changes

I keep thinking about the library at the Michelangelo school of art, where I did the workshops last week.
It was a rather pathetic collection of literature , which furnished the shelves; Science books from 1954 , donated by an American College, a pile of yellow coloured newspapers, which I thought were used to cover the tables, in case of some art activities. Later I learned that they were used for reference, a way for the students to look up things which happened seven years ago. Mr. M. proudly showed me they also had ten bound annuals, in case  research in even more historical events was required. I saw a few art-books, with black and white illustrations, a lot concerned Vermeer, Hyronymus Bosch, and Rembrandt.I asked why they possessed so many irrelevant books. Mr. K. told me that it was a formality, so that the shelves would not be empty, and also, a gift could not be rejected; that would be considered rude.
Later i was talking about it with a friend, and we thought of this brilliant idea : A book for a book !
Because there seems to be the tendency to hold on to everything you have got, simply, because to own something is better than nothing, useful space was cluttered up by useless materilals. If they would give me a book, I will return a book . I will start a book donation back home at the university; If everybody would give one book from their art-book collection, and perhaps the library has some redundant examplars,Then the next time I will be back in Uganda, in March, when I will be doing work with the new students, I can present them with a new art book collection !!!

The Touch Cabinet

In my head I had this very precise idea of a touch cabinet. This idea consisted of a series of drawers, on high legs,so that the audience in a public space could easily access the content.The drawers were to be opened by the public and inside, there would be the space to store something precious. A little object of great interest or curiousity. On my return to Africa, I flicked through some old magazines and !!! There it was ! My inspiration !
An early 19th Century Recency Collectors Cabinet! The antique specialist writes : This Mahogony cabinet was made for a gentleman's library during the George 1V period. Increasing numbers of people were doing the Grand Tour by this time and returned home bearing souvenirs. A cabinet like this provided the ideal storage facility for small treasures such a micromosaics, which were taken out to show after dinner'
I have asked Mark, a local carpenter of which I dont know his surname, to build me a cabinet with sixteen drawers, to house the objects the students of Michelangelo have produced. This will be on permanent display in the Kampala Museum, as a monument to touch, and especially in the museum. .
And I have also asked him, to make a miniature, a replica of the big one,  to bring back home with me, and which I will be using in the Belfast exhibition. This, I think, is the most exciting part...

Workshops on touch at Michelangelo art college

The workshops consisted of a series of exercises, about half of them were physically and mental engagement, and consequently the opportunity to create objects.
From the very beginning, I explained that I was doing research on the subject of Touch, and that the workshops were designed around that.
Every morning we started with a Hand-Lotion Touch exercise , using different scents, like strawberry, coconut and rose. I told the audience which was dominantly male, that , if I had known the group would consist of mainly young men,  I would have chosen a more robust scent. Later I learned that the engagement of the girls is very difficult, because the shy away from organized activities. Hooray for Rosemary, who was the only young woman in a group of twnety men !!!This exercise is important, because it underlines the immideacy of touch , and this brief memditation is very helpful to become in the present. I explained that touch is a much slower process than seeing or hearing and therefore it is important to take time. The students, which were seated in a circle, in a very small library, which was allocated to us, were asked to close their eyes. I then let them touch a series of objects , a feather , a soft toy, a woven ball, a shell and a piece of wood, to become aware of Touch.I saw some of them making notes on their hands, because no paper was available. I have been hugely impressed by the inventiveness of all of them !!!The three subject I touched on (pardon the pun !) were
Dreamincubation, Creative Stimulation, Creativity and the Unconscious.The red line through all these exercises was, that they either created awareness of the senses, and touch in particular, or expanded creativity, to create an tactile object. It was not really important that all the Touch distinctions were explored; The main thing was, that Touch Awareness was created. so that they could apply that  in their work. I in the mean time , became increasingly interested in the Haptic differnences in the group among themselves which was shown in their interactions and the interactive'games' we played. Right now, I can not think of describing it in another way, but it was much more; It was a connectedness,a rich communication which went beyond lanquage .This manifested itself mostly in my exchange with the deaf students. I looked at their drawings, pointed out that one painted figure only had four toes,  which resulted in lots of gigles,introduced myself with a written note, and felt that there was real contact!

workshops in Michelangelo school of art 1

it is hot and humid. I have just finished my notes on the workshops I held last week. Thinking about touch, I realize that for me the whole area has become much broader than just touching objects. The more I work with people from a radically different culture, like here in East Africa, the more i get fascinated by the' Human Touch' also. Constance Classen questions  in her fascinating book "The book of Touch ", Do we learn a 'Mother Touch' with a mother tongue ?A tactile code of communication that underpins the ways in which we engage with other people and the world ?' I am certain we do. Because people touch each other here in Uganda much more often , there seems to be a sense of friendliness around them. Touch smiles, and aggressive, uninvited touch growls and hurts.
What I will remember most of the workshops was the sense of respect for the programme, the total engrossement, the willingness to apply newly learned skills and information, and the laughter. We laughed because somebody gave a smart answer on one of the questions we shared, .we laughed because the human knot was hard to entangle, we laughed because i could not remember the first sentence of Chinese whispers, one of the senses we explored.The practical end results is a series of hand held objects, which will be put in a Touch Cabinet, which Mark , a local carpenter is working on ( I will write about him  and the cabinet later )
It is all coming together....

Visit to Kampala, preperations for the Master project

The main museum in Kampala, where my Touch-Cabinet is going to be displayed, is right in the centre of Kampala. Entrance  fee sets you back a mere 3000 shilling, about 1.50 dollars. The museum, although perhaps at one point of its long history ( It opened its doors in 1908,  but in a different building) was a light and contemporary place, it now smacked very much of a forgotten era. But strangely enough, this sense of nostalgia added to the atmosphere.A musty, smokey scent, like in so many places in Africa, filled the rather forlorn looking rooms. With every turned corner, there were displays of a huge variety of objects, which varied from the artefacts used during rainmaking ceremonies to fishing and harvesting,ceremonial headdresses,  many more anthropological artefacts.  As a textile artist i found it interesting that 'Basketry and netting were fundamental industries in Uganda, were textiles did not penetrate until the late 18th Century'. There were display cabinets full of 'instruments of punishments', fetish objects, and the recreation of bananabeer, which the young schoolchildren absorbed with bemusement.Some display caskets were eerily empty,with a mouldy long-legged bird put on top as an afterthought, which showed its sillouette in the hot Ugandan sunshine. Then, just as one thinks that it might be better to spend the day outside, the sound of drums start to fill the building. first, carefully, then harder, and more intense. I am following the sound of the noise and swiftly find many children happily interacting with traditional percussion instruments, their hands touch the tightly streched skin over the drums, Finally interaction , touch, and ....FUN