Graduate festival of creativity to transform city centre.
In:Site Festival returns to Birmingham City Centre for a fourth year this September and sees a new group of recent graduates transforming the outdoor space around the cathedral with an ambitious programme of craft ‘interventions’.
In:Site, a graduate festival of creativity, organised by Birmingham based arts organisation Craftspace, returns to Cathedral Square on the 8th-12th September. A one-off grant from the local John Feeney Charitable Trust has meant that, this year, 15 new temporary commissioned artworks will be created in the cathedral grounds.
Craftspace Director, Deirdre Figueiredo said: “The John Feeney Charitable Trust’s support will enable selected emerging applied artists to create ambitious new work that makes a step change beyond their degree show. The festival provides graduates a valuable early career gain and profile for their portfolio. They directly benefit from being able to test the viability of ideas, go through the process of a live commission, respond to a brief and a specific site, and engage with the public at first hand.”
Over the week, each graduate has a day to make their creative intervention on-site, turning the making process into a performance. The public will be able to contribute to the making of some of the artworks, which will include: a giant necklace made by a collective of graduates from the School of Jewellery in Birmingham, even incorporating a section by Peter William Clark made of steel and concrete. The cathedral and the surroundings will also be used as a mould to influence the shape of two other graduates work.
Last year In:Site introduced the One-Year-On Residency with artist Harriet Riddell presenting Chain Reaction. Passers-by were invited to have their portraits embroidered using a sewing machine. The sitter was required to generate the electricity needed to power the sewing machine by pedaling on a specially adapted cycle. For 2014, winner of the 21st Deutsche Bank Awards for Creative Enterprises, Stephanie Cheong has been awarded the residency and she will be running workshop sessions making jewellery from found objects.
The project is supported by The John Feeney Charitable Trust, Colmore Business District, Birmingham Cathedral, a-n and 6/8 Kafe.
