So the 4th and final part of my journey round Birmingham (The first 3 parts can be found here)
Birmingham Art Gallery
In the last blog post, I was tired and soaked through after walking around Birmingham for the best part of 5 hours. I needed to go somewhere to dry out and get a warm drink.
I decided therefore to head to Birmingham Art Gallery and Museum (BAG).
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| Industrial Hall, Birmingham Art Gallery and Museum |
The Birmingham art gallery is situated just outside Birmingham town hall, a faux Roman/Greek edifice that looks like someone has decided to create low budget Greek myth screen-set in the middle of Birmingham.
Birmingham has gone through a great deal of change over the last 10 years, however the BAG has remained a constant. While other museums, such as the science museum have been relocated and large parts of central Birmingham have been redeveloped, BAG is pretty well as I remember it when my mother used to drag me around it.
My mother started her art degree as a mature student, and this sometimes required that me and my brother would accompany her to the art gallery (under duress) for research. Taking two young boys around an gallery is not a task that I would wish on anyone. However something must of clicked, because I still like art galleries today, and I do seem to have inherited a lot of information on the pre-raphaelite brotherhood(PRB) paintings, of which BAG has one of the worlds finest collections. This just goes to show, just because your kids don't appear to be listening, there is still a chance that something is still going in.
Saying that, I never inherited my mothers love of pre-Raphaelite paintings. I found their simplistic morality more and more jarring as my moral compass got more refined over the years. To me they are the photographic equivalent of chocolate box pictures. Pretty, but in the end an artistic dead end and it is not surprising that the movement was relatively short lived and failed to inspire much outside the PRB clique.
The other main memory of BAG was that it was my first ever TV appearance. The event was on a local TV news affair program called West Midlands today and was due to us being around when they wanted to do a piece on BAG's new exhibit where visitors were encouraged to (shock, horror) actually handle some exhibits. They wanted some expert opinion from some 11 year old's and in those days I was obviously photogenic enough to be selected. Not only that, but I got to speak on camera, and this is where I first found my ability to spout pseudo intellectual garbage, a skill I still find useful today when asked to comment on one of my photos. The result was 15 minute of fame at school (We lived in simpler times). I also got my photo in the local paper, the Evening Mail looking at a Barn Owl. It was a good day.
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| Main Ahll, Birmingham Art Gallery |
The inside of the BAG has not changed much since then.The entrance halls and galleries are much the same. I always try to pick up ideas about light and composition from paintings, and Birmingham has a good range, although their modern stuff could perhaps do with a revamp. One of the things that irritates me though with art galleries is that they rarely treat photography as art and few if any have any photographic exhibitions, Birmingham is not being an exception here. Even the V&A in London, which is supposed to be the main historical photographic archive, has only a very small photographic gallery. More room is given to stain glass windows.
The one exhibition I had wanted to see was the Staffordshire hoard . This was one of the largest Anglo-Saxon gold collections ever found and discovered not far from when I used to live. In fact unbeknownst to me, I probably cycled past its resting place many times. In many ways the hoard is more a Anglo-saxon gold working demonstrator that actual items, consisting of small gold pieces, many from bits of larger items such as sword pommels. However the design and manufacturing skill is superb and showed what we know think as the dark ages, was more sophisticated than we give it credit for
After a walk along the rather good Birmingham history exhibition, and now fully dried out, I retired to find some tea. One thing you can say about the BAG is that it has the finest tea room in Birmingham, and I made full use of its facilities
Still you can only drag a cup of tea out for so long. Dry and refreshed, I still had 2 hours to kill, so I had to decide what to do next. The original plan was to go to Gas Street basin and photo the canals during sunset. One look at the weather outside however showed the chances of seeing any sun was slim to none, therefore I needed a plan B.
So it was off to the library.
The library
When I wore a younger mans clothes, the library was situated just outside the BAG. That library has now been demolished and the site now an area of intensive redevelopment which unfortunately dwarfs the neo-classical buildings. The new library has only moved a few hundred yards between BAG and Gas Street Basin, which itself has become a hub of new development.
The library of my era was a build in what they termed a brutalist style. That is architecture speak for a big ugly fecker, beloved only by architect academics and historians. It looked like someone had piled 4 giant concrete slabs on top of each other and then left them to decay. Whatever some may say, naked concrete is a harsh and ugly material and should be hidden from view if possible. Apart from a few purists I don't think many in Birmingham were sorry to see it go. Saying that, the inside was excellent area for study being open, full of light.
The new library is a totally different building consisting of modern glass panels with a relief of interlocking rings. Although only 5 years old, it has, along with the Selfridge store, become a greatly photographed building
I had walked past it many times, and even take a photos, but never really got anything out of it. However I realised I had never actually been inside it, so this seemed a perfect opportunity to put that rights.
According to Wikipedia, Birmingham library is the largest public library in the United Kingdom, the largest public cultural space in Europe, and the largest regional library in Europe. This may be so, but in some ways it was a brave move to spend so much money on a building whose entire primary function has in recent years suffered due to a sea change in technology. Increasingly libraries are under threat. Across the UK, libraries are being closed or transferred from local authority control to one where they are volunteer run. In many ways it is a sign that we are moving back to a almost Victorian ideal, where services can only be run through local philanthropy (coming to a health service near you soon). There is a strong possibility that this will be the last purpose built library constructed ,certainly at this scale, which is a great pity since I still firmly believe libraries have an important function.
Some of the issues that have affected libraries in recent years can be blamed on austerity, local council cuts and sheer government sheer bloody mindedness. However technology is also partly to blame. When I used the old library, it was basically the only place to find reference information. Nowadays pretty well all the information can be obtained on a mobile phone, tablet etc. It is the same with books. With a kindle I can now carry the contents of a small library on a small hand held device. Some books are never even produced in a physical form and can only be obtained in electronic format. Why do you need a building if all your content can be stored on the cloud.
So in the 21st century what are libraries good for? Well, if a library are to remain relevant they have to be more than places where physical books were stored. Instead they have to be community hubs and areas where they offer services such as internet access to those who would otherwise be denied this increasingly critical resource.
In this respect Birmingham library still has an important function. If to highlight the point, while I was there, I think I only saw about 5 people actually reading a physical book. Most were there to take advantage of a warm space with free wi-fi and a somewhere to plug their laptop in or charge their phone.
OK enough of that, what about the library photographically.
The library consists of 4 levels, of mainly open space. There did not seem to any restrictions on using cameras, but as in all these situations discretion is advised. The interior consists of open plan floors with a wide central opening in which are pierced by shallowly angled escalators. As such they make good targets for practicing architectural photography, with a number of interesting shapes and angles being formed.
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| Birmingham Library Internals |
However the real gem of the library for photographers is the so called 'secret garden'. This area (which is well sign posted and therefore not actually secret) is a veranda on the 3rd floor that provides a great view of the Birmingham skyline. At the time, some of that skyline was being rebuilt, however it is a great place of nigh shots of the city.
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| Birmingham from the secret garden |
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| .....and at night |
After taking a few shots, I decided to settle down and searched out something to read. Fortunately the library had a goodf photographic section and I spent a happy hour perusing a number of books on Ansel Adams until it was time to go.
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| International Conference Center |
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| Bash Street Basin |
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| Bash Street Basin |
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| Bash Street Basin |
Finally...
Finally I ended up in Gas Street Basin. If any area defines Birmingham renewel it is this area. Once a pollution infested relic of a industrial bygone age, it is now an area teeming with wine bars and restaurants and surrounded with iconic buildings such as the international convention centre. However despite the changes, it is still a canal boat marina and crossroads and you will often see boats transiting through the low tunnels.On a good day, it is a fantastic place to get photographs and well worth the mile or so walk from the centre However today was not going to be one of those days, so I decided to finish up and head to the station and go home.
So after a day spent in my so called home town, how do I feel about Birmingham after day re-evaluating it.
I must admit I like the feel of the new Birmingham. No longer the Cinderella of cities, more known for industrial grit and grime than art and culture, Brum has managed to transform itself since I was a child. The investment in the center has produced a vibrant city, the counter culture in Digbeth is promising development and hopefully Hockley will continue to re-define itself.
That is not to say that Birmingham is a perfect metropolis. Under the new chrome and glass veneer, it is easy to find examples of the 1970's architectural failings, but in some ways this only adds to the range of photographic opportunities.
Yes, it has almost got to the point when rather than hiding my identity, I can say it load and proud.
I am Tony and I am a Brummie.
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| The iconic Rotunda ala Warhol |
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