Back
Panel Discussion with Alex Mazonowicz (editor of Performing Recovery), Greg Smith & Leon Clowes (UWL)
Auto Constructive Art: The potentiality of Pete Townshend’s CEMI collection for artists in recovery
Following Townshend’s earlier music informed by Gustav Metzger’s theories of auto destruction, the musician made an artistic manoeuvre from destroying guitars to later building synthesized sounds. The development into sonic construction arose from a spiritual rebuilding via Maher Beba’s teachings and Terry Riley’s minimalism (Townshend, 1971). Claim could be made that this musical journey parallels Townshend’s personal junctures of addiction recovery from drugs and alcohol (Townshend, 2012; Ganatra, 2019).
What then, if there are potentialities of UWL’s Townshend CEMI collection being used as a tool for others in addiction, and other forms of recovery? Addressing both the Diversity and Access and Methodology and Practice strands of this conference call, a panel of artist-academics will discuss and present from the perspectives of solo, group, and facilitators of recovery arts praxis. Recent findings will be shared of how UWL’s Townshend CEMI collection has been pragmatically used to deliver a veterans’ arts PTSD recovery project in Summer 2024. Building on this, the panel will then consider what possibilities this exciting new resource might hold for other participatory projects in the future.