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Day 1 Phase 2 | Puppet Portal Project - phase 2
2010-10-13
Day 1 Phase 2
My first day in stage two of the Puppet Portal Project was based in my studio where I linked up with a series of children in another hospital over the course of the day.
My glove puppet (literally!....2.50 for a cotton pair of medical gloves in Boots, great to decorate with markers!) chatted with secret agents during the video link who operated teddy bears with marvellous characters and admirably groomed fur.
The most interesting exchange was with a girl who has been long term in an isolation ward. Her ward overlooks a street. She turned her camera to the view outside her window and a whole world emerged on the screen to be received by my puppet, an imaginary character. The general theme we are working on over these weeks is Journeys. That moment struck me as a journey between very different worlds, like a metaphorical passage between 3 distinct aspects of reality; public life, personal life and lived fantasy.
As we grow older, we gain more experience and our interests evolve so how we interact in these worlds naturally change. Childsplay is different to adult experiment but motivated by probably much the same curiosity. I think its important that adults and children both have the opportunity to have a balanced interaction in all worlds in order to know ourselves and to develop our perception. In essence, not to isolate the self in one or even just two forms of life experience. So Im really interested to see how in this second phase of the project, we the artists manage to negotiate the new emphasis on working one-on-ons on the ward with children in isolation as well as facilitating social interaction with groups in playrooms and hospital schoolrooms. Striking a balance that works for the varied environments will be a challenge but after the experience of engaging with this little girl, I think it is something well worth investigating.
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