Daily Life Limited

Registered Charity Number: 1058787
40 Cumberland Road, London

Roving Diagnostic Unit Spectacular

Date Posted: 10 Jan 2017

RDUrdu-best

On Thursday 13th October 2016, for one night only Daily Life Ltd took over the William Morris Gallery for an evening of fun and frolics! This event was a combination of performance, music, poetry and participation that saw Bobby Baker and fellow artists undertake an epic quest to diagnose the east London gallery. The night was a raging success, with hi-viz attire as far as the eye could see, and laughter reaching up to the high ceilings of this stunning Georgian building.

Artists Marie Louise Plum, Sara Haq and Kate Rolison led our diagnostic expeditionaries of the gallery, for which they used routine psychiatric methods to ask questions about objects in the gallery to participants in an attempt to diagnose them.

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Alongside this tour, was an ongoing mobile tour led by Rhiannon Armstrong and Toby Peach, in association with Coney, interactive theatre makers. The Emotion Police Emancipation Programme guided users around the gallery via their mobile phones, exploring how the intricacies of labelling works in the museum context.

Music on the night came from Dylan Tighe who serenaded onlookers with his dulcet Dublin tones. Dylan was performing songs form his first and second albums.

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Whatsthebigmistry’s Personalised Power Pant workshop encouraged people to design and create their very own stylish underwear to help us deal with the challenges of everyday life. It was so popular that we ran out of pants, but that didn’t stop people fashioning their own out of spare fabric!

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Tucked away upstairs was a workshop led by poet sean burn. A creative space to play with words and ideas around mental health; sean uses language to open up the subject and challenge ownership of narratives. We were lucky enough for him to perform some of his poems for us later in the evening!

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As part of the ROVING DIAGNOSTIC UNIT, Daily Life Ltd facilitated three workshops with a range of local organisations. The work produced in these workshops was shown in our exhibition space on the night. A quieter spot for people to reflect and to see the extent of work we do with talented people from all walks of life.

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A highlight of the evening for many was a brand new performance from our very own Bobby Baker. How To Model Me is her unique take on American’s Next Top Model, with what can only be described as an ingenious psychiatric twist!
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The night was topped off with the infamous Cure All Karaoke where we invite one and all to sing their hearts out. Our song choices were all about diagnosis, labelling and overcoming challenges! Everyone got stuck in with the audience singing along, and a lot of dad dancing. Our Project Assistant Mia warbled along to Dolly Parton’s Nine To Five with her glamorous back up singers in their very own Personalised Power Pants.

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It was a jam packed night and we couldn’t have asked for a better audience to enjoy the fruits of our labour. Check out a raving review of the event from Disability Arts Online here

All there is left to say is a huge thank you to everyone involved: our wonderful artists, all those at William Morris Gallery, the Daily Life Ltd team, and YOU!

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