- New exhibition explores city’s industrial heritage.
Once renowned the world over as the ‘city of a thousand trades’, Birmingham’s reputation as a global centre for manufacturing is largely a thing of the past. Today, once bustling and noisy factories are left to crumble, barely visible eyesores in a post-industrial landscape.
Inspired by interviews with former workers, artist Ben Nichol has set out to document Birmingham’s relatively recent industrial past in a new exhibition, Parched Ground. He’s filmed, recorded and photographed the decaying remains of factories whose products were once exported across the world. Now stripped of all their assets, vandalised and weather beaten, only passing clues of the buildings’ original purpose lingers.
Among the subjects are the former home of Typhoo Tea, on Bordesley Street, Digbeth, closed in 1978 and partly demolished to make way for a car park; what is now Sandhar and Kang Cash and Carry on Birchall Street; and various buildings on Birmingham’s canal network – a once vital link in the transportation of goods to and from the city.
Parched Ground brings together a collection of colour images, video installations, soundscapes, sculptures and found objects that explore the rise and fall of Birmingham’s position as a manufacturing powerhouse.
Says Ben: “Some of the former factory workers I interviewed in preparing this project explained how they’d worked for the same company for the majority of their lives, only for them to close, one after the other. One retired worker told me ‘Birmingham used to be known as the city of a thousand trades – now where is it?’ and that really resonated with me.”
Ben Nichol is a Loughborough-based artist whose work often explores the realms of popular culture. Previous projects have touched on such subjects as mental health, politics and consumerism.
Parched Ground can be seen at The Edge, 79-81 Cheapside, Birmingham, from Saturday 2 to Saturday 16 August 2014. Open daily 10am-6pm, admission free. For more information, see: www.frictionarts.com
LISTINGS
Saturday 2 to Saturday 16 August 2014
Ben Nichol: Parched Ground
Artist Ben Nichol uses photographs, video installations, sculptures and found objects to explore architectural relics from Birmingham’s industrial past.
The Edge, 79-81 Cheapside, Birmingham B12 0QH
Tel: 0121 772 6160
Daily 10am-6pm.
Admission free.
www.frictionarts.com | www.bnicholart.com
Special Events:
Friday 1 August 2014
Parched Ground Opening
7pm-11pm.
Admission free.
Late night opening party, as part of Digbeth First Friday.
Saturday 9 August 2014
Parched Ground Exhibition Tour
2.30pm
Admission free.
Artist Ben Nichol discusses his work and suggests possible futures for some of the derelict sites documented within the exhibition.
Ben Nichol is available for interview. For more information, contact us:
Four Four Eight 