Combinatory Play︎︎︎
Everything
old is new again. This is your chance to perform a bit of alchemy, mixing a
little of this and a little bit of that, to create something entirely new.
Pablo Helguera provides us a recipe, of sorts, whereby we commingle words and
ideas from different eras and disciplines to connect a novel work of art.
1. Bring together a small group of collaborators.
2. Each collaborator selects a play or screenplay.
3. Take turns reading lines from the plays, weaving the scripts together as you go, or write a script that weaves together parts of your plays, alternating every two or three lines or as you see fit.
4. Give it a title, and perform it.
Tips:
- Nonscripts can work, too. Look for novels that have a good amount of dialogue. But really any kind of text can be used as a source: textbooks, poetry anthologies, religious texts, cookbooks, newspapers, instruction manuals, etc.
- If you go the impromptu route, you could assemble a selection of plays ahead of time and then gather everyone around a table to choose one. Take turns reading, and embrace not knowing what will happen. An audience can enjoy the experience, too, where the material is new for everyone.
- If you go the more considered route, gather your collaborators for a script-writing session. Have everyone bring a printed, disposable copy of their play, cut each into segments, and rearrange the dialogue either randomly or very carefully and strategically to construct a narrative. Work together to plan the performance by assigning roles, creating costumes, arranging a set, and inviting an audience. Make a program. Rehearse. Perform!
1. Bring together a small group of collaborators.
2. Each collaborator selects a play or screenplay.
3. Take turns reading lines from the plays, weaving the scripts together as you go, or write a script that weaves together parts of your plays, alternating every two or three lines or as you see fit.
4. Give it a title, and perform it.
Tips:
- Nonscripts can work, too. Look for novels that have a good amount of dialogue. But really any kind of text can be used as a source: textbooks, poetry anthologies, religious texts, cookbooks, newspapers, instruction manuals, etc.
- If you go the impromptu route, you could assemble a selection of plays ahead of time and then gather everyone around a table to choose one. Take turns reading, and embrace not knowing what will happen. An audience can enjoy the experience, too, where the material is new for everyone.
- If you go the more considered route, gather your collaborators for a script-writing session. Have everyone bring a printed, disposable copy of their play, cut each into segments, and rearrange the dialogue either randomly or very carefully and strategically to construct a narrative. Work together to plan the performance by assigning roles, creating costumes, arranging a set, and inviting an audience. Make a program. Rehearse. Perform!
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!
