To co-incide with ArtsFest held in Birminham this September – a group exhibition featuring Birmingham and Bordeaux artists will exhibit at the Works Gallery. The show hopes to foster greater collaboration between the artists working in these cities. The featured artists are: Peter Grego,Tom Ranahan,Pamina Stewart and Paula Woof (UK) Francis Viguera,Isidore Krapo,Christophe Masse,Richard Biardeau,Veronique La mare and Joss Burke (France)
Dear Readers, Here is the final entry for my blog on the Re-place exhibition that happened earlier this month. Having begun the blog in May looking towards this exhibition I feel relieved that we achieved what we set out to. Namely put on a well received, strong exhibition. We featured in Birmingham City Council’s Artfest publicity and became a visual art venue for the Festival.
We had three French artists come over, Francis Viguerea,Veronique La Mare and Joss Burke(formally of Birmingham). It was good to hear what they made of Birmingham (we took then for a curry on the Ladypool Rd, Sparkbrook!). They really enjoyed their stay, and saw the cultural offerings that the city has to offer.
My objectives for this blog was to introduce the artists and their practice to the AN blog audience. Give updates on the organisational processes leading up to the exhibition. Create a web prescence for the exhibition. Attached are images from the show.
What I think has come out of this exhibition is the following:putting the web links to the French artists proved beneficial for those artists.Visits from the UK to Art Chartrons website has secured financial backing for Bordeaux artists next year to take part in artist exchanges.There was no funding for this years artists. It brought international interest in their work. For the Uk based artists hopefully it will have created a new audience for their work.
The exhibition was a success and already there is talk to build on this next year.We have made an in road to the artists working in Bordeaux and vice-versa.This is a positive outcome and bodes well for the future.I hope this blog has been of interest and I hope to continue to blog on other projects that I am involved in. So, good bye from me for now or Adieu!
Tom Ranahan Birmingham 29/9/2009
Dear interested readers,
Here is the penultimate blog for the Re-Place exhibition. The show is now up and open to the public from the 10th Sept -13th Sept. We made it into the Council’s Artsfest publicity materials, so that will hopefully attract a good audience for the show.
Joss Burke and Francis Viguera drove up from Bordeaux with a van load of work, and had a long drive and ferry trip to get to Birmingham Tuesday morning. Veronique Lamare arrived in Birmingham from France by plane on Tuesday morning aswell. We spent Tuesday afternnon and Wednesday setting up the exhibition which I have to say looks really good. I will post some images from the show in my final post when I reflect on the experience of organising an international show like this.
What has been interesting is to see what Francis and Veronique make of Birmingham as a City. They have never been to Brum before so showing them around is a refreshing experience. Francis is also doing a visual diary of the trip to Birmingham and of the exhibition using a digital camera. I hope to see the results when I next visit Bordeaux!
Christophe Masse has written a blog (in French) about re-place exhibition and is called le blog de Christophe Masse. I listed his website in an earlier post.
So, the private view is tonight! I will sign off now until the final post.
Dear interested readers. We are now just 4 weeks away from the opening of our exhibition. It’s just those final details of getting the publicity done, press release written, mailing list and promotion in place. Also making logistical arrangements for the French artists that will be coming over for the exhibition.
The cultural exchange element of this exhibition is the driving force behind this project. Communication through our artwork and language is an exciting challenge. The theme of the show is a personal response by artists to place in the widest interpretation. My work features photographs from coastal places -including German Bunkers on the French coast not far from where the French artists are from. Being based in landlocked Birmingham -miles from the sea -it seems appropriate for me to exhibit these works.
I attach an e-flyer with details of exhibition and PV if anybody is in the area. I will post again just before the exhibition and once more after to note feedback from show and reflect on the experience.
Dear interested readers, Here is another post for our exhibition which is getting closer now! I am pleased to say that the Council’s Artsfest team have included our details in the publicity and website. For those interested in looking at the Artsfest website it is www.artsfest.org.uk
Although we are not officially part of the Artsfest program it is really helpfull to get our details in the marketing campaign, and will provide greater profile for our event. We have been working on our own website and Maria (who is Spanish) has done a great job putting it together. We still need more information from our French colleagues, and more work on tweaking the website. However it should be live now on www.re-place.webs.com .
Re-place is the name of the exhibition and will take place 10th -13th September at the Works gallery Birmingham.
Dear interested readers. Here is another update on our looming exhibition at the Works Gallery this September during the ArtsFest weekend in Birmingham. Plus some information and image on Bordeaux artist Richard Biardeau. The exhibition will run from 10th September-13th September 2009
We had a meeting last Monday to discuss the website Maria is designing for us. The website will provide information on all the artists both from Birmingham and Bordeaux. People will be able to view artists images, the exhibition statement, as well as weblinks and cv details. There will also be an archive of the first exhibition held in Bordeaux last November 2008 for people to browse.The domain name for the website will be bought soon and by the end of July we hope to have it up and running at least a month before the exhibition opens. I will update you again at the end of the month as we get down to organising the practical details of the exhibition.
Richard Biardeau is a Bordeaux artist who is interested in erotic art. He uses both his own body and that of female models to create compositions. There is also a surreal quality as well a playful character to his work. He has produced painting , drawings and photographic works. There is an example of his work attached to the post and his work can be seen on his website. Details were given in earlier post.
That’s it for now. Till next time. Cheers Tom
