5 October 1999

>Hi Ju,

Hi Rita :-)

>Hope you have recovered enough to get your head together for the next amazing instalment of the priory chronicle.

Yes, although it hasn't been improved by bashing it yesterday and again today. Because of my visual impairment, when I'm wearing glasses and am tired enough to lose my spatial awareness, I tend to bang my head a lot, as well as falling. Half an hour after banging my head today, I was just cursing social services for still not putting in my grab rails when a guy turned up to fit them . . . but I couldn't cope with the drilling and the general hassle without being given any warning whatsoever, particularly with a head injury, so I told him to come back next week. Again, the curse of being given what you ask for! (Mind you, in this case it has something to do with social services not even treating you with enough respect to think about making an appointment.)

With regard to the Kiasma visit, I had a really funny dream the night that I got home (well, not so funny, actually). In it I had the same level of media coverage as I'd had in Helsinki, but it was much more the kind of coverage that you'd expect where disability arts is concerned - I was described as "brave" and "tortured", and the photograph they'd used was one of my momentarily grimacing in pain at the event seminar. So I guess that I really couldn't get my head around being treated seriously by the Finnish media . . .

>Well life's not too busy now, the font is drying out slowly, awaiting its finish next Sunday.

Can we discuss the finish on Thursday/Friday? I'm taking photographs at the GLAD AGM on Thursday, but will be home in the evening. I've got some thoughts, but I want to mull it over a bit more first.

I spent last night just chilling out and focussing on the residency and my time at Kiasma, so here are my thoughts on them (in no particular order).

There's a lot of ideas going on in the work, but then Mount Grace Priory is a place that has acquired many different meanings over its history, and it's a site-specific work.

In terms of the mobile/sound element, I assume that as we're not using a wooden base we're planning on hanging the mobile below the font as per your sketch? I don't like the idea of using windchimes - yes, I have some in my house, and yes, they have dolphins on them too, and yes, I bought them at Glastonbury . . . but I still think that they're a bit naff in this context. I know that bells marked the rhythm of life at Mount Grace while it was a monastery, so there's an obvious link with chimes, but ambient noise must still have been the dominant sound, particularly given that it was a largely silent community, and it's certainly been the dominant sound since the dissolution. Also, we couldn't use natural materials from the site if we used chimes. What I'd suggest using instead is wooden sticks, which would be fairly Zen-like in keeping with the rest of the work, and would also get the wood back in there. As you know, I'm really into natural ambient sound, so to me the sound of sticks gently knocking together in the breeze is preferable to windchimes on every level.

I was musing on what some of the characteristics of disability art are in relation to form etc, and decided that public art is one of them. I think that this may relate to the fact that the disabled body is always a public spectacle, so disabled artists know that we cannot choose our audience (and, of course, it is a way of taking control of the spectacle). But I think the principle reason is that disability art is directed first at disabled people and second at society at large, it is never directed at an art elite (although it's nice when it's appreciated by them too!). Then I think that digital art, which is another dominant form within disability arts, is dominant partly because it is infinitely reproducible and thus fits into this public aspect; it's not just that the technology is more accessible than forms like sculpture or painting.

Film and video is another dominant form, partly I think because it is easier to reach a disabled audience this way (similarly words, when used at all, tend to be written rather than spoken). Performing onscreen is also easier physically than performing live, of course, and I think both these reasons contribute to the fact that performance within disability arts is so often screened rather than live. Performance, though, is another dominant form within disability art, I think because when disabled people come together outside of an institutionalised setting, it is always cause for celebration and so entertainment always plays a part.

What does seem to be missing from disability arts completely is applied art - I know that the organisers of the Adorn Equip exhibition failed completely to find disabled artists working in the applied arts. One reason for this seems to be access to these forms of art education, but I wonder if another reason is because the applied arts have too much resonance with sheltered workshops and occupational therapy? If so, it's about time we reclaimed them, in the same way that quilt-making is recognised as an art form.

>l have started putting out stones and footprints, they don't look too great at the moment, but need to be there at the mo. l am hoping to move them around every week, to reveal marks in the grass. l am hoping this will give a sense of fade/time.

Sounds cool, but I think it still works if you don't, so you might want to spare yourself!

> Enclosed are photos, l hope.

LOL on the "hope" - yes, the technology seems to be working fine now. In terms of the pix themselves, it's *so* exciting to see it all coming together!

>Tim mentioned that some of the photos and sketches could do with being a little bigger on the web page. Could l leave that with you ?

Yes, although it will probably have to wait for the weekend, when I will also give the site a general overhaul and create some links between emails that refer back to previous discussions etc. It's really a question of balance because of the time that it takes to download images on the web, so it may be that I link the existing pics to bigger copies for people to look at if they wish. Which ones in particular do you want to do that with? Oh, and I'm still waiting for descriptions of the early ones so that visually impaired people using text-only browsers can get the sense of them.

I don't know if you've any thoughts on the general design/structure of the site? I keep wondering whether I should create a way out of the emails to the main index, which classic hypertext design principles would dictate. However, the reason I haven't so far is because I like the idea of people getting caught up in the web . . . anyway, let me know what you think.

>I've been looking at the booklet and talking to the custodian here. The water tower was sited off centre, and not central to the cloister area. Now what do you think about siting, either we go for correctness and history or space, we need to think about this one.

I'm for sticking to history, but is it possible to send me a copy of the site map with x marking the spot?

>P.S. looking forward to seeing you soon.

So am I! One of the more unusual meetings of my life . . .

I've been giving a lot of thought to the way in which I'm going to photograph the work, and came back to time lapse photography (as per my original statement). I did briefly consider the use of a webcam, but then decided that this was actually pretty pointless. So often webcams are just trendy non-events - even when they work! - and in this case the technology would be quite difficult to arrange too. But I like the idea of finding a fixed point and then photographing the work over 24 hours, showing what it looks like in different light etc - if the weather is totally against this, I'll have to find the point myself and then use a facilitator later in the week. So I'll start making enquiries about the technology. When it comes to displaying the photographs on the site, I could programme them so that they change automatically - what do you think?

"Speak" to you again Thursday.

Love

ju90

Webmaster/site slave and Multimedia Storyteller
Created by Nature Modified by Life

ju90@netmatters.co.uk
http://users.netmatters.co.uk/ju90/ju90.htm

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