Not left behind: exploring the dynamics of collaboration between a learning disabled and non-disabled artist
- Submitting institution
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University of Worcester
- Unit of assessment
- 33 - Music, Drama, Dance, Performing Arts, Film and Screen Studies
- Output identifier
- Wheeler_01
- Type
- T - Other
- DOI
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- Location
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- Brief description of type
- Other: a creative research project resulting in a television programme
- Open access status
- Out of scope for open access requirements
- Month
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- Year
- 2018
- URL
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https://padlet.com/timwheelerarts/jdwwe1wqfojnjj0r
- Supplementary information
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- Request cross-referral to
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- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
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- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
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- Research group(s)
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- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- This practice as research project represents one output from a long-term examination of collaborative devising dynamics between learning-disabled and non-disabled artists. Soldiering On (2014), the example outlined here, is a short film made by Jez Colborne and Tim Wheeler for Channel 4, 4OD. While the final 3-minute broadcast-quality film was completed within five days, on minimal resources, Soldiering On was the culmination of a devising process, developed over ten years with Colborne and the artistic team, which focused on Colborne's agency as a collaborating artist.
Throughout his work with Mind the Gap (MtG), Wheeler sought to examine the power dynamics which can lead to overly directive work or a 'cul de sac of facilitation' that often leaves the individual learning-disabled artist behind. Fearing manipulation, 'inclusive' arts practice can unwittingly infantilise and thus relegate the learning-disabled practitioner to a supposed 'natural' state, a participant practised upon, rather than a collaborator with equitable agency. How do we chart a new path through a territory which includes therapeutic practice, participatory or socio-political rights-based work? Is there a way that regards the learning-disabled person as an artist with a distinct aesthetic practice, not as a client, participant or activist? How can the non-learning-disabled artist change this dynamic?
Wheeler developed a dialogical art-making practice drawing on Augusto Boal's techniques developed in Theatre of the Oppressed. Boal and Wheeler worked with MtG's acting company on several occasions in the 1990s. They explored ways of fostering genuine dialogue about how learning-disabled people can recognise, challenge and transform socially constructed discrimination Boal (1998, p.3-5). Wheeler further refined Boal's approach, identifying power-sharing strategies which counter the familiar power-less/power-over dichotomy of the oppressed/oppressor relationship.
Wheeler's continuing exploration of these findings is illustrated by the published version of his 'Mind the Gap(s)' talk delivered to a diverse, international audience in 2017.
- Author contribution statement
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- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
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