17 March 2011

Chris Clow Session 2, 17.3.2011


Thoughts on the go..
We agreed----- less talking, fully into practical. We begin by looking at the first documentary Chris did Holds no memory (2005-2006), so that we have a visual shared bank of images/tasks to then move into the practical component.

Practical session -- we divide in groups of three... in a way it is an extension of the task of allowing my material to be seen by
another and allow their 'view' to inform the growing knowledge of my process/evolving material. However, this time the material is seen by two outside eyes, one a 'dramaturg' (cross reference to posting 'LAB TIME 15.2.2011) and the other the camera....each group has 15 minutes, giving us time to discuss -- what we see, how we see, what is revealed, what is useful and how...

Groups finalise their experiments and we view and discuss some samples: a recurrent issue resurfaces, the interrelationship between the performance experience and how it becomes perceivable form. In the specific case of the workshop we consider how noticing details on the film - which would be lost in a panoramic view - may help us makes decisions of how to make it perceivable on stage. That is, if the film alerts me to details of fingers, breath, performer's attention and sense of presence -- what decisions do we need to consider to make this be perceivable on the scale of the stage? The issue of transference from one dimension of the creative process to another is an ongoing discussion which will become even more poignant as we prepare the presentations...We speak about rhythms of viewing, performing and filming.

We speak about having to collect raw material over and over and over again, to give time to see what the material 'discloses' through filming and then make editorial decisions - rather than enter the film, with an already predetermined 'aesthetic'.... (the difference between approaching film as video dance as opposed to archiving and documentation, we are focusing on the last one) again, taking time for the process to happen - as opposed to rush into 'making' seems to be key.

At the end, speaking of time, we seem to be running out of it.... Chris introduces us to presentation and editing sources on line..see the list in the projects page by clicking here

15 March 2011

Chris Clow Session 15.3.2011

Thoughts on the go...
We begin with introductions while the media is set up... it always takes that little bit longer to set up. Chris begins by reminding us of the focus of his contribution to the lab: to explore ways by which documentation and archiving contributes to the creative process. Chris addresses that this involves choices, how you document, what you document for what purpose.. how do different types and approaches to documentation help the research as it archives an evolution of practice which may be as important as 'recording' the work itself. How can archiving and documentation help the reflective process (and this we mean beyond 'making decisions' of this works this doesn't). How can archiving and documentation be important to disseminate (make available the various layers --and therefore forms of knowledge- within a creative process). How can the archiving of process be an autonomous yet related aspect of the 'performance'?

In response to Chris' introduction interesting issues begin to surface:
  • self documentation is more difficult than documenting the work of another
  • how can we use documentation not just as a memory aid but also to help with discoveries?
  • an important aspect of documentation is realising what we see and how we see when 'seeing' dance through a frame
  • Vitoria raises the interesting issue of the body as an archive and therefore performance as a type of documentation
Unpicking these and more is what is to come...

We find ourselves talking a lot, but this is good as from now on every conversation helps us all clarify our individual research more and more, nothing is outside of the process, everything, in one way or another, becomes relevant....

Coffee and cigarette break...

We start by drawing....how we perceive and materialise visually...a table, a glass, a body from the side, a foot...We see our predisposition to 'see' things in a particular way...Chris brings to our attention the work of Zeki, his proposal that at times it is good to leave things out so the mind has to work at making new connections, if everything is there, given, connections lose their value...stimulus fixation... leaving things out may take us to new connections between what we thought were 'known' elements....

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As we know under the theme 'the crisis' governments have taken the 'inititiative' to eradicate arts and education.... what kind of future, sense of 'nation', place, citizenship is there without these? how can we speak of the 'good of the nation' without these?

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