University News Last updated 17 June 2011
A disused warehouse in the Jewellery Quarter is the setting for a new exhibition about Birmingham’s hidden spaces.
Poet and Birmingham City University student, David Page and artist, Robin Pugh, have created Space & Centre, a collection of 13 works portraying parts of Birmingham most people don’t notice. The art works are complemented by soundscapes recorded in each of the areas depicted. The exhibition coincides with a book, also called Space & Centre, which features each of the artworks and poems featured in the exhibition
The collection is on display at the AE Harris Building, a former industrial site in the heart of the Jewellery Quarter, but is now used to stage theatre and other arts events by artists’ group, Stan's Café. The exhibition will be on from Monday 20 June to Sunday 26 June, 10am-6pm.
Robin Pugh, is an artist and photographer based in Redditch whose work portrays the uncanny nature of suburban life, capturing the mundane housing estates and unseen alleyways of his home town.
David Page, is a poet, fiction writer, musician and the editor of literary journal Paper Tiger, which combines short fiction, poetry and literary criticism. He is currently in the final year of BA English and Creative Writing and produced the project as part of his degree assessment. He said: “The combination of audio, image, words and setting will sustain an inner city ambience, enhancing both the physical space of the exhibition and also the imaginative space of the pieces.
“We wanted to depict fragmented images of Birmingham's unseen architecture, forgotten passageways and transient spaces. The collection represents an urban exploration of the city, documenting both place and 'non place', linking destination with journey and providing a psychogeographic record of the everyday.”