Bath Fringe Visual Arts prepares for lift-off…

Time for all the creative folk of Bath, Bristol and the surrounding areas to turn out for Bath’s biggest annual visual arts event… and for everyone else to drink wine and pass judgement! Be amongst the first to visit this year’s diverse and contemporary Fringe exhibitions and be intrigued, challenged, inspired, tickled pink or baffled – anything but bored, anyway. Drinks will be available and a great atmosphere is expected. The exhibitions open at 6pm in the following sites (full details in the Visual Arts programme available at locations all round town):

Green Park Station 3 Fountain Buildings (beneath Design & Build)

2-4 Hotbath Street St James Wine Vaults (upstairs)

10 Westgate Street 19a Monmouth Place (1 st floor)

After perusing art to your heart’s content you can get down to the infinitely more serious business of partying, from 8pm at Invention Studios Media Café. DJs from Bath’s Stonegruve hip-hop parties and Groovement Records will provide a soundtrack of hip-hop, funk and reggae. Exhibiting at the Café will be Bristol’s graphic artist Sickboy.

The Visual Arts programme includes new and in some cases site-specific work by a wide range of local and regional artists, many working together as groups or collectives; with media ranging from reassuringly solid paint on canvas to the ethereal and transient qualities of film and performance, and plenty of things much less easy to categorise. Two major projects included are Creative Alternative (alternatives to the usual definitions of fine art) and Open House, presenting the work of artists with mental health concerns and learning difficulties.

Associated events include four special performance and interactive arts occurrences, an evening showcasing short live pieces, and workshops for adults and children with learning difficulties. Look out for full details in the printed programme and on the website: www.bathfringearts.co.uk