We sat on a mat and had a chat and made maps!
We sat on a mat and had a chat and made maps! (hereafter #MagicCarpet) was a project that wove science and visual art together to open a creative space instigating conversations about mind-wandering and the boundaries between normal/abnormal behaviour.
Mind-wandering refers to the engagement in self-generated thoughts unrelated to the external environment. While mind-wandering is a universal human experience, excessive spontaneous mind-wandering is a key feature of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
ADHD is a common neurodevelopmental trait with a wide range of outcomes including very high achievement from some and severe impairments to others. The project sought to raise awareness of ADHD, help society gain a better understanding of it and, more generally, how we understand wellness and illness, by using imaginative and challenging approaches that will also serve to open up new avenues of discussion and debate. The project aimed to engineer a productive space for clinical and scientific communities to dialogue with the arts, and to invent new ways to communicate research on and around ADHD and the lines between creativity and pathology.
Some of the key questions the project posed were:
- In what ways could a science-art collaborative exploration of mind-wandering open up spaces of ‘productive antagonisms to extend existing understanding of the boundaries between normal/abnormal behaviour, creativity and pathology?
- How to visualise and make visible the invisible, including spontaneous thoughts and hidden disability and difference?
- In what ways could visual art contribute to and complicate dominant discourses on wellbeing? What are the limitations and possibilities of thinking about and making ‘neurodiverse art’?
At its heart of the project was a tapestry, designed by Kai, which wove various research and narratives of and questions about mind-wandering together. Decorative yet grotesque, the tapestry bears shades of Perry, Bosch, Chagall, 'outsider' artist Henry Darger, concrete poetry and Hindu iconography, paying particular attention to how every line/mark/pixel/passing thought relates to the physical weave.
The work ‘took off’ when audiences were paired up with Philip, Kai, and other researchers and artists to sit on the tapestry and chat about mind-wandering. As words and language can be inadequate or challenging, participants captured their discussions, disagreements and discoveries in drawings that they co-create with the project team. These drawings were then documented in a limited-edition publication alongside photographs, sketches and notes on mind-wandering and reflective texts.
The outcomes of the project were showcased in the King's Artists – New Thinking, New Making exhibition in the Arcade at Bush House, 23 October – 15 December 2018.
'Mind-wanderer in action' badges designed by Kai for the project
As well as the tapestry, Kai has been wearing specially-designed badges reading ‘Mind-wanderer in action’ throughout her residency (pictured above). Through the badges Kai invites King’s students and staff to approach her to talk about the project. These people, and others they subsequently encounter, receive badges too, thus infecting King’s with (conversations about) mind-wandering, ADHD and wellbeing.
The project also invites King’s students to get involved with the documentation and evaluation process, sharing the project’s progress via film, social media and a website.
Unlimited Festival, Southbank Centre
Date: 5 – 9 September 2018
Venue: Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX
The #MagicCarpet made a noisy entry at the Unlimited Festival at Southbank Centre. There was a performance-lecture by Kai followed by chat with Professor Philip Asherson on 6 of September, facilitated, directed, conceptualised and filmed by curator Alessandra Cianetti
The tapestry was displayed in the Queen Elizabeth Hall Foyer, accompanied by an audio description by Jennie Elbourne.
#MagicCarpet: Wandering Minds event as part of the Arts in Mind Festival at King's
Date: 5 June 2018, 18:00 – 20:00
Venue: South London Gallery, 65–67 Peckham Road, London, SE5 8UH
Arts in Mind was a week-long festival celebrating innovative collaborations between researchers at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) and the creative and cultural sector. It showcased work that explores new ways to improve wellbeing and facilitate a better understanding of mental health, the brain and the mind.
An evening of fun encounters and conversations. Through a playful speed date format, participants were invited to share their own perspectives and experiences of mind wandering and neurodiversity alongside artists, academics and researchers.
Kai and Philip were joined by artist Daniel Oliver, Lead clinician and Consultant psychiatrist Dr Ulrich Müller, UKAAN Committee Member Jane Sedgwick, and Artsadmin Head of Artist Development Dr Cecilia Wee.
Exhibition as part of the Arts in Mind Festival at King's
Date: 4 – 24 June 2018
Venue: Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, 16 De Crespigny Park, SE5 8AF
Arts in Mind is a week-long festival celebrating innovative collaborations between researchers at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) and the creative and cultural sector. It showcases work that explores new ways to improve wellbeing and facilitate a better understanding of mental health, the brain and the mind.
Visitors were invited to see the #MagicCarpet, a tapestry weaving science and art together to celebrate mind wandering, magic carpets, mapping, small talk and productive antagonisms.
Art, ADHD, Neurodiversity & Giant Octopussies: #MagicCarpet launch
Date and time: Tuesday 24 April 2018, 18:30 – 21:00
Venue: The Art Workers' Guild, 6 Queen Square, London, WC1N 3AT
What happens when visual art runs into and runs riot with ADHD? What are the frisson and frictions that arise? What do they say about how we perceive others who are different and who think differently? What are the possibilities and limitations of a term like ‘neurodiverse art’? What is the role of mind wandering in ADHD and the creative process? What other magic carpets could we make? Where do we want them to take us?
Visitors joined Kai and Philip Asherson for the launch of I Run and Run, Let Out An Earth-Shattering Roar and Turn Into A Giant Octopussy and the #MagicCarpet tapestry. Through a series of provocations and a discussion, the evening explored the creative process, how it relates to our different brains, and the possibilities and limitations of ‘neurodiverse art’.
Mind wandering: worst enemy or best friend?
Date and time: Tuesday 24 October 2017, 18:30 – 20:30
Venue: MRC Social, Genetic & Developmental Psychiatry (SGDP, foyer and Rooms A-B), King's College London, 16 De Crespigny Road, London SE5 8AF
Does your mind wander? What do you see? What does it look like when it roams? Where do you go? How far do you go? How far is too far? Is mind wandering your best friend, worst enemy, or both?
Mind wandering refers to the engagement in self-generated thoughts unrelated to the external environment. While a universal human experience, excessive mind wandering may be a key feature of Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). At the same time, there are strong narratives in the arts for people to use and indeed actively generate spontaneous thoughts as part of the creative process. It is no wonder that comedian Rory Bremner, recently seen on the controversial BBC Horizon’s ADHD and Me, calls ADHD is his ‘worst enemy and best friend’.
The intention of the evening was to open up and complicate understandings of how the mind works, with particular attention paid to ADHD, and more generally, the boundaries between wellness and illness and how the arts can complicate and contribute to this discourse.
Project team
Dr Kai Syng Tan is an artist, curator and researcher. She is currently Visiting Fellow at University College London’s Institute of Advanced Studies, Peer Review College Member of the Arts and Humanities Research Council and Director of RUN! RUN! RUN! International Body for Research. She completed her PhD at UCL Slade School of Fine Art as a UCL scholar.
Kai’s specialism lies in interdisciplinary practice-related research exploring the body and mind in motion (such as via running) as a creative and critical toolkit to engage with self, others, the city and non-logocentric modes of thinking. Known for her ‘eclectic style and cheeky attitude' (Sydney Morning Herald), critics describe her as ‘not only a talented artist but also a great scholar’ (Cinema South Festival) and ‘leader in the study of running’ (Professor Gregg Whelan, ANTI Festival). She ‘rejoices in communication’ (Culturebase), her work has been covered in the Guardian, BBC Radio 3’s Free Thinking, Fuji TV (Japan), and a Live Art Developmental Agency (LADA) study guide.
Her 20-year international portfolio includes exhibitions, performances and texts that have been featured at Documenta, Biennale of Sydney, transmediale at MOMA, ZKM and ICA. Recognition includes San Francisco International Film Festival Golden Gate Award, Artangel Open 100 and AHRC/BBC New Generation Thinkers finalist. She was Visual Director and Communications Director for the 8th ASEAN Para Games 2015, and her works are collected by Museum of London, Wellcome Trust and Fukuoka Art Museum.
Find out more about Kai and her work on her website, RUN! RUN! RUN! International Body for Research. More information can also be found on Kai’s UCL IAS Visiting Fellow profile, and her Twitter.
Professor Philip Asherson is Professor of Molecular Psychiatry at the MRC Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry (SGDP) centre at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King’s. Philip earned his medical degree from The Royal London Hospital and his doctoral degree from the University of Wales. He was an MRC Clinical Research Fellow in the Department of Psychological Medicine & Institute of Medical Genetics at the University of Wales, College of Medicine in Cardiff.
He moved to the IoPPN at King’s in 1996 and has since worked closely with Professor Jonna Kuntsi to develop a program of research on clinical, quantitative and molecular genetics, cognitive-neuroscience and clinical aspects of ADHD. In his own work, he has focused particularly on adults with ADHD. Current research projects include investigations of the neural basis of mind-wandering in ADHD, clinical trials of prisoners with ADHD, and the impact of ADHD on learning in King’s university students. He is the author and co-author of more than 300 articles and book chapters on ADHD and other neurodevelopmental disorders and traits.
More information about Philip and his research can be found on the UK Adult ADHD Network and ADHD Genetics Group webpages as well as his research portal on the King’s website.
Additional partners
#MagicCarpet was a 2017 Unlimited commission. Unlimited is an arts commissioning programme that celebrates ambitious work by disabled artists. Unlimited is funded by Arts Council England (ACE), and delivered by Shape Arts and Artsadmin.
Alessandra Cianetti, Art Production Manager of #MagicCarpet.
David Kelly-Mancaux Erkembode, social media, publicity and curator
Professor Andrew Stahl, Professor of Fine Art atSlade School of Fine Art, Submit To Love Studios of Headway East London and UK Adult ADHD Network (UKAAN) were #MagicCarpet workshop participants.
Philip Tan (Philbeat) and Michael Tebinka ( Ohsoweird) created a legacy film.
Flanders Tapestry wove the tapestry for the project.
Film by Gemma Riggs
Images and video of I Run and Run, Let Out an Earth Shattering Roar, and Turn into a Giant Octopussy (2.9m X 1.45m) weaved at Flanders Tapestry in Belgium, which has weaved works by Grayson Perry, Laure Prouvost amongst others.
THE CONVERSATION published a piece by Dr Tan and Professor Asherson examining how ‘lofty’ art can help the medical world reimagine mental health. Read the article here.