Creative Campus

The audacious aim of 'Dysarticulate' is to 'engage' artists and audiences to create tens of thousands of flags recycled from book pages and weave them into a series of in sync public 'emplacement' events where the scale of their showing in the landscape starts a dialogue and a series of conversations reflecting the real issues around disability, our fragility and the nature of Public art.

This project is bound up inseparably with my dyslexia, the love of 'hidden meaning' and the act of reading the landscape we live in, something we can do without 'needing'  the written word.

It's also woven with 'personal story' and narratives including 'code breaking', the standing upon, marking and crossing our own boundaries both imposed on us by others and those we draw from within, the 'seen' and 'unseen'.

We wish to actively invite and inspire all communities, young and old, to engage and try something new and become a 'new creative audience' involved with culture and heritage. I would hope that this will initiate many conversations and debates around the nature and relevance of art, what is it? reading, permanence, what is public art? and the boundaries of disability.

Anyone can come, be the artist for a day - and play.

How can I be involved?^{[Back to top]}

There are two opportunities to get involved in summer 2010:

27th June: 'Whitstable Biennale'
Come and See, Come and Play

Premiere event: Whitstable Beach in Kent, in partnership with Kent Cultural Baton and the Whitstable Biennale. The Flagmaking area will be with the Baton near the Whitstable Oyster Company. Bring your own story, flags, book, cameras, and make art; we hope to plant 5,000 flags marking and celebrating the 'boundary' of the 'land with the sea'.

23 - 25 July: 'Open Weekend'
Anywhere you wish!

With only 2 years to go until the Games, this Open Weekend is your way to join in and build momentum to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

We challenge you to try something new by creating the largest, smallest, figurative, or random intervention you can, using the book flags you make. You can re-configure the ground in any pattern, form or design on the beach, a hillside,  roundabout or village green, in your window box, urban garden or park.

There will be some organized 'events' in the South East but we encourage you to take the initiative and make your own. You can do this individually or join in as a group, school or workplace and make creating the 'Flags' as accessible as possible to all who wish to play. It's up to you to choose to articulate your story and create a 'flag field' anywhere you feel is appropriate, although you must make sure it's safe and you have asked permission to use the land if it's not your own. Make new connections in your area with arts and heritage or any organizations and see if they will let you create a flag field with them.

How does it work?^{[Back to top]}

All you need are Bamboo Skewers, an old worn out paperback book and some PVA Glue.

To make the flags, you remove the pages from the books, wrapping and gluing them to the bamboo. These you can then take out and plant in patterns, circles, clumps or straight lines. You will need to carefully remove the pages and not tear them, as the books are not being destroyed, just changed, metamorphosed into a 'synchronous' artwork.

You can download the 'How to' visual guide below: