Blockchain Feasibility Study and NFTs
In 2021, we undertook a Blockchain Feasibility study to explore how we can utilise the technology of the blockchain to help to redistribute wealth back to artists who have donated work to the Collection, to the Birth Rites Collection itself and to others involved in the creation of artwork.
Touching Matters of Care ('Prorace' cervical cap, 1915-20) by Nora Heidorn
Touching Matters of Care ('Prorace' cervical cap, 1915-20) by Nora Heidorn appropriates and intervenes in a 3D scan of the "Prorace" cervical cap. The cap is a barrier contraceptive from the 1920s that was heavily promoted by Dr Marie Stopes, the feminist pioneer of birth control in the UK. The interactive digital work stages the ‘Prorace’ cap and its attendant history of the UK birth control movement and Stopes' eugenic feminism as a ‘Matter of Care’: a complex thing that requires our careful attention. The 3D work invites users to become proximate to this object by digitally handling it and to ask critical questions about its meanings.
The cursor hand wears a latex glove reminiscent of both the clinic and the archive. Thousands of married women from the 1920s onwards encountered the ‘Prorace’ cap in Stopes' birth control clinics, where they were fitted and learned to use it. Today, the cap and it's related documents are encountered in museological and archival spaces that require similar protocols of contact and hygiene.
*FOLLOW THIS LINK TO EXPLORE THE INTERACTIVE WORK*
This project was commissioned by Birth Rites Collection with support from the Arts Council England. It was developed out of Nora Heidorn's PhD research at the Royal College of Art and was made with creative technologist Jinia Tasnin. The original 3D scan of the ‘Prorace’ cap was produced by the Science Museum, London, where the object is on display. The cap is owned by the Wellcome Collection, London. With thanks to Helen Knowles and Hermione Wiltshire for accompanying this project.
Touching Matters of Care ('Prorace' cervical cap, 1915-20) is being sold on the Opensea platform and on Zora. We have made a special edition of 20 works + 3 Artist Proofs, one of which has entered the Birth Rites Collection. The first five editions are on sale now. Please click on the links below to take a look and purchase. 20% of proceeds from the sale of this work are automatically donated to the charity Black Mothers Matter, 50% will go to the artist and 30% to the Birth Rites Collection.
Edition 1/20 (opensea)
Edition 2/20 opensea)
Edition 3/20 opensea)
Edition 4/20 opensea)
Edition 5/20 opensea)