Artefact Launches Co-op Principles Art Exhibition
Shaz Rahman, Member and Community Council member for Central England Co-op has written a blog about our involvement with local Co-op Cafe Artefact.
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. Artefact have not been able to host an in person exhibition during Covid-19. They were excited to collaborate with their 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 Shaz from the Western Region of Central England Co-op’s Membership and Community Council, 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 runs until mid September. Below is a sample of the art in the exhibition.