River Rea. Highgate 2013. HD Video Loop 7m 45s from David Rowan on Vimeo.

Yesterday I was over at mac birmingham offering a few shards of my ancient wisdom to the youth of the Cannon Hill Collective who are preparing a great four days of socially engaged arts activity at the venue 27th -30th March. It was another chance to dip into the great Walk On exhibition. Which, as the title suggests, collects art that springs from artists walking. Being a fan of maps, lists and walking I’m a sucker for all this stuff. I’m also a sucker for David Rowan’s set of beautiful video landscapes The Dark River, which also act as an outrider for this year’s Flatpack Festival

To be blunt, before its rebuild I can’t ever recall being particularly excited by mac’s exhibitions, they were constricted by their small exhibition spaces scattered through the building. Now, with a big gallery space in the centre of the building and more coherent public exhibition space down stairs it’s as if they’ve been let off the leash, I now actively look out to see what they’ve got coming in with the expectation it will be great.

So tomorrow you could treat yourself to a lovely evening at mac birmingham. Limber up with Walk On, dip into Untied Artist’s For Their Own Good and round things off with a delicious Purity Ale (other beers/exhibitions/art works are available, please drink/watch/contemplate responsibly – this blog post has not been paid for – I just like the work).