Multistory events
Michelle Sank
Multistory are hosting a number of events over the next few weeks to celebrate collaborations, book launches and their new festival BLAST!
Michelle Sank - My.Self book launch
8th November, 4pm - 6pm
Sandwell College, 1 Spon Lane, West Bromwich, B70 6AW
My.Self, a book of newly commissioned photography by Michelle Sank. Since 2016 Michelle has been working with Multistory in order to document the diversity of young people and their lives in the Black Country. Through a series of photographic portraits of people aged 13 to 19, My.Self explores what it is to be young today. The launch will feature performances from students at Sandwell College.
The project is a partnership project with Multistory and Creative Black Country.
WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?
17th November, 2pm - 6pm
West Bromwich African Caribbean Resource Centre, Thomas Street, B70 6LY
The event explores family stories in the African Caribbean community. It features a talk by Who Do You Think You Are (BBC) genealogist and author Paul Crooks, a discussion about West Bromwich African Caribbean Resource Centre‘s upcoming project Gone But Not Forgotten, as well as food and music and a chance to view Multistory’s current touring exhibition We Are Family. Talk: 2-4pm, Food and Music: 4-6pm.
VOLKER GERLING: PORTRAITS IN MOTION, LIVE PERFORMANCE
23rd November, 6pm - 12am
Council Chamber, Town Hall, Lodge Road, West Bromwich, B70 8DY
Winner of the Total Theatre Award for Innovation, Experimentation & Playing with Form at Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2015, Volker Gerling is a passionate creator of flipbooks and of the film form he calls Daumenkino – literally ‘thumb-cinema’. Since the summer of 2002 he has walked over 3,500km throughout Germany, inviting people to visit his travelling Flipbook exhibition and creating flipbook portraits of some of the people he meets along the way. Open the book, flip its pages, and you’ll see a miniature film that captures a moment in time.
He now performs live across the world, recounting his conversations with the people in the books who have shared their stories with him while he leafs through the flipbooks under a video camera that projects onto a screen – flipbooks become flipbook cinema. In a series of enchanting and precious moments the people he photographed come to life on screen as he shares the heart-warming and moving stories behind each encounter.
Multistory invited Volker to walk across the six towns of Sandwell for several visits over a two-year period starting in 2016. He photographed the people that he met and talked to along the way and has created flipbooks of some of them that he will perform live in West Bromwich – a gentle meeting of cinema, photography and story.
Please note: Free but ticketed. Tickets must be booked for this performance to gain entry and they are limited to two per person. Doors open at 6 pm with the performance starting at 6.30 pm prompt. Book your tickets here.
TIPTON TALES – BOOK LAUNCH
29th November, 7pm - 9pm
Tipton Library, Unity Walk, Owen St, Tipton, DY4 8QL
Multistory invites you to join poet Emma Purshouse & friends for the launch of Tipton Tales – a book of newly commissioned poetry focusing on the Sandwell town of Tipton. Performances of poems from the book will take place during the evening. Do come along, we’d love to see you.
Emma’s preferred method of working is collaboration. She is part of the Black Country collective Poets, Prattlers, and Pandemonialists whose main aim is to take poetry to people rather than to wait for people to come to poetry.
In the spirit of such collaboration this book features not only work by Emma but also work by commissioned poets that Emma invited to take part. All of the poets featured have deep-rooted connections to and a respect and love of the region. Poets in the book include Brendan Hawthorn, Dave Pitt, Liz Berry, Roy McFarlane and more!
BLAST! ARTIST TALKS
The Council Chamber, Town Hall, High Street, West Bromwich, B70 8NU, 6pm – 8pm
14th November 2018 – Erik Kessels
13th December 2018 – Martin Parr
Blast! will take place across 24th May – 29th June 2019, and will be played out across the streets, shops, libraries and community halls of Sandwell.
The festival will focus on each of Sandwell’s six distinct towns: Oldbury, Wednesbury, West Bromwich, Rowley Regis, Smethwick and Tipton. Finding new and exciting ways of presenting art in community spaces is at the heart of the Blast! experiment. Public space, community venues, pop-up sites, print, broadcasting and online platforms will all play a role in connecting the work of exceptional artists with local people.
Keep in touch: The Blast! Festival website is now live you can find it here.
News about the festival programme and events will be announced on the website as the project grows; you can keep up to date by joining the Multistory mailing list – there will be plenty of opportunity to participate in projects, feasts, talks and walks!