Idioholism
PhD works 2009-2015

​

Idioholism is a portmanteau I created to describe a suite of atypical but interrelated art practices. It aimed to reframe the surroundings of the chronically ill client to return to some kind of participatory existence. 

 

Developed over six years for a studio doctorate, these techniques are contemporary art practices and a kind of occupational therapy, aimed to foster dignity and growth during chronic ill health.

 

Examples include field-recording from windowsills, low-cognition piano playing, or, when housebound, appropriating household objects as art. These are lessons learned from minimalists and process-based artists where the emphasis is not on exhibitions, but rather on the promotion of art as a way of coping.

Idioholism was initially practiced in the first-person and presented as an expansive series of vinyl records, files and films. But it is really a framework for an flexible wellbeing art practice. Although it was the core of my PhD it was also a commercial object released on record labels, some of which is still available [1] and [2] and the PhD site is still available [3] with all soundwork available [4].

 

​

​