Birmingham

Five prominent international contemporary artists focus on the city of Birmingham in this group exhibition entitled Birmingham at Ikon Gallery.

Francis Alÿs (Belgium) has lived and worked in Mexico City since 1987. Alÿs collaborates with Mexican cameraman Rafael Ortega (Mexico) to film ‘Riot Clash’, a powerful, slow motion portrait of urban tension inspired by the city. Pierre Huyghe’s ‘Concrete Requiem’ was performed in Birmingham, 2000, as an unprecedented partnership between Ikon Gallery and the Contemporary Music group. Huyghe uses this music as the basis for a video installation for the exhibition. Beat Streuli’s photography involves unselfconscious, spontaneous images of people on the street.

For Birmingham, Streuli photographs Birmingham’s youth community. Gillian Wearing was born and raised in Birmingham. For the first time she takes her hometown directly as her subject. Wearing has filmed Birmingham’s nightlife on Broad Street, featuring scenes in bars, nightclub crowds and glimpses of a frenetic mating game. Her footage is transformed into a six-part projection.