We were invited to be artist-makers in residence as part of Futuremakers, a summer-long festival which aimed to inspire the designers and makers of the future through acts of playing, making and building.

Futuremaker was an exhibition, artist residency and participatory programme hosted by Midlands Art Centre, Birmingham, conceived by Alessandro Columbano.

As resident makers, we worked in a purpose-built open studio in the arena gallery to work collaboratively with the public and local groups. Participants were invited to explore materials, play and have fun while helping to create a new structure. The project aimed to work with the public to play, make, and build pavilions in Cannon Hill Park. We helped support the creation and construction of pavilions using the architecture of the MAC as a starting point.

Futuremakers exhibition and artist residency at the Midlands Art Centre MAC work here created by Zoe Robertson & Steve Snell The Dual Works (25).jpg

Futuremakers exhibition and artist residency at the Midlands Art Centre MAC work here created by Zoe Robertson & Steve Snell The Dual Works (48).jpg

Futuremakers exhibition and artist residency at the Midlands Art Centre MAC work here created by Zoe Robertson & Steve Snell The Dual Works (4).jpg

Futuremakers exhibition and artist residency at the Midlands Art Centre MAC work here created by Zoe Robertson & Steve Snell The Dual Works (24) copy.jpg

Futuremakers exhibition and artist residency at the Midlands Art Centre MAC work here created by Zoe Robertson & Steve Snell The Dual Works (14).jpg

Futuremakers exhibition and artist residency at the Midlands Art Centre MAC work here created by Zoe Robertson & Steve Snell The Dual Works (46).jpg

An accompanying exhibition displayed artworks and projects on the theme of play, make, build, and included historical and contemporary examples where play forms an integral part to a creative act or outcome, alongside an ongoing curated display of the maker's programme.

The Big Review was the closing event for Futuremakers, a ‘private view’ of sorts, but one that occurs at the end of the exhibition rather than its opening. Its guests were younger than normally expected, too – starting from 4 years! The exhibition and public programme had an aim to engage everyone with an idea to play, make build. The main theatre space was transformed as an extension to the gallery, presenting the various structures each maker-in-residence created, alongside those made by the workshop participants, and the biggest playmat most would not have seen before. Guests, wanderers and participants were invited to build as the event went on and what occurred was unexpected with the young audience combining their creations made on the playmat with the makers’, allowing them to imagine new spaces and assembly sequences. The assemblages were reminiscent of those from the Junk yard playgrounds that were influential in the planning of the project.

Full team Credits:

Curation and Maker programme – Alessandro Columbano
Residency Programme: Dual Works, Simon & Tom Bloor, Birmingham Co.LAB
Exhibition design and graphics – Birmingham Co.LAB and Zohra Abbas
Public participation programme – Trevor Pitts
Mac Birmingham production team – Jessica Litherland, Claire Marshall, Sonya Russell Saunders, Silas Wood
Additional Support from Hawkins/Brown Architects.