سو أوستن
סו אוסטין
スーオースティン
Сью Остин

source: susanaustincouk

About

Sue with Paint Wheelchair

Sue Austin is a multimedia, performance and installation artist. Over an extended period of time her practice has operated as a vehicle to open up a thinking space around the materiality of the wheelchair. This is being used as a metaphor to raise questions about the value of diversity to society through raising the profile of ‘difference’.

Rather than being didactic, however, a primary aim will be to create portals or multiple entrances into the resulting artwork (eg. through live art, associated online and multi-platform presentation, etc) so that it can find a way to ask questions but at the same time leave space for the audience to generate their own meanings. She aims to find dramatic and powerful ways to re-position disability and Disability Arts as the ‘Hidden Secret’. She argues that this ‘secret’, if explored, valued and then shared, can act to heal the divisions created in the social psyche by cultural dichotomies that define the ‘disabled’ as ‘other’.

Through the performative presentation of a diverse embodiment, the main focus for this work is about reconfiguring preconceptions through the use of dramatic and unexpected juxtapositions that act to surprise, open up thinking and then, through that reordering of associations, to create empowered and empowering narratives. This manifests in an artistic practice that makes use of “surreal juxtapositions and quirky re-presentations of disability equipment to facilitate new ways of seeing, being and knowing”

Education:

Currently attending MA Fine Art,
commenced in September 2009, part-time, University of Plymouth.

BA Hons. Fine Art. Classification: First Class,
University of Plymouth, 2003 – 2009
Thesis: Self-Narration as a means of restoring the alienated body: An Investigation into the power of Discourses on Disability and Ontological Theories to reposition the Embodiment and Art-Practice of the Disabled Artist.

Fine Art Access Course, North Devon College, Barnstaple, 2000 – 2003.

Art Portfolio Course, North Devon College, Barnstaple, 1999 – 2000.

Strengths Assessment Diploma, Mental Health, Research and Development in Psychiatry, June 1992 – 1994.

BSc Hons. Psychology, University College of Swansea, University of Wales, 1984 – 1987.
Dissertation: Investigating the therapeutic benefit of introducing professional artists into mental health day care settings in Carmarthenshire, Wales.

Work:

Freewheeling – Founder & Artistic Director. Freewheeling is an emerging disability led initiative focused on providing a ‘hub’ around which to foster integrated arts projects, allowing ideas and artistic concepts to develop while maintaining an emphasis on promoting academic research that aims to reposition Disability Arts and the status of disabled artists within the mainstream cultural sector. March 2009 – present

Testing the Water – Current project, programmed for B-Side Multimedia Arts Festival as part of the Cultural Olympiad events at Weymouth and Portland. R&D funded by the Arts Council’s Impact fund. See Current Practice for more information. August 2010 – present

New Voices Critical Writing Skills Bursary – approached to Blog for Disability Arts Online (DAO) as part of New Voices programme. This is because Colin Hambrook (editor) would like to distrubute my existing theoretical writing, around the concept of repositioning Disability Arts as the ‘Hidden Secret’, to leading disability studies academics. The aim of this is to instigate a dialogue around the ‘Creative Case for Diversity’. DAO is the world’s leading online journal for arts & culture in a disability context. January 2011 – present

Artist/Documentor for La Folia (Formerly Sarum Orchestra) 4 year project to produce “The Ring Cycle” in collaboration with Exeter House School, July 2010 – ongoing

Member of Selection Panel for Impact Fund, Arts Council England, June 2010 – ongoing

Documentary Artist/Collaborator for Testing the Edges Partnership Action Research Project. Commissioned to document and produce a piece of film work in response to the Testing the Edges Project and resulting workshop event which is exploring the commissioning of Disability Art by mainstream settings, Salisbury, Sept 2009 – ongoing
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Artglass Originals, Hand Painted Glass Craft Business (using art to assist me to ‘build back out into life’ following an acquired disability, working on a therapeutic basis), October 1999 – ongoing.

Artist Collaborator, Architecture Inside-Out, Charrette at the Lighthouse, Woking, a collaboration with architects, 22 Jun 2008.

User Representative, Direct Payments Service User Steering Group: August 2007 – March 2008.

Case Manager, Specialist Long Term Mental Health Team, Leicestershire Social Services June 1992 – Jan 1997 (Retired on Ill Health Grounds following acquired disability due to chronic health condition which led to loss of mobility and the need to use a wheelchair in March 1996).

Development Support Worker, Community Accommodation Project (Mental Health), Leicestershire Social Services, Leicester, September 1989- June 1992.

Residential Social Worker, Hayes Park, Leicester, March 1988- September 1989

Awards:

Judge’s Vote, Second Holton Lee Disability Arts Open Competitive Exhibition, for ‘Underwater Wheelchair’ January 2008. (Please see image that won this prize at top of this CV).

Natalie Sitar Award for Outstanding Achievement, Awarded by Plymouth University Fine Art Department following presentation of “Freewheeling: An Absent Presence or a Present Absence?’ for Degree Show and ‘Freewheeling: Absent and Present’ public art installation through the centre of Plymouth, June 2009.
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source: blogted

Sue Austin’s first ride in a wheelchair was an exhilarating one.
“An extended illness had changed the way I could access the world … I’d seen my life slip away and become restricted,” explains Austin in today’s talk, which was given at TEDxWomen in December. “When I started using the wheelchair 16 years ago, it was a tremendous new freedom … I could whiz around and feel the wind in my face again. Just being out on the street was exhilarating.”

And yet, Austin noticed that people started treating her very differently.

“It was as if they couldn’t see me anymore, as if an invisibility cloak had descended,” says Austin. “They seemed to see me in terms of their assumptions of what it must be like to be in a wheelchair. When I asked people their associations with the wheelchair, they used words like ‘limitation,’ ‘fear,’ ‘pity’ and ‘restriction.’ … I knew that I needed to make my own stories about this experience.”

In today’s jaw-dropping talk, Austin explores how the divide between the way she sees herself and the way others see her inspires her art, which challenges the traditional notion of disability and shares the joy she feels experiencing the world from her chair.

One of Austin’s first series in this vein was called “Traces from a Wheelchair,” created in 2009. For the work, Austin used paint on the wheels of her chair to create glorious loops — both on enormous sheets of paper and on the grass outside the gallery showing the exhibit.

“The wheelchair became an object to paint and play with,” explains Austin. “It was exciting to see the interested and surprised responses from people. It seemed to open up new perspectives.”

Austin went on to found Freewheeling, an initiative to expand the bounds of Disability Arts with fellow creators Jack Morris and Shirley Phillips. The group soon staged the three-part installation “Freewheeling: An Absent Presence or a Present Absence,” also in 2009, bringing the same concept to the streets of the town of Plymouth.

While many loved the installation, though, some locals saw the exhibit as graffiti — leading the BBC to cover the exhibit. “Some people may see it as vandalism,” Austin says defending her work. “But it’s the thought and concept that makes it artwork.”

Next, Austin had a crazy idea: to use her wheelchair to explore underwater. In 2010, with a grant from the Arts Council England’s Impact program, she began building an underwater wheelchair for a work she called “Testing the Water.”

“I realized that scuba gear extends your range of activity in just the same way that a wheelchair does,” explains Austin in today’s talk. “But the associations attached to scuba gear are ones of excitement and adventure — completely different to people’s responses to the wheelchair. So I thought, ‘I wonder what will happen if I put the two together?’”

“When we started talking to people about it, engineers were saying it wouldn’t work, the wheelchair would go into a spin, it was not designed to go through water — but I was sure it would,” Austin told the BBC of the chair. “If you just put a thruster under the chair all the thrust is below the center of gravity so you rotate. It was certainly much more acrobatic than I anticipated.”

Austin had hugely ambitious plans for her underwater wheelchair. She applied to be part of the Cultural Olympiad, the art extravaganza surrounding the 2012 London Olympic and Paralympic Games. The plan: to take the underwater wheelchair to the ocean.

The incredible work above, which Austin called “Creating the Spectacle,” not only required months of intense physical training — it also necessitated a creative and technical team. Trish Wheatley, co-producer, shares in a blog post that the crew headed to Egypt to film Austin exploring the Red Sea in her wheelchair. The location gave the tropical backdrop and marine life that make this video so magical. And, because the water was warmer, Austin could dress in everyday clothing. The video took six days of filming, Austin going under for multiple 20-minute dives.

“Creating the Spectacle” was performed on August 29. For it, a swimming pool was transformed into an unconventional stage, with 23 scuba-equipped spectators (several of them disabled) going underwater to watch Austin dive in live. The performance was synthesized with the footage of Austin in the Red Sea and with the video above, called “Finding the Flame,” which shows Austin discovering the Paralympic torch in a cave.
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source: bitsenimagen

La artista británica Susan Austin pasa sus días sobre una silla de ruedas desde hace más de 15 años. Sin embargo, su discapacidad motriz no ha detenido su trabajo, al contrario, se ha convertido en su elemento primordial.

En su sitio oficial están los archivos de su obra, entre los que se cuenta Freewheeling Past and Present, una serie de trazos en espacios públicos y lienzos creados a partir del rastro de pintura de su silla de ruedas.

La portada de su sitio explica su intención de desafiar la percepción de las sillas de ruedas y las discapacidades.

“Mi trabajo de estudio se ha centrado durante un tiempo en encontrar maneras de entender y representar mi experiencia como usuaria de una silla de ruedas, abriendo asuntos profundos sobre métodos de auto representación y el poder de auto narración al desafiar el lazo entre el poder y control creados entre el ‘discapacitado’ y los otros.”

Pero el proyecto que atrajo atención internacional, fue el más reciente que la llevó a las profundidades del mar. Austin trabajó muy de cerca con expertos del buceo en el diseño de una silla de ruedas equipada con un propulsor en forma de aletas que le permitieran avanzar debajo del agua.

La pieza en video a continuación lleva el nombre de “Finding Freedom” (encontrando la libertad) y forma parte del proyecto Freewheeling, una iniciativa que promueve artistas con discapacidades e insta a la comunidad académica a realizar investigación alrededor de ellas.
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source: wearehandicappedwordpress

Toen Sue Austin 16 jaar geleden een ‘krachtstoel’ (rolstoel) kreeg, voelde ze zich enorm bevrijd. Anderen bekeken haar echter alsof ze iets was kwijtgeraakt. In haar kunst wil ze de geest van verwondering overbrengen die ze, rollend door de wereld, voelt. Met spannende beelden van de onderwater-rolstoel waarmee ze de oceaan verkent, langs scholen vis zwemt, helemaal vrij.
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source: tecnew-juliblogspot

A artista britânica Sue Austin pode ver as maravilhas do oceano sem deixar sua cadeira de rodas. Cadeirante desde 1996, Sue Austin será uma das atrações das Olimpíadas Culturais em Londres, evento que acontece paralelamente às Paralimpíadas de Londres 2012. Ela desenvolveu a cadeira de rodas motorizada com a ajuda de acadêmicos e especialistas em mergulho:
Para mover através das profundezas oceânicas, a cadeira de rodas usa uma hélice e aletas posicionadas na parte de trás das pernas de Austin que lhe permitem orientar através de uma tira de acrílico ligado a seus pés. De acordo com o SmartPlanet, o projeto original usava modelos de hélices contando com movimentos da mão, mas Austin não teve a força para manobrá-las corretamente. Em vez disso, a equipe trabalhou para tornar sua cadeira de rodas mais flutuante, modificando as nadadeiras e ajustando o assento para lidar melhor com a pressão debaixo d’água.
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source: ilforumdellemuseforumfreeit

Dopo averla vista muoversi su un fondale marino non sarete più gli stessi, ma parte del suo progetto.

Sue Austin è un’artista disabile che ha fatto della sua invalidità un’opera d’arte. Ha iniziato nel 2005 a immergersi con la sua carrozzina, dopo aver creato un veicolo dotato di propulsore e pinne che le consentono di muoversi agevolmente nell’acqua.

La stessa artista confessa: «Quando chiedevo alle persone quali sentimenti ispirasse la sedia a rotelle, mi parlavano di compassione, costrizione e anche paura. E capivo che quella prospettiva rischiava di diventare mia».

Ecco perché ha iniziato a chiamarla power chair, “la sedia del potere”, e a utilizzarla come strumento di trasformazione. Prima tracciando linee colorate su un prato e poi sott’acqua, con le bombole di ossigeno assicurate allo schienale e due enormi pinne trasparenti che abbracciano la sedia e le danno stabilità.

Tra le ruote, due propulsori comandati da un pulsante azionato da una gamba. Le sue danze subacquee stanno diventando una mostra e un film.

L’idea le è venuta qualche anno fa, ma quando ha iniziato a parlarne in giro era stata scoraggiata, in quanto le avevano detto che era impossibile da realizzarsi e che una sedia a rotelle non è fatta per l’acqua. Ma lei non si è arresa e ce l’ha fatta! Con un paio di motori, una pinna personalizzata e un pedale per timone, Sue è in grado di muoversi sott’acqua con facilità.
Ora sta brevettando la sua sedia a rotelle “speciale” e ha già in mente alcuni miglioramenti da fare come, ad esempio, un telaio in titanio per evitare la ruggine.

Nella sua homepage l’artista racconta la sfida che ha affrontato: “La mia pratica per anni si è focalizzata sui modi per capire e rappresentare la mia esperienza da disabile sulla sedia a rotelle, dando vita a profonde conclusioni sui metodi di auto-rappresentazione e sul potere di raccontare sè stesse”.

Ha anche creato una serie di filmati, ”Creating the Spectacle”, che la riprendono mentre volteggia nell’acqua, facenti parte di un progetto artistico, “Freewheeling”, che promuove lo stato degli artisti disabili e vuole incoraggiare la ricerca accademica.

Come ha confessato la Stessa Sue Austin: «Le attrezzature da sub sono associate a un senso di emozione e di avventura: l’opposto di quello che provi davanti a una sedia a rotelle. Ecco perché ho detto: vediamo che succede se metto tutte queste cose insieme».

Mentre procede sbuffando pennacchi di bolle, le pinne sembrano la coda di una sirena.

«Il nome della sedia a rotelle subacquea per me è “portale” perché mi apre un livello di consapevolezza inedito».
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source: seniorfirstde

Die britische Künstlerin Sue Austin geht mit Rollstuhl auf Tauchstation und liefert dabei mit ihren Performances atemberaubende Aufnahmen. Zur Zeit ist Austin anlässlich der Paralympics 2012 im englischen Dorset mit dem Programm “Finding Freedom” zu Gast und begeistert das Publikum mit Bildern zwischen Tanz und Videokunst, die ebenso ungewöhnlich wie poetisch sind.

‘Part 1 – Finding Freedom’ überrascht schon allein durch die offensichtliche Schönheit, zu sehen, wie Sue Austin unter dem Meer eine völlig neue Bewegungsfreiheit entwickelt, die ohne die technischen Erweiterungen ihres Rollstuhls nicht möglich gewesen wäre. Man wird sie schwer als eine Art von “Rollstuhlkünstlerin” abstempeln können und gerade deshalb ist ihr künstlerisch überaus inspirierender Beitrag zum englischen Kultursommer 2012, den Cultural Olympics, mehr als wichtig. Barrierefreiheit ist eben nur selten Thema von künstlerischen Arbeiten.

Die technische Herausforderung, einen Rollstuhl sicher für den Tauchgang zu machen, bereitete den Mechanikern zunächst Kopfzerbrechen. Ein Rollstuhl wird normalerweise mit den Armen und Händen betrieben, aber unter Wasser ist durch den hohen Druck so kaum ein Betrieb möglich. Um die Probleme mit dem Druck zu umgehen, entwickelte man kleine Flossen, die Sue Austin mit den Händen bedient und die dem Rollstuhl zusätzlich ein futuristisches Aussehen verleihen.
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source: d3ru

Как хорошо, что в Британии есть не только всем известные британские ученые но и такие люди как Sue Austin, которые изобретают действительно ценные вещи.

Так получилось, что с 1996 года Сью вынуждена передвигаться на инвалидном кресле. С тех пор она не переставала мечтать о подводных погружениях, при этом девушка не просто мечтала, а работала над своим проектом по разработке инвалидного кресла для дайвинга.
Естественно ей нужна была помощь в воплощении столь амбициозного проекта и она ее нашла. Профессиональные инженеры помогали ей в с создании специальной пропульсионной системы для передвижения инвалидного кресла под водой.

“Когда мы начали обсуждать это с разными людьми, инженеры стали утверждать, что это не будет работать, коляска войдет в штопор, она не предназначена для воды… Но я была уверена, что она заработает”, – сказала Сью Остин в интервью Би??би??си.

Видимо целеустремленность Сью заразила всех, так как в итоге общими усилиями им удалось создать первую модель инвалидного кресла для погружения в потрясающий подводный мир. Модель приводят в движение два двигателя, а направление движения выбирается при помощи специальных прозрачных плавников. Сью, кстати, лично тестировала образец.
При разработке проекта Сью преследовала одну цель: найти оригинальный метод самовыражения для людей с ограниченными возможностями, чтобы они могли ощутить новые краски жизни, до этого им не доступные. Лично я восхищен силой духа этой девушки! Статья на русском. А также видео.
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source: j-tokkyo

1996年から事故により車いす生活になった一人の女性は、スキューバダイビングを体験した後に、自分の車椅子をこの素敵な水中車椅子を改造した。自走式なので、使用者が思いきり海で楽しむことができる。このような車椅子が発売したら、身体障害者でもバダイビングを体験されるようになる。
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source: elwardah

ابتكرت الفنانة البريطانية الأصل Sue Austin بالتعاون مع مجموعة من المهندسين ومتخصصي الغوص مقعداً متحركاً مزود بمحركي دفع وزعانف بلاستيكية يستطيع التحرك تحت الماء ، مما يمكن الأشخاص ذوي الاحتياجات الخاصة من الاستمتاع بالغوص تحت الماء، وقد تم عرض هذا التصميم في إطار الاحتفالات المقامة بمناسبة دورة الألعاب الأوليمبية بلندن 2012 .