Hedgehog

13 Th of December

Reading through my papers again, in order to prepare finishing of the dissertation, I came across this interesting article written by Fiona Candlin, in The Senses and Society, vol.3, issue 3, (November 2008 ). She argues that 'Placing handling objects in the middle of a visual spectacle could be understood as highly anachronistic .' Now that was exactly my intention. I believe there is nothing wrong with controversial ideas in establishments. On the contrary, I believe that a museum is an organic object in itself, which should grow new limbs on a regular basis . The Touch Cabinet is such an incentive. In my conversation with one of the curators, we discussed interaction and tactile involvement. He told me that a small group of people at the museum had been discussing the same subject. I was still pleasantly surprised that , on the second day of my visit, a table had appeared with numerous jars, two boxes, covered in cellophane, filled with colourful birds, (deceased, of course, ) and a box with what looked like prehistoric remains of a stegosaurus.

I was excited and repulsed at the same time; The creatures in the glass jars, varying from a hedgehog to a chameleon, looked highly embryonic, colourless phantoms of what they once were. Victims of cruel experiments, but more , much more visceral than the paper frog behind glass, which was also displayed in the museum. There was a visitors book placed beside the display, and a warden to give explanation . The visitors shared more or less my reaction  ; A fascination the same way one has a fascination with a haunted house , or a ghost ride on a fun- fair, a bearded women . The birds were stuffed in a card board box, colours had faded over time in a dusty night sky blue. the opaque, milky eyes half closed. Underneath the cellophane they looked as if they were ready to be prepared for some medieval feast, where they used to dress up swans, and peacocks. The fossils , which the warden explained to me as a rich source of information about the vegetation millions of years ago, were there to be touched. Suddenly my Touch-Cabinet seemed very dull and uneventful. And yet, both place in the museum reflected the same mood, an excitement, a new narrative was added to the stuffy image of this Museum. People will probably get nightmares about the staring eyes of dead hedgehogs and tortoises on paramalithe (?) who died long ago, but it invited discussion, like the Touch-Cabinet invited discussion. The big difference was, that the Touch- Cabinet also produced smiles, and happy faces.

lubricant

When I had returned in the Happy space, people were looking at the Touch-Cabinet. They were cautious, and even when I had explained the meaning of this piece of furniture, some were reluctant to stick their hands in the drawers. It was a very timid response, which actually did not surprido believe that the biggest factor to produce these beautiful smiles, was the fact that interaction was invited.

I also believe that the surprise element of having to open up drawers and see what was inside it, added to the big number of happy faces People had to be encouraged to take out the objects. All of them took extreme care not to break things. So, unlike the popular belief that object- handling might cause damage I like to argue the opposite; Visitors acted in such a responsible manner, that the change of breaking was to be neglected.

The Touch -Cabinet is in the Kampala Museum on permanent display. My aim is to return in March, when I shall be visiting Uganda again. It would be wonderful if there was actually a change taken place with the objects inside it Already some of the objects were put back in different drawers.It would be great if the entire content would be changed on my next visit. On the second day of my visit, I discovered that one of the knobs had come off. When I was leaving that day, three people had become involved with the cabinet; The lady from the drums informed the girl from the entrance-desk ,who came running and produced the wooden knob.  then informed the carpenter in residence, who consequently spent an hour fixing the problem.Not only did he fix the knob, but also spend much time making sure the drawers ran smoother by applying some lubricant.The African twist is then, that this didnot made any difference, but i did not have the haert to tell the elderly gentleman. Already the story had start to gather momentum.They probably go home and tell what happened with this Touch-Cabinet.

 One is not used to be invited to touch. Having direct contact with an (unseen object) can be intimidating and sometimes, even a little scary.

However, once involved in the process, the visitors started to relax, and they always left smiling. When do people ever smile when they look at an object behind glass ?  She also informed the carpenter in residence , who subsequently spend the best part of an hour working on it. Not only did he put the knob back on, but also lovingly ensured that the sixteen drawers were running more smoothly by applying some lubricant. The African twist is then, that after spending all this time the drawers did not move any smoother. Graphite would have done the trick, but I did not have the heart to tell this elderly gentleman. I just profoundly thanked him and made a mental note to bring a pencil back on my next visit. Something else I have to correct is the artist statement and the sign for Touch- Cabinet. That will have to become more permanent. I can then also invite people to change the content of the drawers on the more permanent plaque.

Happy Place

8^thof December

The space I was allocated in the Museum, was a happy place. When I arrived a lady was beading beautiful necklaces from seeds and hand made paper beads. On the other chair, a young mother was breast feeding her 14 month old daughter. I knew the toddler was 14 months, because the minute before, the little girl was helping her mum with brushing the floor, and I enquired about the age of the her. There were musical instruments; Drums, and string instruments which where used enthusiastically later on that morning by visitors to play, and dance.I couldnt help noticing they were all very tactile activities.

The door was open, which led to a big grassy patch which upon traditional huts were build. The huts were constructed to celebrate a Common Wealth meeting in 2001. I had no idea that there were so many different types of traditional huts in Africa. Later I spoke to a guide from the museum about my Touch- Project and the fact that I am promoting more interactive Touch in museums, but, that, actually, the huts were a really good example of this philosophy; Everything inside the huts, the pots, the pans, the plates, the slippers, the animal skins, could be touched, and examined in an haptic way. The 'Do Not Touch' signs were nowhere to be seen, and all the objects could be freely explored. (see also images on Face-Book).I spend a very happy hour displaying objects for photographic images without anybody interfering ! The last time I was at the museum all the doors of the huts were firmly closed. Let's hope that this opening up of the huts is a trend that will continue. I like to think that, perhaps, my advocacy of Touch in Museums , and the discussion I had about the importance of this, might influence this decision....

Tactile Teachers

This afternoon I will be leading a work shop with the teachers of Michelangelo School of Creative Arts.

And I believe this is the best way to be beneficial for the students. To instruct the teachers with some creative and mind expanding techniques,* create a dialogue about the importance of conscious Tactile experiences, creative stimulation, and the immediacy of touch , they will be able to reach out and , if the tutors choose to do so, they will be able to integrate these techniques in their teaching methods

*

Introduction

I will introduce myself and speak very briefly on the subject of Touch.

The hand-lotion exercise

The conscious -Touch exercise

The Hat exercise

The sheet exercise (outside )

We will then discuss the benefits of tactile activities. I will explain more about my touch programme, the work in the museum yesterday, and how Touch- Exercises can be beneficial for the students. I will briefly explain the proprioception concept,in relation to the sheet exercise and the last exercise. and how that can affect some students .

Finish of with' sitting in space' exercise, to demonstrate proprioception , now knowledge

been gained on the subject.

I started of working with the students, hoping that they would gain from the series of workshops. Now my aspirations have become much bigger; I want to make changes in relation to the whole art college. I want it to become my project, and help them raise , not only their profile, but also the connection with the outside world, by improving their computer situation, their PR skills, their library . I will not be able to do this on my own, and I will need the help of experienced people. Already I have had meetings, and brought a person out, who shares my interest to improve this educational institute. I can see my self continuing giving the Touch-Awareness workshops, the first series I will be conducting in March , working with the new students, on invitation of the school, but I will also be spending a lot of time working on improving the school, so that the students will be no longer held back by lack of internet or by books about science published in 1954.

Apart from my involvement in school, I like to stay connected with the museum. I would really like to follow the process of the Touch-Cabinet, and spend time observing visitors. I would like to promote Touch in museums, by actually being there and talk about the subject,Especially when the contrast is as stark as it is here.

Magazines

I feel that the students benefited greatly from the whole experience.

To take part in a research project raised their self-worth and self confidence. This was observed by Mr. Million, in a evaluation we had. It exposed them to new and mind expanding experiences. This affected them on a personal and creative level. They were involved in the preparations of the exhibition; some of them had never even been in the museum. I was able to provide them with relevant web-sites and blogs related to art and culture in East Africa. they did not seem to have any knowledge of the art and design scene in Uganda at all.(Part of a plan I want to develop in future is improve the computer situation in the art-college ) I brought some design and interior magazines for the library in the college. Mr. Million told me that every night , there are many students soaking up the images and reading the articles. Again, this is about opening a window into another world. I told one young student, after we spoke extensively about his work, to bring his black and white work in the museum, and give a demonstration. This created a lot of interest among the visitors. Again, it is about action-interaction ; Visitors see something done manually , which creates immediately a tactile interest. Only by touching Francis' work, Mr. Katabaazi, one of the visitors in the museum,  realized that this work was not printed, but cut.

This interest was a great incentive for the artist; He prepared. He thought of different designs, and it looks good on his CV that he demonstrated in The Kampala Museum. He left a feeling slightly different artist, than the one who entered the museum that day earlier.

The musical instruments provided an unexpected bonus : The lady present to demonstrate played on a traditional Ugandan string instrument and Julius, Godwin and Francis started to play the Drums. I made some interesting sound recordings , which I will possibly able to use for the exhibition in Belfast. instrument (what name ?)

From research in touch, many other aspects have sprouted. Yet, they are all related. Touching is about experience. About having a tactile experience. I feel that , because of the Touch exercises we did at the art college, the group shared a common interaction , and this consequently created a base which was very easy to work on.

I once observed, that the touch of the branches of a weeping willow, caused the ice of the canal to melt. This Touch exercise had the same effect. Although the metaphor of ice in the tropics is hard to maintain, I feel this is exactly what happened.

I guess they don't call these activities ice-breakers for nothing.

Touch-Cabinet

7^th of December

I have decided to donate the Cabinet to the Museum for various reasons .

I feel the need to make a strong statement. This cannot be made in a few weeks. The Touch Cabinet is a symbol for the advocacy of more tactile interaction in the museum. I have informed the workers in the museum, so that, long after I am gone , they will be able to explain to the visitors what the meaning is. It is also an organic project;I explained that the cabinet is a vehicle for other interesting objects, which visitors can put in the drawers, taking out the existing artefacts.(swap one artefact for a new one ? ) This way the Cabinet will always be new and exciting. The project is about tactility and interaction. Having an experience in the museum, rather than just observing.

In order to explain the idea in a tactile way, I have asked Mark, the carpenter to make a miniature version , which I can bring back to Northern Ireland, for the exhibition there. I will bring one object, made by Francis ,back , in order to preserve continuation with the African artefacts. I will also bring the baboon head, since the creation of this is part of the footage I will be shown.

When I told the two girls who work in the museum that the Cabinet is a donation, they spontaneously burst out in a dance, which is , in a fluke of serendipity, captured on film.

KWA-TA-KO

Last week I wrote about communication with the Ugandans.The fact that i am never able to shed my skin. Hand it in for a black one for a while. or my voice for that matter. Never will I be able to speak with an Ugandan accent, nor would I want to. It is bad enough to have a Dutch accent, which goes unnoticed here. Dat dan weer wel. But here I was, filming and standing with the three young men who will accompany me to the Museum tomorrow, ( For the observant reader, yes it has been a day delayed ). Francis, Julius and Godwin, and we were talking like  old friends. We were joking, organizing the event tomorrow, being supportive of each other, and learning each others language. That is  how I got to know that' Kwa-ta-ko' means Touch in Luganda.
There is something Touching about learning each others language. I was able to say : 'We-ba-le' Julius ! for carrying my heavy computer, and my bag, and offering me a drink of water. I was able to say' Gye-ba-le 'Godwin ! for making a perfectly smooth coffeecup. We were standing at the back of the college, in front of the kiln.chickens were roaming and laying eggs underneath the rusty bedsframes, which were about to be thrown out, although, that might take another couple of yearsThe clay was slowly forming under the young artists hands. I asked them to speak Luganda, and it sounded like a long and hypnotizing song. Days pass very quickly here, and when mothers bring their children to bed, they whisper Su-la-bu-lu-ngi, little one...

Bleak

5^th of December,

I just visited the school again this morning. The way the college is functioning at the moment, the prospects are very bleak. I need a narrative. From the students, from the school, from Uganda, From Africa. And no sooner as I have written this down, I want to retract it again; Ultimately the masters project is about touch. The awareness of Touch. Conscious touch. The immediacy of Touch. And getting side tracked by the fact that research is taken place in Africa. Yet, it is impossible to by pass the fact that things are here so radically different. That, in my Western opinion, there is so much need. The students live and work like caterpillars, and with a little change, a little help, they could live and study and work like butterflies. I was reading an interesting article by Tanya Harrods, (Crafts Magazine June-July 2011 ), who was writing about a phenomena called : 'Maker Fares '.

These are creative fairs, where people not consume, but create . This has been happening in Europe , America, and, with a different twist, in Africa. Emeka Okafor, a leading Anglo- African thinker ,set out his aim to to create a 'maker philosophy' in Africa. On the 2010 Nairobi Faire, sixty young men and women were featured on 'Makers faire African's match -a- maker scheme., which aims to pair young innovators with venture capitalists. Perhaps this has not so much to do with touch. It is about being touched by an situation, and looking for possibilities for improvement.

Touch is about being touched by a situation and looking for possibilities for improvement. Touch is about not looking at things from a distance, not just listening or smelling, not just eating the matoke,

but engage, not just with an object, a person even, but with a situation, and become aware of the weight and shape of it, and make it part of your own experience ,before handing it back. To speak with Sennett, ' Presence can be registered simply by leaving a maker's mark'.

Perhaps, on my journey through Touch, this is the biggest lesson I have learned ; That Touch signifies immediate involvement. Looking is a passive act. Listening is untouchable. Taste possibly comes close to Touch , because to taste, one has to touch, but in a way this means taste is a secondary sense, and scent is equally untouchable, although this provokes the strongest memory.

Touch is the only sense which can also be applied to the heart, and therefore makes it the most precious of the senses.

Anthropomorphosis

I was just wondering, on the exhibition TOUCH , which will be displaying the objects made by this students, will it be interesting enough for the audience to touch objects which are only made last week,by art students in a relatively short time, and look like objects which can be bought in any random souvenir shop ?

I believe the important thing here is, that we can create a narrative;Most of the objects are made of rich African soil, I travelled thousands of miles to do the Touch Project, the students will be there. The story of the Michelangelo students and my own narrative will become interwoven, and therefore one.

I will need to gather some background information from the students for the exhibition in Belfast :

With their intriguing African names, their lives in the villages, their expectations of the future, and their family narrative, it will become a truly interesting exhibition !) How then becomes a material inviting enough for the artist? Sennet, has some thoughts on what makes an object interesting, not only for the viewer, but also , and especially for the maker:'All his or her efforts to do good quality work depend on curiosity of the material in hand. 'He then goes on to say that: 'we become particularly interested in the things we can change.' He calls the three issues : Metamorphoses, presence and anthropomorphosis .

Metamorphosis :this can be direct as a change of procedures, as when potters switch from moulding clay on a fixed platter to building it up on a rotating wheel.

Presence can be registered simply by leaving a maker's mark, such as a brick maker’s stamp .

Anthropomorphosis : occurs when we impute human qualities to a raw material;supposedly primitive cultures imagine that spirits dwell in a tree, and so in a spear from it's wood ;sophisticates personalize materials when using words like 'sympathetic' , or modest to describe finishing details on a cabinet. (Sennet, R. , 2008, p. 120 )

Sennet on Craft

30^th of November

I just found a the perfect text to accompany my exhibition in Belfast ! My idea of showing a movie with crafters working in clay, transforming a lump of clay into a beautiful object, as the ultimate touch display , but also relating to craft :

'Richard Sennet writes in his book : The Crafter : 'It taxes the powers of the most professional writer to describe exactly how to tie a slipknot (and it is certainly beyond mine). Here is a , perhaps the,

fundamental human limit: Language is not an adequate ''mirror-tool'' for the physical movements of the human body. ( ) One solution to the limits of language is to substitute the image for the word. The many plates , by many hands that richly furnish the encyclopedia made this assist for workers unable to explain themselves in words , and in a particular way. In illustrations of glass blowing, for instance, each stage of blowing a glass bottle appears in a separate image ; all the junk in the workshop has been illuminated , and the viewer focuses on just what hands and mouth need to do at this moment to transform the molten liquid into a bottle. ( In my case this would be the clay bulk into an sculpture ). The images, in other words, illuminate by clarifying and simplifying movement into a series of clear pictures of the sort the photographer Henri Cartier -Bresson called' decisive moments'.

He continues to say that : 'It might be possible to imagine an experience of enlightenment strictly as a visual experience following this photographic procedure, one that enables our eyes to do the thinking about material things . In silence , as in a monastery , communication among people would be reduced to a minimum for the sake of contemplating how an object is made.

Zen- Buddhism follows this non verbal path , taking the craftsman to be an emblematic figure who enlightens by showing rather than telling.'

This text, (The Craftsman, p. 95 ) I would like to be blown up in a big text in proximity of the film shown, perhaps even on the outside of the space where the film is going to be seen..

Pepernoten

December, 1^st

I can not believe it is already the first of December ! It is surreal, sitting here on the verandah, in the tropical heat, surrounded by yellow flowers of the acacias, and the sound of tropical birds, which I have got to know over the months I have been here, knowing that in a few weeks time we I will be back in Europe, celebrating Christmas with everybody!!!

So much has to happen before that time !!! The Dissertation, which weighs heavy on my mind,will be finished. On Monday, Dec. 5^th, in stead of eating 'pepernoten' and celebrating the feast of the Holy Saint Nicolaas, which is tradition in Holland, I will be preparing the exhibition in the Kampala Museum . The Touch -Cabinet is finished, apart from the last layer of varnish, and I will be able to collect it tomorrow. So exciting !!!All I have to do is line the drawers with interesting African Material. Batik is not African, but originally Indonesian, in spite of being also called 'Dutch Wax-printed cloth. Shonibare is an African-British artist who uses this as an key-material. The cloth was brought into Africa , where it was adopted and, consequently reclaimed as being 'African fabrics'.

It then found its way back into Europe. I think this is an interesting example of 'material diaspora'!!!

Tomorrow I will also revisit the school , to pick up the fired clay-pieces, hoping that they all survived the process, and to check on the students ,to see what the produced posters look like. I will then also arrange the time to meet up with the small group of people who will be assisting me at the event. It all seems to be coming together !!!

coffin for sale

Could I ever live in Africa ?My life is so radically different here than back home ; I don't drive here, and i really miss that independence. My only retail therapy here is going to the local supermarket once a week. Greedily i look at packets of soup, plastic containers, bone dry buns.I want to dye my hair, but only if I want to change it to jet black, I could . When I carefully choose some biscuits and cheese, I already know they will be a dissapointment .Everything is just not what you expect it to be; things are out of date, or packed in the wrong box, like lightbulbs so you arrive home with a bajonet fitting, ofcourse what you needed was a screw fitting.So you read with a torch until the next supermarket treat. And you know what ? You dont bother anymore with looking for the right things. Defeat sets in, and you just manage with what you have got. Your eyes register the rubbish piles, with children playing in it. The Boda Boda's , the local taxi mopeds with five , sometimes six people on it, settees, twenty life chicken in a basket.They weave in and out the crazy traffic, their ballast moving along with them. I have stopped holding my breath. The signs with' Coffin for sale', or' Jesus Saves hairsalon.'among the hundreds of street stalls, where naked children play with a rejected weaversbird nest.The markets are full of second hand western clothes, the buthers display chunks of bloody meat, covered in flies outside.their little wooden shacks. And here is the crazy thing : We , Mzungus,the white people, shop in the local butcher, which is huge, sells the most excellent steaks and french cheeses, fresh roses from the local Dutch nursery, and on saturdaymorning  wonderful French almond croissants , driven in , probably on a Boda Boda, all the way from Kampala. If there is a birthday party, everybody within the ex-pat community knows that The Serena Hotel sells the best chocolate cakes on the planet.
The prostitution of snakes and monkeys, the small rocky beaches around Lake Victoria, the chips with your omelette for breakfast,belong to a different world. The world of Africa. And I ? I am merily a visitor, will never belong. I will always be white. When I moved to Ireland, all those years ago, it was difficult at first, to fit in, but at least people didnt stare at me. Once a Mzungu, always a Mzungu.see for previous blogs also http://teatraveltien.blogspot.com

Africa

This is my fourth week in Africa.
And it is amazing how quickly one gets used to a place and life style; The beautiful weather, every day, the stunning landscape, the tropical birds , life on the veranda, just as Bill Bryson expected it to take place in his novella about Africa. The eating out, (  as cheap as when you buy your shopping ) Lake Victoria Hotel, which is my office, my place to meet friends, Agnes is running a little souvenir shop here, to swim, to eat, To meet Dutch people, ( the KLM crew is based here between their flights ),and sometimes they leave Dutch magazines, which is a real treat ! but also Irish, Italian, French; The whole world in one big tropical garden !!!
The staff are my friends; They shake hands, in this typical African style, they tell me they want to retire, but they have to keep working to keep their children in education. This doesnt mean University, but primary school.They enquire about my family, how are they keeping, we miss them ! And yes, over the summer, when we were all over, Lake Vic was a place were one could find us often. Yesterday I made a new friend; A tiny kitten , grey and white, very skinny, and I asked for a plate of tuna for him. The waiter looked puzzled at me:'Are you placing an order , madam ?' Yes I did ! Our lovely cat Tommy had just been killed on the road the day before, and I was still sad about this; He would not be there to greet us on our return  from Africa . So yes, I was ordering a plate of tuna for this little creature !The waiter returned with a napkin with some chicken on it. Fine ! As long as he got food! Afterwards he layed on my lap, purring softly, The kitten, that was.

The Journey/ seselelame

The tropical rain is very heavy today. For some reason i can't access my old blog anymore !
Does that mean I have to start to tell my story all over again ?!
About my touch -project, and the work I am doing in the Michelangelo school of art ?
I will just refer to my old blog for that ( http://teatraveltien.blogspot.com)
I was reading  something very interesting in' The Empire of the senses '(ED. David Howes), in chapter nine, about a West African Theory of embodiment.
Athough the phenomena 'how we know what we know' is articulated by the Anlo-Ewe people in West Africa,
it describes accurately what happened at the work shop.As Katrhryn Linn Geurts claims that 'many Anlo- Ewe
speakers translate the term seselelame into English as 'feeling of the body'the flesh or the skin,Ewe Liguist Felix Ameka has confirmed that the phrase se-se-le-la-me can be used to translate both emotion and sense perception , and that lower level terms for various experiences in Ewe, like the subordinate level 'seseleame'
do not distinguise between emotion , sensation, perception, cognition, etc.
Instead, there are components that link to a bundle of these things at one and the same time' (Ameka 2002:44-5.

Now I am wondering , Is there such word that describes these 'feeling in the body ' in Bugandan ? The most commonly spoken language in the area where I am ?