Dear list members,
thanks a lot for the great postings and introductions so far.
Some may have noticed that a somewhat similar discussion has been going on
over the past week on Eyebeam, hosted by the Australian Fibreculture list on
'distributed creativity.'
In the meanwhile Trebor Scholz in Buffalo has been busy trying to find money
for the free cooperation event late April. I have been assisting him as much
as I could, from far away, as has Orkan Telhan, who is also in Buffalo. The
result has been modest so far. All we can say at the moment is that the
event will indeed take place. Of course we're trying to get as much money as
possible so that we can bring over a variety of participants. Please let us
know if we can assist with grant applications.
As you may have seen in the call for collaborations, we're not intending to
host a classic conference with speakers, panels and papers. Of course some
of that will happen but it's not a format we are particularly interested in.
In this way we are of course making it quite difficult for ourselves because
we do not just invite the usual 5-10 speakers for such a two day event. So
please assist us in this process, if you like.
I was a bit surprised by the 'avant-garde's debate, in particular because I
don't know of any contemporary artist or artists groups who makes such a
claim. Not even activists have such dreams these days, with perhaps the
exception of these or that leftist leftover splinter group.
Instead I would like ask you all to, again, look into the original topic and
tell stories, theorize about current modes of collaboration. There is a
strange mix of necessarily and voluntary 'personal' choice there. New media
seem to foster both individual expressions and complex collaborations in
teams.
Briefly I will post my notes on friendship and the economy of collaboration.
I wonder if other people are also working on this topic. Obviously not all
collaboration is based on friendship, but the two have an interesting
'elective affinity' (Wahlverwandschaft).
I also interested in fatality and collaboration. Do all collaboration have
to end in misery and quarrels? The Eyebeam discussion points in that
direction. People are cynical about artists groups and collaboration these
days, for good reasons. My question would be if there are ways to prevent
individuals from highjacking and appropriating collective works? Or is
desintegration and betrayal amongst each other inevitable? What is the art
of disappearing in those cases? Is there an elegant way out or do
collaborations have to end up in blues? Do you know of built-in strategies
to circumvent tragedy?
Greetings, in the train to Geneva,
Geert