Vivid (stylised as VIVID) was a centre for the production and exhibition of

media art New media art includes artworks designed and produced by means of electronic media technologies, comprising virtual art, computer graphics, computer animation, digital art, interactive art, sound art, Internet art, video games, robotics, 3D prin ...

, located in the

Digbeth Digbeth is an area of Central Birmingham, England. Following the destruction of the Inner Ring Road, Digbeth is now considered a district within Birmingham City Centre. As part of the Big City Plan, Digbeth is undergoing a large redevelopment ...

area of

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Vivid commissioned and exhibited work both for its own exhibition space and for other locations, provided spaces and resources for the production of interdisciplinary art and hosted a programme of residencies for visiting artists, commissioned major new works and large scale touring exhibitions from artists and exhibited artists' work. After failing to win Arts Council funding Vivid closed in 2012. Vivid Projects was started soon after by the Vivid curatorial team and is based at Minerva Works in Digbeth.

Function

Vivid commissioned and exhibited work both for its own exhibition space and for other locations, provided spaces and resources for the production of interdisciplinary art and hosted a programme of residencies for visiting artists, commissioned major new works and large scale touring exhibitions from artists including

Haroon Mirza Haroon Mirza (born 1977) is a British contemporary visual artist, of Pakistani descent. He is best known for sculptural installations that generate audio compositions. Early life and education Mirza was born in 1977 in London, England. He is ...

Richard Billingham Richard Billingham (born 25 September 1970) is an English photographer and artist, film maker and art teacher. His work has mostly concerned his family, the place he grew up in the West Midlands, but also landscapes elsewhere. Billingham is bes ...

, Heather & Ivan Morison and exhibited artists from 1960

Fluxus Fluxus was an international, interdisciplinary community of artists, composers, designers and poets during the 1960s and 1970s who engaged in experimental art performances which emphasized the artistic process over the finished product. Fluxus ...

movement to rising art stars. In 2008–11 it generated 27 international residencies and exhibitions with Vivid commissions presented at the

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...

Frieze Art Fair Frieze Art Fair is an international contemporary art fair in London, New York, and Los Angeles. Frieze London takes place every October in London's Regent's Park. In the US, the fair ran on New York's Randall's Island from 2012–19 and in 2 ...

, The Art of Ideas and

British Art Show The British Art Show (BAS) is a major survey exhibition organised every five years to showcase contemporary British Art. Each time it is organised, the show tours to four UK cities. It usually requires a number of venues in each city to accommod ...

7; and touring to London and Gothenburg. Vivid produced and curated emerging and mid-career artists and presented their work in local, national and international contexts. Described in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' as 'superb' the critically acclaimed public programme presented a wide variety of new commissions, thematic shows, talks, screenings and pop up events year round.

History

The company began trading as Vivid in the late 1990s, but was established as Birmingham Centre for Media Arts in 1992, when TURC Video amalgamated with the community arts organisation Wide Angle. The conjunction of the two entities created a hybrid resource unique in Birmingham: a film, video and photography workshop creating community access to what at the time was the dominant means of visual communications. Popularly known in the 1990s as BCMA, the centre adopted the name Vivid following a re-location to The Big Peg in Birmingham's jewellery quarter and began several years of digital image making, digital video training and artist development. From 2000 Vivid concentrated on developing contemporary new media and artist moving image through production, commissioning, exhibition and event programmes. The organisation moved to its final home, called The Garage - a former motor garage built in the 1950s - from its previous location in the

Jewellery Quarter The Jewellery Quarter is an area of central Birmingham, UK, in the north-western area of Birmingham City Centre, with a population of around 19,000 people in a area. The Jewellery Quarter is Europe's largest concentration of businesses invol ...

in April 2005. Renovation of the large

MOT Mot or MOT may refer to: Media * Ministry of Truth, the propaganda ministry in George Orwell 1949 novel ''Nineteen Eighty-Four'' * ''mot'' (magazine), former German car magazine * Mot (Star Trek), a minor character in ''Star Trek: The Next Gene ...

garage, in order to provide an exhibition and events programme alongside artist production, created a flexible, multi-purpose space for Digbeth - the first in the area. The Garage, occupied and still bore the evidence of its former use as a vehicle repair workshop, including a large area marked "MOT Bay". After failing to win Arts Council funding Vivid closed in 2012. Vivid Projects was started soon after by the Vivid curatorial team and is based at Minerva Works in Digbeth.

References

External links

* {{coord, 52.4770, -1.8822, region:GB-BIR, display=title Art museums and galleries in Birmingham, West Midlands New media art Art galleries established in 1992 1992 establishments in England 2012 disestablishments in England