Offsite9 is a dynamic programme of arts projects, events, performances, screenings, talks, activities and workshops at locations around Wolverhampton from January to April 2022. Organised by Creative Black Country with funding from Arts Council England and supported by Paycare, Offsite9 complements the presentation at Wolverhampton Art Gallery and Wolverhampton School of Art of the British Art Show 9 (BAS9), a major national touring exhibition staged by the Hayward Gallery every five years.

Offsite9 offers a platform for artists and creatives living in Wolverhampton to present their work to residents of the region and those visiting the city. Conversely, it offers the public an opportunity to engage with the work of artists, photographers, filmmakers, dancers, musicians, sound artists, performers, poets and other creative practitioners by means of twenty-five commissions in established arts venues and pop-up locations around the city.

The programme, which might be considered a celebration of Wolverhampton, its people, history and culture, is intended for a broad spectrum of the public – people of all different ages, backgrounds and interests. Indeed, the rich and diverse social fabric of the city is integral to many of the projects commissioned for Offsite9, with themes of togetherness, kindness and working towards a brighter future running throughout the programme.

Referencing, among other things, the support for the NHS demonstrated by the public during the pandemic lockdowns and the flag of pride for the LGBTQIA+ communities, artist Kathleen Fabre has created a series of rainbow-inspired woollen sculptures that can be spotted at several locations around the city. Titled Alignment, Fabre’s sculptures are intended as symbols of hope, positivity and inclusivity for everyone who encounters them.

One of many communities adversely affected by the pandemic has been the D/deaf community. Do You Understand is a new film by deaf-led charity Zebra Access, directed by artist Jack Smallwood, involving a poem presented in British Sign Language (BSL) exploring experiences of D/deaf people growing up or living in Wolverhampton. Another artist within the D/deaf community, Ishtiaq Hussain, is the performer of Out of Darkness Cometh Light at Newhampton Arts Centre. Produced by Omar Haq and taking inspiration for its title from Wolverhampton’s civic motto, the performance employs the artform Visual Vernacular (VV), which includes elements of mime, facial and bodily expression, to explore themes of isolation, mental health and other challenges faced by the D/deaf community during lockdown and daily life.

A project by Fae Kilburn titled (Perspectives) presented at The Quarter Contemporary Art Space considers how Wolverhampton might become a more inclusive city. As well as working with members of the D/deaf community, Kilburn invited neurodiverse participants and people with disabilities to include their personal stories and thoughts within an installation of silkscreen prints on large scrolls of Japanese paper. Ideas about the kind of city that Wolverhampton might become are also central to the project Imagine Wolves by Leanne O’Connor and Ewan Johnston. Beyond concerns and fears, the artists hope to encourage conversations and collective thinking around hopes and dreams for the future, considering what members of the public want from the city’s tomorrow. The outcomes of the project will be presented in a curated shop window display.

Similarly asking questions about what the people of Wolverhampton would do – this time specifically in relation to disused and derelict buildings – Asylum Artist Quarter has invited nine creative practitioners to create sonic/audio works in response to locations including former shops, churches, cafés and healthcare facilities. With many high streets – including Wolverhampton’s own – now seeing lots of empty units, If-we-had-this-space urges consideration of options to improve the situation by following a sound trail. Another project that takes viewers on a journey around the city to explore empty and near-lost buildings and locations is SO9198 by artist Daniella Turbin. By means of twice-weekly guided walks, Turbin leads participants around a square mile of Wolverhampton (the title of the project taken from the grid reference of this area), considering the different communities that have come to define and shape Wolverhampton over the generations.

The multicultural nature of Wolverhampton’s population is celebrated in numerous projects, including Wander, a projection-based play at Arena Theatre by Graham Everitt and NeOne the Wonderer in which characters representing diverse ethnicities tell stories of their journeys to Wolverhampton at different moments in time. Dawinder Bansal’s mixed-media installation Jambo Cinema at the Mander Centre revolves around experiences of growing up in her parents’ electrical shop in the 1980s and watching Bollywood films with her family. Over at Bantock House Café, Hanifa Hudson presents Social Death – an installation and presentation about her personal history and the legacies of British colonialism, while at Light House, a video installation by Sahjan Kooner, titled Frozen Archive for MOON/ish.exe, explores connections between migration, lineage and technology.

The people and communities of Wolverhampton are also the focus of a number of other projects created for, or presented by, Offsite9, such as Communion by Thomas Jack Brown at St Peter’s Collegiate Church. Here Brown has produced a site-specific video installation splicing together eclectic footage of Wolverhampton’s history and people. Elsewhere, in the project SINGLEPOINT, four female photographers –Tegen Kimbley, Sian Macfarlane, Jasmine Morrison and Deborah Stone – explore community identity and civic space in innovative and discursive ways, producing new work in the form of installations, photographic prints, postcards, stickers and social media content.

Children, young people and families are the primary subject of Katie Holtom’s Pop-up Lives Storybook, presented at Whitmore Reans Library. Conceived for one small group or family to view at a time, a theatrical space inspired by children’s pop-up books brings together projections, illustrations and poetry to tell stories about the city’s families. Family life, personal stories and poetry are also key ingredients of a special event devised by The Punjabi Women’s Writing Group at Wolverhampton Central Library. Titled Hum Saath Saath Hein, which translates as ‘we are together’ or ‘togetherness’, the project mixes poetry, food, music and displays with a view to bringing communities closer together and celebrating difference.

Togetherness is similarly one of the main themes of a double-bill dance performance by Flexus Dance Collective at Arena Theatre. This audio-visual extravaganza comprises two works: Euphoria and Visions, the latter created with four schools and colleges in Wolverhampton as part of the British Art Show 9 Inspired Learning Programme. That kindness is a sentiment crucial to a healthy community is explored in two interrelated projects: Kindness is the Heartbeat of Our City, which comprises paintings of acts of kindness by Kanj Nicholas, and The Science of Kindness by Susan Brisco, which takes the form of film, drawing and sound to look at what happens in the brain when we experience kindness.

The benefits of nature to the wellbeing and mental health of the community are central to the Boundary Way Project, organised by Moya Lloyd in collaboration with artists and plot-holders from Boundary Way Allotments. The project brings together various artforms in an exhibition staged in the Boundary Way Allotments’ community garden. The environment and the natural world are also explored in Plant Fete, a project by Charlotte Dunn inspired by the tradition of floral fetes, which helped to raise funds for the creation of the conservatory in Wolverhampton’s West Park in 1896. As well as a plant swap, members of the public are invited to submit images online of plants spotted or suitable for growing in the park, highlighting the importance of green public spaces for everyone, both in Wolverhampton and far beyond.

Matt Price is a writer and editor from Birmingham, currently living in London.

Introducing Offsite9

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