The Outcrowd: Festival of the Rea

Fri 19th October 2012
This is an archive item from Supersonic 2012


“Four years ago the Outcrowd stumbled upon some curious and bizarre old traditions based around the area of Birmingham’s birth place, the crossing of the River Rea, now known as Digbeth. Intrigued we delved further, eventually leading us to discover the lost Festival of the Rea, with roots in Pagan and traditional religions, echoed in similar festivals still celebrated throughout Europe.

For Supersonic we will  re-create elements from the Festival of the Rea and build a shrine known as the “house of Beorn”, the first to be built in the area for over a century. A selection of artists with mythical potential will be invited to create offerings to this shrine and members of the public will also be invited to contribute their own offering to this ramshackle, weathered and sacred cabin during the festivities.

As the sun goes down on the last night of the festival, past and present will come together in a climax of channeled energy and sound where the magic of the event and the natural powers of the river will awaken and release the long lost spirits of the city we call home.”

http://www.outcrowdcollective.blogspot.co.uk/

Artists confirmed for the exhibition are:

Marcus Oakley

Jake Blanchard

Rob Flowers

Holly Wales

Stewart Easton

Steven Smith

Rue Five

Adam Higton

French

Arran Gregory

Simon Peplow

Lawrence Roper

Stef Grindley

Tsz Ludford

Lucy McLauchlan

Ben Javens