The Care(less) exhibition responded to our research and was funded by Wellcome Trust (Research Enrichment), a distinct strand of funding focused on bringing academic research to an audience beyond the academic circles that it would usually reach. The (OPCARE) partnership was formed to create the commissioning and exhibition opportunity. OPCARE comprises the three university research teams plus arts organisations Fabrica, Ikon Gallery and Threshold (who produce Frequency Festival in Lincoln biennially).  The commission led to an exciting new piece of work by Lindsay Seers.

Care(less) was a new 360° film work by artist Lindsay Seers. Using a combination of lens based and digital 360° images, viewed within a virtuality headset, Seers explored the hallucinatory and embodied effect of VR. In this, her first work using virtual reality technology, visitors could experience what it might feel like to be in the body of another person – that of an older person whose aged body may not reflect the person inside and who may be facing challenges in health, abilities and relationships.

Click on the image above to watch a short film by Fabrica Gallery which features Lindsay Seers,
Liz Whitehead and Lizzie Ward.

Care(less) and its accompanying texts and programme of talks, film screenings and activities investigated prevalent attitudes to ageing, the nature of care relationships and ways in which the social care system meets care needs.  The artwork and the exhibition programme responded to our research looking at the experiences of older people receiving care which they pay for themselves.

The exhibition, also funded by the Wellcome Trust under their Research Enrichment programme, specifically aimed to bring academic research to a wider public audience. The research teams  worked with arts partners Fabrica, Ikon gallery and Threshold (who produce Frequency Festival in Lincoln biennially), to create the commission which was awarded to Lindsay Seers via an open call.

Care(less) was be presented at Fabrica, Brighton between 5 October and 24 November, 2019 at Frequency Festival, Lincoln from 24 -27 October 2019 and subsequently at Ikon gallery, Birmingham in 15-23 February 2020.

Lindsay Seers’s work came to the fore in Nicolas Bourriaud’s Tate Triennial 2009 with Extramission 6, a work now in the Tate collection. Her installation works, often complex and verging on the ineffable follow a process that aspires to unearth experiences relating to the fragmentary nature of human consciousness.

5 October – 24 November 2019, Fabrica, Brighton

Responses to the artwork by Fabrica volunteers can be seen here: The Response

24 – 27 October 2019, Frequency Festival, Lincoln

15 – 23 February 2020, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham