[spectre] TRAMPOLINE PRESENTS AN EXHIBITION BY HEATH BUNTING

[Anette Schäfer]

TRAMPOLINE CELEBRATES 10th ANNIVERSARY WITH AN EXHIBITION BY HEATH BUNTING


Trampoline, the East Midlands’ platform event for new media art, celebrates
its tenth anniversary with an exhibition of mapped data by internationally
renowned artist Heath Bunting, at Nottingham’s Broadway from 29 November
until 5 December 2007. 

The fallout is yet to settle from the loss of personal records of 25 million
child benefit claimants in a scandal that will leave the present government
deeply scarred. Yet in Broadway, for one week, visitors to the top floor are
able to study unique drawings which can help them navigate the networks
encountered in their everyday lives which routinely collect and distil such
personal information.


HEATH BUNTING: THE STATUS PROJECT - AN A - Z OF THE SYSTEM

Exhibition 			29 November – 5 December 2007, from 12-9pm
daily
Exhibition Opening 	Wednesday 28 November 2007 6pm
Psycho-geographic Walk 	Thursday 29 November 5pm

The Status Project is “
an expert system for identity mutation” says Heath
Bunting about his project, which he estimates will take him another seven
years to complete. 

On display are maps and guidebooks of ‘the system’ that Bunting terms The
Status Project. The Bristol based artist will later be using these
self-produced guides to lead members of the public on a city walk,
demonstrating the links that establish our social status, from owning a
Tesco Club Card to being on the Electoral Register.

It’s an A to Z of the System that maps the conditions, restrictions and red
tape borders that we encounter every day.

Heath started to explore public space as encountered in shops, organisations
and institutions three years ago and to log the information he was obliged
to supply in order to use the services of these establishments. This array
of data has been entered into the Status Project database, which holds more
than 5000 entries. These entries consist of descriptors such as name, birth
date, postal address and nationality but include other personal information
such as one’s mobile phone contract, bank account or the ability to provide
a handwritten signature.

All entries strictly reflect the information found in the research. Entries
are linked to each other according to their overlaps and dependencies
thereby forming a node in a vast networked system. For example, it lays out
which exact information is required to obtain a Barclay’s bank account and
what further doors this account will open for you.
For the five new maps in An A to Z of the System, a set of data from the
Status database has been arranged according to a theme.

In the map named A Woman, areas of national identity, credit status and
eligibility for state benefits are positioned close together and are
interlaced with marital status, title and whether one has children or not.

One of the five maps is custom-made for Nottingham and can be experienced on
the Psycho-geographic walk, where Heath will personally guide members of the
public around the city centre. On the Nottingham Map the institutions, shops
and public buildings are logged following the itinerary of the walk,
demonstrating what conditions must be fulfilled in order to engage with the
services of that place and what links them with other places on the way.


Trampoline, c/o Broadway, 14-18 Broad St, Nottingham, NG1 3AL
Tel: 0115-840 92 72

www.trampoline.org.uk


With support by The National Lottery through Arts Council England,
Nottingham Trent University, Future Factory