Fierce Waters

There's something in the water but don't panic it's the annual Fierce Festival using Moseley Road Baths' pool as part of their festival of live art.  The festival which was founded in 1998 has since 2009, under joint artistic directors Laura McDermott and Harun Morrison, introduced a 'slow burn' programming model commissioning new works specific to Birmingham alongside national and international touring works reworked for Birmingham, http://wearefierce.org/about/.  The festival is an eclectic mix of theatre, dance, music, installations, activism, digital practices and parties.

Brum Notes Magazine's Dan Cooper-Gavin has picked Parting Waters at Moseley Road Baths in his pick of the festivals highlights,  http://www.brumnotes.com/preview-fierce-festival-october-2-12/  

Parting Waters - October 5-12, Moseley Road Baths

One of two artistic responses to the imminent demise of the iconic Balsall Heath facility, this is the result of a collaboration between Australian artists Laura Delaney and Lisa Stewart and members of the local community, and will feature underwater soundscapes and an after-dark video installation on the building’s Grade II-listed facade. Also at the baths from October 10-12 is Museum Of Water, Amy Sharrocks’ collection of over 500 bottles of clear liquid, each with its own distinct back story.

http://www.brumnotes.com/preview-fierce-festival-october-2-12/

Other picks from Brum Notes Magazine include Gardens Speak and a topic Eat The Street which will test out our continued culinary renown through 12 year old restaurant critics:

Gardens Speak - October 2-5 and 9-12, AE Harris

A metal-pressings factory in the Jewellery Quarter is the venue for a haunting sound installation by Tania El Khoury, comprising first-person accounts of dead Syrian activists. The title refers to the Syrian practice of burying the deceased in domestic gardens in order to protect both the living and the dead from the ongoing brutal regime.

http://www.brumnotes.com/preview-fierce-festival-october-2-12/

Eat The Street - October 3-9, various venues

Toronto outfit Mammalian Diving Reflex are concerned with breaking down barriers between the social strata. For Fierce 2014 they return to Birmingham with this, a project which will see 12-year-olds become restaurant critics, forming their considered opinion about Brum’s finest eateries. Following their tour of the city, they’ll be giving their verdicts in a special awards ceremony at the Custard Factory on October 11.

http://www.brumnotes.com/preview-fierce-festival-october-2-12/

The festival will move to a biennial model, similar to Birmingham's International Dance Festival, http://birminghamcentral.blogspot.com/2014/01/dance-to-city-international-dance.html, with the next festival editions in October 2015 and October 2017.

The programme at the Baths, reproduced below from The Friends of Moseley Road Baths (http://www.friendsofmrb.co.uk/2014/09/fierce-festival-parting-waters-and-museum-of-water/) follows the work of artist Attilio Fiumarella, http://birminghamcentral.blogspot.com/2014/07/terracotta-army-swims.html, who like Delaney and Stewart of Parting Waters, experienced the significance of the building as a community building and resource.

The Programme

The artists and Friends of Moseley Road Baths invite you to attend the Floating Forum on Thursday 9 October, 4:30 – 6.30pm (meet 5pm in the shallow end of the pool). The Floating Forum is a public discussion in the swimming pool. Everyone is welcome to attend and float ideas to the surface as you swim and socialise. The discussion will draw from the site, its swimmers and the collective experience of being in water.

Other works include:

Night Swimmers: A video installation on the façade of the building from dusk til late.
Sunday 5 – Sunday 12 Oct.

Sound Bath: An experiential live sound performance in the swimming pool with local sound therapist/musician Soesen Edan (The Musery). A selection of singing bowls and instruments will be played in the pool creating a sound bath of harmonic vibrations for visitors to float through.
Saturday 11 Oct, 1.00 – 2.00 pm

Deep End Dedications: Music played underwater in the swimming pool, including song requests from the Moseley Road Baths community. Playing underwater during the following public swimming sessions:
Thursday 9th October
1.30 – 4.30pm | public swimming & 6.30 – 8.00pm | lane swimming

Saturday 11th October
1.00 – 3.00pm | public swimming  & 3.00 – 4.30pm | lane swimming

Sunday 12th October
8.00 – 11.30am | public swimming  & 11.30 – 12.30pm | lane swimming

For further details about Parting Waters visit www.partingwaters2014.tumblr.com

Museum of Water

Another artist visiting the Baths will be Amy Sharrocks with her installation “Museum Of Water” (www.museumofwater.co.uk). Amy encourages members of the public to provide a donation of water that holds particular significance. The Friends group will be donating a bottle of water from Pool Two for the collection.  She will be at the pool:

Friday 10 October 10am–9pm
Saturday 11 October 10am–5pm
Sunday 12 October 10am–12pm

The Baths also recently received national attention with an appearance on Celebrity Antiques Road Trip on 25 September.  The episode saw a 3 minute feature on the baths which celebrities Rory McGrath and David Harper explored with the Friends of Moseley Road Baths to highlight their importance, http://www.friendsofmrb.co.uk/2014/09/celebrity-antiques-road-trip/