In Collaboration: communication, accessibility and sharing

Facilitated by Abel Shah

Weekly on Sundays, 8 – 29 March, 1-5pm
The NewBridge Project : Gateshead
Free, open to all

Artist duo Abel Shah will be in residence at The NewBridge Project throughout March, as part of this year’s Practice makes Practice – Residency.

Join them as they facilitate this series of group discussions and activities, exploring ideas around collaboration, problems we encounter working this way and strategies to open up exchange and dialogue. These meetings will build and shape an open-source digital library – collecting and sharing material to benefit future collaborative productions.

Defining Collaboration
Sunday 8 March, 1- 5pm

In this introductory session we will be re-defining what it means to collaborate – opening up questions surrounding different forms of collaboration, issues around authorship and ownership, sharing and exchanging rather than competition and the ethics involved in working with others. Alongside this conversation we will be working together on small exercises involving writing and interviewing. This afternoon will also act as a starting point for the open-source digital library and discuss methods of documentation and sharing knowledge.

On Communication
Sunday 15 March, 1- 5pm

“Collaboration thrives on diversity of perspectives and on constructive dialogues between individuals negotiating their differences while creating their shared voice and vision.”

In this session we will explore a range of modes of communication, ask questions around being critical while maintaining a sensitivity to others and open up ideas around conveying thoughts in non-linguistic ways. We would like to use this meeting to experiment together with sound, associations, improvisation and the body.

Access
Sunday 22 March, 1- 5pm

“Construction of knowledge is collective and is embedded in the cultural and historical milieu in which we arise. Thinking is not confined to the individual brain/mind and creative activities are social.”

Who gets to be part of something? How do you gain access? When are spaces “safe”?

We will start this afternoon discussing how to create accessible “spaces”, policy vs. policing, the internet as a contradictory space of accessibility, the dissemination of information and ideas around responsibility. This open conversation will hopefully be a source of inspiration to end the afternoon with a zine-making workshop looking into the history of (fan)zine making in DIY culture, politics and activism.

Sharing and Caring
Sunday 29 March, 1- 5pm

Our final session will centre around thoughts on resourcefulness, caring and community. During an afternoon of pasta making – a skill passed on by Giulia’s ancestors – we will discuss what it means to care for each other, how the passing on of knowledge and skills is embedded in our existence as social beings and what role the responsibility and the ethics of care play in a society pulling towards the individual. We would like to end this day by welcoming everyone to share a plate of pasta with us.

Image credit: Flavour Rainbow by Abel Shah