WGM Late: Roving Diagnostic Unit

William Morris Gallery, Lloyd Park, Forest Road, London
WGM Late: Roving Diagnostic Unit image
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Event has ended
This event ended on Thursday 13th of October 2016
Admission
Free
Venue Information
William Morris Gallery
Lloyd Park, Forest Road Walthamstow, E17 4PP
Nearest Tube/Rail Stations
Walthamstow Central 0.52 miles

Daily Life Ltd, the pioneering Stratford-based arts and mental health organisation undertakes an epic artist-led quest to ‘diagnose’ the William Morris Gallery in Walthamstow, East London.

The ROVING DIAGNOSTIC UNIT aims to widen cultural participation whilst inspiring conversations about mental health. Artists Marie Louise Plum, Sara Haq and Kate Rolison will lead Diagnostic Expeditionary Tours of the gallery, using established diagnostic methods to ask pertinent questions such as ‘Does the gift shop display hoarding symptoms?’ ‘Perhaps the textile collection has family problems: generalised anxiety disorders?’ and ‘Are the toilets experiencing grandiose delusions?’.

Renowned artist Bobby Baker will be presenting a brand new performance, How To Model Me, her unique take on America's Next Top Model, with an unexpected psychiatric diagnostic twist. Music comes from singer songwriter Dylan Tighe, one of the most fascinating and inventive voices in the Irish underground and artist and performer Selina Thompson hosts the infamous Daily Life Ltd Cure All Karaoke.

Internationally renowned poet sean burn plays with words and ideas around mental health, using language to open up the subject and challenge ownership of narratives. Whatsthebigmistry will be running a workshop where participants make personalised 'power pants' to help them deal with the challenges of everyday life. Rhiannon Armstrong’s Emotion Police Emancipation Programme lets visitors use their mobile phones to explore items in the William Morris Gallery Collection and consider the intricacies of how labelling works in a museum context.

In their role as custodians of our heritage and culture, museums and galleries categorise, define, and label their contents. Modern psychiatric diagnosis seeks to do the same things with ‘patients’, people experiencing mental distress. The ROVING DIAGNOSTIC UNIT explores these overlapping histories and methods from the perspectives of all involved. In a witty and engaging way it exposes some of the absurdities of the mental health system, whilst highlighting the strengths and talents of people who have been 'diagnosed'. All the artists featured in this event identify as having experienced mental distress. By exploring the psychiatric diagnostic framework through a new artistic and playful lens it questions the assumption that our state of mind can be defined by an ‘expert’ and that people can be conveniently labelled as disordered.

Tags: Art

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