Luke Williams, Night Sky© Luke Williams. All rights reserved
As biennials go, the event calling itself The Event is surely not without a trace of irony. There are, it has to be said, much bigger and longer running shows taking place every two years.
But in terms of the artist-led art scene in Birmingham, this festival is surely every bit as momentous as the name suggests. It puts the city's cultural quarter, Eastside, on the calendar and perhaps the map.
Indeed, nowhere else in the West Midlands will you be able to find a Frieze editor and two international artists discussing Plato and the nature of love on a liable-to-be cold night in October.
Jan Verwoert, Karl Holmqvist and Emily Roysdon are all panellists at the Symposion event at Birmingham Institute of Art and Design. The discussion, set up by international collective Tranzit.org, also provides a focus for events elsewhere in the city.
So the literal food of love is on offer at Eastside Café, thanks to guerrilla gastronomy from Companis. A lover's library, established by local artists BAZ, will also stock both theory and romance in a pub on Bradford Street, The White Swan.
Other venues include Grand Union, where you can find a group exhibition described as a curatorial relay, and Curzon Street station, the wall of which hosts a film about the first Birmingham-London rail passengers.
The Event is organised by the Birmingham Contemporary Art Forum. It stands to reason a city of this size should have one of those. Now viisitors from across the land have a chance to see just why.
- Admission free. See www.the-event.org for more details.
