Experiments in Happiness
Experiments in Happiness was a project stemming from my fascination with society's obsession with happiness, wellbeing and all things relating to mood.
An initial wide-ranging research period was undertaken, which included interviews with academic specialists from Psychology, Neuroscience, Psychiatry, Philosophy & History from Newcastle & London, to help me get my bearings on the topic and ground some of the work I would create in sound research.
The project then unfolded in an empty 3 storey building in the centre of Newcastle.
Halfway into my R&D, with the help of The Empty Space (Newcastle) I met seven local artists with varied interests and an enthusiasm for Live Art. We spent a day together exploring the building and getting to know each others’ practices. Four of these artists went on to collaborate with me for the final event: Zoe Murtagh, Lizzie J Klotz, Rosa Postlethwaite and Maria Abbott.
I also collaborated with Northumbria University MA Architecture students to transform the first floor into a playful, social bar/cafe area exploring mood and including playful ways to collect feedback from the audience about their time in the experience.
We inhabited the empty townhouse for 31 days, transforming the space from a series of old offices into an experimental art space.
The results of this R&D were shared with the public as a free drop-in event on 19th & 20th May 2017. Saturday evening was part of The Late Shows.
The process of making this body of original work and collaborating with a new artistic community was a total experiment that resulted in 590 attendees and 15 new artistic pieces.
