Creating a publication from the collaborative research stage wasn’t a linear progression: we’d been thinking about format for a while and wanted to reflect the wider non-linear approach we’d taken. So we had a concept before the workshops, but only followed this up when we had the research findings.
In many ways it’s a simple concept; both of us having worked in different capacities in the arts, we both felt that traditionally formatted reports don’t seem to reach the people they are discussing. If you’re short of time due to family or carer responsibilities, or – like most artists – have a second job or have to work stupidly long hours to support your practice (or if you have the jackpot of both…) then long wordy documents don’t meet your needs. We needed a more accessible version that didn’t presume to have a magic answer for everything.
Ruth posited a format based on Tarot cards; that each card would present a single statement/comment/idea/reflection and so the order could be laid out and changed by every individual. Working through the comments we realised that we’d need double-sided cards, and that there would be a lot of them. I began trying out some container formats and came up with a matchbox style prototype (box that slides out of a sleeve). We spent a long time – a loooong time – formatting the image and text files for the cards, the inner sheet, the sleeve, and the box, but finally were confident this was ready to roll. More long evenings lead to double-sided A3 riso sheets that in turn required cutting and trimming. Once again we divided the workload, with Ruth working on the cards while I cut the sleeves and boxes.
And now we are nearly there….
