thoughts

i quite like using this like a notebook to jot down thoughts so they don't get lost so here's some more. i really like the idea of creating an environment - a space within a space - that visitors can use, along the lines of hirschorn's 'library' for 'commonwealth at tate modern (which is about the dissemination of knowledge?) or the hong kong artists' installation at the venice biennale (i'll bring the book along on saturday). i wonder - returning to ideas about nineteenth century grass roots politics in the north - what were the structures for working people who wanted to learn or give out information? i like the idea of a 'soap box' but maybe also banners and the Workers Education Association. i really like the idea of the amateur researcher - people who think and find out things for the fun of it - a network of non-expert experts. if the museum represents in many ways this democratic form of exchanging knowledge - and after meeting the people there i think this is key - it would be good to highlight this in a way that visitors can experience directly.
here is a bit of a banner as a reminder.