Brownhills Bob

This is a really interesting wealth of local knowledge about Walsall, written by an anonymous resident.
http://brownhillsbob.wordpress.com/about/

It's fascinating!

INTERЯOGATION: WALSALL Uniforms Revealed!

I can reveal the TOP SECRET uniform design for the Successful Agents selected for the INTERЯOGATION: WALSALL missions. You heard it here first! The design for the uniforms was carefully developed by a team of experts, but their basic premise for the design can be simplified here to explain the the Beret relates to the fact that the Agents are Activists - and is based on an Activists headgear. The Moustache relates to the idea of being undercover or in disguise, helping the Agent to step outside their usual way of working. And the T-Shirt helps to identify the Agent as being part of the Team - belonging to a group.

SYMPOSIUM - FULL HOUSE!

So the wish list has been fulfilled.
We now have confirmation from all 4 of the practitioners/collectives that we were hoping to have speaking at the Symposium.
The theme of the Symposium is 'The Artist's Role in the Post-Industrial World, and Practitioners engaging with the public realm.'
Gary from The Institute for the Art and Practice of Dissent at Home will be talking about Action Research in relation to their activist practice as a family.
Architecture Sans Frontiere will be talking about consultation in relation to their practice.
Sophie Hope from B + B will be talking about her collaborative practices within the public realm.
And Rich White will be talking about his Intervention works in buildings and places in cities.

After each speaker has given a presentation of their work there will be panel discussion around the themes and opportunities for questions.

I can't wait!

Symposium: GOOD NEWS!

Brilliant news is that two of my wish list for the Symposium and panel Discussion have already confirmed their attendance.
I am so pleased to announce that for Interrogation: Action Research we have the Institute for the art and Practice of Dissent at Home coming to speak about the Institute and their activist works. Then for Interrogation: Intervention we have Rich White coming to talk about the Intervention works he makes in cities and towns.

Just waiting now to hear back from the other two people on my list...fingers crossed.

Site Visit

Me and Chloe and Karl headed over to The New Art Gallery Walsall this week to have a look at the artist's studio, plan how we would set up our Interrogation HQ and measure up.When we arrived Artist Ania Bas was working on her project as part of her 3 month residency. This has involved inviting the public into the studio to talk to the artist, have tea and cake and get them thinking about quick projects which the artist could initiate in the gallery, and then getting people to vote on the ideas. I voted online previously for the Speed gallery visit idea, where the artist takes speedy tours around the gallery - very Japanese idea.Ania invited us in and gave us some tea, and was very friendly about us bothering her and measuring the walls etc.
We talked about the programme, and made lists of things we would need, and things to do ready for the artists coming in in September.
I took a lot of photos and purchased a couple of books about the building of the gallery, which would be really useful for background, we also had a cup of coffee and a slice of cake in the gallery cafe.

twitter

trying to connect to twitter for the purposes of a live feed on the day - good that seems to have worked.

The intention is that the selected artists will be able to comment on, and add content to the interrogation blog during the day, in roder to let the world know what is going on in the studio.

Also, the artists will be able to write up their thoughts on the processes they have undergone, and any images they want to share after the day.

INTERЯOGATION: WALSALL - CALL TO ARTISTS

Longhouse is an annual programme of work carried out by community arts organisation, Multistory based in West Bromwich in the West Midlands. Longhouse is dedicated to the professional development of artists working in the public realm and provides knowledge, support and funding to artists to develop their practice.

Call to Artists:

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to become a secret agent for a day in order to interrogate the public spaces of Walsall.

Using the New Art Gallery Walsall as a base you will investigate the artist’s role in the post-industrial world through one of four methods:

INTERЯOGATION: ACTION RESEARCH (09/09/09)

INTERЯOGATION: CONSULTATION (16/09/09)

INTERЯOGATION: COLLABORATION (23/09/09)

INTERЯOGATION: INTERVENTION (30/09/09)

INTERЯOGATION: WALSALL explores the impact that one artist (you) can make in one place, in one day.

The programme, organised by Longhouse and the New Art Gallery Walsall, working with lead artist Anna Francis, is designed to investigate the impact of short, sharp interventions within the public realm.

The programme questions how working quickly and responsively feels for the artist, and provides opportunities for artists to work together within public realm spaces.

How to Apply:

To express interest in this opportunity send:

· 100 words describing why you are right for this mission and

· state which of the four methods you are interested in interrogating (

· your C.V. and a maximum of 5 images of your current practice

Please send your expression of interest to: chloebrown@multistory.org.uk

Deadline for submissions:

12pm Friday 28 August 2009

Successful ‘agents’ will be notified on Wednesday 2 September 2009

(Please note that due to the timescale and nature of the project feedback will not be given to unsuccessful applicants)

Each agent will receive a fee of £100 towards travel, time and other expenses, plus £20 on the day of the mission to cover any immediate costs incurred.

Agents must be available for the full day of the mission (dates are stated next to the four interrogation methods above), and on a project symposium day (02/10/09), when the project findings will be disseminated.

Each mission will be documented photographically and with video.

Results will be displayed on the Longhouse website and in the Artists’ Studio at The New Art Gallery Walsall.

For more information go to www.longhouse.uk.com