On Thursday, I had the pleasure of working with Mark Bleakley, one half of Dennis Isou, who did the Connect Exchange residency in Birmingham’s A3 Project Space. We were moving the contents of a friend’s studio from Commercial Union House in Newcastle to Wasp studios at The Briggait in Glasgow.
We made light work of carrying boxes and furniture downstairs and the complex Tetris puzzle of loading it all into the van, but after lunch we ran into a few problems that delayed our departure by a few hours. Once on our journey we exchanged stories of our experiences of the residencies and future plans. It was good to hear about how the 3 week format worked for Mark and his views on Birmingham.
In June I went down to Birmingham to see the Bill Drummond exhibition at Eastside Projects and was able to see one of his lectures where he talked about his recent defacing of a UKIP poster with his International Grey Paint.
The following day I was able visit A3, Vivid Projects and Grand Union. Whilst there I caught up with several people I had met in Newcastle when they came up to The NewBridge Project for Connect Exchange presentations and the opening weekend of the AV Festival. I was looked after very well by Cathy Wade from A3 and Sam from Flat Pack festival who took me to a very nice pub. At Grand Union Cheryl Jones showed me round the gallery and Matt Westbrook (half a BAZ) gave me a tour of the studios and showed me a good place to have lunch in Digbeth (and pointed out places to avoid).
Talking to Mark about Birmingham made me think of Chris Paul Daniels, who did the residency at the NewBridge Project in Newcastle where I have a studio, and that I should take a trip over to Manchester to say hello.
On reflection I realised how many great people I have met as part of Connect Exchange Project outside of my residency. I’m looking forward to returning to Glasgow, Edinburgh, Manchester and Birmingham, and potentially working with some of the people I have met.