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CARIAD CWTCH 9th November

‘Research and making are two ways of thinking that continually intercept one another. They are rolling practices, often convoluted, snaking, twisting and coiling together. Neither linear nor continuous, they involve a process of doing and redoing. It is an awkward, fascinating, uncomfortable and irritating process and sometimes completely unsuccessful. Ideas surface slowly, glimpsed intermittently, as if seen at the bottom of a very murky pond. Fishing without a net.’ Alyson Brien

We were really delighted to be joined by Professor Jeffery Wallace, from the School of Education. Jeff talked about his research interest in bibliotherapy, and as usual sparked lots of ideas in all of us. Jeff describes  bibliotherapy as the use of literary texts – for example novels, short stories, poetry – for broadly ‘therapeutic’ purposes, within carefully selected contexts. Its principle of inclusivity is based on group practice and on reading aloud. The novelist Blake Morrison describes bibliotherapy as “an experiment in healing, or, to put it less grandiosely, an attempt to see whether reading can alleviate pain or mental distress.” No ‘critical’ prescriptions are made; instead, the space for reflection on texts offered by bibliotherapy is open, requiring only the sharing of responses for the purposes of mutual support and understanding. 

We also welcomed artist Sue Hunt, who has been conducting fantastic inclusive arts projects in China, India, Australia and Zambia.

Our Hand i Pocket event, Sewing in Suits, was held at Tec Marina on 13th October 2016.  In collaboration with Alzheimer’s Society, Age Cymru, Ty Hapus and Inspiration Wealth Management, we invited business people to join us at this ‘hands-on’ creative workshop to make Hand i Pockets and learn more about dementia.

Sewing in suits – flyer

Continue reading Sewing in suits

Members of the CARIAD team recently ran a workshop with the WAAG society and Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences as part of the Design & Emotion conference.  The workshop ‘Design for our future self’, explored new ways to give a ‘voice’ to users’ needs within the context of dementia.  The workshop was held in the Theatrum Anatomicum in the centre of Amsterdam and looked at existing solutions and methodologies to explore the future scenarios of needs within the growing dementia landscape.

 

 

We were delighted to welcome Dr Gail Kenning from the University of Technology, Sydney Australia to our monthly cwtch meeting. Gail led a lively discussion on evaluation, particularly from her position as a practicing artist working in applied research. The idea that the terminology and range of methodologies for including participants as partners in research needs to change resonated with most of us, who still feel that the dominant perspective is to view participants as subjects. The possibility that the arts could provide a “third space” provoked suggestions from CARIAD members from all disciplines, and led to discussions how we might encourage our Masters students to have a more active role in our research. We shared ideas on the potential to offer a suite of Masters projects that would enable our students to collaborate, across disciplines, on CARIAD our project. More on this to follow….

 

I have been here at UTS in Sydney working as International Visiting Scholar with my collaborators Dr.Gail Kenning and Prof Roger Dunston for nearly three weeks now – I can’t believe how fast the time is flying by.
This weekend we ran a participatory Funshop event at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney supported by Alzheimer’s Australia as part of the Makers Faire and Sydney Design Week. It was very successful and resulted in an interview for local radio and photographs taken for ABC TV (equivalent of the BBC). The museum had a footfall of 5,500 people over the weekend (the usual average is 700 each day) – so they were thrilled. There were about 35 other groups represented at the event and we were told by the Powerhouse staff that ours was one of the most popular with the pubic – it certainly felt like it – exhausting!!.
The theme of the funshop was ‘Hand i Pockets’ – a development from the dementia aprons project I ran in June and we encouraged participants to make sensory pockets for people with late stage dementia. We also gave two public lectures about the research as part of Sydney Design Week. We had an excellent meeting with the CEO from Alzheimer’s Australia NSW who have pledged their support for our research and are helping facilitate meetings. We are travelling 500 miles north to Coffs Harbour tomorrow to meet and interview dementia care managers, OT’s and Alzheimer’s staff there to get a regional perspective outside of Sydney.