Here’s four of the best Arts Events you can’t miss this December in Birmingham, compiled by Arts Editor Sally Watson-Jones.
Saya Kubota: Missing Post Office UK
10 October – 23 December
ikon-gallery.org / missing-post-office.com/missing-post-office-uk
Don’t miss out on your chance to post the letter you’ve always wanted to write, but don’t know where to send it. Established in 2013, the office operates on the Japanese island of Awashima, where postmaster Mr Nakata holds over 7,000 missing letters from people from all walks of life. Letters posted at the Birmingham branch will be collected and shown at the forthcoming exhibition at the Daiwa Foundation in London, 19 January – 22 February.
Admission: Free, just write a letter
Old Wives’ Tales: Migration Journeys of Bangladeshi women to the UK
13 November – 7 February 2016
www.birminghammuseums.org.uk
This exhibition offers an insight into the lives of Bangladeshi women, many who migrated to the Birmingham during ‘war of liberation’ and also the famine in 1976. Their stories are told with these never been seen photographs, recounting their first impressions of the weather, longing for their homeland and their resilience in the face of the unfamiliar and sometimes hostility.
Admission: Free
Digbeth First Friday
4 December
digbethfirstfriday.com
It’s pretty much a given that this is worth a visit each month. If you don’t do anything else arty for the rest of the four weeks, you don’t have to feel like a uncultured slob. This month includes a film screening of Levitate: A Life in Music at The Spotted Dog, the annual Grand Union Christmas bash and tArt at Vivid Projects in Minerva Works, which promises music, performance, visual art and something a little bit dangerous.
Admission: Varies
Diane Wiltshire’s Sentiment
8 December – 8 January 2016, 10:30am – 5pm daily
www.bom.org.uk
Sick of people just telling you their opinion? Would you like to know how they actually felt, literally, about it as well? Well, this is your chance. Diane Wiltshire interviewed fifty people including monks, MPS, new-age travellers, army personnel and union members, recording their responses through interview and bio-data. Visit this exhibition and you can not only hear their responses, but feel them too through the wearable device, picking who you want to focus on, or hearing and feeling them all at once. Visitors may find some content distressing.
Admission: Free
Sally Watson-Jones
Arts Editor, Grapevine Birmingham.