For Xhibition, Lyndall Fitzgerald turned her hand to film making for the first time, taking as her subject local Moseley legend Pete the Feet – a warm and fascinating interviewee.

Her interview with Pete was shot by Ian McCormick and they edited it together – the results being shown on the Moseley Exchange building as part of the Xhbition event. Since then its finding a new life on the internet.

In response, we have produced this short film to highlight some of the issues and hopefully stir up some action:

Thanks to long suffering landlord of Digbeth’s wonderful Spotted Dog (best pub in Brum?), Kent Davies at the Rainbow, Keith Marsden at the Prince of Wales and just one of the many Digbeth residents who moved to the area in order to appreciate (not complain about) the vibrant atmosphere, Adam Crossley.

Superb editing and graphics on this film by Anthony Davies.

Altho the Village generally seemed very quiet (sign of the times) the PXP Poets – drawn essentially from the Wrote Under group) drew a reasonable crowd of friends and onlookers, demonstrating what a lovely little performance space it is. I hope we see more events happening there – it has bags of potential for spoken word, music and more and it’d be love to see it used more.

Heres a short video of our “Queen of the Poets” Louise Stokes, performing in character as Chav Kimmy Sue Ann:

One thing that unfortunately didnt come together (due to technical issues and time constraints) for Xhibition was the printing of Matt Murtaghs photography piece – which was particularly disappointing as he had produced it specially for our event.

However, its a fine piece of work and will hopefully have a life long beyond this moment in time.

It takes the form of a photographic panorama of Moseley Village and it can be seen here in, as Matt puts it “full Google Maps wrap-around-o-vision (with zooming!)”.

We have a poster for our event on May and its an absolute beauty. Many thanks to Hunt Emerson for the design – the original will be on display in the exhibition alongside more of Hunt’s amazing work.

The design was inspired by a cartoon in the New Yorker depicting Manhattan Island as the centre of the Universe, which is ridiculous, cos we all know its Moseley.

Click on the poster to view it in all its glory.

Hope you enjoy this lovely video:

The piece featured two dancers – Julia Griffin and Paris Thomas-Wade performing a very touching and tender routine inspired by a scene in George Lucas seminal debut feature film, THX1138.

The dancers motion was tracked via infra-red cameras and the visuals were projected directly onto their bodies. The colours for the visuals were created using a scheme devised by Leon to match the colour spectrum with the aural spectrum with the input coming via a midi connection from Rich’s digital piano. The movement within the visuals was created using a particle generator. Clever eh!

It was a beautiful moment quite late on in the evening and Leon is currently working on another incarnation of the collaboration to perform at the Upstairs at the Cross venue at our new event, Xhibition on May 9th in Moseley.

Well, actually many of us now live in Kings Heath – its not easy to afford to live in Moseley these days!

For this event, rather than putting many different kinds of creative output into one big space and fusing it together, we’ve decided to put art into a few different venues in and around Moseley Village. To this end, some of us took a stroll around the area meeting with people and discussing options. Do many of these places and views look familiar?

Meanwhile, one of the odd things about being involved in Project X Presents is that we spend months and months planning each event, only for it to be over in the matter of a few hours.

Thanks to the delights of modern technology and the hard work of Anthony from Last Phoenix Films, we now have this brilliant film to remind us what our last event – Digital Dystopia – was all about.

And if you haven’t been to a Project X Presents event, then please check it out for a taster:

“The warped machinery and pyramids of light placed around the venue were great additions but it was the cyborg ushers that intrigued me most.  They started off as a benign and curious presence – ushering people around, handing out buzzboxes and learning dance moves from the crowd – but showed a more sinister side during Rich Batsford`s set of meditative piano, dragging captive dancers through the crowd and imprisoning them in a confined space – a strong evocation of the dark side of digital.”

Read the full review here.

Cyborg Usher

Click here to view as a slideshow

These photos are from Deborah Mingham – a relatively new recruit to the Project X fold and a very welcome one.

She was responsible for the superb costumes – in particular those worn by our cyborg ushers who provided a vital element of audience interaction as well as a very visually arresting element to proceedings.  Not suprisingly they feature heavily in all the photo sets we’ve seen so far.

You can see more of Debbie’s amazing costume work at her website.

“Aside from blowing people’s minds and keeping them greatly entertained, the true success in Project X is in turning up the volume on the crème de la crème of the Birmingham underground and giving me that feeling that hasn’t been dared for a while: being proud of Birmingham (gasp!). Yes, I said it, and maybe it’s about time you did too.”

Reginald D Hunter

Some fine photograpy from local creative powerhouse Stef Lewandowski.

Here’s a great series from Pete Ashton and his Through The Viewfinder contraption.
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A shoe-gazers wet dream

As well as making the Buzz Boxes themselves Object X’s creations also extend to the effects units that they will be played through. In this short audio clip we get the chance to listen to a flanger that goes to 11!

A Flanger that goes to 11

Flyers in Selly Oak

I found out something I already knew – that very few print flyers are actually taken by individuals from static displays. Even in locations where a heavy footfall occurs such as Central Library – a location I visit two times a week and where I have spent time on a Saturday early afternoon just watching how people behave when they pass the flyer racks – I found that between my visits very few had disappeared.

PXP have always favoured hand to hand activity anyway. A smile and a chat with questions answered.

Nevertheless it wouldn’t be good to miss out on the potential for awareness raising that flyer drops present – its just WE don’t (I hope) leave quite as many expensive print flyers as some of our competitors seam to. 30 maximum – that’ll last you at least 3 weeks even if 10,000 people pass by every week. There’s nothing I like better than placing 25 of our flyers next to a stack of 100 for another event knowing full well that when I go back in 10 days no more than 12 of each will have been taken! That said with 100 + locations on the PXP distribution list that are divided up between the group to take responsibility for that’s still 3K, so if anything I recommend less than 30 – to be topped up if needed on return visits.

The distribution list was something we came up with as a mechanism for trying to ensure that our info gets beyond certain postcodes. It’s just a list of places suggested during round-the-table chats. Everyone involved is invited to volunteer to put a poster up (after asking permission) in their local newsagent/chip shop/leisure centre etc or the one near where they work. With a bit of luck you will have seen some.

Posters – my research and development there also confirmed something else I already knew: that the best place to keep your Blu Tack is in your back pocket. Keeping the sticky stuff close to body temperature is always a good idea.

Blu Tack in pocket

Arc Vel

Sound checks continue.

Cellar Door sound check in front of a triple VJ screen.

Leads

Its how long?

LED Lights

This should end up being an LED wall!

Eenie-meenie ..

Honest Dave – it all fits together.

Rich blogging

Me blogging our progress!
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More lights are fixed to the truss.

Shana Tova Soundcheck

Soundchecks begin.

Daz and Anne

Segueway sections are discussed and rehearsed.

Louis Campbell

A poet lost for words?

Kid Friendly

Concerned about the child labour laws perhaps?

in Flight

About 3.30 am and it starts getting a bit silly.

Tararabit

See you again in the morning!

The Craven Arms

For those who will be turning up early and are looking for a place to meet we recommend The Craven Arms – just up the road from BUSK on Upper Gough Street. Other pubs further up the road are best avoided.

The staging arrives and is put together and the first bit of truss is flown into the ceiling.

I’m never going to solder a new cable again said Dave after the last event.  How he’s laughing now ..

Crikey theres a lot to do!

This is the side of Rick’s head that doesnt currently have an extra hole in it – following a slight incident with some truss.

Just some of the AV kit is in, and already its forest of wires.

Um, lads, this is on my finger!

BUSK Day 1

BUSK Day 1

BUSK Day 1

How will it look the next day!

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“‘It’s an extremely coordinated show,’ explains Hunter with clear enthusiasm. It’s a real cool, mellow, interesting event.”

There’s also some tantalising previews of some of the acts:

Subsource: “Not so much the sound of an iPod on shuffle as an iPod coming to life and strangling you”

Mixmaster Morris: “The aural equivalent of a weekend in a health farm”

Object X: “small handheld devices which will be distributed among the audience to create their own buzzing orchestra”

360: “furthering the West Midlands’ reggae and ska legacy with parping brass and knees-up rhythms”

Project X hits the right spot

Sep 9 2008 By Simon Harper

Simon Harper meets Birmingham’s musical catalyst, Rich Batsford.

In the past decade and more, Birmingham has undergone something of a cultural renaissance. Creative activity in the city is now much more widespread and there’s a host of artists, events and venues in the city which are getting national recognition too.

“There’s loads more happening now than in recent times,” enthuses Rich Batsford.

“I’ve gradually become much more a part of it, and I’d say that it’s really taken off. We all too often measure ourselves against other cities. The reality is that Birmingham is a very diverse city and may not have had a scene like Madchester or stuff that’s happened in London, at least not since the 70s and metal, but it’s got some amazing music and other stuff.”

Whether playing music, booking gigs, promoting shows or doing voluntary work at several cultural events in Birmingham, Rich finds himself involved in all sorts of activity within the city, perhaps most notably with his involvement as one of the key figures behind Project X Presents.

This weekend sees the fourth Project X event – described as an ‘omnimedia experience’, it is built around the theme of a ‘digital dystopia’, bringing together a multitude of art forms for a sensory overload.

The line-up features the warm electronica of Arc Vel, 360’s sunshine-fuelled ska, stand-up comedy from Reginald D Hunter and Khalgani’s tribal belly dancing, plus a number of other performers taking in myriad creative formats.

For Rich – who will also be performing a set of his meditative piano compositions as part of proceedings – this is a logical step in the development of Project X, a process that has been underway since long before their inaugural event in 2006.

“It grew out of ongoing discussions between five friends, basically. We spent a lot of time talking art, entertainment and life generally, and how we’d like things to be, and it dawned on us fairly gradually that we should do something together.

“In life we tend to get thrown together with people to some degree, and certainly in normal working life you don’t choose who you get to work with, and we saw that we had an opportunity to work with exactly the people we did want to work with.

“There was one catalytic event, which was a party we had to say bon voyage to a close friend of ours who was going off travelling, but also partly for my birthday. We had the party at Robannas, the rehearsal studio. There’s no one big room in there but we had a number of different things going on in a number of rooms. There’s no reason why you can’t have lots of different types of creative endeavour side by side at the same event.”

After the first event in July 2006, charmingly titled ‘Like Fxck’, a programme was devised as part of last year’s Gigbeth festival to provide the follow-up, while ‘Digital Dystopia’ will be the second Project X shindig this year.

It seems to be part of a laudable attempt to develop audiences and partnerships both within Birmingham and also nationally, with a creative ethos at its heart.

“This is one of the things that Project X is intended to address; to develop and engage with an audience. By having such a diverse range of stuff within the show, we will hopefully be introducing people to at least some stuff that they haven’t previously engaged with.

“We very much want to challenge the audience a bit; not make it difficult for them, but engage with them and not just have them passively watching something at the back of the room.

“With Project X, because the audience are in the room and the stages are around them, you feel much more a part of it and much more caught up in it, so that the audience are actively participating in the event.”

Away from such multi-faceted events, Rich is also heavily involved in the live comedy scene in Birmingham, booking and promoting stand-up and theatre shows at the Old Joint Stock Theatre as well as several other venues around the country. He’s brought the likes of stand-up stalwart Stewart Lee to such an intimate venue, along with fast-emerging mirth-makers such as Wil Hodgson, Nick Doody and Paul Sinha.

“I saw an opportunity to book the sort of shows that I really enjoy,” he grins. “The hour-long festival and theatre-style shows in which people have that much more chance to extend themselves comedically than they do in your standard 20-minute or 30-minute club or pub gig format.

“We’ve been there for a couple of years now, building up an audience of people who want to see some pretty interesting comics, doing the hour shows that they deliver at the Edinburgh festival and other comedy and arts festivals across the world.

“Reginald D Hunter has been, from the moment I first saw him on a stage, one of my favourite acts and he’s the first name on my team-sheet.

“I did try to get Doug Stanhope, who I saw at Edinburgh last year and was tremendously impressed by. Stewart Lee, who I think at his best is amazing.

“I really enjoy an act called Paul Provenza, who made a rather amazing film called The Aristocrats.

“Stand-up is such a varied and loose format at the end of the day; there’s so many options.”

Quite how he manages to fit the life of a musician into his hectic schedule remains unclear, but – armed with a love of French classical piano and a stack of Beach Boys albums – he’s quietly built a following for his melodic and magical compositions.

“By far and away the biggest single musical influence in my life is Brian Wilson. From initially appreciating the ‘Fun Fun Fun’ pure joy captured in a two-minute pop song, to gradually discovering the extent of Brian Wilson’s creative genius, he’s taught me a great deal.”

You can catch Rich and a slew of other performers at Project X Presents on Saturday September 13, at BUSK, Gough Street, Birmingham, 8pm.

Channel Four

A nice in-depth preview on Saturdays forthcoming event appears here on 4 Talent – the online creatives magazine produced by Channel Four.

Do check it – theres some interesting quotes from various PXP participants.

“According to Project X core member Rich Batsford, coming up with brilliant ideas for the performance is child’s play, “but it’s like slotting everything together into a giant jigsaw puzzle, except each of the pieces talks back to you and has its own opinions about where it should go.”

Cellardoor at The Public

Its always interesting to hear the stories behind how people get invloved with PXP. I arranged to meet one of the bands taking part in the Digital Dystopia show on their home turf of West Bromwich to find out. Have a listen to Cellardoor talking about their contribution to the September 13th event and relaying some very important information about the new The Public building here:Cellardoor at The Public

Notion Magazine

A nice little preview for Project X Presents from national music and lifestyle magazine Notion.

Another brave journalist making a worthy attempt to figure out what we’re all about and get it across in just a few words:

“Imagine you are on acid at the Science Museum but you’re inside a club, with a circus, a cool DJ and some crazy contemporary dancers.  This is sort of what Project X is like, but maybe a bit less bizarre.

Every once in a while the self named “network of creative individuals” puts on an “omnimedia experience” which apparently “destablilises the role of the spectator”.

Is it a club?  is it a play?  Is it a light show?  Who knows?  Who cares?  Its bloody clever.”
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Its very gratifying that all our hard work has been recognised in this way, and of course the money will come in very handy!

This funding is particularly intended to support two strands of our work: Object X who produce our interactive installations and Digital X – a whole team of VJs working with musicians, dancers and choreographers.

These strands build on what we have done so far and promise to be highlights of our Sept 13 event as well carrying further into 2009 and beyond.

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