3: Oyeh, Oyeh! in 140 characters or less? – Medieval & Modern Stories

Feb 3, 2019In Action, On Show, Play, Studio & Process, Supporters, Talks & Workshops

Oyeh, Oyeh! in 140 characters or less? – Medieval & Modern Stories

The Map of Mundi Exhibition: One of 5 Weekly Themes

I was in the gallery at least 3 days per week, working – exploring a different theme each week, engaging with visitors and running workshops for both the public and for special groups:

Week 3 theme:

Medieval & Modern Stories

News and stories travelled faster than we might imagine in Medieval times in all sorts of ways. If William Cragh’s miracle story happened today, it would be perfect Twitter and Instagram content – it would go viral, no doubt. What would the headlines be? Which images would accompany the text and in which language would that be? What would be considered ok and not ok? How does the past intertwine with the present? How far and how long could a story spread? How has storytelling changed? What can we learn from then and use today?

Intention:

My idea here was to invite some SEO and social media storytellers/specialists, local journalists, writers, wordsmiths, poets, musicians, etc.  Could we take over the twitter feed for a day and post in Olde English?

What we did:

Outcomes:

All through the week, I added stories to the ‘Wall of Time’ in the gallery and again invited everyone who took part to drop in later throughout the exhibition, do more, and see how it was unfolding.

  • I took over the Lighthouse Instagram and Twitter feeds for the week and posted stories from the gallery
  • An original medieval-inspired short story “Ali & En” was specially written by author Julie Phillips
  • People created their own mini-stories in just a few minutes using nothing more than paint samples and keywords
  • The Wall of Time reached the middle of the space, telling the ‘story’ of the exhibition