RETURN TO OLDER WORKS
Communication suite, 2008
Details
Artists & Works;
Alan Currall, In Some Ways It Is, And It Is Not And It Is Indescribable, 2008, Wood and Audio Monologue & Come In Like This, 2004, Video on monitor, continuous duration & Everything Is Just As You See It, 2008, Video on monitor, continuous duration
Douglas Gordon, Iles Flottantes, 2008, Video Diptych on monitors & Open your mouth, 1996, Vinyl Text
Clara Ursitti, Peter, 2008, Interactive Performance including recorded sound
Abramović/Ulay, AAA – AAA, 1978, Video Projection, 13 minute loop. Courtesy of Sean Kelly Gallery, New York
Breda Beban, How To Change Your Life In A Day, 2005, Video Projection, 10 minute loop. Commissioned by Shot by the Sea Film Festival, Hastings, England
Christine Borland, Listen, Mirror, Listen, 2008, Plaster Casts and Projector Stands
Kirsty Stansfield, Behind Speech, 2008, Multi-Screen Video
Alastair MacLennan, On Immer Tic, 2008, Actuation
Aileen Campbell, The Jongleur Patient, 2008, Multi-Screen Video
Mark Dion, Theatrum Mundi, 2005 – 2006, Framed Works on Paper. Courtesy Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York
Photography: Alan Dimmick
Links
University of Glasgow
MAP Magazine
Language and Intercultural Communications Journal - Interview
DESCRIPTION
Communication Suite is a new exhibition of commissioned and existing works specifically selected for the Medical School of Glasgow University, curated and organised by Christine Borland to coincide with Creative Space, the Fifth Annual Meeting of the Association for Medical Humanities.
To facilitate ‘good communication’ individuals must share a common system of signs or behaviours, whether through speech, written word, or through gesture. The utilisation and comprehension of these signs or behaviours are often culturally inherent. If either party is illiterate in the use or understanding of these signs, miscommunication occurs. When confronted with situations saturated with anxiety and emotion, communication can also often breakdown.
The importance of teaching communication skills was highlighted by the General Medical Council in their 2003 report. In response to this new need, level 4 of the Wolfson Medical School Building houses ten pairs of rooms, each pair comprising a ‘consulting room’ and a seminar room linked by a closed-circuit surveillance camera. In this simulated environment, medical students are able to explore, through role-play with ‘simulated patients’, scenarios they may face in the future. A special emphasis is placed on complex issues such as ‘breaking bad news’. Feedback on the consultation is provided from the student’s tutor and peers who monitor progress from the linked classroom. The actor/patient is also invited to join the critique of non-clinical skills such as body language, eye contact and empathy.
The artist Christine Borland developed the concept for the exhibition Communication Suite after observing this process. Organising workshops with medical students and students from Glasgow School of Art, where she is an Academic Researcher, she began to reflect on the scenarios enacted in the Medical School and their relationship with performance; from the flamboyant 17th and 18th Century anatomist surgeons, to the iconic performance artworks of the 1960s and ‘70s.
The exhibition Communication Suite presents 12 pieces, including six specially commissioned works, which explore the themes of surveillance, communication/miscommunication, modes of communication and the pertinence of natural instinct versus taught or learned behaviour.
Communication Suite Exhibition Guide by Dr Rebecca Gordon