Research: Pool Arts and the British Library and untrustworthy readers…
“Furiously Mad” is an ambitious project being developed by a group of artists examining some of the history of People Who Have been Locked Away for Being Mad / Mentally Ill over the past 300 years. Some of the artists involved are experts in this area of study.
We decided, for the purpose of keeping things “simple” that focussing on the laws that over the years have determined the conditions of people’s treatment and incarceration, would give us solid indisputable factual landmarks to create a timeline of change and progress….
However, like all good plans, and all good art projects and all good artists doing research, its been hard keeping everyone on a methodical approach! Specially not Pool Artists! – We are all so different, passionate, distracted, excited, and un conventional – we don’t like to told what to do! And as one area is explored, that opens further corridors and avenues of investigation. Before you know it an avalanche of information is gloriously raining down..
Our first hitch occurred when our research trainer pulled out at the last minute – because not all of us have an academic background (with some notable exceptions amongst the group, who certainly have the experience of searching online catalogues, speaking to academics and following a pathway of research) Others have less experience, and so we wanted to work with someone who give us guidance in where to begin. Meanwhile we’d been dipping in and out of various google searches, beginning to formulate a few dates of notable Laws, starting with 1714 and the first mention of the word Mad in a law – Furiously Mad. Coming up to date with various Lunacy Acts through the 1800s – 1930 Mental Health Act, 1959 MentalHealth Act and the 1983 Mental Health Act.
Without our trainer, who presumed that the scope for this was a three year project and not a 6 months one! and with time running away fast after receiving the Heritage Lottery grant, we gathered together to plan our research approach ourselves, pooling our ideas and helping each other to find information. Each artist identified an area of interest – “Shell Shock and Post Traumatic Stress”, “Drug Therapies ” “One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest and Ecstasy” “Witchcraft” “The move to care in the community” amongst others…..From there, we began simple google searches and wikipedia, following links as we found them. Armed with a little more information, we searched the British Library catalogues and everyone registered online and ordered materials to be delivered today at the various reading rooms.
Everything felt a bit last minute, but the experience of researching online – getting frustrated, blind alleys, eureka moments and inspiration for not only the historical search, but also the artworks that individual artists are developing alongside and in response to the history and our own experiences has been fantastic, empowering and slightly heady at times.
Finally the big day arrived – today. We made it to London, queued up in the hallowed registration room to be interrogated and photographed – slightly intimidating, but the Manchester Posse had strength in numbers and volume. Once we had our ID cards, we were free to gorge on knowledge alongside serious looking, smart students – neat and efficient, whispering and reading, gliding around the carpeted soundless rooms and the big oak desks – surrounded by precious leather bound volumes, studious librarians looking slightly apart from the real frenetic world whizzing by outside on the Euston Road. The quiet corridors illuminated by laptops tapping away furiously – Furiously Madly.
Videos and Audio history from the Mental Health Testimony Archive studied by Annette and Ruqia – who refused to leave the CD unattended and phoned the librarian to come and take it from her personally “Its ok you can just leave it there” “No Way Man! Your telling me no one will take it – yet you’ve got all these signs saying pickpockets operate here – No Man, I’m not taking responsibility – you come get it”
AK
