bring there stuff into the shop and we’ve been selling it on only taking 25% commission to cover overheads (shop fittings, wages etc). you name the price – we’ve got items for 50p and a couple for £5000. though it should perhaps be noted that the most expensive stuff we’ve actually sold so far has been around the £130 mark.

i thought i’d spread the word because some of you might like to get your stuff on sale in the busiest shopping centre in the country. it’s no cost to you – if we dont sell it, we give it you back. it’s only a temporary thing, we’ll be around for 3 months ish. the shop is a working progress but it’s looking pretty good already, though with all the stuff we’ve had in we need some more shop furniture (if anyone has any going spare?)

so if you have cds/eps/paintings/prints/clothes/books, you basically just have to bring it into the shop with your contact details and some idea of how much you’d like to sell it for.then we’ll get back to you at the end of the month to give you your profit (hopefully)

if you’d rather hire a stall for the day in the shop you can do that for £30 pounds a day and any takings then you get to keep (so no 25% cut for us on top).

furthermore we’re looking for in store performances, installations and events. we had a jazz trio yesterday and we’ve got a film installation lined up for the flatpack festival as well as some breakdancers, artists, and knitters. but we’d love some drama types, bands, duos, trios, quartets, quintets, djs etc to come down for a couple of hours and have some fun. we’d even love guest speakers to come and share their area of expertise. we have some sofas and a fair bit of space so come in and have a chat. we can’t pay you, but it’s good advertisement for you in a great location that money can’t really buy. we’re really open to new ideas – so if you haven’t found anyone stupid enough to host your post post modern duration living art performance you really might be in luck.

so it’s easy as that – would be great to see some of you bring your stuff in and make a profit. if you have questions then ask away. pass this on to anyone you think might have something cool to sell.
the sooner you bring you stuff down, the longer it has to get sold. think that covers it. hope to see some of you (armed with stuff) soon.

check this to see some photos –

I realise I haven’t posted anything in almost a fortnight but my life has finally got interesting again and thus I haven’t had much time (I’m also very aware that I’ve got into this habit of just ‘bunging stuff up’ – which may or may not stop). Whilst ‘normal service’ won’t resume until the weekend this just landed in my inbox and excited me so much that I thought I’d share it on here.

The BFI has just made available Cecil Hepworth’s version of Alice in Wonderland (the first filmed version of the story) from 1903 to watch online – it’s expectedly hypnotic. The BFI’s YouTube page has some other interesting stuff if you have an hour to kill.

I’ve embedded the film below.

I’ve been pretty underwhelmed the last few times I’ve visited the Ikon Gallery – with the exception of Jeremy Deller’s little one room wonder (maybe the other exhibitions went over my head, that or they just weren’t very good) but I was pleasantly surprised by the immediacy of their latest offerings.

Clare Rojas takes over the upper galleries with her bizarre paintings of a world where women are the dominant sex. The results are deceiving. A room covered floor to ceiling with bright colours and patterns depicts a far off utopia where everything seems ideal. When we get closer the disturbing mis en scene becomes apparent; stern faces and nods to communism – men skewered on a spike protruding from a woman’s chest. Ladies Bleeding Sky shows two women in matching dresses literally vomiting blood upwards (above).

Downstairs João Maria Gusmão and Pedro Paiva’s On the Movement of the Fried Egg and Other Astronomical Bodies is a series of almost hallucinogenic short films. A man balances eggs on top of each other, ripples appear in slow motion across a vast lake, three ghostly eggs fry over the top of each other and a group of men perform a tribal ritual; drinking water from a pot before placing it over their leaders head and ironically following him through the forest.

The exhibitions run until March 21st and admission is free. Ikon is shut on Mondays.

Below I’ve posted a couple of things that might act as good introductions, or good inspiration, for learning more about ‘the big questions’, chaos and the infinite – those that hit you when you least expect it; does the universe go on forever? will it end? This short film makes a good starting point – or it did for me. It’s kinda famous; they used to show it in schools and it was on the bill at Flatpack last year. It’s 9 minutes, but worth your time.

That brings me to Horizon’s latest doc ‘To Infinity and Beyond’ (groan) on BBC2. If anyone’s remotely interested in the idea of infinity (who isn’t?) it’s a really digestible introduction using incisive explanations to make complex theories understandable. The various talking heads are pretty engaging and the couple of times I was on the verge of total confusion the voiceover stepped in and dragged me to safety – though i had to rewind a couple of times to fully understand how a man can discover a ‘new number’ whilst not actually being fully aware of what that number is. Some of the visuals/music and the Tom Waits type figure who keeps cropping up are annoying but negligible in the long run. It’s an hour well spent and you’ll feel intellectually nourished and a bit boggled after.

I also wanted an excuse to mention John Boswell’s Symphony of Science project. Boswell’s putting complex scientific theories to music – to considerable effect too. There are four videos so far, you’ve probably seen the first one – it was a big YouTube hit last year. A friend flagged it up to me again yesterday so i sat watching the others and found myself mesmerized all over again.

I’m going to track down The Secret Life Of Chaos next – it was on BBC4 a couple of weeks ago but i missed it’s first transmissions – did anyone see it? I’ll let you know if it’s any good.

I’m so gonna get a Nobel prize.