The Home of Metal is set to spend this summer honouring heavy metal in its birthplace of Birmingham with a series of exhibitions covering the impact of the genre on the world.
From June 26 – September 29, the flagship exhibition, ‘Home of Metal: Black Sabbath – 50 Years, will open at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery. This exhibition will look at the history of Black Sabbath and examine their contribution to British music heritage through fan gifts, costumes, jewellery and other personal items from band members. You can get tickets to this event here.
Related to this, from June 8 – September 1, Midlands Art Centre will host ‘Hand of Doom’, an exhibition of portraits of Black Sabbath fans wearing embellished, handmade battle jackets. Featuring fans from around the world, it seeks to show the diversity of the genre that was born in Birmingham. Tickets for this exhibition can be found here.
Another exhibition taking place under the wider event umbrella is ‘All This Mayhem’, hosted at Midlands Art Centre from June 22 – September 8. US artist and craft-maker Ben Venom will present this mixture of traditional quilting and heavy metal aesthetic to show the softer, domestic side of the genre. Using salvaged fabrics, Venom seeks to tell personal stories to form the larger narrative of heavy metal history. You can get tickets for this exhibition here.
From June 22 – August 11, Polish artist Przemek Branas will present his installation, ‘I is Somebody Else’, at Centrala. Focusing on Polish heavy metal fans living under the State-controlled music scene of the ’70s and ’80s, it features letters, cassette tapes and zines showing the persistence of alternative culture despite government interference. You can get tickets to the installation here.
You can find full details of the overall event here.
