We are very pleased to confirm that we will be presenting insights on the Film and Video Workshop Movement from this acclaimed 2009 project for the Channel 4 and Film Culture 30th Anniversary conference. The conference and events take place at the BFI Southbank, London from  1-2 November.

The presentation draws upon research and presentations developed for the ‘Participation’ exhibition that ran at VIVID in 2009 as well as the involvement of Roger Shannon as the original coordinator of BFTVW.

In 2009 VIVID received one of the first  Digital Film Archive Fund Awards from Screen WM for the Participation exhibition and archive project centred on the emergence of new film forms, radical politics and practices, led by the British workshop movement in the 1980s. The works presented in the exhibition centred on the rise of Thatcherism and the social turmoil of the period, and featured seminal early pieces from Isaac Julien/Sankofa, Black Audio Film Collective and Amber alongside long unseen and groundbreaking video work from the Birmingham Film and Video Workshop made for Channel 4.

The work of the Birmingham Film and Video Workshop plays a central part in the project and the exhibition reminded us that the group produced the UK's first feature shot on video and brought work made in collaboration with young people to the mainstream through Channel 4. Vivid director Yasmeen Baig-Clifford said: "The Birmingham workshop scene of the 80s operated in a time of creative ferment and challenges to the mainstream, and was a scene that embraced black film makers, feminist film makers, the documentary tradition, the alternative scene and early participatory work with young people. Companies like Vivid grew out of this ferment, and we are passionate about the need to finally uncover the people and the work of this period".

http://daveharte.com/creative-industries/from-grierson-to-podnosh-a-history-of-participation/

November 2012 signals the 30th Anniversary of Channel 4; a time to look back on what has been achieved.

The C4 conference presentation will be developed by Vivid Projects Director Yasmeen Baig-Clifford with Dr. Paul Long (BCU) and Professor Roger Shannon (Edge Hill). As Dr. Paul Long notes, "Amidst the celebrations of 25 years of Channel 4 in 2007, there was little acknowledgement of the existence of the workshop movement, let alone an appreciation of its cultural value or assessment of its legacy. What was a film and video workshop, what kinds of work did they do and why were they significant? Indeed, were they significant at all?"

We welcome the opportunity to consider the contribution of BFTVW to film culture and its overlooked legacy in a wider creative ecology; in addition to reflecting on aspects of a pre-digital moment of participatory film production, distribution and consumption.  We look forward to unlocking some treasures from the digital archive and bringing some ground breaking work from Birmingham to national attention.

Further details to be announced in September 2012.

All enquiries to yasmeen@vivid.org.uk.

On 12 March, following a Feasibility Study supported by Arts Council England, it was announced that Birmingham Centre for Media Arts, which currently trades as VIVID, will close in May. It was a difficult decision to take but necessary in the light of the current economic climate. The Board of Directors are working with the team to ensure that the VIVID legacy lives on through a new entity.

The Garage doors closed on 2 May. Details of VIVID’s continued legacy will be announced in due course on the website (www.vivid.org.uk), Twitter (@VIVID_) and Facebook page (facebook.com/VIVIDbham), so do continue to follow progress.

The Board of Directors and VIVID staff would like to take this opportunity to thank their funding partners and everyone that has been involved since the company opened in 1992 and they hope to continue the fantastic working relationships they have built up through future projects.

Editors Notes

Established in 1992, VIVID has become a leading organisation within the region and has achieved a strong reputation for its work with artist moving image and its track record of forging new collaborations between artists, the academic sector and industry. From the little seen work of the Film and Video Workshop Movement; to festivals about Fluxus and new shows from rising British artists such as Venice Silver Lion winner Haroon Mirza, the exhibition programme has won acclaim for juxtaposing new artist research and practice with key historical works and movements.

VIVID has also produced and toured new exhibitions of work like Richard Billingham's extensive and ambitious 'Zoo' exhibition tour to locations including London, Madrid and Melbourne, and Karen Kihlberg & Reuben Henry have over the past year taken new commissions across the UK and to Sweden and Germany. The company has also embedded itself in Europe, with three years of work supporting 16 international artists through the European Media Art Network, developing great connections in Europe and beyond. More recently, the company has introduced a very successful and much talked about series of events called ‘The Garage Presents’, which have been held at VIVID’s project space on Heath Mill Lane.

Join VIVID's online pages to receive up to date information on exhibitions and events.