Please, Excuse Our Appearance
Location: IKON Gallery Eastside, Birmingham, UK
Initiative: IKON gallery (Helen Legg) and Marjolijn Dijkman
Participants: Enough Room for Space (Marjolijn Dijkman and Maarten Vanden Eynde), Springhill Institute (Karin Kihlberg and Reuben Henry), Tercerunquinto (Julio Castro, Gabriel Cázares and Rolando Flores)
Period: 15 June - 30 June 2007
‘I remember Birmingham being epitome of modernity... Birmingham was the future – in a sense it has been the future, but that bit of the future is worn out now and we need a new one’ - Will Alsop, architect
Please Excuse our Appearance was an experimental artists’ residency that revealed the participants’ work in progress as they reflect on the changing face of Eastside. 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 apologize 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.
Presentation of researchperiod
A walk through Eastside with a local historian.
A collective visit to the citiplanning office to hear about the future plans for Eastside.
The group of residents