Allotment to be happening at mac Birmingham

Join mac birmingham down on its ALLOTMENT with a difference…

Sat 28 Jan – Sun 9 Sep

On Thu 15 Mar, mac birmingham’s ongoing visual arts programme ALLOTMENT will be reaching a milestone with the opening of its eighth plot. To celebrate, the popular arts centre is hosting an open ‘plot holders’ meeting’, where members of the public can meet the Birmingham-based creative practitioners involved in this innovative and exciting project (2-5pm) and take part in activities based around the work it features.

ALLOTMENT is the latest venture by mac birmingham to provide opportunities for new and emerging visual arts talent to grow. The project has seen mac birmingham’s Arena Gallery divided into ten plots, eight of which have been assigned to a wide range of artists and curators or ‘plot holders’ from across the city. The remaining two have been assigned through an open call and the result of this will be announced at the event.

Since the end of January, the plots have been opening up week by week. With each plot holder nurturing and tending their own space and being responsible for its identity, the ALLOTMENT has been blooming and growing into a truly remarkable and diverse artistic experiment.  Thu 15 Mar represents the opening of the eighth plot by arts duo Sparrow+Castice and will provide an opportunity to see how the project is taking shape and get an insight into how each of the plot holders are approaching their role.

An ALLOTMENT shed has been installed in mac birmingham’s public space and fresh soup and discussion with plot holders will be offered here between 2-5pm, along with the opportunity to browse the selection of books in the shed library (part of the mac birmingham staff plot which is a response to the Brutalist architecture of Birmingham Central Library). There will also be a chance to see local artist Dan Auluk demonstrating his blind-drawing in a live performance.

Other plot holders include independent contemporary gallery TROVE, children’s art project Moonbeams, Birmingham/Berlin-based Clarke Gallery, Birmingham City University MA Contemporary Curatorial Practice students and a group from mac birmingham’s Next Generation programme.

ALLOTMENT follows on from anticurate – a project devised by Trevor Pitt which took place at mac birmingham throughout summer 2011 to explore the concept of exhibition curating.

mac birmingham
Cannon Hill Park, Birmingham, B12 9QH
Website: www.macarts.co.uk