Wandering Minds: exhibition of film 'Of Wanderings and Meaderings'

Tan, Kai Syng ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4491-7166 (2019) Wandering Minds: exhibition of film 'Of Wanderings and Meaderings'. South London Gallery, 05 June 2018 - 05 June 2018.

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Abstract

OVERVIEW: The film, Of Wanderings and Meanderings (Official Selection, Arts and Humanities Research Council AHRC Film Award 2019), which is part of the award-winning art-psychiatry commission #MagicCarpet (2017-2019), premiered at the South London Gallery (founded in 1891) on 5 June 2018, as part of the Arts in Mind Festival of the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (IoPPN). The evening included an innovative 'speed-dating' event that Tan curated, and included the participation of the community's young people aged 14-21 who call themselves 'Art Assassins'. MEDIA: The event was covered in South London Press, and reviewed in Arts in Mind in The Psychologist (The British Psychological Society), 31, pp.68–69, by participant Sushank Chibber, in an article by Dr Sally Marlow, Public Engagement Fellow at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN), King's College London. Kai was also interviewed on Resonance FM. REVIEWS: 100% of the feedback was positive. They included: 'I have found my family' and 'Beautiful experience'. Says Chibber: 'Your event was so innovative and really brought art and science together, two disciplines that are so far-fetched from each other. I learned more about the mind, ADHD and how important art is in navigating various outlets and that was more valuable to me in terms of what I would have learned in a classroom setting'. ARTS IN MIND: Arts in Mind was a week-long festival (June 4-10, 2018) celebrating innovative collaborations between researchers at the IoPPN, and the creative and cultural sector. It showcased work that explores new ways to improve wellbeing and facilitate a better understanding of mental health, the brain and the mind. The creative producer was Ruth Garde, who previously worked at the Wellcome Trust for 16 years. FILM: Of wanderings and meanderings: physical, mental, affective. Flitting in and out of consciousness. Of legible images: travelling through the Canadian Rockies; fingers combing through a tapestry; a woman with a trolley bag wandering around London. Of images that are evocative, abstract, associative and coy: A water symphony? An angry feline desiring touch? Urban decay? Of deaths of cats get reincarnated? Or repetition and renewal? At once visceral and intellectually-intriguing, the film poem bypasses language and draws you in while also denying entry. It draws on themes and materials fromWe sat on a mat and had a chat and made maps! #MagicCarpet. The film has also been shared at the Southbank Centre, Science Museum and NTU Centre for Contemporary Art (Singapore) amongst others. It has been created by artist Kai Syng Tan with her long term collaborators Philip Tan (music) and Michael Tebinka (visual), with additional footage by: Flanders Tapestry, Enamel Hoque, Marco Berardi and Martha McAlpine. #MAGICCARPET in ARTS IN MIND: Tan's 1.5 year Arts Council England funded Unlimited commission, #MagicCarpet, took part in the Arts in Mind Festival in 4 ways: 1) 3-week long exhibition of the tapestry art (2.9mX1.45m) on bespoke 'invisible loom' designed by the women-run Studio LW Furniture, at the IoPPN. 2) 'Speed-dating'  South London Gallery. Members of the public 'speed-dated' experts in the arts and mind: Professor of Psychiatry and adult ADHD expert Philip Asherson (Social, Genetic and developmental Psychiatry Centre SGDP); arts: Dr Cecilia Wee (Artsadmin); live art: Dr Daniel Oliver (Queen Mary University of London),  ADHD: Consultant Dr Ulrich Müller and UKAAN Committee Member Jane Sedgwick, and visual art: Dr Kai Syng Tan (SGDP). We were joined by young people aged 14-21, as the evening is part of the SLG’s youth forum, the Art Assassins who were working on their year-long project The Peckham Experiment: A Centre for Self-organisation. 3) A new short film made by #MagicCarpet’s Michael Larsson (Sweden), Philip Tan (Singapore) and Kai was also launched that evening.  4) Badge-making workshop for 8 year-old school children from the local Lyndhurst Primary School.