Dundee Contemporary Arts – Engage Everyone
As the Summer rolled into Autumn I rolled in and out of Dundee. I was engaged, if you pardon the pun, in a residency as part of the Engage Everyone stream. Engage is all about encouraging people to engage, go visit, interact with Galleries and Museums – in this case specifically focussed around disability. I was interested in how the venue affected peoples interaction as a building as well as a cultural space. I took the approach of a psychological investigation. Yes it really does matter to me and how i interact with a space and how comfortable i feel in that space if that wall is actually a door and likely to move. For more on this see the ‘queue’ work below.
Not only was i interested in the space and the building but also the organisation. How does the organisation deal with disability? As mental health is a particular interest of mine – then how does the organisation behave as an employer towards stress or anxiety or depression for instance – a few of the easier to get a handle on ones first! From my experience as a therapist and group worker in the past organisations can mirror familys – similarly if a cohort of workers feel comfortable around disability issues then this will be reflected in how the organisation deals with disabled visitors. The tricky thing is though – not all disabilities are visible or obvious. Also there is the fear of getting it wrong. I am frequently around various disabilities and yet sometimes when i meet a wheelchair user i have those moments of panic – do i shake hands, do i sit down – have i stood beyond the natural sitting down time – Jackie was great(Jackie Smith, the other artist) she was just directive and up front. Similarly in one of the photos below ia picture of the rear entrance to DCA – which doubles as the diasabled access lift. Please note the small and seedy nature of it. By contrast you could get a 3 piece suite and a standard lamp in the cargo lift. I know the reality but it does say something to me about where the value lies. However to balance that if DCA didn’t want to address issues they would have hired expensive consultants and got a report rather than getting a couple of artists in. So well done DCA on being progressive. The next stage is attending a conference on the findings of this and its sister residencies in Edinburgh and Glasgow.
Perhaps the biggest learning for me on a practice level was using the laser cutter and wxperimenting with that. This piece below was inspired by a conversation at DCA
I was so amazed at the detail of the laser. This work will not be shown at DCA but it is a personal favourite. And thanks to Rob in the print room for his endless patience and help.
I was amazed at the detail and contrast possible
I had initially thought i would print – and indeed i did – it was like learning from scratch again and was fantastic. However I had my head turned by the laser. These are a limited edition print run of icons turned into folded books.
In between in Dundee I had 2 other exhibitions and was working with the British Institute for Human Rights on a pilot project encouraging people to exercise their human rights through the arts. I made a QR code that directed to an Article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on the engageeveryone blog site
It wouldn’t be Text Art without a bit of text.
And finally those doors.
