[O-Ki]

 [ O-Ki ] – Three artists whose practice is rooted in science, technology and disability came together for a week. Their purpose was to discover how ‘performances’ and interactive exhibitions invite participants into a shared experience of access intimacy.

Michèle Saint-Yves, Bianka Kennedy and Eugenie Lee’s ambition is to deliver an experience that transforms participants ‘knowledge about disability’ to ‘embodied knowingness’. In turn they intend this to result in a care that translates to action by the participant that fundamentally changes something beneficially material in the world for those who live with disability. 

In essence, how can we generate a ‘deep care polity’ for all members?

Their practice-based research (titled [O-Ki]) in the MOD Open Lab involved research into a mix of various areas:

• Models of Disability, accessibility and inclusion
• Creative and interactive technology projects (lo-and-hi-tech)
• Scientific techniques, instruments and data 
• Scientific research into pain and related neuroscience

The research activities comprised of the team:

• exploring over a dozen interactive digital projects online and dissecting the features that they loved across all of them
• having guest presenters meet with them for an hour and a half each talking about projects, processes and offering provocations such as UniSA cancer research scientists, experimental performance artists, digital and moving image artists, curators of art+tech creative research projects 
• installing modes of capturing exhibition attendees answers to two questions: 1) What do you have access to that others don’t? And 2) What makes you feel personally connected to an exhibition? and
• Conversing with student groups about the project and inviting their responses to the questions

On the final day the team engaged a Plenary Provocateur for the afternoon – David Pledger – who acted as a sounding board for their deliberations, current thinking and queries. He challenged them with avenues and questions to consider while validating and affirming where this project fits within the contemporary art and theatre landscape.

Upon leaving the Open Lab, the team more clearly articulated the project’s ambition, agreed values and conceptual base. This went beyond their expectations, with a clear sense of where to next. So, stay tuned!

Artists

Michèle Saint-Yves is described as a word wizard whose deep care for inclusion drives her to break apart forms and ways of creating in theatre, film and poetry.

Bianka Kennedy is described as a conceptual artist in a designer’s body who makes unforgettable experiential encounters.

Eugenie Lee is an experimental artist with a conceptual focus on persistent pain, whose work is informed by scientific research, creative technology and disability studies. 

Together, they have a shared interest in disability, accessibility, science and technology and performative experiences. 

[O-Ki] Practice Based Research Residency is funded by the South Australian Government through Arts South Australia’s Arts Recovery Grant 2022.

 

First website post Open Lab Residency: [O-Ki] – MOD