Page 121 of The Examiner

Dear Team,

So, we’ve had a night to digest the notes, and a morning discussing them over coffee and cake. I’m pleased to say we’ve got all the weeping, wailing and hand-wringing out of our systems and are ready to see the installation in the light of all the changes we must make to it. The upside is that we now have an extra £500 to buy new materials, and possibly more, seeing as we no longer need to hire headphones or binaural equipment.

Jem will present a report into the state of our finances asap. In the meantime, I suggest we focus on taking the brightly coloured components off the tunnel fabric. RD8 are happy to keep the head sculpture, as they felt it represented humanity in an otherwise technological presentation. However, perhaps we should give it more features, so it looks less like an android? Jem recently enjoyed a textured sculpture and has been inspired to rethink the head with a similar makeover. We also need to start work on the multimedia film of the company’s history. Ludya and Patrick will focus on that.

Meanwhile Jem, Alyson, Patrick and I will continue making components to a larger scale and with colourways indicated by the client.

Despite the client’s rejection of her binaural experience, Jem will rise to the challenge of rethinking her ambient soundscape to reflect the values RD8 spoke about. She is the master of sound and we know she can do this. Thank you, everyone, for getting through what could have been the most unsettling stage of the final project.

Jonathan

Doodle message group [Private] Gela and Jonathan, 30 April 2024:

Gela Nathaniel

Good work today. Everything gone to plan?

Jonathan Danners

Why do you ask?

Gela Nathaniel

You weren’t yourself at the post-mortem.

Jonathan Danners

Everyone is down. Even Jem and Patrick.

Gela Nathaniel

It’s the stage you’re at. You’ve broken all the eggs, but haven’t made the omelette yet.

Jonathan Danners

Gela, don’t talk to me like one of your students, please. We’ll finish the course and get As – or whatever you give us. At least the whole thing is nearly over.

Gela Nathaniel

There’s one more assignment: you have to finish the final project, write your long essay and set up the installation for RD8’s event. That’s it. Thank you again for this.

Jonathan Danners

What? We have yet another assignment??? This is ridiculous.

Gela Nathaniel

Yes, there are six assignments, as well as the final project and tutor assessment. It’s a coursework degree.

Jonathan Danners’ Doodle Diary, 30 April 2024:

This is bigger than anything RD8 have ever developed. Is it their technology or someone else’s they’ve acquired over the years? Either way, I’m not surprised they’ve kept it to themselves. Edison and Tesla worked on technology to breach the barrier between life and death. Both were working post-First World War when so many people lost loved ones, leading to a resurgence in the popularity of spiritualism. Engineers are need-led. People need comfort. They need reassurance and to feel a connection to their dead sons and husbands. If either had succeeded, it would’ve been the discovery of the century, an eternal question answered and a commercial opportunity: everyone would want a Spiritfinder in their home. Received wisdom has it that neither did. But what if they had and the result was … horrifying? Not a comfort to the bereaved at all. But the opposite.

They would ‘need’ to bury the tech, get rid of it. But who destroys something they’ve created? Frankenstein couldn’t kill the monster. Artists don’t destroy their art. Nor do engineers. Eventually RD8 found it, took it and kept it. Then so did we.

Doodle message group [Private] Jem and Gela, 30 April 2024:

Jem Badhuri