Initiated by: Marjolijn Dijkman and Helen Legg (IKON Gallery)
Location: IKON Gallery, Birmingham, UK
Involved: Marjolijn Dijkman, Maarten Vanden Eynde, Karin Kihlberg and Reuben Henry, Tercerunquinto (Julio Castro, Gabriel Cázares and Rolando Flores)
Supported by: Mondriaan Fund, NL
Period: 15 June - 30 June 2007
Please Excuse Our Appearance was an experimental artists’ residency that reflected on the changing face of Eastside, a former industrial neighbourhood in Birmingham. Birmingham was the future, but that bit of the future is worn out now and we need a new one.
Spilling out from its central hub at Ikon Eastside, the project investigated the myriad public spaces around Digbeth and the Irish Quarter. The title of the project is derived from signs found in the city centre that apologise to passers-by for any temporary disorder in the look of the urban fabric. These somewhat over-eager messages, typically surrounded with hazard tape and large plastic barriers, suggest anxiety with regard to inconsistencies in the aesthetics of the city.
As a result of this residency Tercerunquinto realised a large intervention in the building of IKON EASTSIDE, Maarten Vanden Eynde produced the work and artists book 'Industrial Evolution' and Marjolijn Dijkman realised LUNÄ a table installation that is being used by Enough Room for Space.