Loren Beven, Katryn Saqui & Louisa Love
(Prof. Charlot N. Grifter, Dr Charlotte-Ann Nostrum & Dr Louisa Love)
Whitstable Biennale Satellite
12th June 2016

Synopsis (from: Whitstable Biennale Satellite catalogue)

Sited on the beach near the Old Neptune Pub, members of the public are invited to share their contemporary common complaints in the spirit of the carnivalesque travelling apothecary. Posing as snake-oil peddlars, the artists will liberate patients from 21st century ills by offering a homespun remedy for undesired needs such as moving house, MoT-ing the car and repeated internet password failure.
Showmen pitching miraculous cures have been around since classical times but the combination of mixed performance and medicine sales in Western culture originated in the Dark Ages after circuses and theatres were banned. Mountebanks, or fake doctors, travelled through towns and cities offering small street shows and miracle cures.
This project makes a 21st century twist by performance becoming the cure.
Meet at the apothecary to state your complaint and receive a diagnosis. The cure will be dispensed by Louisa Love as she takes you on a tour of new shrines around Whitstable.

Sited on the beach near the Old Neptune Pub, members of the public were invited to share their contemporary common complaints in the spirit of the carnivalesque travelling apothecary. Posing as snake-oil peddlars, the artists liberated patients from 21st century ills by offering a homespun remedy for undesired needs such as moving house, MoT-ing the car and repeated internet password failure.

Showmen pitching miraculous cures have been around since classical times but the combination of mixed performance and medicine sales in Western culture originated in the Dark Ages after circuses and theatres were banned. Mountebanks, or fake doctors, travelled through towns and cities offering small street shows and miracle cures.

This project makes a 21st century twist by a ‘Pill’grimage becoming the cure.
The cure was dispensed by Louisa Love who she took the patient on the ‘Pill’grimage to the ‘Shrine of the Oyster’ to be cured.

On the doctor’s coat is an impressive displays of woven and pin badges declaring her curriculum vitae, from paramedic to school council. The project was part of the Biennale Satellite and introduces herself as Dr Charlotte-Ann Nostrum.

Our collaborative practice is site and community responsive. Forming unexpected relationships and engaging in debate by playfully repositioning, redefining and altering objects, situations and sites is what we do.

In particular, we were testing and refining the performance element of our practice. We were looking to find the right balance between the ludic and the meaningful, poetic elements of our practice. We were investigating how we could use playfulness as a lure with which to engage people to deliver an authentic experience. We wanted to find an elegant sweet spot where the ludic and the poetry were balanced.

We are inspired by the way snake-oil peddlers operate, in that they are light footed and their pitches pop-up. The ludicrousness of their cure claims, and the combination of the medical with the circus is what appeals to us.

We also wanted to investigate the crossover of sculpture/installation and community participation.

The site next to the Old Neptune pub was easily accessible by car and it was easy to temporarily park up and unload. There was a loo in the pub and we could buy water and lunch. We had arranged help from friends who lived locally and it made setting up and striking quick and easy.

It was a popular, busy location that could be approached from four different directions. The giant red bunting around the tent made for a striking presence, even at a distance. People were curious and drawn in.

A sign stating that we were part of the Biennale instantly contextualised the project and made people who where initially unsure, relax. They found the list of ailments on the A-board humourous, which prompted conversation. This operated as an introduction and a safe half way post where they could put their toes in the water before deciding to commit to fully participate.

We were pleased with the fairly sparse aesthetic. People were drawn to it and we only had to pack and transport minimal props. The large empty medicine jars added to a sense of the uncanny. The bunting was eye catching, referencing the medical and the circus. The Biennale catalogues acted as waiting room reading material, which again added to putting people at ease.

Dividing the tent into two sections, waiting and consultation rooms, worked because it managed the flow of the crowd. It also gave us time to think on our feet and make decisions and adjust our response to the particular person. It was also the threshold between ludic and poetic reflection.

Minimal props in the consultation room (white bench for doctor and patient to sit on, small white table with large glass jar with folded maps inside and envelopes beside the jar) added to the sense of transience. It was also the threshold between ludic and poetic reflection.


Insisting that we cure only 21st century ills worked well and helped the ‘consultation’ to stay focussed.

Through trial and error we found the right the balance between play and the poetic. People laughed at the word play. They also liked the option of a choice between the standard NHS prescription and the deluxe, private health, guided pilgrimage.

On analysis, the user experience starts on arrival with curiosity, disbelief and hesitancy. Once we engage with them and they are lured into the waiting room, they become part of the performance, take on a role and play along. Once seated in the waiting room they become quiet and calm and wait patiently to be sent into the consultancy area. Once guided into the consultancy area, the reflection process begins. Once seated in the waiting room they became quiet, and calm, and patiently waited to be sent into the consultancy area. Once they were guided into the consultancy area, the reflection process began. Where Prof Charlotte N, would begin to explain that we do not prescribe pills, but Pillgrimages, and gave a brief outline of the origins of a pilgrimage and the origins of the Oyster poem written on the prescribed map that is then placed into a small brown envelope.

Title: ‘Contemplation is nothing else than a secret’ (St. Thomas Aquinas)

Materials: one Cathedral chair, a box to post written postcards in and a pen.


Position: facing the windows in the direction of artist Loren Beven’s window piece.

Concept: The chair becomes a reference to and metaphor for the votive racks of candles that are available to light inside the cathedral. Used for special or prayer intention they are often placed under a statue of Mary. Here the chair is placed under Loren’s window piece instead of a statue, giving focus and special attention to the work of art. The chair signifies a special occasion and offers a space for a moment of contemplation surrounded by artworks and with the light shining through the coloured window.

This piece is a response to the Creative Challenge quote ”everything I own I must keep’, where none of the materials in this piece belong to me, they are simply borrowed from the cathedral. In appreciation of the beautiful cathedral chairs, Loren Beven’s window piece and the ritual of lighting candles in the cathedral, Contemplation is nothing but a secret alludes to both the cathedral and the gallery as sites of reflection. In being able to post a response, the piece offers the audience an opportunity to give something to the artists in return for a moment of contemplation.

The audience: At the entrance to the exhibition the audience is invited to pick up an invitation to sit on the chair, and in return write a thought or contemplative experience/message about their experience in French or English.

This piece also explores new ways of collaborating. Loren Beven and I work together as the collaborative practice ‘Underground Pearl’. Here Loren has proposed a work and I have responded to it. Rather than both of us creating the whole work, in these pieces we have each created a work that, although they can stand on their own, is complimented and enhanced by the proximity of the other’s.