Monday 28 September 2015

#LoveBrum Review 2


Another weekend exploring Birmingham on a budget – this time with the benefits of the Birmingham Weekender Festival as we wandered around.

First stop after a beautiful stroll down the canal into the city was the IKON gallery, as I introduced Karl to the Vanley Burke exhibition (which I have previously reviewed) before it disappeared. I love this space which is free to enter and it was great revisiting the Burke exhibition and getting to notice some of the detail I missed the first time round.
The gallery is providing one of the venues for the forthcoming Birmingham Literature Festival. This weekend the space outside provided one of the venues for the Birmingham Weekender events. One of the acts on there we enjoyed was The Choir With No Name. Looking at this choir it was obvious this was a scratch choir with a purpose for the participants. They gave a great performance of a range of songs from the sixties to the present. Whilst there were aspects of the performance which could have been a bit more polished they were very good and any odd (and they were very few and far between) deficiencies in quality were certainly made up by passion.

From there we wandered through to the new Library of Birmingham via the Birmingham Rep where Karl played dressing up. Like Manchester’s redesigned library this is a building which is intended very much to be a community destination. It has a very contemporary design but is also quite classic. As we went exploring we saw signs to “The Secret Garden”. This got us interested and so we headed up to the seventh floor, (squeezing in to lifts which are a tad too small, and listening to random Shakespeare quotes within said elevator). The secret garden was more than we expected. It really is a beautiful space where plants and seating provide a place to chill and be whilst looking out over the ever changing city. On a fine day like we had it was a wonderful place to be….and being a public library it is free. As somebody who used to enjoy sitting and reading up on the Tate Modern members room rooftop terrace when I was in the south I was excited to discover this space. There is a Coke machine in the nearby corridor if you want to pick up a drink whilst you’re up there. One of the things I loved about this though was it was a non-commercial area.

Then it was off to the Museum and Art Gallery to have a wander round and pick up a snack. One of the things we wanted to do was visit the Edwardian Tea Rooms. Now, we were a bit worried about what the price would be and were ready to be really careful. Yet, we were surprised. For under £14 we were able to get a great lunch. Karl got a big bacon butty with door steps of bread and a tasty, healthy, fresh salad together with a drink whilst I got one of the best tea and scone combo’s I’ve ever had. The tea came out in a huge metal tea-pot and I was worried how I was going to get through it, but in reality it was enough for two large cups. There was a lovely tea strainer to use and the tea was not bad. It was the scones, cream and jam which got me though. I was completely bowled over.

There were four small scones who came out on a log tray with a small glass jar with strawberry jam in and another with clotted cream. The scones were still warm and were just the right consistency, so they weren’t dry or too crumbly. The one drawback was our cutlery holder was out of knives so we had to go and raid a nearby cutlery tin.
As we sat in the comfortable arm chairs looking at the art on the wall and the museum gallery above we reflected on whether this was value for money or not. Now, it was a little more expensive than you would normally pay for lunch but not that much more. We sat and reflected how much you would spend in Starbucks for a drink and sandwich or cake and the difference was not as much as you would think. Additionally, the butty was much larger than you would get and the scones were something you would not pick up in an average coffee shop. Yes, this is a treat not an every weekend thing but in an otherwise free day it was well worth the investment.

After eating we wandered round the museum which gave an enlightening insight into Birmingham’s past. The thing I found most interesting was reflecting on the reason why migration has been so central to the city…..the fact it was not given a royal charter and so had more freedoms to offer religious dissenters and others who may have been viewed as undesirable at various points of our history as well as being a manufacturing centre.
The history’s past wealth does have the shadow of slavery hanging over it and this was acknowledged in an appropriate way without dwelling on it.

Overall, I enjoyed wandering round and feeling that this museum was rooted in the same kind of values as those in Liverpool and Glasgow. Social history has been important and remains so.
 
After we left this magnificent building we headed round the corner to Victoria Square where we picked up some more of the festival. We found seats on artificial grass and were able to enjoy the Hackney CollieryBand playing their contemporary brass. The band had a new Sax player who was particularly talented. The sound quality wasn’t always great, as is often the case with such events where the PA can be a bit dodgy but the music was great and the mixed age crowd had fun.



So far loving exploring this new city which has so much to offer in terms of history, culture and art.

Tuesday 15 September 2015

At Home With Vanley Burke @ IKON Reviewed


As the leaves turn and Starbucks start selling their Pumpkin Spice latte I am hitting the galleries at the end of their summer exhibitions.

Today I found my way to the IKON gallery which has At Homewith Vanley Burke on its First Floor Galleries until 27th September.

This is an installation which contains the entire contents of Burke’s flat in Nechells, north east Birmingham according to the accompanying blurb. It was interesting to hear one of the gallery staff explain they did get him stuff from Ikea to use whilst the exhibition is going on.

I found this approach and installation fascinating and really interesting.

Readers of the work of Stuart Hall the late cultural studies theorist will be unsurprised to find overlaps with what Hall talked about and what is represented in this exhibition. It is a collection which showcases not only Burke’s photography but also an extensive archive of objects relating to black culture in Britain.

There were a range of things within the collection which caught my interest. The first was a collection of news stand sheets (i.e. the sort advertising that days headlines) relating to Handsworth which were in the hallway. These were a visual representation of how moral panic works and the scare stories which have been put forward about black men particularly.

This installation, particularly many of the photographs of the early 1980’s, explained why the neo-Marxist interpretation of the treatment of Afro-Caribbean youth, particularly men, is valid. It showed the way in which the police have sometimes treated minority ethnic groups in this country and the way they have had to organise themselves as a result.

The exhibition also contained a number of posters and so on relating to the anti-apartheid struggle which was occurring when South Africa was under white minority rule. These clearly explained what the purpose of the struggle was and how the campaign was certainly not just white liberals in this country.

Amongst the traditional African art which also hung on the walls were some Victorian Christian images of the sort that the UK church now tends to be embarrassed of. This was interesting to me because I know it illustrates a Christian view which still persists in the mind of some minority ethnic groups. It is the image given to them by the missionaries which was last seen reflected in the 1933 Methodist Hymn Book, a hymn book which is still the preferred one for use in Ghana for example.  

As a white liberal I found the persistence of these images cringe worthy, yet I knew they had a place and when we seek to say they no longer have worth we are denying part of somebody else’s culture somehow. I have not explained this well but their inclusion in the installation was challenging to me.

I liked the pile of tapes which were in one room because they held nostalgia for an England that used to be when I was a teenager.

There were also numerous other pieces around which caught my imagination but the most important thing was the whole of this piece. There was an authenticity about it which one so rarely finds, particularly in a gallery.

Social history and art are often one, but somehow iconic images which are part of the social history become sanitised in a gallery space. This exhibition avoided that sanitation and the fact it was a whole flat made it feel. It also had a very comfortable feel to it.

For me a good gallery can be a sacred space and a place to connect with God as you wander through it encountering the images which often vary between the erotic, disturbing and distorted, and the amazingly beautiful. There is also space to breathe in a gallery. As I wandered through IKON I could feel that connection with the spiritual as I encounter it. I have a feeling this will be that place I go when I just need to breathe in large breaths of the sacred just as the Tate Modern was when I lived in the South.

Monday 14 September 2015

Peterson Toscano @ Woodbrooke Reviewed


Peterson Toscano is an American, Queer, Quaker performance artist and community theologian who some of you will be familiar with from his performances at the Greenbelt Festival. Yesterday he appeared at the WoodbrookeQuaker Study Centre, which is Europe’s only residential Quaker centre – established in 1903.

I had seen Peterson perform a range of times in a range of contexts. One of the things about him is he has a range of performance styles and you are never quite the same.

Yesterday he was using a discussion driven performance style which is one he indicated that he often uses when performing to audiences which are predominantly Quaker.

He began by explaining that the performance would work by him giving three facts about himself, which relate to his work and then the audience would then be invited to ask questions which would determine what direction the performance went in.

The three facts he gave himself all related to work I had seen him perform previously or work I knew he was engaged in:

1)    He is gay and was in the past part of ex-gay programmes as he spent 17 years and a great deal of money seeking to turn himself straight before coming to accept his sexuality. This is the work which informed the first show of his I saw when I slipped into a fringe event at the 2008 Lambeth Conference, Doin’ Time in the Homo No Mo’ Half Way House.

2)    He is a bible scholar who has done a lot of work looking at gender non-conforming characters. This informed work I appreciated at Greenbelt a couple of years ago entitled Transfigurations.

3)    He is a somebody who has looked at climate change from a queer perspective as he sees it as a LGBT, faith and human rights issue.

 

The first question he was asked related to who were his favourite gender non-conforming characters and this enabled him to give to unpack some of his biblical study on the two Ethiopian eunuchs referring to Jeramiah 38 & 39. He then went on to do a scene talking based on Esau talking about Joseph and his multi-coloured garment.  I am currently doing a bible study project writing letters to different characters and have been working my way through Genesis on my other blog. Seeing this scene again helped me to connect with Esau in a way I had not been able to in writing these letters. When then expanding on his work about gender variant characters he talked about the importance of the Transgender Day of Remembrance and urged those attending to support their local events.

He then moved on to climate change via thinking again about Joseph and referring to the way during time of famine Pharaoh didn’t use a just solution, rather the poor were required to go and purchase this from him to survive. He explained why we need to find just solutions.

He was then asked about language and took a couple aspects of Transfigurations to illustrate his answer. Within this he talked about the power of acting out and embodying the Christian story.

As he then went back to climate change he introduced a character I had not seen before Elizabeth Jerimiah. As he put the wig, glasses and earrings on he launched in to a really interesting skit which illustrated some of the contradictions which we need to bear in mind when looking at evangelical women (and whilst he didn’t name her it was clear he meant people such as Joyce Myer).

Then he went into a popular character who reappears from time to time in his work Marvin Bloom. Within this he moved on to the effects of climate change which people really care about e.g. coffee leaf rust. He also bought in the concept of climate denial. When he was expanding on this afterwards his strongest condemnation was for hope deniers (who are often environmental activists who say we have reached the point of no return).

He talked movingly of why climate change was a queer issue. He particularly focused on the way in which LGBT youth homelessness is a real problem because many homeless projects are run by churches and either they do not accept LGBT people or LGBT young people are scared of them. He said in the big storms in the US these young people had been the group most effected. He also drew attention to the problems elderly LGBT people who because of their past may have no biological family to look after them face and made the point we need to look out for these people.

Whilst the UK is different from the USA in many ways and we face extreme weather less often the underlying points were still relevant and challenging.

He then went on to draw parallels with the crisis that the public didn’t want to acknowledge and address in the 19080’s – AIDS. He recommended the audience watch the documentary “How to Survive a Plague”.

He argued that climate change has a similar silence around it to that AIDS had in the past. He also drew the parallel that in that disaster all suffered but not equally. The poorer you were the more you were likely to suffer.

He then moved on to look at the history of the ex-gay movement and told a story of his interaction with John Schmidt who had formally run one of the ex-gay movements which had inflicted so much pain on him. This was something he also explained in detail at Greenbelt this year in a seminar on conflict resolution. Within this he talked about how restorative justice can liberate oppressors as well as the oppressed.

Finally he gave a little bit of detail about the US Quaker divisions on their view of LGBT people. I was surprised to hear about this because I had the view Guardian readers were just pretty fluffy. However, when he explained what the reasons were underlying it made sense because these are the issues which to my mind is underlying all the discussions in the various denominations about LGBT issues and that is it is really a discussion on the authority and nature of scripture.

I enjoyed this presentation because it took a form which allowed the audience to see the many sides of Peterson and his work. He is a talented performer and community theologian who has much to offer those willing to listen and then reflect upon his work.

Saturday 12 September 2015

Birmingham - The first review


A week ago I moved to a new city and I have begun exploring. I expect to review different aspects of the city as I learn more about it. Today I want to concentrate on coffee shops and art.

The weekend before I moved I happened upon a B1 leaflet in the beer tent at the Greenbelt Festival. Reading it I noticed they met in an independent coffee shop which I thought was worth a try. It’s called Six/Eight Kafe and whilst when it is busy you do have to wait a bit to get your food and drink I’m really impressed with the place.

The first thing I like about it is the décor it’s kind of boho but not in a way which is over the top or obviously so well done it ends up the complete opposite, downstairs particularly is quite minimalist with sofas and packing cases as tables. The toilet also has a quirky large doodle on the inner door and is well worth a look if you want a laugh.

However, you don’t go into a coffee shop just to look at the toilet door. You go in for food, drink and space.

The food is gorgeous. The first time I went in I had a chocolate, orange and hazelnut cake which was to die for. It is rare I can say anything tastes better than church cakes, but this clearly homemade cake did.

Whilst I was in there the first time I overheard somebody on another table talking about the bread in there and so I decided to go for toast and jam the next time. It was brilliant. I got two large slices of spelt bread toasted with some gorgeous jam on, which wasn’t out of a small jar you had to spread yourself. It tasted far less artificial.

Drinks wise they do Suki tea which I love. You get a small cup and a pot gives three and a half cups. My one quibble is perhaps they could use larger cups with handles which are easier to deal with.

The staff are friendly and bring your food and drink over to you so there is no hanging around.

Price wise it is slightly more expensive than Starbucks, but you get what you pay for. I was a bit disconcerted though when I saw yesterday they make a small extra charge for card payments. So worth having cash if you do go.

Another place I would recommend at the moment is the Cathedral which is undergoing restoration. There is something quite artistic I believe about seeing something ancient under renovation with the scaffolding and so on in there. It was almost like going in to an installation. As a local preacher I could see how these images could be really good for illustrations and so have gone in and taken quite a lot of photos to add to the resources pile.

Finally I have found out that Birmingham is great for art. There is the Big Hoot going on at the moment which means there are owls all over the place. Last Sunday I caught the last day of the William Morris and Andy Warhol exhibition curated by Jeremy Dellar at the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery and that was amazing as well as being half the price of a similar exhibition in London. It’s even better you can get an annual membership for £25 or £38 for the membership plus and full time students can get a concession rate. This seems a really good deal to get into exhibitions in the galleries and museums in the city.

Wednesday 2 September 2015

The Benefits of Passion by Catherine Fox Reviewed

There is a real talent in writing explicit sex scenes which are not overly graphic and in doing the same with violence. In The Benefits of Passion Catherine Fox very successfully manages to do both. This is just one of the reasons why I think this book show cases Fox’s work in a way her other novels don’t. It has a lightness which Angels and Men was missing and a depth which overall goes beyond what Acts and Omissions and Unseen Things Above, written in their weekly blog form initially did.

In this novel the reader who is familiar with her earlier work will find familiar characters and locations as well as ones. Johnny Whittaker and Mara make a reappearance for instance and the theme of course involves ecclesiastical life.

The central character Annie is an ordinand, (trainee vicar), at the fictional college of Coverdale. This location, as in Angels and Men, is a barely disguised location being clearly based upon Cramner Hall in Durham. One certainly doesn’t have to be acquainted with the North East to appreciate the book as the location detail is well written, but more than a passing acquaintance does bring this book to life in a way which is quite wonderful.

I find it interesting this novel includes one story within another as besides being a seminary student Annie is also a secret writer of a type of fiction not too dissimilar to Fox herself. That said, it is written in a way which seeks to make clear that the fictional character is newer to her craft than the author herself. This technique is well used and at times one wants the “real life” of Annie, Dr. Will and the others to subside so that you can get back to what is happening between Isabel and Barney, the fictional characters.

Whilst published by Marylebone House which is an imprint of SPCK if you are expecting a nice inoffensive Christian novel you will be sorely disappointed. If however, you are interested in reading a book which does not fall into the trap of so much Christian literature and music of being a bit crap because it tries too hard to be Christian you will enjoy this.

As with so much of what Fox writes it is rooted in the notion that clergy and others in the church are real people too complete with sex lives and family problems. She is also not afraid to identify and address some of the reasons why many people including and sometimes especially Christians end up messed up and the ways in which their dysfunction can manifest itself.

What I think makes her writing so good is that as part of the establishment she is not afraid of offending it and so she goes that step further than many secular writers would because she doesn’t have their fear.