Dear friend, I would like to invite you for a collaborative project that would start now as online communication and disscusion and end as residency in Berlin summer 2010. The points our collaboration would address are:
– redefining borders of art systems with autonomy as a strategy;
– developing alternative and parallel art systems;
– DIY aesthetics (Do it Yourself);
– DIWO aesthetics (Do it With Others);
– multidisciplinary and interactive approach;
– collaborative and participatory art practices.
Methods: Donald Schons “learning, reflection and change” will be initiated and carried out trough action, reflection in action and reflection on action. According to Castoriadis self-instituted autonomy of the work-progress of such group would be implemented trough critical self- and social- reflexion considering the “ . . . motives, its reasons for acting, its deep-seated tendencies . . . ” to distributed creativity and non-authorship that includes (not independence but) interdependence. Interactivity between participants are in focus, not the final work. Improvising with everyday together with use of digital technologies and free open source software for multimedia, but also in any sort of discipline and its interactivity is welcomed. (to be discussed)
Goals: to create an environment where autonomy is negotiated, discussed and acted. To create environment where participants exchange knowledge and produce art work as interaction between participants that include forms that are temporal and done in real time, as focus is on interactivity, not on the finalized object. Modes of representation are negotiated to the point where process becomes representation.
Why: focus on collaborations and non-authorship comes from the idea that one, solitary, individual creator drives into self-egoistic occupation that results in confrontation, rivalry and competition which are pillars for functioning of neo-liberal society. To exchange knowledge and to collaborate, in this sense, means to create environment where creativity is not based on market driven forces.
How: To keep open flow of ideas and to create flow between participants, actions are introduced by participants where improvisation and bricolage approach to creativity is happening in real time. Participants bring their ideas that are proposed, discussed and rehearsed beforehand by using on-line tools. Ideas are initiated at the residency and acted out. Focus is that each participant strives to connects his/hers creativity to initiated idea. This way we are striving to produce a human/machine feedback-loop.
Important background:
Researching autonomy in art operating systems brought me to a conclusion that only by producing an event consisting of transdiciplinary activities that are initiated by the participants and developed in horizontal manner and self-organizing fashion, can I introduce and present complex social and group topography in such art autonomy. I have decided to initiate this project as my MFA final exam at Transart Institute, which in a way contradicts my proposal. People can ask: why should we work for your MFA, what is our benefit? And I do agree that question is on the right track. But I also do put blind faith in people, where I am proposing a TAY inside art operating system of TI, where gallery can be used, appropriated, for our own way of expressing. By (blind) trust in human goodness I have proposed something that can go wrong in many ways: no participants, no funds, TI administration doesn’t approve the project, there is no visible artistic merit, there is no artistic authorship that can be assessed, etc. Partially, this is what I want to confront by critically observing system of the study and art I am taking part. Partially, I am trying to use this opportunity to make another meeting position of like-minded people, using the system that already exists, by parasiting on resources that are there, but to also give back knowledge and information that needs to be shared. I see this project as creating temporary autonomy zone in the system of institution, a system of collective experience and experiment instead of individual showcase.
Time: to be negotiated – approximately between 15th of July 2010 and 15th August 2010.
Place: ContentArt gallery, Berlin, other locations are optional.
Proposed time-line: (to be changed and discussed according to work flow and interests)
Now: opening mailing list in accordance to people invited
trough February: discussion on methods and goals and WHY
trough March: proposing action and discussing them
trough April: proposing on-line software that would suit virtual participation, discussing and tryouts
trough May: propose activities – skill sharing – discuss needs, equipment etc
trough June: finalize time-line for actual event
July – August: event