World Premiere at STEAMhouse as part of Fierce Festival 2024

We’re delighted to have contributed to Fierce Festival 2024 and the incredible intersectional performances that have promoted Birmingham and the region across the world as a vibrant, diverse and tolerant place where the incredible happens in unusual places. As part of the far reaching and exciting programme of performances and experiences, we were proud to host the world-premiere of Softly/Tenderly in our STEAMhouse Maker Space over a period of 4 days.

Softly/Tenderly is a participatory tactile art-work, created and led by interdisciplinary artist Shelia Ghelani, exploring the complicated history of gun-making within Birmingham, with care and through joy. The performance was experienced in small intimate groups, who got to create and manufacture small precious metal objects that they then got to keep. These precious metal objects could then be used as gifts or totems to take away, acting (perhaps) as a gentle reminder of some of the more joyful things industrious and curious hands can get up to. It was a joy to see so many people making together in our purpose-built production space, a nod towards some of Birmingham’s more celebrated workshop industries, such as jewellery and toys.

For those who felt more comfortable, participants could engage with the heavier aspects of history and Birmingham’s role in the gun manufacturing trade: a piece of print accompanied the work illuminating Birmingham’s role in one of its lesser talked about 1000 trades.

Attentive, pleasurable, gentle and bespoke, Softly/Tenderly is – with intention – the very opposite of everything weapons stand for and do. Fierce said about the performance: “Gun proofing is a reality of life in Birmingham; every so often, you can hear them firing test ammunition in Digbeth. Softly/Tenderly intervenes in that psychic space, with the possibility of shifting the way we move through the city. Plus, a new work by Sheila Ghelani is always worthy of celebration and notice.”

Another participant said “it was amazing to see a view of manufacturing in an environment that was safe and open, that encouraged conversation as well as learning of skills, history and process while being part of a performance. It was enlightening to throw off the perception of metal as a cold, oppressive man-made material through a soft and tender process, re-emphasising its place as a natural and co-operative material if treated in the right way. The performance felt it like viewed the production space as a representation of Birmingham and a microcosm of the city; the workshop of the world. It was great to have conversations about difficult histories through a more joyful experience.”

If you would like to make use of fully-funded access to our Production Space, and have a registered trading address in Birmingham or Solihull, we’d welcome you to apply for a fully-funded membership through our Forward Programme. The programme closes on March 31st 2025 and our cohort is filling fast.

Credits

Softly/Tenderly is supported by Arts Council England and commissioned by Fierce and performance, possession + automation, a three-year project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC).

All photo credits: Manuel Vason, Fierce Festival 2024, Sheila Ghelani.