(image) Photographer Joanna Ornowska with the 110m Hurdles exhibition.

Just a reminder:

Friday night: High Jump at mac, Birmingham 6pm.

Saturday: 110m Hurdles opens at The Herbert, Coventry (til June 10th) 10am-4pm.

Saturday: the two final shows of We Love You City (football) at the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry (2.45pm & 8pm).

Sunday: (not strictly only Talking Birds, or sport, though it may get a mention) Pecha Kucha Plays also at mac, Birmingham and also as part of Capital Theatre Festival, 6pm.

 Now that We Love You City is up and running (til the 26th May), we’ve turned our attention back to the Decathlon…

110m Hurdles: Poet Julie Boden and photographer Joanna Ornowska have been working with residents at Princethorpe Court to consider the hurdles they have faced in life – and their strategies for overcoming them. This project will result in an exhibition of large scale portraits and poems at The Herbert Art Gallery & Museum running from May 26th-June 10th.

High Jump: Earlier this year, Talking Birds, in association with Capital Plays and Writing West Midlands, put out a call for submissions for 5 minute pieces (stories, monologues, plays) which engaged with the high jump, either metaphorically, or literally. The plays or stories needed to be completed – not part-works, or works in progress – but fully realised in, and embracing, the 5 minute form. There’s a list of the selected works here, and they will be presented as a rehearsed reading, hosted by Talking Birds at mac on May 25th as part of the Capital Plays Festival.

For more details on the Decathlon as it unfolds, keep an eye out here.

[We Love You City and Decathlon have both been awarded the Inspire Mark.]

 

Home kicked off today in Birmingham. Talking Birds is involved in the look of the project, which has been made from fragments submitted by 1000 local people. Look out for it on the streets of Birmingham over the next 3 weeks…

That was the Dance bit. The Theatre and Football bit is We Love You City which eagle-eyed readers may remember we made with the Belgrade Theatre a couple of years ago. The show was such a success that we’ve brought it back to mark the 25th anniversary of Coventry City’s epic 1987 FA Cup victory. We Love You City is currently in rehearsals and opens on May 8th.

The Whale is getting about a bit. On May 5th it’ll be outside the Northcott Theatre in Exeter and the following weekend it’s heading up to Lancaster as part of LICA’s Curate the Campus 2012. Our Nick is also involved in the Getting It Out There symposium on 12th May. If you see The Whale on it’s travels, do tweet/post/tag a pic if you can – cheers!

And finally, the second of our Decathlon artworks is the High Jump – five minute play submissions given a rehearsed reading as part of Capital Plays Festival at the end of May.

The Whale is out and about in Warwickshire over the Easter weekend. If you are around please come and, if you dare, enter the jaws of the aluminium leviathan for a one-to-one (or two if you’re shy) submersive theatrical experience. You can find the Whale at:

Abbey Fields, Kenilworth on Friday 6th April 10.30am – 3.30pm

Jephson Gardens, Leamington Spa on Saturday 7th April – 10.30am- 5pm

Jephson Gardens, Leamington Spa on Monday 9th April -10.30am – 3.30pm

Shrewley Village Hall on Tuesday 10th April – 11.30am – 3.30pm

If you see the Whale on its travels, please snap it and either tweet your photo with the #tbwhale hashtag or post your pic on the Whale’s facebook wall. And if you *do* get swallowed by a Whale, let us know how it felt…

Lastly, remember that once you’ve been there and done that, you can always buy the t-shirt.

You know how you do these great projects, then move onto the next thing and forget about them? But they hang about online and then suddenly out of the blue you get a lovely email? Well, that.

A few years ago, we did a project called Masterplan (with funding from Creative Partnerships) which involved getting a load of young people to redesign their school toilets. The whole process is documented online, but to cut to the chase here’s the link to the before and after pictures at Finham School. And then we did some more in Stivichall Primary School.

This morning, we had this lovely email:

“This is fantastic – I am looking at what I can do at my son’s primary school here in Australia and I think this site provides real inspiration – and congratulations!“

Awww…!

 

This is Boo!, filmed by Jay Langdell, which won the prestigous gold medal in the Talking Birds’ Decathlon 100m Sprint final staged at mac yesterday as part of the opening night of Fierce Festival. We asked for submissions of 9.58 second length artworks in any medium, and then last night screened the 9 that qualified for the final. The audience clap-o-meter voted this piece as the gold medal winner.

What do you think?

After a nailbiting final, the audience clap-o-meter has spoken. Here’s the winners (and representatives) listening to the national anthem after receiving their medals.

Bronze: Anthony Hopwood (represented by Megan Vaughan)

Silver: Stacey Allen & Rachel O’Keefe

Gold: Jay Langdell (represented by Alison Gagen)

Congratulations to the winners and thanks to everyone who competed. We’ll get the videos up soon so you can watch them yourselves.

Thanks to Fierce Festival and Pilot Nights for having us!

The line up for the final on Thursday has now been announced:

Stacey Allen, Cormac Faulkner, Mark Hancock, Anthony Hopwood, Johnny O’Hanlon, Jay Langdell and Alan Van Wijgerden will be lining up in the starters’ blocks at PILOT at Fierce Festival at mac on Thursday. (Well, their 9.58 second films will, although having written that – I’m kinda wishing I could see a *real* 100m sprint race with those artists lined up against each other…)

Who’ll be taking home the gold medal?

**DON’T FORGET** Before this, on Wednesday, Jack’s Picnic at Dusk – the finale of the final FarGo Space Programme residency. [Read more…]

 

Lots in the pipeline this year, what with it being our 20th anniversary ‘n’ all, but here’s where you can catch us in March:

Saturday 10th March: Petite Decathlon work in progress show-ette as part of the magnificent Bite Size Festival at Warwick Arts Centre – one of the tea-time tasters.

Saturday 24th March: The Whale & The Q will be two of the attractions at the opening event for the new Bradford City Park.

Thursday 29th March: Screening of the 100m Sprint Final of our Decathlon, with medal ceremony, at mac, Birmingham as part of Fierce Festival.

 

We also recommend that you should be in the audience for some of these – we will be!

Tuesday 13th March: The Ethics of Progress by Unlimited Theatre at Warwick Arts Centre.

Thursday 15th March – 1st April: Still Walking Festival, Birmingham.

Thursday 29th March – 8th April: Fierce Festival all over Birmingham.

Craig Clarke is currently putting the finishing touches to his work at Unit 4, and he’ll be opening the doors to all you lovely people who want to come and have a look at what he’s been up to in there this month tomorrow [Wednesday 29th] evening from 6.30-8pm.

Do come! Let Google tell you how to find it…

There’s still time to submit your 9.58s artwork for the 100m sprint: a lavish prize, gold medal & screening @fiercefestival could be yours!

http://www.talkingbirds.co.uk/pages/decathloncalls.asp

Have you got a 9.58 second artwork in you?

A poem that takes 9.58 seconds to read out loud?

A play that takes 9.58 seconds to perform?

A film that tells a 9.58 second story or juxtaposes 9.58s of images to give the viewer a subliminal message?

A painting that takes 9.58 seconds to make in a Take Hart style (drying time not included)?

A cello solo that takes 9.58 seconds to play?

A computer animation that runs for 9.58 seconds?

Something else that’s far more interesting and inventive than any of the above?

We’re looking for 9.58 second artworks to line up for the 100m sprint.

At the time of writing, the world record for the 100 metres is 9.58 seconds and is held by the Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt. In March 2012 we will be screening 8 very short films at the Fierce Festival in Birmingham, where each film will be 9.58 seconds long. These 8 films will constitute the final of the 100 metres in our Decathlon. There will be medals for the ‘winning’ three as voted by the audience, and a lavish £95.80 prize for the gold medal holder.

To that end, we are looking for 9.58 second artworks. They can be in any artform – performance, video, sculpture, poetry, installation, happening, drawing, animation etc – as long as the artwork is 9.58 seconds long, and can be submitted to us as 9.58 second video. We are looking for works which wholly embrace the 9.58 second-ness of the idea, and are either natively digital, or document a 9.58 artwork.

Deadline for submission – Midday February 28th 2012

For more info, (and the reasons why we want your work) see the Decathlon pages on the Talking Birds website.