| Architecture Week | This takes place from 17th to 26th June 2005, at various venues around the city. There are more than 20 exhibits/events in the Birmingham area, with several more around the West Midlands. |
Architecture Week – it’s an national celebration of contemporary architecture that started in 1997 (well there’s a week for just about everything else, so why not architecture?). The week is an exploration of architecture and the built environment, reflected through art and culture – so it might not be what you’d expect. It includes walks, talks, tours, maps, events, visits to new buildings, exhibitions, children's activities and films.
 | | Funnelvision - a portable museum |
The Mailbox, the largest mixed use building in the UK, is one of the venues where several exhibitions are being held. These include cutting edge installations, architectural competitions, interactive and multi media displays and performance pieces. So what are you likely to see? As you enter the Mailbox you’re greeted by a large funnel like box. Funnelvision is an on going personal project charting the thought processes and creative connections of artist Rick Myers. Rick presents a collection of limited edition posters, screenprints and paper sculptures housed in a portable wooden museum. Rick explained a bit about Funnel Vision: "It’s come about through doing design and the creative process. It’s a building that has been built to incorporate another body of personal work, so it’s a portable art gallery.
 | | Rick Myers brings funnelvision to Brum |
"I’ve been doing posters, not advertising anything other than ideas - so it comes from that idea of accessibility and the feeling of ideas roaming freely that sparked it off initially. "It is a piece of work in itself and a context for the work within it." What is within it? “It’s excerpts from my ongoing catalogue of work Footprints In The Snow. It’s a series of posters and prints, small paper sculptures, exploratory drawings, notes and ideas… a whole host of things that interlink and cross-reference each other, it’s the whole process of creative exploration." Rick is probably better known as the designer of Doves, Badly Drawn Boy and Rebelski cover art. With artists like Rick getting involved in Architecture Week it's really added credibility to it. What else?
 | | Jonathan demonstrates his interactive exhibition |
You can take part in an interactive display Re-invention of the Wheel – you stand under light spots on the floor, this activates video pictures and sound. We met Jonathan Lee the artist behind the exhibition who gave us a demonstration. If you take your shoes off (not advisable in high heels!) and run over the light spots it's actually good fun - so if you need a bit of stress relief at lunchtime this could be the one for you.
 | | Images of the Big Wheel on a screen |
It's tucked away in a space in the Mailbox - not that visible unless you know it's there, but it's worth looking out for. Fierce! Present their latest work. There’s also ‘Going –up’ in 2005, a video installation showing panoramics and views from the top of some of the city's most well-known high rises, including the BT tower and the Rotunda. The week ends with the ringing of the bells of St Martin’s in the Bullring - they ring out to a new composition by the US sound artist Bill Fontana and a walk through the Eastside regeneration area - to listen to the distinctive acoustic landscape. If this sounds like your thing, you can get full details of all the exhibitions/events on the Architecture Week website (linked on the right hand side of the page)>>> | 
