Balsall Heath Biennale Information

City Farm gets a whale Good ideas for Balsall Heath. What do you think? www.balsallheathbiennale.com

About superspace, a Balsall Heath based arts organisation, are planning a contemporary arts festival for Balsall Heath in 2013.

We have just received funding from Arts Council England to run a consultancy project with local people, asking them what shape the festival should take.

The festival will respond to local issues and ideas from people living in Balsall Heath will shape the direction of the project in 2013. Whatever your thoughts on art in Balsall Heath, or Balsall Heath in general, please get in contact. If we receive enough ideas and suggestions, then we’ll be able to organise a fantastic arts festival in Balsall Heath in 2013.

What is a Biennale?

Biennale is an Italian word for ‘every other year’.

It is most commonly used within the art world to describe an international festival of contemporary art that occurs every two years. Venice is perhaps the most famous Biennale, although other cities across the world - Berlin, Moscow and Liverpool for example - also have Biennales.

We want to create a Biennale that reflects and celebrates the history, culture and people of Balsall Heath a ‘Community Biennale’. This is something that the art critic and writer Lucy Lippard has recently proposed at the Falmouth Convention, 2011:

“What about a ‘Community Biennale’, subverting the notion of high art by inserting a practice often scorned by the global art world.

Curators could consult with various agencies and non - profits to discover the root social issues in the location, the community and activist organizations dealing with them, and seek out artists who could provide models for thinking and acting about these issues.”

What do you like about Balsall Heath?

We want to find out about the best of Balsall Heath; your favourite places and what you think makes Balsall Heath special. Help us find out about all of the good things that are going on.

If you are already part of some arts activity - let us know.

 Post a letter letting us know what you think Or fill in the questionnaire on line

Take a picture and email it to us balsallheathbiennale@gmail.com

Tweet twitter@bh_biennale

What would you change about Balsall Heath?

We also want to find out about the things you want to change.

How can Balsall Heath be improved? What does it need?

We want to find out about all of your ideas whether they are fantastical, funny or just downright practical.

Make a drawing, collage, painting or model

Record a video or sound recording Upload it to the internet and let us know

Facebook.com/balsallheathbiennale

Ideas & Prompts

A Balti Museum?

20 years ago, Balsall Heath Forum asked local people what colour they would like their street furniture (e.g. lampposts) painted. The answer was green and yellow. People had a direct say in what their local environment looked like.

Free Ice Creams for a Day ?

Kabbadi + Taxi Drivers = Cabbadi

Liverpool Biennial 2012 has invited Dutch artist, Jeanne van Heeswijk, to work with a group of unemployed young people in Liverpool. They are developing spaces for their community using redundant terraced housing and vacant ground. Is there a space in Balsall Heath you would like to see developed?

Litter Picking Projects?

www.balsallheathbiennale.com balsallheathbiennale@gmail.com twitter@bh_biennale facebook.com/balsallheathbiennale 58 Eastwood Road, B12 9NB

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The Balsall Heath Biennale project is funded by Arts Council England and their Grant For The Arts scheme. More information is available in English, Urdu, Arabic, Bengali, Somali, Punjabi and Gujarati on their website:

www.artscouncil.org.uk

superspace is a not for profit company limited by guarantee led by Chris Poolman & Elizabeth Rowe www.superspace.org.uk