Heard And Not Seen

‘The Heard and Not Seen project team are delighted to announce that our next exhibition will take place at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery from Monday 12 April – Sunday 30 May 2010.  Visitors will be invited to interact with the installation that consists of a series of freestanding sculptures, photographs and projections.  The exhibition contents were generated from community workshops and invites audiences to ask and explore.  There will also be a series of facilitated discussions.  Please look at details on this website for more information.

Heard And Not Seen (HANS) is an arts project and exhibition by artists Sandra Hall and Mitra Memarzia, in association with Friction Arts.  Based in Birmingham, the aspiration for the project and associated activity is to tour locally, nationally and internationally.

The project aims to create a unique, safe space for people to meet and ask questions with each other, of each other; particularly about faith, religion and spirituality.

There is a clear need for ordinary people to discuss, express and enquire about aspects of daily Muslim and religious life in response to the climate of polarised media reporting.

There are four distinct aspects of the project. 1. Workshops. We have undertaken a series of arts projects with a range of community groups in Birmingham, UK. Art forms included photography, film, installation, drama and interviews.  2. Art Exhibition. From these conversations, we have responded as artists and created an inter-active exhibition using audio, video, photography, reactive media and installation This touring exhibition is designed to create an environment that will stimulate discussion. Throughout the exhibition there will be key dates where groups/individuals are invited to attend a discussion with tea and cake. This will take place in the exhibition itself.  3. Archive. The journey and interviews of the project will be collated and will provide a wide ranging archive for the Birmingham Library reflecting these important discussions.  4.  This website/blog! As the project develops we expect the website to support and enrich the project. Please see ‘join us’ section.

Through extensive research and workshops with a whole range of people, the artists continue to gather an archive of interviews, film and written material which they will interpret to create a unique environment containing sounds, images and sculpture and a place for people to interact with and in.

The exhibition consists of a series of freestanding sculptures containing audio recordings, photographs and projections reflecting the wealth of material gathered.  Visitors will be able to immerse themselves in the work and to reflect within the space, where refreshments and conversation with the artists and others, will be provided.

The project exists to invite people to ask questions with each other – we do not have any definitive answers about faith, religion, spirituality – they are different things to different people. This is what we want to explore with people.

Video Still- from film with 'Young Muslims' group.