Wonderland Reflections
The seeds for this project were in the buildings themselves. Travelling across Birmingham, they catch the eye - grand, crumbling facades with a big shed out the back, some of them enjoying second or third lives as bingo halls, banqueting suites and furniture showrooms.
Having come here from Shropshire in the 1990s, where cinemas were few and far between, it was a shock for me to discover that Birmingham boasted over a hundred of these places during the peak of moviegoing in the 1940s. What effect did this picturehouse boom have on the neighbourhoods where they sprang up? And how did they shape the people who worked in them, and the millions who queued up to escape into the dark?
When Flatpack had the opportunity to develop a project as part of the Birmingham 2022 Festival, this was the first theme that sprang to mind. It's a universal story for a start; pretty much everyone has a formative cinema-going experience. As the birthplace of celluloid and the Odeon chain, the home of the UK's oldest cinema and the place where South Asian movies established an early foothold, Birmingham also had no shortage of USPs.
Like many recent heritage projects, the process began with a series of online conversations as volunteers and partners mapped out the territory and co-created a plan of action. Before too long our spreadsheet numbered more than 200 venues, while researchers disappeared down all manner of rabbit holes from upholstery and censorship to Cinerama and the kung fu craze. It was clear that we had taken on a big subject, and minds were focussed by the imminent arrival of our first deadline - the eagerly awaited re-opening of Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, which would include a Wonderland exhibition.
Working with curator Felicity McWilliams, designer Keith Dodds, and Adam Carthy and Habib Ali from Spaceplay leading on the interactive elements and user experience, we decided on two key elements. The walls would tell the chronological story, from early fairground experiments through super cinemas to the colourful diversity of the 1960s and 1970s, while the floor would be devoted to the city's cinema geography, a light-up map charting the different eras taking centre stage. The two would be knitted together by a series of collage character portraits created by Habib, a scrapbook of visuals, interactive games and 'tickets' at the entrance encouraging visitors to discover certain elements.
Watching people in the space, we saw visitors engage with the exhibition on multiple levels, whether dipping into the maps and the games or taking a deep dive into the history. The comment cards filled out by Wonderland visitors are a journey through time, memory and emotion, evidence that the subject resonates with people on a daily basis.
Alongside the exhibition we ran a programme of events throughout 2022, gathered oral histories and launched Wonderland online - an online map resource which will feature a page for every Birmingham cinema.
It's clear that we've still only scratched the surface. With this kind of heritage the sheer volume of rich material and stories is one of the big challenges, alongside carving out the necessary time and resources. The multi-layered nature of Wonderland is a strength and a testament to how important film-going is to Birmingham’s story, but effectively bringing together research, physical events, exhibitions, self-guided trails, print and an online offer is a complex business and will require long term partnership working. Whatever shape it may take in the future, Wonderland has demonstrated in spades that cinema heritage strikes a chord with people and that it can be a window on so many other things - from architecture, fashion and technology to migration, labour relations and family.
If you missed the Wonderland exhibition at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, you can still visit virtually via the Wonderland website.