Venues across Birmingham As Britain’s longest-running live art festival returns, get ready for late-night artist dinners, a show in a swimming pool and Faye Driscoll’s incredible rotating disintegration The phrase “two things can be true” is a frequent refrain in popular psychology and it’s also a frequent response, I find, to witnessing the farther reaches of live art. Hmm, is this performance confusingly self-indulgent or utterly profound? Sometimes it can be both. In fact, it’s not just two things that can be true, it’s as many things as there are people in the audience, since this is all about the live subjective experience, in the moment; presence and connection. Launched in 1998, Fierce is Britain’s longest-running live art festival. For one week it takes over Birmingham’s conventional theatres alongside unconventional spaces, especially in ex-industrial Digbeth, which is fast becoming a creative hub. Also on the bill this year: late-night artist dinners, a show in a swimming poo...
To the sound of a lone bird chirping, the crash-bang wallop ultimately belonged to the underdog in a blockbuster Australian Open final The sprinkling rain at Melbourne Park meant the roof stayed closed on centre court for the Australian Open women’s final , turning Rod Laver Arena into a concert hall charged with the music of tennis. But there was one noise that wasn’t quite right. In the sacred moments before each player’s serving motion, the crowd generally obeyed the protocol demanding silence. However, a single bird – perched somewhere high in the rafters – was less compliant. It must not have been able to escape before the roof shut on Saturday afternoon, and so there it stayed. Tweet-tweet. An unusual accompaniment to a grand slam final. No one could see the critter, though long they tried, as dozens of the 15,000-strong crowd craned their necks in curiosity. Even the umpire kept glancing up, only to recognise the limit of even his broad powers. Tweet-tweet. Continue reading.....