Hello.
I’m Andy Howlett, an artist, filmmaker and writer based in Birmingham, UK. My work is rooted in place and community. I use creative walking tactics to uncover lost histories and expose the weird underbelly of the everyday. I’m interested in the power of collective walking to re-map and re-enchant our neighbourhoods, cities and public spaces.
I have devised and delivered artistic walking tours for Flatpack Festival, Ikon Gallery and Voce Books/Influx Press. I film, edit and narrate exploratory and playful video essays such as “Escarpment” (2023) which was commissioned by Solihull Council, and the feature-length Paradise Lost (2021) which has screened at architecture film festivals around the world.
I’m co-founder of Walkspace, a walking-art collective which has exhibited at Artefact gallery and received commissions from The British Council, Creative Black Country, and the Wildlife Trust. My writing has been published in “Back to the Future“, an art/architecture journal by The Holodeck, and in the upcoming “Night Time Economy” short story collection by Floodgate Press.
Contact:
andyhowlett@hotmail.com
Projects
- No Landlords, No Bosses: The Story of Jessie Eden House (in pre-production) – A short documentary about Stirchley Co-operative Development made with filmmaker Robert Alexander and produced by Sima Gonsai. The story of a community working together to build an alternative model of housing and retail. In the context of a rapidly gentrifying neighbourhood in a city which has declared itself bankrupt, a plucky bunch of tenants, bike mechanics, bakers, artists and activists have set themselves a Herculean task. Due for 2025 release.
- Walkspace – West Midlands based walking-art collective I co-founded in 2020 with Pete Ashton and Fiona Cullinan. From gentle strolls to hardcore psychogeography, group walks to solo explorations, Walkspace covers the interesting, weird edges of the humble perambulation. Exhibitions, film nights, public walks, zines, cultural exchanges, parades, conservation and much, much more. My Walkspace posts.
- Escarpment (2023) – Exploratory video-essay looking at the northern border between Solihull and Birmingham, presented by John Mostyn. The Castle Bromwich escarpment is a curious frontier where ancient and modern history collide. Commissioned by Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council for Short is Beautiful Festival 2023.
- Paradise Lost, History in the Unmaking (2021) – A feature length essay-film investigating the untimely demise of John Madin’s brutalist Central Library. Described as “compelling and prophetic… wonderfully sardonic and life-affirming” by filmmaker Andrew Kötting. Official selection: Flatpack Festival 2021; Resonate Festival 2021; Architecture + Design Film Festival, Winnipeg 2022; MIASTOmovie Festival, Wrocklaw, Poland 2022; Film and Architecture Festival, Prague 2022; Architecture Film Festival Rotterdam 2022.
- The Magic Cinema (2013-2023) – DIY short-film night and occasional testing ground for experiments in live cinema. All short film submissions were accepted as long as the filmmaker turned up to introduce. Ran from 2013 – 2016 at Ort Cafe and 2019 – 2022 at Artefact, concluding with a ten year retrospective event at Pan Pan in 2023 as part of Flatpack Festival. Other partnerships over the years included Still Walking Festival, Scalarama and Home For Waifs and Strays.
- Video Strolls (2014-2020) – I co-curated artist-film screenings with Video Strolls for a number of years, including partnerships with Flatpack Festival, MK Gallery, Alchemy Film and Arts, and Archway With Words. Artists featured included Michael Smith of the Culture Show, Rosalind Fowler, Andrew Kötting and John Rogers.
- Dream 53 – A psychogeographical live art project invoking the spirit of a lost Surrealist film by Desmond Morris. Developed as part of the first Homegrown artist development programme in 2016. I have since been in touch with Desmond Morris himself and we are in talks about returning the lost film to the public eye. The film is called “Time Flower” and it was made in 1950 when Morris was a member of the Birmingham Surrealists.