Bill Drummond: Deconstruction
Eastside Projects, Heath Mill Lane, Birmingham B9 4AR
@eprjcts | www.eastsideprojects.org
0121 771 1778
Free
14 June 2014
He entered Birmingham by bed-raft via the Grand Union canal, gave away daffodils to strangers in Victoria Square and sparked right-wing media fury after defacing a UKIP election billboard in the city.
During his three-month residency at Digbeth-based Eastside Projects, the artist, musician, author and irritant to the mainstream Bill Drummond has also found the time to deliver knitting classes, drumming, cake-baking, shoe-shining, lectures, sculptures and other such activities – all part of a ‘World Tour’ manifesto.
Drummond’s activities as one half of agit-pop outfit KLF and the K Foundation are well-documented, particularly the duo’s deletion of their entire back catalogue and torching of £1 million worth of earnings from record sales.
Ever the provocateur, at least in the eyes of the music industry, the Catholic Church and Julian Cope, the Scottish-South African artist still continues to redefine art through accessible and thought-provoking projects and performances, often carried out with dry-wit and devoid of pretence.
This weekend Drummond will unpick and pack up his work which includes a huge installation entitled The 25 Paintings and a sizeable wall map documenting the Birmingham Cake Circle, Soup Line and Rookery Threads projects, as well as tools, materials and photographs, and the many framed statements of intent and notices that line an entire wall of the gallery space.
Exiting the city by the same manner and route in which he arrived, whilst a shipping container with his artistic goods heads to Berlin for the next stage of his pan-global adventure, Bill Drummond departs Birmingham, hopefully leaving us all a touch more enlightened, entertained and inquisitive as a result of his time here.
Swing by and bid him ta-ra – it’ll be a while before an artist of his calibre is back.
Saturday 14 June
Noon – 2pm – Drummond will be baking scones in the kitchen of Eastside Projects.
2pm – 5pm – Drummond will be serving Birmingham Cream Teas, while the Knit & Natter group sew together all of the squares knitted during their residency in Birmingham.
5pm – 7pm – Eastside Projects will be closed in preparation for the night ahead.
7pm – 10pm – Bill Drummond will be performing his score At the age of 59.
Midnight – Drummond will make his ceremonial departure from Birmingham on a raft made from his bed, on the Grand Union Canal underneath Spaghetti Junction
Words: Lyle Bignon
Image courtesy of Eastside Projects
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