String Networks︎︎︎
Materials: a spool of soft strings or ribbons.
Concept: Everyone is a node and the strings are the networks
The facilitator asks if someone wants to become a dictator of the network. The dictator can tell everyone what to do, where to connect, and how they connect.
The dictator can connect the network themselves or ask another node to connect on behalf of their direction.
The facilitator asks the group if there is a ‘Code of Conduct’ that they would like to have for the group. When everyone in the group agrees on five principles of the network, they self-initiate the network.
The facilitator presents the rule: Everyone can join or leave the network anytime. When they join by touching the strings, they need to close their eyes and constantly be moving in small or large gestures. Whenever they desire, they can leave the network and open their eyes. They can cut the strings and create new network or modify and add new rules.
Now everyone is instructed to reenact the distributed network without the strings but moving their arms and bodies as though they are still holding string. They need to understand every movement they take on in space will have effects on other people.
Concept: Everyone is a node and the strings are the networks
1. Centralized network
The facilitator asks if someone wants to become a dictator of the network. The dictator can tell everyone what to do, where to connect, and how they connect.
The dictator can connect the network themselves or ask another node to connect on behalf of their direction.
2. Decentralized network
The facilitator asks the group if there is a ‘Code of Conduct’ that they would like to have for the group. When everyone in the group agrees on five principles of the network, they self-initiate the network.
3. Distributed network
The facilitator presents the rule: Everyone can join or leave the network anytime. When they join by touching the strings, they need to close their eyes and constantly be moving in small or large gestures. Whenever they desire, they can leave the network and open their eyes. They can cut the strings and create new network or modify and add new rules.
4. Invisible network
Now everyone is instructed to reenact the distributed network without the strings but moving their arms and bodies as though they are still holding string. They need to understand every movement they take on in space will have effects on other people.
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!
