Box Of Light: celebrating early cinema

The Icebook

Before the days of film, the magic lantern was an important source of entertainment, using glass slides to create moving images and visual tricks. Birmingham played a key role in this pre-cinema world, producing thousands of lanterns for export, leading to the birth of the flipbook, and eventually the cinema. The Library of Birmingham boasts a hefty archive of 60,000 lantern slides, and to coincide with the Magic Lantern society’s annual conference in Birmingham, Flatpack Festival presents Box of Light, a weekend full of events, workshops and activities celebrating early cinema, part of the Capsule curated Discovery season.

Box of Light Variety Show / 25 October / 7.30 – 9.30pm / £8
An evening of edification and entertainment featuring acclaimed performer Professor Heard, followed by the Physioscope, a Victorian experiment with light and mirrors. The finale of the show is provided by French artist Julien Maire, whose Open Core performance includes a live dissection of a video projector.

The Icebook / 26 October / performances from midday / £5
Beautiful and intimate theatrical performances using paper cut-outs and miniature projections. The Icebook will delight small audiences using old pre-cinematic illusions and magic lanterns; to create shadows and silhouettes complemented with a film footage backdrop.

Projecteo / 26 October / 1.30PM / FREE (bookable)
Designer Benjamin Redford will be giving a talk about his ingenious miniature slide projector. In response to modern technology and the craze for Instagram, Benjamin has created a tiny projector to share Instagram pictures called the ‘Projecteo’. This analogue approach works by creating wheels of slide film to hold up to 9 images, which can be watched and enjoyed as a slideshow.

Mirror Mirror Lantern Workshops / 26 & 27 October / FREE (drop in)
Mirror Mirror will host an array of free family workshops, where visitors will have the chance to create their own lantern slides and experiment with colour projection.
Box of Light’s weekend is set to include more talks and activities and a comprehensive walking tour of key locations in Birmingham’s pre-cinema history. Watch this space for updates.

Tickets for the Box Of Light variety show are now on sale via birmingham-box.co.uk.

www.flatpackfestival.org

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First plans for the Discovery season announced

Highlights of the new Library of Birmingham’s four-month Discovery Season, which will run from the opening on Tuesday 3rd September until 31st December, are announced. Arts Council England support for the Discovery Season was confirmed earlier this year.

Taking its inspiration from the Library’s internationally-important archives and special collections, the Discovery Season will include:

Playground of Discovery – a specially-commissioned Cabinet of Curiosities created by multi-award- winning artist, Morag Myerscough, housing a rolling programme of creative residencies throughout the Season. Capsule are taking applications for the residency programme until Monday 29th April, learn more here. The Commentators from Stan’s Café, the Birmingham-based artists’ group, will be broadcasting from the Playground of Discovery, as the first of the creative residencies, in the opening week.

In a collaboration with Flatpack Festival, a weekend of cabaret and cinema to celebrate Birmingham’s long and colourful association with Early Cinema and the development of the Magic Lantern with a focus on the Library of Birmingham’s archive of 60,000 lantern slides dating from around 1890 to 1940

Theatre Jukebox by Stand + Stare

A trail of artworks will be situated across the building, each making reference to the Library’s rich collections and archives. To include Theatre Jukebox created by Stand + Stare using the Library’s Wingate Bett Transport Ticket collection, an arcade-style cabinet installation that plays stories instead of records housed on the Library’s fourth floor

The Library of Lost Books – an exhibition celebrating the history of the book, with related workshops, featuring contemporary artists and printmakers, inspired by and breathing new life into books that have reached the end of their natural lives

Carol Ann Duffy and Lionel Shriver will appear at October’s Birmingham Literature Festival (formerly the Birmingham Book Festival)

Reference Works, an exhibition of Birmingham’s largest ever photography commission which has seen four photographers – Michael Collins, Brian Griffin, Andrew Lacon and Stuart Whipps – create work in response to the building of the Library of Birmingham

Volume, the Birmingham Art, Book and Print Fair in December has been created as a unique event for the Discovery Season by bringing together existing organisations in collaboration (Writing West Midlands, Birmingham Zine Festival, An Endless Supply, BCU Typography Hub, Grand Union and Eastside Projects). Volume will open with a keynote speech from artist, musician and writer, Bill Drummond.

The Discovery Season is being produced on behalf of the Library of Birmingham by Capsule and is supported by Arts Council England.

The Season will throw a completely new light on the Library’s collections and bring to life the library’s stunning new spaces with installations, events, performances, workshops, and music and dance for every age and interest.

 

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Support Flatpack Festival

 

Our friends at Flatpack Festival have set up a Kickstarter campaign, asking people to pledge fund to their festival hub – the Flatpack Palais.

“A lot of what goes on in the Palais is free, and we’d like to keep it that way so that as many people as possible can enjoy a piece of Flatpack. Some of the budget is already in place, but setting up a temporary cinema-cum-music-venue-cum-café-bar isn’t cheap. Your support will help to pay for technical equipment, seating, signage, and most excitingly all the great things that we’re hoping to put on in the building during the festival: from short film programmes to live bands to psychedelic poster shows. In return you’ll have the satisfaction of helping to make a unique cultural event happen.

One of the most innovative film festivals around, the programme is a treat each year and we can’t wait to see what they’ve got planned for 2013.

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Panopticon pics

A little belated, but here are some pics from our show with Flatpack Festival – Panopticon with live music from Pontiak and White hills plus visuals and DJs – it was a psych dream.

PONTIAK

WHITE HILLS

Thanks to all who came along to the sold out show – it was a great night.

Photos from Grouper (another sell out!) coming up soon plus details of a very exciting gig in July.

Coming up next though its the SECRET SHOW, tickets have sold out (we’re on a roll!) but tickets are still available for both Esmerine and Harvey Milk

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Flatpack Festival 2012

Starts today and runs to Sunday 18th March. There’s exciting screenings and live events taking place across the city – find out more at http://www.flatpackfestival.org

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Still Walking and a jam packed March

Check out a new Birmingham festival of guided tours across the city – an exciting addition to the city’s already healthy festival offer.

One of the Still Walking tours explores the gentler side of concrete…

Still Walking will take place from 15th March to 1st April taking in architecture, typography, film locations, sound tours and more. You can check out the full programme, sign up to volunteer and read more about the events here http://stillwalking.org

It’s part of a jam packed March that includes the ever incredible Flatpack Festival (their full programme is now online), Fierce Festival, Birmingham Opera’s new production ‘Life is a Dream’, the Rammel weekender in Nottingham and tons of gigs.

We’re pretty busy ourselves at Capsule HQ with following shows:

Monday 5th March

Teeth of the Sea + Victories at Sea + Health & Efficiency @ Hare & Hounds TICKETS

Saturday 17th March

Panopticon feat. White Hills + Pontiak + films + DJs @ Custard Factory TICKETS (part of Flatpack Festival)

Friday 30th March

Grouper presents Violet Replacement @ VIVID TICKETS (part of Fierce Festival)

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Retell the tale of Citizen Kane – Flatpack Festival

This year, Flatpack Festival will be collaborating with storytelling wizards YARN on a new project called Five Stories High. They’re looking for talented film-makers, illustrators, and artists to help retell the entire plot of Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane in new and interesting ways.

Shortly before the start of the festival each of the selected teams will be assigned a section of the film (roughly 6.5%), and then you will have about a week to prepare for the grand finale.

On 18 March – the last day of the festival – the finished film will be shown in its entirety at the Custard Factory in a dazzling, multi-media performance known as Five Stories High.

So if you’re a performer, illustrator, or filmmaker who is interested in taking part then just fill in the short form on YARN’s website. Entry closes 1 March

For further information contact [email protected]

Flatpack Festival takes place 14-18 March 2012 across Birmingham – some highlights have been announced here: www.flatpackfestival.org.uk

Don’t forgot Capsule are teaming up with Flatpack on Saturday 17th March to present Panopticon – a night of psych featuring White Hills and Pontiak. Tickets available here: http://www.theticketsellers.co.uk/

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White Hills, Grouper, Teeth of the Sea & more

Everybody’s favourite new band at Supersonic last year was London psych band Teeth of the Sea and so we’ve brought them back for an intimate gig at Hare & Hounds, on Monday 5th March. Come along to witness one of the stand out bands of last year’s festival, pure space rock that stomps and prowls in a menacing fashion. Also are on the bill are psych, folk and no wave ensemble Health & Efficiency and Victories at Sea.

Each year we love to get involved with the excellent Flatpack Festival and we’re thrilled that this year we’re working in partnership to present the Saturday night knees up on 17th March at Custard Factory. And what a knees up it will be! A

night of psych of the highest order Panopticon will feature the full on wig out of White Hills and Pontiak as well as psych films and a DJ set from Club Unlikey. Tickets are available HERE

In collaboration with another Birmingham festival, we are presenting a night of sound art and performance as part of Fierce. The inimitable Grouper will present her recent work Violet Replacement at VIVID on Friday 30th March, comprised of tape loops, field recordings and submerged atmospherics. Also on the bill are organic noisemakers Diamond Catalog and a merging of folk and abstract instrumentation from Swallows. Tickets to the show include entrance to the festival afterparty.

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