Artefact is a collective of artists and creative people who have formed a workers co-op in South Birmingham. With support from Central England Co-op Artefact have launched a new exhibition based on the co-op principles. I worked with Artefact to organise the exhibition. I’m a strong advocate of the Co-ops in Stirchley and saw an opportunity hold a Co-op Art Exhibition. Artefact have not been able to host an in person exhibition during Covid 19. We were excited to collaborate with our local community in Stirchley, in south Birmingham. Artefact put out a call to interested artists to put forward their work for an exhibition based on the seven co-op principles. The exhibition launched on Saturday August 21st and contains a variety of pieces depicting co-ops and the co-op principles. Some of the pieces directly referenced the co-op principles, whilst others were more cryptic. There was even a reference to Karl Marx in one of the artworks. On the opening night of the exhibition myself representing Central England Co-op, Jonny from Artefact and a few of the local Stirchley fraternity had a fun evening discussing the vastly differing offerings and how they displayed the co-op principles. The exhibition is well worth checking out for those interested in co-operatives.
The exhibition runs until September the 18th. Below is a sample of the art in the exhibition. Photo credit to Ben Mabbett
