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resilients:bohemian_salon [2012-04-23 08:19] – nik | resilients:bohemian_salon [2012-05-08 15:21] (current) – maja | ||
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* AR -> networking and portfolio | * AR -> networking and portfolio | ||
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+ | === Evaluation & discussion === | ||
+ | on 20120427 we (maja, nik, rasa, peter and (remote) shell) prehersed this scenario at FoAM; | ||
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+ | Notes from the debrief on 20120507 | ||
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+ | == Preparation of the prehearsal == | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | * Question assumptions: | ||
+ | * If one of us takes initiative to design and lead the prehearsal, that person should be allowed to lead and also take responsibility for all aspects of the prehearsal. if someone disagrees - listen and adapt - before prehearsal starts. once it starts, best not to get out of character. | ||
+ | * Best to clarify the roles beforehand. it might be more useful to experiment with being yourself (with perhaps accentuating different aspects of your behaviour), rather than assuming a completely fictional role | ||
+ | * Framing beforehand: For most people it is helpful to have clear guidelines (both for participants and non participants), | ||
+ | * Some roles might have to be played by actors (amateur or professional) to facilitate and enhance credibility of a scenario (in this case - hostess, barman...) | ||
+ | * There needs to be time between design of the prehearsal and the actual prehearsal, to have time to produce it properly and invite people who should be a part of it. How much time depends on the size and complexity of the prehearsal | ||
+ | |||
+ | == During prehearsal: == | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | * focus on your experience, behaviour and responses to situations. take notes if necessary, notice patterns, reactions... that are resilient and others that are fragile or need to be changed for you to survive and thrive in a given scenario | ||
+ | * avoid stepping out of character, or be aware that you're going to do it and then do it consciously | ||
+ | * it's good to have remote connections, | ||
+ | * for the bohemian salon scenario to work, a critical mass of diverse people with overlapping interests is needed | ||
+ | * lack of clarity about process and guidelines causes confusion for some people | ||
+ | |||
+ | == After prehearsal == | ||
+ | |||
+ | * Listening circle is a good way to ask 'how was it for you', but a ' | ||
+ | * It might be good to separate evaluation of methods / experience / content (impact of scenario on the question) | ||
+ | |||
+ | == FoAM patterns uncovered == | ||
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+ | |||
+ | * for FoAM to function as a bohemian salon, there have to be more and more diverse people involved (otherwise insufficient overlap of interests, no broadening of networks, no challenging/ | ||
+ | * We do not question our assumptions often enough - we should all dare asking questions until we're comfortable that we know enough of what's going on | ||
+ | * When the founders spend time together, some collaborators feel excluded and feel that they' | ||
+ | * There is an overwhelming load of logistics, admin and other non-content demands on the two founders on a daily basis, so the scenario felt liberating for them | ||
+ | * We should have more moments of sharing with remote FoAM people - having skype open might be enough, or having a guided tour of what they' | ||
+ | * (other findings see maja's summary below) | ||
+ | |||
+ | === Maja's notes from the prehearsal === | ||
+ | |||
+ | == my understanding of the bohemian salon prehearsal: == | ||
+ | |||
+ | * for 1 day i am a person following my own individual vision and interests. in the afternoon i come together with other people (engaged in their own pursuits) for a salon conversation over some drinks, somewhere in the city (either in someone' | ||
+ | |||
+ | == my bohemian salon answer to the focal question: == | ||
+ | |||
+ | * my answer to this question after the prehearsal: i follow my interests and find people who either share the same interest and we benefit from a collaboration because we are interested in the same thing, or i ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | == observations about the experiment: == | ||
+ | |||
+ | * for me the value of the prehearsal is in experimenting with different attitudes, rather than playing fictional roles: for a ' | ||
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+ | * i had the need to have a clearer framework of the prehearsal: when does it start and end, what resources do we have at our disposal, what is FoAM's studio in this scenario (how did we get it, how is it paid, what do we do there…), how do we deal with ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | * for the salon itself (the time when everyone comes together) a critical mass of 10 or more people is needed, the more diverse the better, so that everyone can find something interesting to talk about. serendipity becomes very important - unexpected encounters and new insights were for me the most needed. i found that i wanted to go to a social place, where many people come and go (like a ' | ||
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+ | * the prehearsal requires much more planning and thinking about who and how many people need to be involved for it to work. | ||
+ | |||
+ | * evaluation must be a part of the prehearsal, to hear about other people' | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | == what did i learn? == | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | * personally: this scenario for me could be summarised in one word: FREEDOM. i felt unburdened, much more able to take care of myself and pursue my own interests than i do in my daily life. i realised just how much my decisions are coloured by obligations and how much easier it was to say NO in my assumed ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | * for the group: if this would be FoAM's future, we would have no need for the studio and if i were to keep coming to the salons, it would have to be a much larger network, with more diverse people, high ambitions and very interesting work. i'm not sure this scenario would work in brussels. it sounds more like something for larger hubs such as london or tokyo, that attract a lot of people doing interesting work, there is a lot of movement to encourage serendipity. In terms of resilience: (1) extremely low overhead and lack of infrastructure can be liberating, (2) the structure is light and non-hierarchical, | ||
+ | |||
+ | * for the collaboration: | ||
+ | |||
+ | * for the culture: not much different from now: a few successful stars standing victorious on a battle-field covered with failed artists, rich patrons and famous curators. this is a perpetuation of the current culture, just taken more to its extreme individualistic nature. i don't think it's particularly resilient in the long run. there is definitely diversity and redundancy in this scenario, however the culture as a whole might be too fragmented to be able to survive through economic and social upheavals. people involved are too dependent on the market and state-support (such as the artist status)... | ||
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+ | |||
+ | == what did i do? == | ||
+ | |||
+ | i woke up early, had my morning ritual and focused on what my interests and my vision were. 2 things came to mind: on the one hand i'm a 'life artist' | ||
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+ | i decided my 3 rules for the day: i would only be around people and do things that would (1) interest me, (2) further my vision and goals and (3) allow me to learn new things. everything else was a lower priority and i should not waste too much of my time, energy and attention. | ||
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+ | i exercised, had breakfast and wrote my diary. i didn't want to go to the studio, but expected that we'd have a meeting about how to proceed with the prehearsal, so i went after all even though this didn't fit in my idea of the scenario (which caused a bit of tension, but i ignored it). | ||
+ | |||
+ | on the way to the studio, i bought some tea and cookies - my contribution to the salon in the afternoon. i got to the studio and contacted the borrowed scenery curator to know about the deadline for the text that i had to send to her. This relationship seemed much more important to cultivate than usual. I thought about getting some propaganda material ordered, when someone called FoAM and i made a mistake of picking up the phone. i was instantly catapulted out of my ' | ||
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+ | i felt strongly that using FoAM's space and resources went against the planned scenario, where all infrastructure had to be borrowed from someone else. i felt it was wrong to come to FoAM and use food and space as-is (funded, with a full fridge, no time restrictions…). however, as i didn't design the prehearsal, i couldn' | ||
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+ | i invited nik for lunch, to talk about my book and see if he was interested in helping me design it. we had an interesting conversation about his design and photography directions and my projects. as my project was of interest to him and his career, he accepted to collaborate on it. during lunch i got a message from rasa that she forgot a key to the studio and asked if i was there. i simply replied that i wasn't and that i might be back in about 45 minutes. no worry or obligation arose in me. | ||
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+ | i came back to the studio and worked on a moodboard for borrowed scenery. i could begin seeing glimpses of the aesthetic and experience i wanted to get to with the back story when nik returned with rasa. rasa proceeded to water the plants and help out a visiting artist with borrowing kitchen utensils from FoAM. i was puzzled, as i thought that we would all have been 'in character' | ||
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+ | then 5pm arrived, the time for the ' | ||
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+ | after i left i felt that i stayed there too long, wasting my precious time and not furthering my interests. i went to de walvis, saw guy and annemie and went to join them. nik came along after a some time and joined us as well. it was unexpected, unattached and exactly as i thought the salon would be - everyone talking about their own interests, and everyone doing interesting things so that the conversation flowed for hours. when i felt tired, i got up and left, without feeling any obligations. i had a good time, learned things, found out about potential collaborations and felt that it was time for me to leave. | ||
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+ | nik and i walked home and had a great conversation about our experiences. we both enjoyed the day and were amazed how light we felt being able to ignore at least some of the various requests that kept bombarding us - things that we usually take for granted that they have to be dealt immediately. being an individual artist definitely has its benefits… | ||
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+ | in the morning i woke up very happy to figure out that the prehearsal could actually be seen as a form of meditation: trying out different attitudes, staying with my own thoughts and feelings and learning more about myself and others in different situations. i felt it gave me much more options to decide how and what i want to do in my daily life. as such, it was a successful first prehearsal experiment, with many avenues for improvement, | ||