Birmingham School of Art city project to pop up at Selfridges this weekend

University News Last updated 14 January 2022

Credit May Goby Thomos MA Arts and Project Management Birmingham City University

MA students from Birmingham’s historic School of Art will launch a new public pop up project exploring the city at Selfridges Birmingham this coming weekend.

Birmingham School of Art AT

Birmingham City University

Taking inspiration from the work of Birmingham-born and globally acclaimed visual artist Osman Yousefzada, recipient of an honorary doctorate from Birmingham City University, the exhibitions and workshops also explore ideas from the book ‘Invisible Cities’ by Italian author Italo Calvino, based on Marco Polo’s imagined descriptions of travelling through cities.

Shoppers and Birmingham residents will be invited to join students to create artworks, zines, and collective drawings, all recording their relationships and understanding of the city they live or work in to produce a collection of art, in response to Osman Yousefzada’s huge Selfridges exterior installation Infinity Pattern 1 as well as his Letter to Birmingham project.

Workshops include:

Hidden Cities – where the public can contribute to a shared record of places of happiness across Birmingham

New Maps – in which participants can create a map of memories and desires based around familiar landmarks

Build Your Own City – a tracing and drawing experience

Our Birmingham – a freestyle workshop documenting what the city means to us

What Is Birmingham To You? - a reimagining of the city through urban collage

Organic Graphic Workshop – exploring how food can contribute to creativity.

A Collective Letter to Birmingham - create a collective letter to Birmingham within a group drawing exercise

We’re thrilled to be supporting the Birmingham School of Art project through a series of creative workshops exploring and celebrating the city of Birmingham. Arts and culture are central to the city, and we’re excited to see our customers and the students work together to create custom artworks inspired by local artist Osman Yousefzada and author Italo Calvino.

Rachael Bates, Deputy General Manager, Selfridges Birmingham

In 'Invisible Cities', Marco Polo talks through metaphor and symbols, conjuring up cities of magical times for his host, the Chinese ruler Kublai Khan.

Throughout the book, cities change from being settings to becoming living, breathing characters and the role of storytelling sees the relationship of the author change into to a reader. In turn, the Invisible Cities intervention will create an imaginative springboard for artists and audiences alike.

The ‘Invisible Cities’ project is led by Beth Derbyshire MA Course Leader, MA Arts and Project Management at Birmingham School of Art, part of Birmingham City University, together with the Selfridges Birmingham team, and is the fourth such collaborative project delivered at the landmark store.

Beth Derbyshire said, “We are delighted to have the opportunity of working again with Selfridges who has been a long-standing supporter of innovation and creativity at Birmingham School of Art. These valuable partnerships provide excellent platforms for our students to flourish, develop and showcase their practices whilst engaging with the public.

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