Cage 1952 remix︎︎︎
Students bring in something to perform. I give an example of "a personal way/method of interpreting a line." The performance lasts 15 minutes. A digital timer is presented on a monitor. My computer generates time sequences for each student (i.e. 1:33 - 1:57, 2:19 - 4:34, etc.). They have to perform during their times and sit quietly when they are not active. The result is a typical Cage-like happening, with everyone doing independent actions that have no relationship to anyone else's actions.
Then, I pair people up, and give them 30 minutes to come up with something in which they can perform and interact together. Ideally, it shouldn't simply be a variation on what they did before. Then we do it again as collaborative groups. The collaborative performance ends up being much more interesting and fun, perhaps simply because they know what to expect.
Then, I pair people up, and give them 30 minutes to come up with something in which they can perform and interact together. Ideally, it shouldn't simply be a variation on what they did before. Then we do it again as collaborative groups. The collaborative performance ends up being much more interesting and fun, perhaps simply because they know what to expect.
︎︎︎from Arne Elgenfeldt; inspired by John Cage and the Black Mountain College workshops in the early 1950s
Welcome to mapping collaboration, a toolbox for workshopping and creating across disciplines...
In spite of a long history of interdisciplinary creation, from our earliest recorded arts to our present moment, artistic pedagogy has created divisions between disciplines. This has left artists in a "post-Babel" condition where we don't share the same language and definitions. It’s also encouraged artists to develop practices for devising, creating and composing work that are distinct to their disciplines.
In spite of a long history of interdisciplinary creation, from our earliest recorded arts to our present moment, artistic pedagogy has created divisions between disciplines. This has left artists in a "post-Babel" condition where we don't share the same language and definitions. It’s also encouraged artists to develop practices for devising, creating and composing work that are distinct to their disciplines.
The inspiration for this project came from faculty and students at Simon Fraser University’s School for the Contemporary Arts where BFA, MFA and PhD programs in Dance, Theatre Production and Design, Visual Art, Film, and Music and Sound all work together in studio settings and playfully experiment with processes of art-making.
We wanted to create a database of projects, assignments and theory that we collect inside the studio and from research happening in other places. We are curious about how we collaborate and how structures reoccur, translate and deviate from one discipline to another.
Composition is central to these processes and offers a base for our approaches and experiments. We are excited about what our students are doing and inspired by the new languages in contemporary art and performance we continue to see develop.
︎︎︎select a category above to build assignments, learn more about how artists process ideas across disciplines and to create a collaborative process of your own
︎︎︎these tools are collected and used in workshops and classes; some are resources from artists; some are quotes about art-making and how bodies think and listen; others are ideas to expand and disrupt your own training and processes.
︎︎︎Each idea is intentially short- and not meant to be executed as written, but to be adapted to your own practice and specific project/context. Some may be taken in parts or combined with others to spark new ways of training and making together.
︎︎︎submit your own ideas and tools so we can keep building this site!
︎︎︎select a category above to build assignments, learn more about how artists process ideas across disciplines and to create a collaborative process of your own
︎︎︎these tools are collected and used in workshops and classes; some are resources from artists; some are quotes about art-making and how bodies think and listen; others are ideas to expand and disrupt your own training and processes.
︎︎︎Each idea is intentially short- and not meant to be executed as written, but to be adapted to your own practice and specific project/context. Some may be taken in parts or combined with others to spark new ways of training and making together.
︎︎︎submit your own ideas and tools so we can keep building this site!
