Étant Ballet

Solo Exhibition, MacKenzie Art Gallery, Regina, Canada, The project engages with current issues around art production and food provision, catastrophe and agriculture, through the medium of a performance installation. Drawing on some of the characteristics of post dramatic theatre, the project aims to develop a new visual narratology for a contemporary art performance. A large scale video installation and construction features both as an installation site and performance set, explores the relationship between performance and food provision, looking at how changes to the organic world, the world of vibrant and edible matter might affect the way we make art. Developed and produced in collaboration with Canadian company Curtain Razors and funded by grants from Canada Council for the Arts, Saskatchewan Arts Board, the project was first commissioned by Curtain Razors and the MacKenzie Art Gallery where it was shown as a major solo exhibition as part of a series of other international programming (including artists such Guy Ben-Ner and Ron Mueck). The project was then included in the 4th Moscow Biennial as part of the landmark ‘Independent’ exhibition at the Art Arsenal in 2011. The project is planned to tour to varies other international venues throughout 2012/13. The exhibition has been reviewed by Gregory Beatty in Prairie Dog, Regina, by at the The Leader Post, The CBC French Canadian Television. Canadian writer curator Timothy Long artist and curator Elwood Jimmy have produced critical essays of the work, which will feature in a major new book, edited by Susanne Clausen, which is expected to be published in 2012. (OnCurating Publications).

Public Art Commission, 1x1 project, Tina O'Connell and Neal White

A significant development in the Washington DC arts and Humanities Commission programme, the 5x5 project represented the first publicly funded arts project of this type in the US Capital. Following an International call a panel selected 20 curators who in turn selected 5 artists. All curators programmes and research were presented and 5 curators projects selected. Research into control issues surrounding the import and export of water from Japan were used to set up a project in which public were invited to put one of one thousand small droplets of this imported water onto Cherry Blossom Trees. Many of the interactions were recorded onto the database that also included documentation of sites which have vested political or national interests in the Earthquake and Fukushima Diaichi disaster in Washington DC itself. Hundreds of participants took part in the project over one week.

Museum geography: exploring museums, collections and museum practice in the UK

In the UK alone there are more than 2500 museums of interest to international and home audiences. Despite their prevalence and a strong museological culture in the UK and beyond, the geographic study of museums is relatively under-developed. To date there has been no systematic overview of this field either in the UK or internationally. This review article is intended as a contribution towards an emerging ‘museum geography’. Beginning with an exploration of research on museums, collections and museum practice, the author then considers the recent ‘spatial turn’ in museum studies and discusses how geographers have variously encountered museums, collections and museum practice to date. The article then reviews the potential for the future study of museums by geographers. In so doing, the author suggests that the study of museums offers some exciting opportunities for geographical research and teaching.

Squirmish at the Oasis: an evening of performance and rant hosted by Agency of Noise at the Kinsgate Workshsops Trust in affiliation with Camden Arts Centre

Squirmish at the Oasis takes its name from Luigi Russolo's fourth noise network 'Skirmish at the Oasis' performed in Milan in 1913. 100 years on the Agency of Noise contemplate changes in technology and the culture industry that provoke new questions around the deliberate use of noise within music and art. Through live acts of enquiry and experimentation five artists unravel paradoxes associated with the use of noise in art, music and the gallery space. The works challenge tensions, contradictions and possible oxymorons that emerge through the use and acceptance of noise within an artistic framework. Featuring: DAISY DIXON / GRAHAM DUNNING / POLLYFIBRE / DANE SUTHERLAND / MARNIE WATTS

Interactive sensory objects for and by people with learning disabilities

This project engages people with learning disabilities to participate as co-researchers and explore museum interpretation through multisensory workshops using microcontrollers and sensors to enable alternative interactive visitor experiences in museums and heritage sites. This article describes how the project brings together artists, engineers, and experts in multimedia advocacy, as well as people with learning disabilities in the co-design of interactive multisensory objects that replicate or respond to objects of cultural significance in our national collections. Through a series of staged multi-sensory art and electronics workshops, people with learning disabilities explore how the different senses could be utilised to augment existing artefacts or create entirely new ones. The co-researchers employ multimedia advocacy tools to reflect on and to communicate their experiences and findings.

Interactive sensory objects for and by people with learning disabilities

This project engages people with learning disabilities to participate as co-researchers and explore museum interpretation through multisensory workshops using microcontrollers and sensors to enable alternative interactive visitor experiences in museums and heritage sites. This article describes how the project brings together artists, engineers, and experts in multimedia advocacy, as well as people with learning disabilities in the co-design of interactive multisensory objects that replicate or respond to objects of cultural significance in our national collections. Through a series of staged multi-sensory art and electronics workshops, people with learning disabilities explore how the different senses could be utilised to augment existing artefacts or create entirely new ones. The co-researchers employ multimedia advocacy tools to reflect on and to communicate their experiences and findings.