Black Country Special + Q&A

Two brilliant artists assemble for one special screening.

Outsiders may jumble us together, but Birmingham and the Black Country are in fact different planets. While city folk struggle to navigate a cluster of villages which suddenly became an industrial powerhouse in the 18th century, that apparently chaotic hodgepodge has become fertile ground for the creativity on show in this double bill.

Dion & the Unicorn (dir: Dan Watts 2024, 40 mins)
Filmed during preparations for Dion Kitson’s first solo show at Ikon last year, this documentary captures the Dudley art prankster in full flow – revisiting his childhood bedroom, slashing trampolines and discovering the face of Thatcher on an ironing board.

Nothing Happens Everywhere (dir: Tom Hicks 2025, 5 mins)
As Black Country Type, Tom Hicks has built his own world of colour and form by photographing homemade signs and weird juxtapositions in the Black Country landscape. Now he’s made that world move. Following a silent outing at Hicks’ recent solo exhibition at BCU Parkside, this is the very first screening of the sound edit of Nothing Happens Everywhere, complete with a new poem by Liz Berry.

We’re delighted that Dan and Tom will be present to talk about their work. The event will also include a rare screening of a Black Country gem from the BBC archive. Archie Hill Comes Home was a four-part series written and presented by the locally-born writer and broadcaster. After a tough 30s childhood in the Pensnett area he moved away, and then wrote about his upbringing in cult memoir A Cage of Shadows, which in turn led to the television gig. We'll be showing the first episode, The Living Legend (1974, 30 mins), about the last surviving female chainworker Lucy Woodall.