Methods, Tools, Practices, Experiences: Taking Artist Development Online

Chisenhale Studios/ Into the Wild is inviting participants and organisers of artist development and alternative art education programmes, to join us in pooling our learning and experiences of shifting partially or totally online over the last few months, in what is hopefully a really practically-oriented, fun and reflexive exercise. How can we strengthen our practice by learning from each other as we move into a socially distanced 2021?

We are hosting an online seminar with the Artist Development community – organisers, participants, contributors (recognising that these are often very blurry distinctions), in which different programmes will lead short, practical workshops to share methods, tools and practices that have been adopted or adapted over the last year.

Monday 7th & Tuesday 8th December, 10.30am-4pm. You may register to attend either 1 day or both days. The programme includes online and offline activities and regular breaks.

This workshop is specifically for participants, organisers and contributors to artist development and alternative arts education programmes - please only sign up if you have a connection to an existing programme.

Monday 7 December

Welcome, Introduction, and Provocation

enter, pursued by a bear – Lady Kitt (The NewBridge Project/ Constellations): An interactive performance addressing “Zoom Fear”. You will need a blanket, some (A4ish) scrap paper and a pen

DODO*Solitaire (or how I learned to love Cryptpad) – Larisa Blazic - Introduction by Elisabeth Del Prete & Gareth Bell-Jones (Constellations): A workshop led by artist and hacker Larisa Blazic exploring 2 non-extractive digital tools for collaboration: Cryptpad and Framasoft. Alongside a brief explanation of terms such as encryption and non-extraction, the workshop will explore how these tools can support groups working on collaborative activities while also ensuring that the privacy of data being shared is not compromised.

Rabbits Road Seasonal School – Rosalie Schweiker & Lisa Rahman present their process for the online winter school, including principles for the winter school, guidance, how they communicate, daily audio meditations, tutorials, and a sharing event etc. They will also lead some stretching exercises.

DIY Dissertation Cut Up Session – Emma Edmondson (The Other MA): A practical DIY dissertation cut up workshop and discussion about disrupting the institution and hierarchies that come with academisation. Use a donated dissertation or bring your own to work with.

Syllabus V Sound Piece – Hwa Young Jung, Sarai Kirshner, Juliet Davis and Duncan Pulton: A shared response to the experience of coming together as a group, particularly in terms of prioritising being together over visibility.

MESH Wiki Walkthrough – Matilda Glen and Niklas Gustafson (Into the Wild): An introduction to the MESH wiki and MESH Hack-a-thons - MESH is a new wiki site developed by Esther McManus and Into the Wild this year as an online space for artists to share information and resources.

Tuesday 8 December

Welcome and Introduction

Partial Social Reintegration Programme – Dan Russell (The Collective Studio): Working up from silence, to scripted chatting in pairs, towards a whole group activity.

What Makes an Artist (in Covid Times) – Sadie Edginton, Jenny Pengilly, Jack Thurgar, Sylvia Morgado (AltMFA): Four short activities exploring:1. Feeling lost – looking into the usefulness of a walking research practice to connect ourselves to the outside, and to others, and to motivate research.2. Calling yourself an artist – using materials from the home as art materials to explore how we value ourselves as artists, and the changing way we value art at this time.3. Where do you make art? – Show and tell exercise in front of the screen, using movement and participants’ objects, relating to the separate spaces we all inhabit, connecting them and expanding the space of the screen.4. Sharing Practice – text-based exercise game using the chat box to reflect and share practice key words, and swap and build new practice ideas to take on from other people’s words.

Somatic Movement & Porch Sitting Exercise – Joseph Morgan Schofield & Sonia Barrett (MycoLective): Somatic moving exercise (with the option of stillness) and digital porch sitting – the holding of shared space, gazing at a common vista, a way of doing collective contemplation.

Syllabus VI Discussion Groups : A reformulation of the questions/concerns/ideas that emerged around group working and learning from Syllabus VI’s first weekend together, Syllabus VI will host a series of discussions around these themes through four breakout rooms.

GRADJOB Care Riders: Rachael from GRADJOB Programme will give an introduction to Care Riders as a practice that GRADJOB commits itself to.

School of the Damned will be zooming over to MozillaHubs at the end of the day to try out an informal experiment, thinking about what workshops look like after the apocalypse. Using some of the schools own work and workings out, we invite you to participate, create and destroy the space as you see fit.