This is the final LiveOnline DiscussionEvent as part of Animator Project
on the topic "International Partnerships: The Lure of Difference"
PLEASE JOIN US - All are welcome!
Thursday 12 June, 2008
17.oo-19.oo English time 18.oo-20.oo if you're in Czech Republic or Poland 19.oo-21.oo in places like Lithuania
With invited speakers:
Linara Dovydaityte - The Art Institute at Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas, Lithuania Ania Rogozinska - Katedra Kultury in Warsaw, Poland Joanna Zieba - Katedra Kultury in Warsaw, Poland Michala Pohorela - Spolek Richelieu in Prague, Czech Republic Olga Skochova - Spolek Richelieu in Prague, Czech Republic Brendan Jackson - Laundry in England
For more information and links to these organisation, please visit: http://www.culturalanimation.com/project-partners
hello, i am online. i like the title of this discussion. who thought of it? it made me think about how all the high streets in england are beginning to all look the same - same shops, same logos. you could in in dorchester, dorset or basildon, essex or wolverhampton, west midlands... and it all looks like the same place.... no lure of difference whatsoever...
Hi all, I am online as well. BJ, and this is you speaking about England in which multiculturality catches one's eye on every corner of every street? Even though the shops do look similar - but what happens when you leave high streets and venture into other districts?
maybe it s only face-exterior, brendan, there should be some differences, deeper? ...it could be interesting to investigate...to do a project where we will search for differences between people working in mc donalds all over the world...and people going there...?
ania: it's hard to leave the high streets of the uk - we are all crowded into the cities... the countryside is depopulated compared to 20 - 30 years ago.... but yes, you will see different types of building (stone walls, cumbria etc).... but a lot of the countryside actually looks the same, since it has been harvested by big supermarket concerns...
there is a big difference in accents and dialects in the uk, it' s remarkable how short a distance you have to travel to find a wholly different way of speaking...
BJ: I guess I meant more going into other parts of the city, further from the chainstores and malls and closer to all the Indian and Pakistani shops and so on...
ok, seriously. for me, personally, this partnership concretely in animator project, it was more about meeting people who are rather same-close (in thinking) than different across the borders
it's interesting about the hamburgers thing - and how, even though people want difference (travelling) then at least for british/americans then they also desire/require(?) a bit of their local... maybe (at least for some) there needs to be a mix of unfamiliarity and familiarity... in addition to mcdonald's everywhere there also seems to be an irish pub everywhere you go...
the irish pub in kaunas seemed more like a biker bar in the american mid west with a few medieval swords and skewers added for good effect... i liked it.
and if i can speak in the name of spolek richelieu, i feel us a little bit like outsiders (not only in bad sense) but like somebody, who is a bit out of the main concept of the project and who see the others from more-long-distance perspective and who is asking : how are they doing that? who are they? what s the subject ? what partnership? why?
talking about our project. personally i agree with Michala - more similarities than huge differencies. but institutionally it was opposite. in the Wonders project my students got different experience working with artists, not theoreticians.
I think Michala has a point there speaking of how communication is quite easy for us all on some level because we share some points of view... It gets really interesting though when we start translating one category into another, like with community arts and cultural animation. Or cultural management in Poland and in Czech Republic.
michala's point about meeting people who are same-close. for me it was interesting/intriguing to see how a same-close idea was 'translated' elsewhere with often quite different or unexpected outcomes.
well, the idea of 5 zloti projects. which came out of a workshop group in april (with one group using chalk and string) and became something quite different at the end event in april. it sort of mutated as people passed the idea on. like a virus.
and the Wonders project mutated into different forms with different results, depending on who participated. the workshops with the architects and town planners in praga (warsaw) were quite different to the others, even though the formula was similar, if not the same.
actuall, why we have this subject? this theme for discussion? i dont mind i just would like to know what was on the beginning? is it our common interest or interest of leonardo fund? me, i would like to know more unoficially what was really interespting and important thing for each of the partner organizations and their part of animator project. and if we have any hope for further cooperation...did you think about that?
Well, actually 5 zloty project were born from 1 pound projects which came into being during alpha's group study trip to England in February 2007, right? So this translation thing is getting even more interesting here. Mutating from one country to another, translating contexts and currencies. It is also similar with the Wonders projects - and this is the people who bind all those projects together and "transmit" the virus.
I agree with Brendan. The Wonders project is a good example of how the model can be mutated and what does it mean in context of differences (because there are some) in undersatnding the idea of cultural animation. Maybe it would be a good case study to see how it worked in different context and with different kind of participants?
i think there will be further cooperations. already, IKP will be doing some exchange with west midlands via contacts they made with Staffordshire University - ania will explain - and Laundry was contacted by a group in Lithuania (via Linara) who want to do a mini-wonders project at end of summer... which ania and alijca are currently negotiating for us.... so,,,,
The Wonders project is still mutating. many people and institutions were very interested in results of the Wonders of Kaunas (book). Besides our students wish to continue and do something from this, there is an idea to realize something similar in Vilnius with students of European Humanitarian university from Minsk (which is in exile in Vilnius now). i believe some of you are in contact with them. i would call wide reaching results of ANIMATOR (100 km distance from Kaunas to Vilnius is usually very far:)
me and bev from Laundry are starting a new project on the theme of intercultural dialogue, with work in birmingha, sejny (PL), bela rechka (bulgaria), Baku, and Hania in Crete. in Hania, we may use the Wonders model - this is for a residency at a synagogue (world heritage site) that wants to engage with local artists and communities as part of their developing education outreach programme. so things are happening.
Yes, our cooperation with Staffordshire University is a good example here... We went to visit Stoke-on-Trent twice during study trips organized by Laundry in February 2007. Mark Webster from Staffordshire did a presentation of their track of studies - they teach community and participatory arts, regeneration, mentoring, youth and community work - and we couldn't help but notice many similarities between what they were doing and our specialization. Which led to writing a new project in cooperation with Staffordshire and Laundry that we have just received funding for... And there are probably more projects to come...
and we will be organising an event next march in birmingham for intercultural dialogue which the groups of students/practitioners from IKP will be able to have a strong role in....
So you work with other organizations within the framework of an international project and become a part of their contact network - which leads to other projects with other people from this network and so the story goes. One can not stay un-inspired in such a situation.
my computer is very slow. or i'm not just used to communicate via live forum. it's too slow. i'm answering Michala. first of all, i'm done with Leonardo:) hope everybody is too:)
that s great, so that is right my feelings that we ll stay as outsiders in some way...it s because we leaved aside our wonders. but we open very interesting discussion about culture animation which lasts still...so that s our satisfaction even it is more about theory than practice...but at the beginning we felt we cant do the practice if there is no theory and philosophy background...