Manual / Issue 5 / Unfinished

Manual, a journal about art and its making. Unfinished.The fifth issue. Loose threads unknotted. Ideas unrealized. Outlines left bare. Function unperformed. Patterns uncut. Luster removed with time and wear. We rarely examine unfinished things. The unfinished is easily overlooked in favor of the fully rendered and complete, but consider those sketchy lines, those fraying ends: the unfinished has potency. The unfinished offers evidence of process, reveals traces of technique, trembles with latent possibility. The essays, images, and projects presented in the fifth issue of Manual attend to the fluid potential of objects that are in some way incomplete. Softcover, 68 pages. Published 2015 by the RISD Museum. Manual 5 (Unfinished) contributors include Jen Bervin, Jean Blackburn, Gina Borromeo, Laurie Brewer, A. Will Brown, Bolaji Campbell, Dennis Congdon, Jeremy Deller, Jan Howard, Kate Irvin, Maureen C. O’Brien, Emily J. Peters, Siebren Versteeg, Elizabeth A. Williams, and C. D. Wright.https://digitalcommons.risd.edu/risdmuseum_journals/1004/thumbnail.jp

Global patient outcomes after elective surgery: prospective cohort study in 27 low-, middle- and high-income countries.

BACKGROUND: As global initiatives increase patient access to surgical treatments, there remains a need to understand the adverse effects of surgery and define appropriate levels of perioperative care. METHODS: We designed a prospective international 7-day cohort study of outcomes following elective adult inpatient surgery in 27 countries. The primary outcome was in-hospital complications. Secondary outcomes were death following a complication (failure to rescue) and death in hospital. Process measures were admission to critical care immediately after surgery or to treat a complication and duration of hospital stay. A single definition of critical care was used for all countries. RESULTS: A total of 474 hospitals in 19 high-, 7 middle- and 1 low-income country were included in the primary analysis. Data included 44 814 patients with a median hospital stay of 4 (range 2-7) days. A total of 7508 patients (16.8%) developed one or more postoperative complication and 207 died (0.5%). The overall mortality among patients who developed complications was 2.8%. Mortality following complications ranged from 2.4% for pulmonary embolism to 43.9% for cardiac arrest. A total of 4360 (9.7%) patients were admitted to a critical care unit as routine immediately after surgery, of whom 2198 (50.4%) developed a complication, with 105 (2.4%) deaths. A total of 1233 patients (16.4%) were admitted to a critical care unit to treat complications, with 119 (9.7%) deaths. Despite lower baseline risk, outcomes were similar in low- and middle-income compared with high-income countries. CONCLUSIONS: Poor patient outcomes are common after inpatient surgery. Global initiatives to increase access to surgical treatments should also address the need for safe perioperative care. STUDY REGISTRATION: ISRCTN5181700

Critical Encounters: Egúngún Masquerade Ensembles

Discussion held October 16th, 2016 at 2:00pm in the Chace Center, RISD Museum, Providence, RI. Egúngún masquerade regalia is constructed from disparate layers that are appliqued, patched, and sewn into panels or lappets. Some of the oldest cloth—often locally handwoven—is found at the core of each ensemble, while the outer layers present more contemporary textiles drawn from the global market. Bold and vibrant, these assemblages on view in the exhibition, Whirling Return of the Ancestors: Egúngún Masquerade Ensembles of the Yorùbá, are multidimensional feasts for the senses. During this lively exchange, curators, art historians, and artists unfolded the material lives of these ensembles. Drawn from the collection of the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology, and presented in an art and design context, intended to be animated by movement, but presented in stillness, made and remade, these ensembles allow us to consider the conventions and parameters of academic disciplines and museum practices as well as the interrelationships between ritual, trade, and processes of making. Speakers included: Bolaji Campbell, co-curator, professor and department head in RISD’s History of Art and Visual Culture; Henry J. Drewal, co-curator, professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Department of Afro-American Studies; Thierry Gentis, Curator/NAGPRA Coordinator, Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology; Kate Irvin, curator of costume and textiles at the RISD Museum; and artist Alagba Babatunde Akinsegun

Management of universal basic education policy in the villages in Nigeria

This study examined the managerial structure of Universal Basic Education (UBE) policy embraced by the governments of African countries towards ensuring free, compulsory and uninterrupted access to 9-year formal education for every child of school-age by 2050. Previous studies on UBE policy implementation in Nigeria reported unequal educational participation among school-aged children in the villages or rural areas when compared with the urban school-aged students. This paper seeks to understand if management could be attributed as the reason for over 4.5 million out-of-school children in two regional rural areas in Nigeria. Data collection for this study was through document analysis and semi-structured interviews with 20 local education administrators in two rural areas. According to the analysed data, political issues and inadequate infrastructure facilities to support teaching and learning were major challenges for managing education. Recommendations have been provided to enhance equitable opportunity to education among the school-aged children in the rural areas in Nigeria

Critical Encounters: Egúngún Masquerade Ensembles

Discussion held October 16th, 2016 at 2:00pm in the Chace Center, RISD Museum, Providence, RI. Egúngún masquerade regalia is constructed from disparate layers that are appliqued, patched, and sewn into panels or lappets. Some of the oldest cloth—often locally handwoven—is found at the core of each ensemble, while the outer layers present more contemporary textiles drawn from the global market. Bold and vibrant, these assemblages on view in the exhibition, Whirling Return of the Ancestors: Egúngún Masquerade Ensembles of the Yorùbá, are multidimensional feasts for the senses. During this lively exchange, curators, art historians, and artists unfolded the material lives of these ensembles. Drawn from the collection of the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology, and presented in an art and design context, intended to be animated by movement, but presented in stillness, made and remade, these ensembles allow us to consider the conventions and parameters of academic disciplines and museum practices as well as the interrelationships between ritual, trade, and processes of making. Speakers included: Bolaji Campbell, co-curator, professor and department head in RISD’s History of Art and Visual Culture; Henry J. Drewal, co-curator, professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Department of Afro-American Studies; Thierry Gentis, Curator/NAGPRA Coordinator, Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology; Kate Irvin, curator of costume and textiles at the RISD Museum; and artist Alagba Babatunde Akinsegun.https://digitalcommons.risd.edu/risdmuseum_lectures_public/1000/thumbnail.jp