Presenting research: Installation plans for NLFF

It looks like I will be presenting my work at the Great North Museum in Newcastle during the week of the Northern Lights Festival, 20th - 27th March 2010.  I plan to create an installation that will take up the end section of a huge new space.  This space will be divided by a partition and I will take the end section by the window, which can be blocked off.

This is a sketch showing an impression of what I am hoping might be possible for the installation. Budgets haven't been fixed, and much depends on what I am able to produce in the coming 3 months, so this is still up for discussion.

I would like the room to be fairly dark, with the biggish screen (3 or 4m wide) in the middle being ideally projected on from the back.

The film on loop on this central screen would be a meditative piece, about 10 minutes long designed to work as a loop so it doesnt matter too much at which point you walk in. It would be structured as a series of short 'questions', drawn from my initial proposal which remains for me a good starting point.  These questions will be explored and expanded upon through the footage shot during the project, with my sister in France, at the Institute of Ageing Brain Bank, and with elements of other pieces of research.  It will contain my own narration where necessary to get the question across.

Then around the room, possibly against the walls, but ideally pointed away from the screen, are 3 or 4 TV like monitors playing different short 'documentaries' on each.   These films will be self-contained succinct films about some of the most interesting things and places I have been exploring.

1: How medical researchers understand Dementia. (mainly drawn from time at the IAH in Newcastle

2: Ward 23 - The difficulty of caring humanely for those with dementia.

3: SPECAL - The theory and practice of this new approach as explained by Penny and her team.

4: Adems Grandpa - A weekend at the home of my friend Adem's parents, who are caring for their 90 year old grand father.  He has been moved into their front room for the past few months where he is pretty much confined to bed, and suffers from advanced dementia.  The film will explore how the family is coping with this period of change.

I imagine each table would have a book and pens with an open invitation to write comments in response to the films.

I also hope to have a computer set up in the space, connected to this blog, which people would be able to read and add to.

I plan to be in the room all week with a small editing suite, making changes to the films, talking to people, and explaining it all, so that it remains a work in progress, and doesn't get too fixed at this stage.

It would require:

1 x Good video projector

1x amp and speakers

1 x rear projection screen and stand

4 x TV/ Monitor

4 x DVD player / computer with DVD playing capabilities

8 x headphones (2 on each table) -these can be very cheap these days

4x tables and chairs

1 x computer with monitor - online

1 x table and chair

Seeking donations/loans/suggestions! Please contact me with ideas!

martin at martinhampton.com