laura@auralab.co.uk | 07793 216 257

Platform #2: “The artist is not responsible to anyone”

See below for a slideshow of the sketchnotes I made from last night’s Platform discussion – this time the guest speaker was artist and curator Shaun Featherstone.

Shaun showed us his work around creating an anti-Jubilee newspaper and prompted the debate with examples by other artists such as the Artist Taxi Driver. The discussion revolved strongly around the scale of an active artist; is it enough just to be an artist in order to make a stand? Also the influence of money, selling work and getting public funding, was talked about in the context of controversial projects such as André Stitt’s “White Trash Curry Kick” and Simon Pope’s “Gallery Space Recall“. This with other examples shed light on various views on an artist’s responsibility and morality and where the limit for appropriate art is drawn. The discussion seemed to conclude that the context of art and the viewers’ individual interpretations make it difficult to provide a yes or no answer to the title.

The Platform still has two more discussions to go and they are free but you need to book. For more info and to take part in the online conversation, visit the Platform web page on the Diffusion website.

Coproducing resilient communities: graphic recording from AitT3

Last week I did graphic recording for the third “All in this Together” event about co-producing resilient communities. The event was the biggest so far and attracted a fantastic audience of around 180 people from public, private and third sector organisations. I have taken part in all the events so far and this one was definitely a completely different scale and I felt grateful to be part of it recording such inspiring people speak about the values and benefits of a co-production approach.

I recorded the event in two sessions, around 75 minutes each, capturing key points and sentiments which was at times hard as most of the words spoken carried so much meaning and impact. See above and below for the photos, you can click to view them bigger on my Flickr page.

I also had a chance to put faces to many Twitter contacts, one of whom was the lovely Chris Bolton who blogs under the name What’s the PONT. He did a short post about my graphic recording work and what the benefits of a visual recording are – you can read it here.

If you would like to discuss what graphic recording could do for your organisation, events or team thinking, please do get in touch!

Action Network session for Co-production resource

I took part in the second Co-production Resource meeting in Cardiff City Hall in early April – this time my role was to do sketch notes and make a graphic recording of the Action Learning session outcomes. It was nice to see things taking shape a bit more – I look forward to future developments.

See all sketch notes of the event on Flickr

See my graphic recording work

Sketchnotes: Co-production resource talks

 

I attended a fabulous Co-production resource event organised by Ruth Dineen in February. The event included inspiring speakers and a workshop to see how we could set up an action network in Wales and to explore creating a co-production toolkit. Read more…

London Design and Anti Design Festivals 2010…

LDF at V&A

Last Friday I had a chance to visit London Design Festival and after last year’s good timing and awesome events my expectations were rather high. And truthfully, this time was different: horrible weather, bad ankle resulting in limping, and not many great inspirational moments.

I don’t wish to go on about everything I saw, but to pick out some of the memorable bits (you can also check more photos on my Flickr page). Read more…

Myth vs. fact

The title of this blog post refers to posters I saw at the Harlow Town Show in September. They were displayed at the local NHS stand and grabbed my attention straight away.

I thought this was such a good example of simple messaging and design. It stops people in their tracks – we all have people with mental health problems in our circle of friends and acquaintances even if we are not aware of this.

I have a personal stance in talking openly about mental health problems after witnessing too many occasions when they have been brushed under the carpet or they have cause feelings of shame, despair or even guilt in people close to me. My stance is strong also because there is really hardly any honest publicity about raising awareness of these issues. In social situations, it’s not “appropriate” to admit to one’s weaknesses, especially if those feelings of weakness are in one’s head. Mention therapy or the thought of getting help, things get awkward. Read more…

On chaos and balance

I have always been enthralled by mythology; weaved stories of our world and anthropomorphic characters harnessed to portray beliefs and abstract concepts.

Loki

Loki

JOKER. The arch villain of the Caped Crusader, but also the archetype: the Trickster. Legends, folklore and religious texts depict a Trickster in one form or another: Loki, the Coyote, Puck, the Fox, the Serpent…

The trickster deity breaks the rules of the gods or nature, sometimes maliciously (for example, Loki) but usually, albeit unintentionally, with ultimately positive effects.Wikipedia

Read more…