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Day 16 from Studio/ Hospital D | Puppet Portal Project - hospital D
2009-11-05

Day 16 from Studio/ Hospital D

The structure, themes & methods of linking up for next 4 sessions of the Puppet Portal Project were devised and planned during a day of artist�s exchange mentored by Kids Own, which took place during the term break.

Roughly the themes are the four elements and linking up will happen on different levels (video link up, stories with meeting points, working on a collaborative map)- Please look up the Day 16 Blog of Hospital C for detailed description.

For me a the project has taken a big turn as, due to the increased number of suspected cases of H1N1, I may not have access to the classroom for the next weeks- a situation which teachers and I had discussed as a possibility before term break, yet I did not expect. As the principal was informed on Monday, the hospital school classroom closed for this week (while the school, with teachers working at bedsides on the wards, remains operational). This will be revised from week to week. In future the school may open, yet access may be restricted to parents /guardians until further notice.

So on Wednesday I linked up from the studio (-Iceland) with two hospitals (Fireland and planet Earth ).

Creating set and puppets to use for the Link up was a rather lone endeavour compared with the making sessions I had in the Hospital so far. Working on my own on this and feeling rather slow and clumsy doing so made me realize how much input, inspiration and joy the children give and with which combined efforts and personel input all staff support the project, how inspirational & crucial this support is - and how true a term for collaboration is which I read somewhere on the Practice site: 1 & 1 is 3!

Adapting to this new sitiuation I started thinking of ideas to maintain the project from working off-site .These include preparing puppet-making-kits with all ingredients and instructions for the children to make a simple puppet assisted by a teacher/ parent from the bedsite; as well as linking up with other hospital schools (not the core-ones) and facilitating online-puppet making sessions from my studio.

Especially since we have new ideas to link up and collaborate between the schools I would be extremely happy to be able to continue working in the school, and hope I ll have the chance to, yet of course current conditions do not allow this and the children�s health and safety are paramount.