I DARE YOU: What’s the riskiest thing you have ever done? What do you dream of doing but dare not? Do you dare share something that you’ve never told anyone else before? Go on – what’s the worst that can happen?
CONTEXTS: This film is a documentation of an open-mic evening Brisk/Risks, which explores risk-taking within and beyond Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). ADHD is popularly associated with inattention and being easily distracted. Yet its other features such as hyperactivity, mind wandering, impulsivity and risk-taking are less discussed beyond specialist contexts. The film was recorded on 4 December 2018 during the ‘King’s Artists – New Thinking, New Making’ exhibition, which took place Bush House, London UK. During the Open Mic, each speaker had to be brisk, and were given a maximum of 4.5 minutes. The film premiered during the Birkbeck Arts Festival May 2019, London UK.
MORE: Watch the trailer here Watch full film (14’20”) with BSL interpretation here. See gallery of open-mid here. Read article for EU consortium of mind/brain scienists here.
CREDITS: Artist, Lead: Kai Syng Tan. Filming & Editing: Studio Maba. Composer: Philip Tan (Philbeat). Mentor: Professor Philip Asherson. Producer: Alessandra Cianetti. Guest speakers: Professor Philip Asherson (King’s College London), artist Mike Barrett, Andrea Bilbow OBE (Executive Founder of ADDISS, ADHD Information Services), medical humanities scholar Dr. Sophie Jones (Birkbeck University). Other participants: Jaye Braithwaite, Jane Chang, Alessandra Cianetti, Omar Gunnoo, Richard Overill, Elinor Rowlands, Xiao Chuan Tong. BSL interpreters: Jacqui Beckford and Audrey Simmons. Additional advice: Jeff Rowlings. Studio Baiba are Baiba Sprance and Marco Berardi info@artstudiomaba.com.
#MagicCarpet: The open mic and film is part of the award-winning art-psychiatry commission ‘We Sat On A Mat and Had a Chat and Made Maps! #MagicCarpet (2017-2019). The programme gathered diverse and divergent bodies (and bodies of knowledge) to explore difference and (neuro)diversity, with ADHD and how it relates to mind wandering as a starting point. #MagicCarpet was a 2017 Unlimited commission funded by Arts Council England, with additional support by King’s College London. Thus far, #MagicCarpet has reached more than 9000 people, including through Arts in Mind and Unlimited Festivals. Venues include Southbank Centre, South London Gallery, Art Workers’ Guild and the Peter Scott Gallery (Lancaster). Publications include an article that was read 2000 times within 2 days of publication in The Conversation (10.6 million readers) and a top 2018 editorial on neurodiversity and women in Disability Arts Online. 100% of the feedback for an event stated that the work has challenged their understanding of how the arts and science can collide and create new insights. AHRC reviewers have described a proposal of next phase of the work as ‘exciting and innovative’; ‘already leading the way’ and ‘with an impressive track record’. #MagicCarpet was awarded a prize for ‘Cultural Change’ by the National Coordinating Centre for Public Engagement (2018).
Caption: From 16mm film Brookfield Zoo 1996, made at the School of Art Institute of Chicago. The film was in the Official Selection of the British Short Film Festival and screened at Empire Leicester Square.