Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery was the official launch space for last night’s event and was opened by Black Sabbath’s own Tony Iommi.

You Should Be Living – The Visual Language of Heavy Metal
18 June-17 September
Wolverhampton Art Gallery, 01902 552 055, wolverhamptonart.org.uk/wolves
Free, Monday-Saturday 10am-5pm
Thirty years after the band formed, French artist Damien Deroubaix and Napalm Death founder Nicholas Bullen present sculptural constructions containing text and abstractions, embedded video monitors, audio cables and microphones, referencing the work of both artists and Napalm Death’s Scum album. This exhibition investigates the relationship between fans and music by examining the work of artists inspired by Heavy Metal. Matius Faldbakken, Ben Venom and Amy Sarkisian are some of the artists taking part, using typography, vintage t-shirts, sculpture and sound to explore aesthetic features of Heavy Metal and its relationship to contemporary art. The artists take inspiration from the genre, while exploring fantasy, chaos, performance and musical devotion.

40 Years of Heavy Metal and Its Unique Birthplace
18 June-25 September
Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, 0121 303 1966, bmag.org.uk
Adults £6, families £14, Mon-Thur & Sat 10am-5pm, Fri 10.30am-5pm, Sun12.30pm-5pm
The exhibition brings together unseen memorabilia, sourced directly from fans themselves, and places them alongside iconic items such as Black Sabbath’s Mob Rules stage cross, Judas Priest costumes and hand-written Napalm Death lyrics. The ingredients that made Heavy Metal a new genre will be explored, offering an insight into the region’s industrial history. The early blues-rock sound, the changing music industry, DIY politics and Heavy Metal’s global impact will all be presented to the greater glory of Birmingham and the Black Country’s own innovative, barrier-breaking musical form.

Chris Coekin: Manufactory
18 June-22 September
Wolverhampton Art Gallery
Free, Monday-Saturday 10am-5pm
Artist Chris Coekin presents his beautifully detailed photographs and recorded sounds from the shop floor of a heavy industrial factory. Inspired by 19^th-century trade union banners, Coekin collaborated with workers producing staged portraits showing an industrial environment, shaped by 175 years of heavy manufacturing and chemical processes, alongside disused manual tools. The rhythmic factory sounds and spoken-word performances have been recorded by Coekin and put onto vinyl record, capturing the intensity and psychological experiences of working within an industrial environment.

Be True to Your Oblivion
8 July – 10 September
The New Art Gallery Walsall
Free admission
Tuesday–Saturday, 10am – 5pm
A major solo exhibition by former Turner Prize nominee Mark Tichner, whose work is influenced by Heavy Metal. The exhibition features commissioned works such as a video portrait of Nicholas Bullen, founding member of Napalm Death, and a banner with the Judas Priest lyric“I’ll choose my fate” from the song, You Don’t Have to be Old to be Wise. Tichner’s piece Egro Ergot is also included, inspired by a variety of sources such as Vertigo records’ iconic logo, which launched Black Sabbath’s first album in 1970. This piece evokes a hallucinatory experience, with its dizzying optical illusions and hypnotic animations. Heavy Metal memorabilia will additionally be presented during the exhibition.

Hell Bent for Leather
8 July – 10 September
Walsall Leather Museum, Littleton Street West, Walsall, WS2 8EQ
Free admission
Tuesday – Saturday, 10am – 5pm
walsall.gov.uk/leathermuseum
Dressed top-to-toe in an awe-inspiring mixture of shining leather, gleaming studs and chains, Judas Priest moved the Heavy Metal scene into rebellious outlaw. Walsall’s historic home of leather-workings inspects ‘the look’ of Heavy Metal and its most famous sons, Judas Priest. Borrowing the  bands’ personal stage costumes from the Painkiller and Fuel for Life tours, with a wealth of fan’s memorabilia and photographs accompanying the collection.

Metal
16 July – 25 September
Dudley Museum & Art Gallery, James’s Road, Dudley, DY1 1HU
Free admission
Monday – Saturday, 10am – 4pm
dudley.gov.uk/musuems
Metal celebrates the links between Heavy Metal music and metal manufacturing in the Black Country, investigating the occurrence and science of metal with a diverse display of minerals and metal ores. From the Industrial Revolution to the present day, the uses and products of metal will be explored, as well as an insight into how metal makes Heavy Metal music.

Heavy Metal and Place Conference
1 – 4 September
University of Wolverhampton & Light House
Booking/details: homeofmetalconference.com
A celebration of Heavy Metal music, its origins, legacy and influence upon the world. Over four days, experts and academics including Professor of Sociology Deena Weinstein from Depaul University, Chicago and Professor in the School of Humanities Scott Wilson from Kingston University, London will share their knowledge in Heavy Metal and engage with the formation of the genre. The industrial areas of Birmingham and the Black Country in the late 1960’s will also be explored, in aid of expressing the origins of Heavy Metal music.

Words: Ross Cotton

Walking around the Obama’s People exhibition you start to comprehend just how large and diverse a team it is behind the man that is making political history. From his personal aide Reggie Love to the Vice-President Joe Biden no one in this series of portraits is treated as any more important than another, each portrait doing what a good portrait is supposed to: conveying something about the sitter. In these cases it combines their personality as an individual and what they bring to the Obama administration, and it is especially interesting to see if your impression of them as a person matches the role they play.

The people behind the emergence of this exhibition-Rhubarb Rhubarb are now offering the same opportunity to the public-who it is acknowledged were the momentum behind the enthusiasm Obama brought to the voters. As part of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad Open Weekend you or up to three persons can name your role in the Obama team and have your portrait taken by Richard Battye who is one of the most experienced portrait photographers of the West Midlands.

The Obama movement not only paved a new direction in American politics but managed to break down old criticisms of the power of the voter and onlooker. This opportunity is to accept our responsibility and part in how we shape the political powers of the world.

To book the 10 minute appointment call Rhubarb-Rhubarb on 0121 773 7889

11am-4pm Sat 25 July | 1pm-4pm Sun 26 July
At Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery
Chamberlain Square, Birmingham B3 3DH

Having managed the amazing feat of beating off galleries in New York and Berlin, as well as raising the funds in record time, Creative Director of Rhubarb Rhubarb, Rhonda Wilson MBE is pleased to announce that Birmingham will host the launch of Obama’s People.

The leading photography and development agency has won the rights to the Obama’s People exhibition by top photographer, Nadav Kander. Kander was orginally commissioned by the New York Times to take portraits of Barrack Obama’s new council as it was assembled during the election campaign last year. The results were an astonishing mix of artistic photographs and a visual documentary that is a timeless testament to one of the most crucial points in political history.

Photographs include familiar faces such as that of the Secretary of State, Hillary Rodman Clinton, and Obama’s Personal Aide, Reggie Love. The images brilliantly represent the personalities of Team Obama. Some of the sitters pose as they are, others use a selection of personal props to convey their personalities across to the general public.

The layout of the exhibition is representative of its American origins. After viewing all 52 photographs visitors will then move through to the ‘corridor of power’ where light boxes illuminate the corridor to represent the five Washington monuments.

Visitors can also get involved within the project by becoming Patrons of Obama. For between £200 and £500 visitors have the opportunity to get their names on the patron’s list, which will be displayed on the gallery wall and published. Patrons also be invited to the artist’s reception on the 14th of May. For more information on becoming a patron call (0)121 773 7889 or email info@rhubarb-rhubarb.net.

The exhibition will be on show to the public at the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery and will run from the 18th of April until the 31st of August 2009.

Image credit: Eugene Kang, Special Assistant to President Obama, by Nadav Kander. Courtesy of New York Times.

Words: Stefanie Andrews