Birmingham Billboard Project Collection

The collection comprises 12 framed prints of the posters and multiple copies of the publication accompanying the project, The Outing of Urban Art, Billboard Project (Birmingham) 1992-93.

Graham Fagen arrived in Birmingham in Easter 1991 expecting to find an artistic vibrancy similar to that in his hometown of Glasgow. His disappointment at not finding this the case influenced him to conduct a research project into possible ways in which to interact and add culture through visual communication media. He worked in collaboration with artists and Vision, a Birmingham-based independent outdoor contractor. Each artist was invited to design a billboard poster that would be displayed for one month. The choice of billboard posters as a medium allowed the works to be displayed outside the more traditional confinement of a gallery and created the opportunity for the works to be viewed by a wider and more diverse public audience. Thus from May 1992 through to May 1993 twelve billboards created by artists were exhibited on a chosen location in Snowhill Queensway, Birmingham. The project also formed the subject of an exhibition at the Bond Gallery, Birmingham in 1993.

Graham Fagen was born in 1966 in Glasgow, Scotland. In 1984 he enrolled at the Glasgow School of Art, receiving a BA (hons) degree in Fine Art in 1989. He went on to complete an MA in Art, Architecture and Cultural Theory at the Kent Institute of Art and Design, Canterbury. He works mainly with photographic or interactive installations, which often include printed scripts and videos. He has taught at the Kent Institute of Art and Design, St Martin's School of Art and Glasgow School of Art. He currently lectures in Sculpture at the Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, Dundee, and is a member of Transmission Gallery, Glasgow. Fagen has exhibited widely in the UK and abroad, recent exhibitions including Peek-A-Jobby, Matt`s Gallery, London (1998), Subversive on the Side of a Lunatic, Henry Moore Institute, Leeds (1999), Graham Fagen at the Botanics, Inverleith House, Edinburgh (1999), and the British Art Show 5 (2000). Graham Fagen lives and works in Glasgow.

From 1991-1995 Graham Fagen was a member of the staff at the Birmingham Institute of Art and Design, University of Central England.

Arranged into two series, each containing one file: BB/BB/1 Publications BB/BB/2 Prints

The Arts, Design and Media Archive at the Parkside Building is currently closed due to the COVID-19 restrictions. Please email any inquiries to adm-archives-request@bcu.ac.uk.

Donated by Graham Fagen