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was a series of projects initiated by Tramway to mark the elections for
the new Scottish Parliament on 6 May 1999. The aim of those projects,
which were developed by a number of Glasgow-based artists, was to address
the impact of the new parliament upon the lives of those people who were
entitled to vote for the first time. However, in Germ, Dominic
Hislop and Ross Birrell tried to highlight the position of those people
who, although aged 18 or over, did not vote in these historic elections.
The web site includes extracts from interviews conducted by the artists
between March and May, 1999.
The publication 'Germ', which is available from Tramway, takes its title from a temporary public art work sited by the artists in George Square on the day of the elections. This work, a one metre square slab of marble printed with edited extracts from the Representation of the People Act 1983 (in particular, those sections of Scots Law which refer to those people who are not entitled or eligible to vote), brought together issues concerning representation, social exclusion and public space. Those
not eligible to vote include the following groups: people
aged under 18 and too young to vote; people
not listed on the electoral register because they are homeless and not
registered with a hostel (and therefore without a postal address); people
not listed on the electoral register because they chose not to register;
convicted criminals
serving sentence in prison; patients detained in an Intensive Psychiatric
Care Unit under Section 26 of the Mental Health Act (this does not include
self-sectioned patients); people
who do not have legal residence in the UK (illegal immigrants or asylum
seekers). Those
who were eligible to vote under Scots Law but chose not to include the
following groups:
people who are
disaffected with, or apathetic towards, mainstream party politics and
chose not to vote; people
who are disaffected with, or apathetic towards mainstream party politics
but chose to spoil their ballot paper (although it could be argued that
this is a valid form of participation) |