Market by Nagledna

Mark(et)ing Time from people to people

Friction Arts The Edge, 79-81 Cheapside Deritend Birmingham, B12 OQH info@frictionarts.com www.frictionarts.com

CONTENT 1. Editorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s letter 2. Life Brief 3. Illustration Market 4. Kaleidoscope /Staff to do, see, buy, visit and add to your diary/

5. Talking Market 6. Profile

Found an old photo of Charlie Serials work during our 2001 residency at the Bootsale. Can you take the Charlie Challenge? My favourite Charlie Serial piece, (at The Edge) the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Macdonalds Armadilloâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. Sadly (for me) someone bought it first.

1. Editors letter A typical scene from the ‘magic corner’ - a lot of our favourite tat stalls are up and around here. You know its a good market when the stalls reach all around here and back up to the Rag Market end. There’s a lovely ‘garden’ where one of the horticultural wholesalers keeps a whole bunch of trees at the end.

2. Life Brief

A pixelation taken in front of and inside the bootsale a coupe of years ago - have slower and image-only versions as well.

HISTORY Birminghamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s wholesale food markets date from 1166, when the Lord of the Manor Peter de Birmingham obtained a royal charter permitting him to hold a market at â&#x20AC;&#x153;his castle at Birminghamâ&#x20AC;?, though later members of the de Birmingham family claimed that markets in Birmingham had been held since before the Norman Conquest. It was this market that provided the first impetus to the growth of Birmingham as a commercial town from the twelfth century onwards. Until the nineteenth century the markets were held throughout the streets of the centre of the town: a cornmarket and Welsh and English markets selling cattle are recorded in 1553, with butchers shambles and a fish market recorded from the eighteenth century. The organisation of the market was one of the main concerns of the Birmingham Street Commissioners following their establishment in 1769, with the body taking on responsibility for the collection of tolls in 1806 and buying the marketing rights outright from the

Lord of the Manor in 1824, before handing responsibility to the Birmingham Corporation in 1854. In the early nineteenth century the clearance of buildings from the Bull Ring allowed the concentration of the markets on the site. In 1817 the Street Commissioners opened the Smithfield market on the site of the Birmingham Manor House, new wholesale fruit and vegetable markets opened on Moat Row in 1883, and the pig and cattle trades moved to a new market in Montague Street between 1892 and 1898. The wholesale fish market in Bell Street was opened in 1869 and extended in 1883, while in 1897 a new meat market with an attached slaughterhouse was opened in Bradford Street. Increasing congestion in the markets area, coupled with the demolition of the Fish Market for the construction of the Bull Ring Centre in 1958 and the increasing inadequacy of the Smithfield and City Meat markets, led to post-war plans to develop a new wholesale market complex. The first phase of the current market buildings opened in February 1974. â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Wikipedia

Current markets

The current market includes a 25,300 m2 (272,000 sq ft) horticultural market, a 3,500 m2 (38,000 sq ft) meat market and a 3,000 m2 (32,000 sq ft) fish and poultry market. The markets are open from 4am every day apart from Sunday and receive 13,000 customer visits per week.

Proposed move

Birmingham City Council has plans to move the wholesale markets to a new larger site at Witton, with the current site in Birmingham City Centre being redeveloped under the Big City Plan.

The Sunday Bootsale at Birmingham Wholesale markets is a unique social nexus, a special place, hidden to most residents of the city, but a vital part of the weekâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s activity for some of its poorest. Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been coming regularly for over 15 years and know many of the stallholders and regulars, often testing out our public art interventions in the space, as well as constantly sourcing materials for our artworks. Currently the city council is preparing the site for development and the future of the bootsale is uncertain, so we decided to begin a programme of interventions, artworks, interviews and archiving to celebrate and help preserve something of this very special place. Mark(et)ing Time is the first phase of this programme. We commissioned ourselves and five other artists to respond to the bootsale by making artwork interventions in the form of stalls at the market. These artists are Ben Jones and Jane English, Alison Solomon, Alisha Kadir and Raycho Stanev, accompanying Sandra Hall and Lee Griffiths on our journey through the market.

S – strengths W – weaknesses A – aims N – needs

3. Illustration Market

Odysseus 19

Market’s elements A pattern - My mom had one of these A movement – Sweeping arm gesture, irritated look Something forgotten – I’m sure my mom had one of this Something to come – it doesn’t feel like home though Something wrong – it’s not the same Something right – it’s just like home A question – why isn’t like home A conversation – you’ve got to watch out A symbol – she definitely had one, just different colour A chance – Perhaps it’ll feel like home one day #Lee Griffiths & Sandra Hall #text #thoughts

illustrate with text, sound, small sketches and what ever you want, just imagine 21

Mark(et)ing Time.

Sunday Sunday … Sandra’s writing for the first day…. The map of the day – with comment… followed by the abstract map of the day… Up early… met the crew at the entrance. The entrance is now at the side – rather than the large, wide, usual entrance. This has already confused my body memory/clock. Lee provides us with an envelope with invitation instructions. We agree when we are meeting up again and we all wander off to do our own research.

Odysseus is often a symbol of the passion for travel, discovery and adventure;

I set off, trying to do a different walking map from my usual ingrained bootsale map. Its too weird. I have to return to the start of my usual map. Not long on the journey – I see a bloke trying to strap a very big picture onto the back of his bike. He’s struggling, but not with tension. I immediately and instinctively offer to help. He gently refuses at first – then lets me help. His name is Ray. the picture strikes me immediately as unusual and not what I’d expect Ray to be buying. It’s a huge, bad (in my opinion) of a Huntsman on a horse, with hounds – amidst a fox hunt. It doesn’t tally – I ask him.. “This is an unusual picture” I say. He responds immediately…” I love the Royals. I love the Queen; if I hadn’t messed about at school – my life would be different” there is a huge gaping chasm in the middle of the sentence. The result, I suspect, if years of thinking about this – from ‘I love the Queen” to “If I hadn’t messed about at school” – is a big, Ray size gap.

while an odyssey is a journey back home – the conscious rediscovery of the familiar, where the end meets the beginning. 25

Later got me thinking about the ‘un-said’ – we have a famous author/playwright, Harold Pinter – who understood the unsaid and English vernacular. He understood the power of silence, gaps and mis-stumbled sayings from people in daily life.. So I I helped Ray sort out his big print on the back of his bike. His houses/flat – by all accounts, has lots of this type of stuff. He asked me if I loved the Royals – I said no – I think I even apologised… We agreed to meet and talk next week – he’s always there. I carried on on my usual ‘tramline’ through the market. I love turning the corner (on the left) as its always full of the stalls of ‘real’ tat. Where the stragglers go. Where I usually find Richard, who is a house clearance guy. There’s always new people here too – as well as regulars.

Walter Benjamin writes that there are two basic types of story tellers: those whose stories are about the familiar

I scanned a stall .. it was very female, lots of girly nick nacks. I noticed plants too. There was a big stack of fresh thyme…. I’ve never seen this on a stall so started talking to the lady. Her name was Yvonne and the thyme was from her garden. As with most interactions at the bootsale – once you’ve bought something there is an unspoken permission/contract that you can talk to them; ask questions, finalise and thank. I told her I would be putting this thyme into leek and potato soup… I then proceeded to share my leek & potato soup receipe with her, complete with roasted garlic. She was very lovely. I only wish I’d bought the aloe vera plant too….

(embodied in the figure of the stationary farmer) and those whose stories are about the unfamiliar (as represented by the travelling seaman). 29

On the stall opposite there was a family with bikes and larger items for sale. (They had a van). Aware that my bike has been stolen from the studio and that Raycho could do with one – I looked and asked about prices. We had a good chat – it also transpires that the lady, Chris, had been listening in on my recipe sharing with Yvonne. So we had a great and fast connection. She also bought the aloe vera plant so we had a mock fight about this. I bought the bike - was chuffed, I didn’t beat him down. I then scanned and met with my usual folk; Richard, who clears houses after the family have cleared for their dead loved ones; Mark who always has furniture… indeed he had a rather wonderful shoe rack so I had my first major purchase in a while. And it was great ! Then there’s ‘Chief’ a large confident guy who is always up for a chat – he’s had a varied life, has a great ‘look’ – yes that of a North American Chief.

The places where the two groups met and mingled in medieval times were the workshops. 31

Then I joined Alisha and Lee to sit at our ‘usual’ table with a tea next to a burger van. Lee usually has a filthy burger and smothers his beard in mustard…. These are our rituals – and we are joined at the table by people who talk to us, offload their difficult stories – notably ‘Irish’ John. There is a family that regularly sits at this table and fills their ever-increasing-in-size young boy with chips…. I saw Mark too, briefly, one of our regulars. Mark has a hoarding problem and is always at the bootsale. He assigns himself to a ‘tech’ table where there are lots of scanners, printers, tv’s, analogue and digital ‘stuff’.

Other such places, we might add, were pubs, barbers’ shops and, of course, markets – all of them places for socialization, exchange of information, entertainment and relaxation. 33

Because Lee had set a series of tasks with envelopes at the beginning of the day – I scanned and checked. I also had to go to the toilet, which is always challenging at the bootsale as its ‘a dark place’ badly kept and always smelly. I was in a bit of a hurry so just barrelled straight into the first available cubicle. As I ‘did my business’ I noticed I was indeed in a very dark place. The whole cubicle was filled with celebratory drug taking of a group of people… ‘Sam (needles up the bum)’, fish and clearly someone else. Bad, but carefully drawn pictures, descriptions of the joy of ‘being back on the smack’.. this was wrong, wrong, wrong.. and so dark. I also reflected that there is a subterranean world – and much lies beneath at places like this.

Social media today make an effort to provide a necessary substitute for these, but are only partially successful.

We all met at the entrance of the Market, Alisha and Ben kindly walked my shoe rack back to the studio – and we gathered with tea and discussion. Lee and I had decided the best way to feedback was not to sit and talk about our individual journeys in 3rd person. I introduced people to the fact that they can feedback on performance style. I instinctively knew I would present through performative actions – bring in the objects and items I’d bought – thyme, shoe rack, some bits and pieces. I mapped my journey as I’d tried to break my usual patterns.. I drew a birds eye view of where I’d walked, highlighting places I’d met people. For each place I identified whether it was a new meeting (Yvonne (1) – indicating the first time I’d met her) then other people (Mark #1 x (5) (I’ve met him at least 5 times) etc. Ray’s language and discussion had stayed with me – so trying to stay faithful to what he’d said – I found a large picture, that I covered with paper and his statements – I wanted the people I was feeding back to taste his words…

We still need live contact and real relationships, and a Sunday market is just the place to get some of these. 37

I chose to start at the front of the studio as there is a lot of walking involved at the bootsale – and the sky above your head. I decided to use a ball, throwing it in the air to indicate thinking. I asked people to hold the large frame as we all repeated what Ray had said – “ I love the Queen, and all that stuff… etc’ when people came into the main space I then gave them each a spring of Thyme that I’d bought from Yvonne. I made sure that each spring was held by a red elastic band – I liked this detail. I also put some of my drawings on the shelves for people to look at.

For many, and especially for many migrants, a Sunday market is a place where you expect to encounter the familiar: buy products and objects from your homeland, touch base with compatriots, exchange stories and information.

‘Walk This Way’

You might also encounter/run into/buy the unfamiliar. 41

Wander …with me. Look around. Details. Ball in the air – thoughts rising and falling through the mileu of the spaces. Ahh bike – in the yard…‘Hallo – can I help you? – that’s an unusual picture’ (Ray) ‘Yes I have a lot of this kind of stuff in my home (indicating love of all things upper class, ritualistic, ‘British’).. yes I love the Queen – I’m definitely a ‘Royal’….. pause….. If I hadn’t messed about at school – things would be different’ (SH) ‘how different? ‘ Well they would have been different… I would have done things… I would have been in the military.. somehow………………………….. I love the Queen’. ‘walk this way’ – have some thyme… I shared a recipe.. ‘thyme’ is also ‘Thy-me’ – recipes for conversations? (thinking nugget)… shared maps of ‘conversation’ journeys.

At such a market, there are story tellers as well as story collectors. 43

See picture below – found in an archive. Contd….

Found this photo in the Birmingham library archive – must be the 70’s judging by the moustaches and haircuts!! No context for the picture – but loved it. Man on barrow is clearly loved and respected. Doc ends. SH.

The following pages contain stories collected during our regular tours of the boot sale market in Birmingham in September and October 2015. 45

4. Kaleidoscope Staff to do, see, buy, visit and add to your diary

#Ben #Illustrations

Figurine no.6- ALI(TOPHAT GUY AND GOAT) When he was 16, came over from Bangladesh. Grandad fought WWII, he was told he had to stay in the U.K. The only reason he goes back is to see his goats, he loves them and sends them ÂŁ100 a month(11,826 Taka). He also has cows. #Ben #Text

#Ben #Illustrations

The return of the spinning car with 8 flapping delorean-style doors

Question- “What is this for?” Answer-“What do he look like?”(figures out I’m messing with him) Statement- “I don’t know!” #Ben #Text

#Jane #Photo #Figurines

‘I call ‘er Edwina’ ‘Why?’ ‘Cos she’s just an ‘ed’ ‘This is not the Beatles, this is the pipes playing the Beatles’ ‘What is this?’ ‘£5’ pause ‘It comes with 3 batteries, the front wheel is adjustable’ (It’s a bicycle with a power ranger rider, playing some kind of chinese electro) ‘Gimme a pound!’ - unsolicited –’…Rentagob, I ar…’ Armoured baby- 50p Maori- £2. Crazy Hair Baby Girl- 20p #Jane #Text

#Jane #Photo #Figurines

First visit to the market: “I’m getting poorer and poorer…Where’s your husband? My mother always called me a fool, then I came home one day and I had a lot of money and she called me a good boy. If I were thirty years younger I’d give you my number. Is this your husband?” “For you…” “For you, £3…£2” KEEP CALM AND LISTEN TO ONE DIRECTION “I know every speakers” “Cola? Cola. Cola! Cola! Cola! Cola!” “Put them down. They’re leather” “You’re joking with me, you’re a joker, you are” Laughter “Ooooooh Betty!” Second visit to the market:

#Jane #Photo #Figurines

Pictures – Birds. Pigeons taking flight. A big sound, the image of the birds escaping the noise. Waaaaaah! A person joins in with the sound. Joy. We all look. Undulating Tongue Laugh. “I call her Edwina…because she’s an ‘Ed” Big open mouth laugh, and her tongue wobbling inside. Laughter A firm affectionate hug between two men. They go separate ways. A very beautiful moment that was over so quick, they barely spoke before or after. The frames made by people’s bodies. I have to peer through the gaps in people to see the stalls. “Do you take Euros” “I don’t go on holiday” Third visit to the market: Reactions to our stall: “How much for this?” “It’s not for sale but…” walks away “…Exciting…it is!”

#Jane #Photo #Figurines

“Don’t you wanna make money today, or they’re a million pounds each!” Laughter “Is that all you have? Can I take a picture?” “How much would you pay for this? I dunno, £2?” “HAHAHAHAHHAHAHHA! Wonder!”

#Alison #Photo #Illustration

#Alison #Text The whole picture is a collage with lots of layers of drawn/coloured images, symbolism and photographs. I wanted to show the passage of time at the carboot with the use of the clock, time and shaky lines. I also wanted the picture to have a modern twist, but with a Futurist style (not the Futurist ideology). Around the edges of the picture are lots of miniature people to represent the different people that come to the carboot, and their modes of transport. The shoes represent the way we walk around the space: not in a straight line! The book and the larges hand drawn faces represent specific stories: John talking about how the carboot has lots of stories, and the two friends talking about the green vegetable Callaloo. The printed image of the woman looking at a shoe depicts the ritual how people pick up items they like to inspect. The printed image of a lady diving into a t-shirt with a skull, which is crossed out in red depicts the toxicity and undesirability of the toilets. Finally, there is heavy use of symbolism and a surrealist play on the symbolism from the carboot, such as: the yellow crossed lines on the concrete at the Carboot look like the game snakes and ladders. The arrows on the floor mirror the hands of the clock, and, the passage of time and motion.

#Alison #Symbols This is Sindy with an ’S’! She always says that!! I’ve known her for a few years and she sometimes works with/helps regular trader Richard. I met her when me and partner were doing a car boot and she a nd her husband was looking at my furniture to fit out her vintage home. She has a phenomenal knowledge about furniture and jewellery.

#Alison #Sound This is Sindy with an ’S’! She always says that!! I’ve known her for a few years and she sometimes works with/helps regular trader Richard. I met her when me and partner were doing a car boot and she a nd her husband was looking at my furniture to fit out her vintage home. She has a phenomenal knowledge about furniture and jewellery.

#Alison #Sound â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Carboot regular, Ash. All the established traders knows Ash because he knows everything you need/would like to know about vintage, antiques and collectibles. I really liked Ashâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s comparison between the regular Carboot attendee and the hunter-gatherer. The search for treasures and stuff is built into our DNA.

#Symbols #Market

Finding the way home. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s here, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s there. Memory of home. Things that remind you of home. Collecting feelings and memories of home. Connection between the market and home. This will be lost. Old pc games, defunct tools, kitsch figurines, wary looking folks, the contents of China, old adaptors, tat and taps

#Alison #Photos

Lee’s stall So, I challenged myself to make a digital piece, that would still work within the framework of ‘selling’ something from a stall. At the moment I am collecting material, images, audio recordings, video. I’ve designed a ‘stealth surveillance cycle helmet’ - people at the bootsale can be nervous of people filming, for a variety of reasons, but I think it’s really important to capture the place, the vibe, the demographic, so I intend to invade their privacy but for good, rather than evil. I’m also taking binaural recordings, these are made using mics placed inside the ear canal, to produce accurate ‘3D’ recordings, and give a real sense of space when compared to stereo recordings. All these and more will go towards creating a ‘virtual’ bootsale which you will be able to experience in the comfort of your own home. #lee griffiths #market #stall

Ali - with pink guitar...

I loved this moment; he was tunelessly playing this pink guitar and delighted in having his photo taken. He runs this stall with his brother, broken bits, tech stuff don a blue tarp - and pink guitars. Sandra x #sandra #people #stalls #bootsale

MT pixelatio SH Oct 2015

on wk3 bootsale 5

#Alison #Photos

Everything was loaded. Every person with a purpose. Except the children. Nothing stood unclaimed. Speak when spoken to. Reduce reduce reduce. Reclaim, recycle, rewound. Children. Those parentless are placeless. Those parentful are hapless. Plastic bags are banned. Morning air made stale by soggy tea. Take it back. Exchange. Flash of spare change. I found. I had. Possession. Leftovers, secondhand. Caught my eye. Unclaimed female. Brown. Pack attitude. No suits. Loose knit tribes. 1 person tables. Empty seats. Blue. All things have their place. Except the children. The fully fed one. High scraper remind us this is the gutter, where things get mushed together. Tea table. Lanes, gates and vans. What contains things/what do things contain. Who hold who/ what. Green. Blue. Exit guards. #Alisha #text #market

Some thoughts Time is ticking and soon we will be exhibiting at the market. Our audience are the natural denizens of the bootsale, the bargain-hunting masses, our people. But we’ll be inviting others to come. to see the art, and meanwhile get a glimpse of a part of their city from which they are insulated, the poor, the new arrivals, the fat kid getting chips stuffed into his face by ‘Feeder Mom’ (as we know her). Our artworks are all stealthed, hidden sparsely amongst hundreds of other stalls, some of which may look ‘curated’ - is this art? Is this? Few arty types will get to see all of the artworks hidden within this melange of stuff, some may not find any, but at least they’ll have come to the market, and hopefully grow to love it, as do we. Perhaps they’ll come again, perhaps, like us, they’ll try and lobby to keep this thriving social nexus alive, to save it from drowning in a sea of uncaring, profit-driven development that just sees the dollar and not the people. Perhaps. #Lee Griffiths #text #thoughts

Some thots Time is ticking and soon we will be exhibiting at the market. Our audience are the natural denizens of the bootsale, the bargain-hunting masses, our people. But we’ll be inviting others to come. to see the art, and meanwhile get a glimpse of a part of their city from which they are insulated, the poor, the new arrivals, the fat kid getting chips stuffed into his face by ‘Feeder Mom’ (as we know her). Our artworks are all stealthed, hidden sparsely amongst hundreds of other stalls, some of which may look ‘curated’ - is this art? Is this? Few arty types will get to see all of the artworks hidden within this melange of stuff, some may not find any, but at least they’ll have come to the market, and hopefully grow to love it, as do we. Perhaps they’ll come again, perhaps, like us, they’ll try and lobby to keep this thriving social nexus alive, to save it from drowning in a sea of uncaring, profit-driven development that just sees the dollar and not the people. Perhaps. #Lee Griffiths #text #thoughts

Daylight Savings Market (pre-half-marathon) Lots of hellos between seasoned veterans when the market is still sparsely populated. Very few people came in to pay on foot. I feel like I’m walking into a drive-thru. Jane gets the drinks. People look very serious. We look very different. Standing. Short hand makes you sound sexy. Our neighbours are so busy unpacking. It’s 7.10 and we haven’t started yet. No need to jump the gun. A lot of guys walk around the market as we’re setting up scrutinising everything intently, as though doing some arithmetic in their head. Pink dapples the sunrising skies. I will draw today and display them. The light has changed so much in the short time we’ve been here. Already people are checking out each others wares. I feel like we’ve been let off the hook, we don’t have to work too hard. Very little stuff…No figuring out of arrangements. I’ve seen the innards of the market. The way people construct their stalls - sheets of wood between tables to make larger surfaces- reminds me of when I was a kid watching my mum set up her market stall in camden. #jane #ben

Daylight Savings market ends (post-half-marathon) Today it feels weird. There is no van and the floor is wet. The cold is stabbing at my toes through my boots. About an hour ago I felt a bit insane, after having awoke after very few hours sleep, although apparently I got an extra one. The insanity is clearly spreading… “This is bullshit!” proclaims a tired Alisha. “Everything is a mess” says Lee. No dodgy hotdog today. Will bacon cure Ben’s bad mood? I came in the car queue with Sandra. It went all around - was much slower than when we just walked in. One of the vans ahead has to be pushed in, well done boys. We were able to set up in the same area as before -which I was pleased about. Maybe people will get used to seeing us. Felt lucky we’d got so far in considering we were arriving later. Maybe in the cold people are more inclined to squeeze in a bit of extra morning bed warmth. Today we are opposite Ms Ruby, who Lexi sits and has a nice long chat with . A huge gap was left opposite the guy with the sonic torture toys. Here are my notes from the other week when we were directly across from him: “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star How I wonder what you are.” We are being punished! Llevan Polka - the 20 second club version. We are being punished. The stall holder must be hard of hearing.

Perhaps other people have realised that being near this stall results in the worst kind of ear-worms and have chosen to steer well clear today. The gap makes the market feel empty, there seem to be less people around. I’m convinced today is a quiet day and feel sad wondering if the market is suffering from a wintry illness. But on having a wander around the back I see it’s crowded, busy as ever. I see a wide smile exchanged between two men and I’m pleased the market is alive and well. Though clearly there have been some deaths - the house clearance stalls are ripe with beautiful and unusual items from the homes of departed elders. Buyers are huddled around the tables. I resist the urge to buy a box of slides containing the holiday photos of an unknown family - 30minutes later they have been snapped up by a stranger. I see a tangle of adaptors merging with other miscellaneous wires, a brave man attempts to release one from the mass. Ben returns from a wander with some excellent figurines. We have managed to build up quite a lovely collection of figures and stories. Today we heard a story of displacement from an 8 year old girl called Anna. From previous weeks I had convinced myself that towards the end it was harder to talk with people, but I have some lovely conversations in the final hour of the market. Paul says that if the world were more like the bootsale, we’d be laughing. ‘They’ see the value of the land, but not the value of this place. #jane #ben # figurines

Leeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s e-Market First go at my stall for Sundayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s market. Virtual Bootsale. #lee #e-market

Farooq Farooq is a recurring character, he’s come to say hi a couple of times over the past month that we’ve been working at the boot sale. Farooq originally came from Pakistan, but his father moved the family to Tanzania where he worked for the C.I.D. Farooq’s father instilled him with a sense of paranoia, because he didn’t want him talking to the ‘wrong people’. Now Farooq works in a greek restaurant in town, resents it, but doesn’t know how to change his life. This last week we saw Farooq and I recounted the details of his story to him. He was shocked that someone would remember. I think he still secretly thinks that we’re spying on him. But we’re getting to know eachother a little more now, laughing, smiling. I draw his portrait for him. It’s a terrible likeness but he still likes it. #ben #jane #market

Sunday bootsale His throne... squeaks. Plastic chair, nectar of tepid tea, He is king of all who feast here At the table of... 3. She’s new In a city she’s never seen in pictures, In a situation she’s never dreamed of being in, Kids screaming for a life they’ve seen in TV screens, She’s selling old clothes, Trying to keep her nose clean. They’ve heard this is the place to be, Front row seats to a sunday morning a little more diverse than their conservatory, This is a social museum visit, And we’ve wandered in, wondering How to build a commentary, Like conservationists of this community, Trying not to be the weird art shit in the corner. They all have their stories, They’re knitting into this city, We’ve jumped in At the dropped stich Trying to capture what a beautiful accident this all is. Birmingham, a first rung to finding your place in the world. Ben and Jane talk displacement on caricature kind of terms, Sandra knows the relationships in her words, Lee is wearing a helmet without a bike.

Alison is asking for the stories that lie beneath the surface of forgotten things, I want to know what the value is? How can we be so stupid doing clever things? So sell me something priceless. ********* This place is salvation, For the morning you wake up with nothing left to give after all that life has taken, Or a place to hang around and meet chicks, stuff your kid with chipd while you find bargins on toilet roll, This is the Sunday Market. #ben #jane #market

Market So we had our first full outing at the bootsale this Sunday, and it wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be the last. Unfortunately the weather was against us and the market wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t as bustling as usual, though as you can see, we did have plenty of fun. So weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve decided to come back next week - 15th November from 8am until 12pm - hope to see you there. #market #bootsale #exhibition #arts #friction #frictionarts #wholesale markets

5. Talking Market

Rewritten summary of Marketing Time eval session Do we think that the project has concluded? All of the participants felt that the project did not come to a satisfying conclusion. Alisha felt that her project had no closure. Ben was “a bit sad to leave it here.” He would be up for a final day at the market – he felt that the project needed a final hurrah. Alison feels like it hasn’t really ended – in no small part due to the weather meaning the final sessions were inconclusive. She revisited the market (as an individual punter) and a trader that she had met during the residency, who hadn’t offered her a story up to that point, now said he was ready to give her an interview. Everyone felt there was untapped appetite

Legacy Some of the legacy of the project is “tying up loose ends”. Ben and Jane wanted the stories attached to their little figures to be told, and considered sending the figurines on a final journey, releasing them into the wild in Birmingham. There was a concern that this would be a very indeterminate result (if romantic). Instead, Ben and Jane recorded video and audio versions of the stories associated with each item. They’ve now been put into a cabinet to keep them safe until they can go into a permanent home (for instance at BMT). If the work was to be revisited, the hope would be to get as many as possible to make

something as big as Anthony Gormley’s Field for England or Terracotta warriors. We intend to reserve the physical objects for BMT. As a long tail, we need to maintain the project Facebook. We will schedule the entries on Alisha’s receipt as entries on Facebook. We will have a framework by December and a draft in January for the project website and documentary publication Some of the project legacy includes in the artists own lives and practise. The team want to be updated about future projects involving the markets– they want to be involved if there’s a future Alison took the artworks she produced from the carbootart sale to a craft fair, and got people interested in the markets. Alisha is considering creating a “receipt” of beautiful proportions. She felt that her project idea was strong, but the execution was not final. Some of the project legacy is in the question: what are we doing next? The hope is that we can remount or extend the project in the spring. We may have HLF funds by April for a heritage project taking place at the Wholesale Markets and the bootsale. Some stuff from this project will go into BMT collections (as part of Collecting Birmingham or our heritage project), and the binaural virtual tour of the market will go into the BMT sites as a touring video exhibition. 99

Engagement with the markets The project was effective for engaging with people. If we remounted this project in the spring, it would be an effective part of the engagement activity for the HLF project Sandra raised the question: “What contract have we made?” By attending the market and running the project, what expectations have we raised with the community? People were definitely beginning to expect us there. We learnt that there was a lot of misunderstanding among bootsale regulars about what’s going to happen in the redevelopment of the wholesale market site. They just don’t know when the closure is going to happen, who the site is being transferred to, and so on. We observed that the people who came to the market on the final event (when there was horrendous weather) were there out of necessity. This did give us more space for longer chats due to fewer traders. We learnt (from Alison) that the national markets magazine has never mentioned the Brum market. Negative impacts on the project The rescoping of the project, caused by the failure of the BCC funding application, had a major negative impact. Particularly, it pushed back the start of the project, which made the weather for the project worse by about three months, which literally rained on the final distribution. Also it meant that the residencies were shorter, and the main thing we found was that we needed the residencies to be longer and run continuously for months.

External factors had a big impact. There was a marathon which meant we couldn’t operate the stalls at one point, and the weather in the months at the end of the project caused us to delay the project’s final event several times in an attempt to try and get the numbers we wanted. Being stationary and running a stalling was a challenge for Alison. She wanted to be mobile while delivering the programme; she visits the market every week and is really used to walking around. Practically, transport to and from the project was not always sufficient for the artists to move their stalls in and out. At the start of the project, the distribution date for the end of the project was unclear. And was ultimately changed. Long term marketing for the project did not fit in with the need to adapt the project. There was a big question raised for the marketing: there was a split focus – who was the project for, who was the marketing aimed at? There was also not enough forward planning in the marketing: but again, this was part of the issue with the project being a small trial. One application we received with a proposed residency was just too ambitious for the money! Running a stall is exceedingly tiring: setting up, running, tearing down and taking away the stalls is a whole days work. The programme is emotionally heavy, especially when you hear people’s stories which can be quite challenging.

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Unexpected strengths The project team trusted one another, helping out on one another’s stalls, putting in lots of hours to assist each other and go the extra mile. The team were committed and went above and beyond in meeting the demands of the project to achieve not just the letter of their commissions, but the vision. The team were really flexible, allowing rapid changes in the project plan. This was really demanding though. We had support from volunteers, including Aliyah Holder and Uncle Rob. Everyone on the team agreed that the core concept of the project, from the commission description upwards, was really meaningful, aesthetically strong and useful. For Alison, this was her first opportunity to play in a long time. Raycho’s participation in the project was really helpful. He provided an outside perspective, and a challenging one, as he has a very different discipline and is an outsider to Birmingham and the UK. Raycho provoked and inspired people to think more deeply about how they respond to a project and think of documentation, including the idea of immediate, concurrent documentation. He was thinking about the end stages of the project right from the start, and documentation as a form of artistic expression, very different from the typical “film it, bung it online” approach that’s quite common. The Raycho challenge was great. Each team member had a specific challenge designed to test their practise. Alison’s had to create a picture without words; Lee had to draw; Alisha and Sandra to write. Lee revamped our website as a result! This strongly influenced Sandra’s project.

Everyone on the team understood the bootsale, they weren’t visiting cultural tourists. They became part of the bootsale as far as the stallholders were concerned. They could not create the art without the acceptance. The Tumblr was a successful form for recording the project as it happened. Long term impact on artists’ praxis: Jane found success talking, chatting to strangers; people were open and generous. The activity legitimised the conversations with people. Lee observed that as soon as you start talking to people they would realise how important the bootsale was to them – it was obvious that this was something they had taken for granted, but which was important to their lives. The whole project really aligned with Alisha’s development. The work she wants to do is to make people reflect on their circumstances: the residency caused her to reflect on different media she can use to help people do this. Everyone felt it influenced their approach to documentation. Raycho’s method of getting media out into the open ASAP was very influential. Raycho is still pushing us to put content out Ben was able to explore his interest in market stories and histories. The project resonated with Sandra’s practise of “triction”, mixing fact and fiction to create something believably untrue. Bit of an adventure by the end.

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If we remounted the project We should consider this project a trial for a bigger activity; we learnt a lot from it but we were still implementing new ideas by the end. For instance the Facebook we created in response to demand from market users was not part of the initial plan. Everyone agreed that a longer residency was required – it would lead to a greater degree of engagement with regulars. One way to make this more feasible would be to have artists on and off, alternating weekends at The Bootsale. Thought for a bigger project: put a flyer in the paper, or a column, to describe the project. Alisha would like to build something ingrained into the market – a cultural praxis, a lasting part of the market. Something without end; something that becomes part of the markets regular activities, manned by stallholders – a participatory something, or an enduring something; or something that stays present after the market closes. We could put ephemeral work on the hoardings. Alison’s personal collection of luxury chairs (all bought at the market) could be an activity (offering “high quality sitting” in exchange for stories) Sandra would like an exhibition of traders’ personal effects, or other collections curated by the stallholders (this would change the projects’ participant consumers into co-curators). The portable living-room in a van was another popular idea. Alisha wondered how to young people in the project better, as there are any number of bored youngsters dragged around the bootsale by their parents. A carboot crèche – or something for the teenagers. This raised the idea of having targeted activities for different demographics, such as a stall with unintelligible gizmos to intrigue men.

HIDDEN TREASURE How often do historically important places disappear from under our noses without us ever noticing? In a rapidly gentrifying city it’s easy enough for aesthetically interesting places, let alone the important, yet ugly. And what happens when it is not architecture, but an event that is in trouble from developers? The Sunday Bootsale is a weekly gettogether for treasure finders and seekers, held in the brutalist grounds of the Birmingham Wholesale market for the past 25(?) years, and I consider it a unique living piece of local heritage. To describe the boot sale, simply take the average boot sale that comes to mind, a hundred or so cars parked up in a muddy field with the car boots revealingly flung open, and multiply the bustling atmosphere, the sense of community, and the madness, by ten. The perfect place to hide it? Digbeth of course! Why then do very few of my friends and acquaintances I talk to about it now of its existence? There are a few boulders in the way of its discovery by the general public. What sensible nine-tofiver would be strolling the junction of Pershore and Sherlock street between 8am and 12 noon on a Sunday? Who notices the cursory webpage sequestered in the Birmingham City Council site? It’s almost need-to-know, and that need in question is often financial. Enter the gates of the wholesale market precinct and o’, what bargains await you! I was willing to pay more for pretty much all the items I picked up there than the cursory 50 pences and single pounds I was asked for. A big part of the appeal is that it’s so cheap you can furnish your living room

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for pocket money and as a result this is the place where you’ll find the thriftiest (and the poorest)folks in town. Having myself had the experience of running a stall there with my partner Jane for a good five weeks, it was also clear that there was real history there in the form of stories, particularly from those who had been coming to the bootsale the longest. For the sellers it provides a rhythm to their lives, a social scene, a way to bump in to old friends. The cold and the dark of the pre-dawn morning they have to set up in bonds them together, and some sellers must struggle to make more than the £17 plus seller fee they’re asked for. So, what really brings people back? Despite the fact that it hasn’t, the Sunday boot sale FEELS like it’s been there forever. It has a warmth, a folk quality. The sellers are allowed to speak their minds, show their personalities, banter and barter as they preside over their kingdoms of half tat, half treasure. There is discovery and more importantly, it takes you back. You glance at one stall, a house clearance, it seems as an entire elderly person’s life is displayed before you, as if it was a museum to them. And looking over all this quaint old white ladies treasure, so many first and second generation immigrants growing and planting their stake here, as if the old and the new are dancing together. To me, more than anywhere in this city, this feels like Birmingham”

Profile Friction Arts Friction Arts have been making ‘art where you live’ for over 23 years. Friction listen to people, work with them and then translate their thoughts and ideas into high quality contemporary artworks which communicate to the wider world whilst remaining true to the voices of the people they originate with. These artworks may be performances, installations, interventions, publications or whatever is appropriate to the context of the project. Friction firmly believe in the transformative nature of the arts, with communities and individuals, and are committed to expanding the reach of the arts into places they have not been before.

Special tanks to Friction arts + Icecream teams and Bjorn Rune Lie for the good friendship :)

Graphic Design cc Nagledna+

Bibliography Caroline Roberts, Graphic Design Visionaries, Laurence King, 2015 Christoph Niemann, Abstract City, Abrams, 2012 ID Pure #38, 2015 Raycho Stanev, Nagledna – visual story, Nagledna+, 2015 Raycho Stanev, Helvetia – interactive diary, Nagledna, 2010-2015 Swami Sivamurti Saraswati, A path to the higher awareness, Garuda Hellas, 2010-2015 Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati, The new world, YPT, 2014 Steve Bateman and Angus Hyland, Symbol Laurence King, 2014 Vanley Burke, At Home with Vanley Burke, Ikon, 2015 and all story tellers around

A project by 7 artists, infiltrating the social bounteousness of the Birmingham Wholesale Markets Sunday Car Bootsale