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Project Pigeon

[insertspace] is proud to present Project Pigeon, an ambitious project by Birmingham based artists Alex Lockett and Ian England.

Throughout the summer, Lockett & England will be keeping pigeons at The Rea Garden, Floodgate Street, Digbeth.

A number of events will take place at the pigeon loft between June and September, with regular pigeon liberations happening in locations around the country.

Lockett & England’s practice is centred around collaboration with constituencies on the edge of society. This, coupled with their interests in nature’s relationship with culture, as well as traditional and contemporary modes of communication, makes pigeon keeping the perfect vehicle for their investigations.

After twelve months of research with local pigeon racing clubs, the artists have built a loft from reclaimed materials, in which to keep their own brood. The loft echoes those they have visited, with additional features borrowed from past traditions: the red and white perches and colourful exterior mimic the pigeon lofts from a time when it was thought pigeons were attracted home by the brightly coloured patterns.

Fifteen pigeons have been kindly donated to the artists by local pigeon breeders, which Lockett & England will train and enter into races with the Aston & District Flying Club. A GPS system will be used to track one of the pigeons, giving an insight into their fascinating ability to return home.

In addition to the public programme, the artists will run workshops for participants in the Birmingham Intensive Supervision and Surveillance Programme throughout May and June. The group will learn about all aspects of pigeon keeping, whilst helping train the birds to race fitness.

Lockett & England will produce a publication which documents this multi-faceted project, with additional contributions by artists, workshop participants and pigeon fanciers.

Loft Open Days
Sundays 11am-3pm June - September

Pictorial
Thurs - Sun 1-6pm, 27th August – 6th September 2009
Opening night 6.30pm 27th August
Exhibition featuring work by Lisa Cheung, Tom Dale, Ole Hagen, Ming de Nasty, Lindsey Seers, and Simon Woolham.

Lockett and England will take their pigeons to these artists, who will insert specially made artworks in the pigeon’s message carriers. Each artist will be left with instructions explaining how to look after the birds, attach the artwork, and a release time. Back in Digbeth, the audience will watch the exhibition being constructed as each pigeon returns to the loft carrying an artwork. In a day-at-the-races style event, audience members can enter a sweep stake on the fastest pigeon, watching the birds on GPS.

Talk & film screening
3pm Saturday 5th September 2009
To close the exhibition, Lockett & England will speak about their experiences, with a pigeon fancier (tbc) from Aston & District Flying Club. The talk will be followed by a screening of short films, related to pigeon keeping.

Please visit www.flickr.com/photos/pigeonproject/ for images of the project as it develops.

The Rea Garden will be host to a number of residencies throughout 2009. See www.behindcloseddoors.org.uk for more information.