It's Over! Looking Back

Well, as you may be able to see from the date at which I'm publishing this, it quickly became evident that my attempt to write a blog post every day about what we did was beyond ambitious. While I learned many things from Other Lands Other Sounds 2018, one important lesson was that a dedicated social-media manager would be a good addition next year! Jests aside, I apologize for not being able to give a live update of the workshop as it unfolded. However, the fact that I can blog about the experience in hindsight means I can curate your reading experience a little more carefully.

To begin, I'll attempt to give an overview of what occurred.  Subsequent posts will focus on particular topics, rather than a day by day chronicle.

Looking back, what did we do? We certainly did more than create new art works, and that has always been part of our mission. Curiosa's aim as a company is to

bring people together across arts and cultures, to create spaces for interaction, sharing and learning between communities, artists, and travelers, through creative collaboration.

It's no small mission, but key to grasping our ethos is understanding that the creation of art is the means by which we seek to transform people's lives. We see the creative process as a means of learning more about ourselves and others, and we believe that just as art itself can communicate aspects of the human condition, so too is the process of making art with others an essential means of learning to communicate, to be more gracious, open, and cooperative humans.

I'm pleased to say I think that happened. Even though the project only lasted 10 days, many of our participants came away saying that they'd had a life-changing experience. On the one hand, I observed that each participant definitely made strides towards expanding and improving their artistic practice. Sonya Rademeyer created her first live performances in collaboration with musicians (including live drawing, video installation, sound of drawing and more). Chloe Lam managed to break away from her baroque training to explore new experimental vocal techniques, as well as to collaborate with Sonya to incorporate drawing and a new approach to theatrical performance into her practice. Andrei Argaetic managed to reconnect with his practice, having been away from illustration for several years. Marie-Pierre Cravedi also reignited her creative practice, and explored video making for the first time. These are just a few examples.

On the other hand, just as key were the relationships made. As the creative team, we placed great emphasis on the creation of ensemble. This is a term that often appears more in the theatre world, but as creative workshop leaders, we have come to understand how important a sense of trust and group mind can be towards supporting creativity. We started each morning with a movement session which, over the course of the workshop, incorporated more and more aspects of group complicite, experimentation, play, and performance. Likewise, Filipe also incorporated a range of group trust and listening exercises in his leading. While we did not intend to create a theatre piece, or to ultimately perform together as one group, I believe these exercises not only teach elements that are useful for life in general, but also set the framework for an atmosphere of play, non-judgement, listening, and cooperation. We not only got to know each other better, but we also felt accepted into the group as we were. We consciously tried to create a space where our participants could be themselves, and could therefore take risks, and be vulnerable with their practice.

But of course, the other important aspect of the workshop was the unofficial "work" done in social times. The fact that we were together almost constantly, day and night, made the workshop understandably intense. However, it also meant deep friendships were created in a very short amount of time. The time spent conversing over dinners and at the cafes, dancing by the river, and swimming at the beach - as well as cooking together, tidying up after meals, and generally pitching in - allowed us to quickly develop a friendly group culture of play, hard work, and support. As a result, even our moments of highest stress - setting up, tech-ing and rehearsing for the show - were traversed with relatively little conflict.

The happenings were also a surprising success and became an essential contributor to the group dynamic. I will write a separate post about them, but will point out here how the happenings transformed over the course of the workshop. Sometimes artistic, sometimes silly, they became excellent mini vehicles for group collaboration. But they also became a new lens with which to look at the world around us. They awakened us to the potential for each moment to become something special, something fun, collaborative, and creative. By the end of the workshop, the happenings were no longer tied to certain hours, but seemed to be occurring with glee at many moments during the day and night, and even continued after we had departed!

At the beginning of the workshop, we all did an exercise where we reflected on our reasons for coming, and then stated our intention for the following two weeks. It was moving to witness the openness with which people stated their desire to try new things, to learn, and to be changed. My personal intention was to listen and observe closely, and to help the participants realize that they have everything they need to create within them. I'm happy to say that every person made strides during this workshop, and I hope they all feel buoyed by their experience with us. It's certainly been hard to return to normal life, and to think back on the beautiful intensity of living we did while together. I'm sure it is a time that will remain with all of us.