The Mine by Jay Price - a-n The Artists Information Company

Venue: Online
Starts: Thursday, November 10, 2022
Ends: Friday, February 10, 2023
Address: www.shapearts.org.uk/mine
Location: Across UK
Organiser: Shape Arts

In-game screenshot. Perspective limited by the reach of the torchlight. The torch is being shone directly at a crumbling brick wall, highlighting a round space of visible graffiti. In black, scrawled text, ‘Scroungers’ is written. The text is then further outlined in neon green, indicating it is an interactive object.

The Mine by Jay Price is a major new artwork available as an interactive game, audiobook, and film. Immersing the user in the derelict, underground venue of ‘the mine,’ a disused space found underneath (and locked out of) the art gallery upstairs, the work details historical and contemporary examples of the structural marginalisation of disabled communities. From faeries as scapegoats, to forced sterilisation, right up to the ongoing pandemic, The Mine is a visceral unravelling of ableist social tropes, human rights violations, and grassroots resistance.

The Mine builds on Price’s existing corpus of work shining a light on the marginalisation of disabled people in society today. In 2021, Price’s work Canarieswas commissioned as part of the Adam Reynolds Award shortlist exhibition, Empty When Full and they went on to receive the 2022 Adam Reynolds Award itself, which provides a £10k bursary and a creative residency opportunity to a mid-career disabled artist.

Incorporated into The Mine are full foley sound design, traditional stained glass work, and metal work in the form of brass sculptures from which, through the use of wax rubbing sticks, users are able to uncover and download an artwork of their own.

Download the app (available on iOS and android), watch the video walkthrough (with captions, AD and BSL), listen to the audiobook and read the stories from the game.