I made the mistake of exploring Nottingham’s Blackwells during the sales.  Hard on the wallet!  These were some of the half-price bargains I found.

Exhausting Modernity begins with much literary talk of the devil and the means of production, as such I thought it was worth a punt.  If I can lever some Dante into my thesis I’ll be very pleased, and this could be the way!  The Inclusive society seemed a slight risk as this kind of literature dates quickly, but it employs three key conceptions of inclusion in New Labour ideology that I need to get a strong grip on (especially with the Melbourne visit pending).  Wild Science is tricky.  There seem to be a lot of these kind of collected gender essays – and often it’s difficult to judge the strength of the theme and the resulting relevance of the writing.  This book, however, features ‘Teaching in the Belly of the Beast: Feminism in the best of all places’ by Anne Balsamo.  She’s always worth reading.  Likewise for Processed Lives which features a chapter by the excellent Nina Wakeford.

I’ve recently been reading Tom Shakespeare’s Disability Rights and Wrongs, a book that has been cropping up on every Disability Studies reading list.  At the recent Disability Research Forum at Sheffield Hallam, discussion of the book kicked off with consideration of the front piece, a work by artist Mona Hatoum.  I was the only member of the group to have seen wider examples of Hatoum’s work, and I think for those interested in exploring cultural conceptions of disability her work is deeply rewarding. Untitled (Wheelchair) pictured left, is used for Shakespeare’s cover.  This is one of a series of works, all of which deal with the body in its absence.  I will not describe my reaction to these sculptures, as they are open to interpretation, but it is difficult to consider these images without being drawn into them.  This image shows a steel wheelchair, hard and uncompromising, on casters.  It looks like institutional furniture. However, this is not the architypal Model 8F wheelchair of the NHS. It appears instead more like a hospital’s kitchen trolley. Two kitchen knives emerge where the handles should be. 

Untitled (Wheelchair II) seemingly repeats this image.  However, the handles are now deeply serated knives, the chair is slanted forwards at an angle like an italic letter.  Movement and speed seemingly enter the picture, implying a pushing force. 

A third image from this series is Webbed 1 (below). This sculpture, again in grey steel, depicts a hospital bed.  The springs of the bed are arranged as a spiders web. To find out more about Hatoum’s art, publications and exhibitions, and to see these works in more detail visit her pages at the White Cube Gallery.

Web 2.0 in action in so many ways.  The image shows a Threadless.com favourite t-shirt design: ‘Technology Ruins Nature’, by Leon Ryan.  Threadless is a t-shirt shop and community site rolled into one.  Anyone can put forward a t-shirt design, and site users vote for their favourites which are ‘published’.  This decal depicts the silhouette of a bear slouched in a forest lit only by a TV.

Proper news soon!