Image courtesy of Morag Myerscough

This weeks residency in the Discovery Pavilion is led by Studio Myerscough,based in the foyer of the brand new Library of Birmingham. They are inviting as many people as possible to come along to The Pavilion to join in designing a new typeface using the facade pattern of the building as the base grid. Each day they want you to create 4-5 letters, you can design all 4 or just one whatever you fancy. Tuesday was A-B-C-D Wednesday E-F-G-H Thursday I-J-K-L and so on.

They are also creating a full alphabet by decorating the outline letters as shown above, these letters need multiple contributions, so please come along and join in, you’ll be surprised at how addictive making patterns can be.

Thanks to everybody who got stuck in yesterday we are collecting an amazing set of designs. Studio Myerscough are in residence until Sunday and all activity is free – what’s not to love.

In addition Morag Myerscough will be presenting an instinctive journey through colours patterns and her design practice at Volume, accompanied by fellow designer and collaborator Luke Morgan and his band The Highliners (including Ginge former Meteors drummer) creating a punk rock design performance! This will be headlined by Bill Drummond. Tickets available HERE

Pop-up cinema purveyors, KINO 10 are taking over the new library theatre as part of the Discovery Season for a season of family-friendly Sunday afternoon film screenings. With a mix of live theatre and music accompanying the films, and featuring films as old as cinema itself, this is a programme of experiential audiovisual delights that you won’t find in the multiplexes.

Kicking the season off is the terrifyingly terrific adaptation of Roald Dahl’s fantastical classic The Witches starring Anjelica Huston as the Grand High Witch. But don’t expect this to be your average trip to the flicks, theatre company Little Earthquake will be inviting the audience to infiltrate the witches’ convention in disguise and help to sabotage it when the High Witch takes to the stage to deliver her big speech. This is cinema as an immersive and interactive experience which is fun and suitable for all.
Best of all kids go for free – but you do need to book via www.birmingham-box.co.uk
tel: 0121 245 4455

We’re in week two of the Discovery season, and here’s a round up of what you can see and do at the Library of Birmingham.

Studio Myerscough are in residency in the Pavilion they designed till the end of the week. Morag Myerscough is an award winning artist, founder of Studio Myerscough and member of the creative collective Supergroup. Often referred to as a ‘place- maker’ she has produced an eclectic — and sometimes eccentric — body of work that is frequently unclassifiable but always engaging. Entirely hand–crafted and hand-painted, the Pavilion is a bold and engaging structure reflecting the diverse, and often radical, offerings of the Discovery Season. During the residency, participants will have the opportunity to have a go at some of Morag’s design techniques and stencil some of the bespoke furniture for the space.

Following Stan’s Cafe’s residency as The Commentators during the opening week, Paul Long, Reader in Media and Cultural History from Birmingham City University, looks at the history and future of Broadcasting on Thursday 12th September at 6.30pm. Tickets are £3 from www.birmingham-box.co.uk

On Saturday 14th September you can join Discovery Trail artists Anna Francis and Andrew Branscombe for a Birder’s Tour of the library. Nestled around the library are 12 bird sculptures inspired by birds that feature in the content of the library’s collection. The tour is free, just meet at the Pavilion at 11am or reserve a place online at www.birmingham-box.co.uk

The Discovery Trail is open throughout the season, which runs til 15th December. And there’s lots of special events approaching including the Discover New Music programme, bespoke dining event Down the Rabbit Hole… and a talk from cult hero Bill Drummond that you can grab advance tickets for.

From Tuesday Studio Mysercough will be in residence in the Discovery Pavilion.

Studio Myerscough have created the structure which acts as a billboard for the entire Discovery Programme. Situated in the Library foyer, The Pavilion will house an 18-week rolling programme of creative residencies focused around the theme of Discovery.
Morag Myerscough is an award winning artist, founder of Studio Myerscough and member of the creative collective Supergroup. Often referred to as a ‘place- maker’ she has produced an eclectic — and sometimes eccentric — body of work that is frequently unclassifiable but always engaging. Morag & Luke were the exhibition designers for Home of Metal at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery. For The Pavilion, Morag worked with fellow Supergroup member artist Luke Morgan to create an upbeat and stimulating surrounding for the residents.

Entirely hand–crafted and hand-painted The Pavilion is a bold and engaging structure reflecting the diverse, and often radical, offerings of the Discovery Season. During the residency participants will have the opportunity to have a go at some of Morag’s design techniques and stencil some of the bespoke furniture for the space. Not to be missed, she is a truly inspirational artist.
See examples of more of Morag’s work – http://www.studiomyerscough.com/

Morag will also be doing a talk about her practice as part of  Volume, followed by a performance by Luke’s band The Highliners and a key note by Bill Drummond. We can’t wait – find out more HERE

Join us this Sunday from 12-4pm in the Library of Birmingham for Harvesting Stories where members of the public are invited to bring a picnic and join in a range of family-friendly, food-related activities – feel free to spread the word.

Together with the Hippodrome we will be hosting a RED PICNIC at 1-1.30pm on 3^rd Floor terrace area, and we ‘dare’ visitors to wear red, bring red food and drink and a red picnic blanket. They will be joined by some extra special guests – the Reds – and also the wonderful Katrice Horsley ( National Storytelling Laureate ) who’ll be there with her ‘Wagon Full of Wonder Tales’!

We invite you to B:READ by food-artist in residence Lizzy Bean on the superbly appointed 3^rd Floor garden terrace at the library. Lizzy Bean invites you to taste the architecture of Francine Houben’s beautiful building with wood-fired bread cooked in a miniature earth oven. Come and spell out your reaction to our new library in alphabet dough balls or simply eat them dipped in aromatic, golden olive oil infused with rosemary harvested from the roof-top terrace.

And there’s more…Small World Animation will be hosting a stop-frame animation workshop in the Children’s Library where visitors can help to create an edible alphabet.

All free – as part of the Discovery Season at the Library of Birmingham

Have a listen to Stans Cafe – The Commentators who are in residence in the Discovery Pavilion for the opening week of the Library of Birmingham – there is an archive of their last few days commentary via Sound Cloud.
https://soundcloud.com/the-commentators/sets/the-library-of-birmingham-1

and you can listen to a live stream from 10am tomorrow via http://www.stanscafe.co.uk/?p=2891

These lovely characters were born at yesterday’s opening day at the Library of Birmingham. Juneau Projects invited visitors on a vegetable quest, where families made vegetable people from plasticine.

There’ll be another Vegetable Quest workshop on Saturday 26th September, and you can see the Vegetable Quest as part of the Discovery Trail throughout Capsule’s opening season.

What a day! The Discovery season began yesterday, celebrating the opening of the Library of Birmingham.

The day began with the library’s official launch, with special guest Malala Yousafzai, the 16-year-old education activist and campaigner for the rights of women and girls. Malala launched the library in front of the world press, and there were over 10 000 visitors over the day.

The season began with a magnificent performance by 100 + brass players. Encircling the crowds in the Book Rotunda, Together We Breathe brought together horns, trumpets, trombones, cornets and tubas to create a mass of sound to a huge crowd of visitors . Here’s a little video of the performance and you can see footage on the BBC Culture Show next week

Juneau Projects also invited people on a vegetable quest; you can see their vegetable characters on the third floor terrace. They’ll be doing another workshop on Saturday 28 September.

The Commentators are in residency at the Pavilion all week, commenting on all the activity in the new building, from the peculiar, to the mundane (we’ve particularly been enjoying their sartorial judgements, big fans of the pashmina it seems) You can hear their commentary online.

There’s tons going on over the next four months. Read the brochure online and we hope you enjoy the Discovery season.