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Shona Macnaughton: The Participatory Clinic
How do art and health meet in a time of crisis?
The Participatory Clinic is a performance and a diagnosis of a culture. Inspired by the political ephemera of LGBTQ+ and women’s health activism from the 1980s recorded in GWL’s archives, the artist will host a cast of artists, performers and writers, in a contemporary reimagining of that material. Propagated from the satirical comic strips concerning health discrimination and based on the non-hierarchical structure of a 1980s feminist health centre, this immersive performance features performance lectures, readings, experimental sound, live art and dance. Ranging from texts exploring bodily experiences of art and art making and the physical barriers and absences from cultural space, to creative and comedic representations of gender, race and class based health inequalities.
The audience are invited to ‘make an appointment’ and sign up to Clinic 1,2, or 3 or all three. Within the performance there is also opportunity for audience members to participate and share their own medical story in a theatrical setting.
The event will feature contributions from:
Akshi Singh – an author and psychoanalyst and a contributing editor at Parapraxis, her forthcoming book ‘In Defense of Leisure’ is a memoir on reading the books of Marion Milner, discovering the importance of rest, creativity and play in all of our lives.
Bridget O’Gorman – an artist and writer currently working on ‘Deep Time’ a commission for EVA International (Ireland’s art biennial), around how we contextualise time and its relationship to creative productivity.
Carl(e) Gent – an artist and writer. Their book Felon Herb – outlining their ongoing production of absinthe as art – was published by Kelder Press. She is currently working on some mezzotint etchings of gay animals.
Chao-Ying Rao (Femme Castratrice) – an East Asian visual artist working on the absurdity of desire, excessive consumption, racial and bodily fetishisation, and abject femininity. ‘Gobbling Market’ for Buzzcut Festival reflected on on geopolitical and immigrant stories of imported exoticism.
D.A.M.N Motion Metrics – a performance ensemble, led by Anson and Lobberson, featuring Isabella Zych-Watson, Shona Macnaughton, and guest performers. For this event the ensemble has drawn inspiration from Laurie Anderson’s ‘Only an Expert,’ exploring the concept of self-proclaimed professionals adept at identifying and solving problems.
Kirsty Hendry – an artist and facilitator who develops projects exploring bodily knowledges and science fictions. Kirsty is currently in Helsinki undertaking a 6 month Artist Residency at The Centre for the Social Study of Microbes
Jude Browning – an artist working across performance, video, and drawing, exploring feminist and anarcho-mystical histories through archival research and collaboration. Their solo exhibition at 16 Collective performed feminist vocality, anti-fascist black metal, and mystical deviance.
Michelle Hannah – an artist, performer, and lecturer. At the core of their practice is the exhumation and excavation of queer dystopia through image, sound, text, video, and performance. Their current interests include post-digital artifacts and the boundaries of cosmic pessimism.
Rosie O’Grady – an artist, writer and celebrant who was awarded the The Emerging Art Foundation Art Writing Prize and the Yellow Paper Prize for New Writing in 2024 for her memoir ‘Naming the Dog’, which took the question of how to survive directly to the street and spaces of care
Philip Ewe – an artist who’s practice encompasses live performances, film and installation. Laced with jeopardy, the scenarios and characters that drive his work emerge from psychotherapy, mass media, surveillance, the scrolling digital world of ‘content’, the character of the comedic fool and slapstick.
Shona Macnaughton – an artist who performs, comically attempting to embody different state, institutional and labour structures through live interactions of dissonant textual collage. Her performances can at times, be excruciating to watch. As a PhD candidate at Northumbria University she has organised The Participatory Clinic to expand out her own research on feminist histories of languages of care.
There will be three, 40 minute performances, at 1pm, 2pm and 3pm.
Shona Macnaughton: The Participatory Clinic
Saturday, 17th May , 1:00pm to 4:00pm
Accessibility
Glasgow Women’s Library is wheelchair accessible, with lifts to the first floor and the Mezzanine Floor. We have accessible toilets and all the bathrooms are individual closed stalls and are gender neutral. Our larger Events Space is fitted with an induction loop. A portable induction loop is also available.
Find more information on Accessibility at GWL or contact us and we will be very happy to offer assistance.
Booking
The event is free and open to all. There will be three, 40 minute performances, at 1pm, 2pm and 3pm. To attend, please book a ticket to the performance time you’d like to attend and we will share an email invitation with you. If you would like to make a donation to Glasgow Women’s Library, you can do so when booking.
