Same Sky Artist Residency by

This is an invitation to capture your memories fresh...

chloelayla — 2021-07-25 10:43:46 UTC

“We’re constantly going from one thing to the next to the next.” So instead of outsourcing so we can focus our attention on more important tasks, “we have this constant stream of what’s next, what’s next, what’s next and never fully embrace any of the experiences we’re having.” - Professor Linda Henkel

We're inviting you to respond to the following questions using Matarasso's 4 suggested prompts

chloelayla — 2021-07-25 10:45:15 UTC

These are taken from his book A Restless Art (page 99) which you can access for free by clicking on the link below

chloelayla — 2021-07-25 10:49:38 UTC

chloelayla — 2021-07-25 10:52:12 UTC

What was your sense of this whilst you were delivering your project? What evidence do you have from participants? (how they behaved/ verbal feedback/ info from co-facilitators/partners?)

I loved how people of all ages seemed to know almost straight away how to engage with the work, both in terms of the workshop and the exhibition. During the workshop people genuinely had to work together to make the experimenting possible and there was real joy in this process. This collaboration was between people of all ages. It was also great to see the different approaches that people took to the workshop, ranging from very young participants exploring the different materials and enjoying tipping the seesaws, to the excitement of adding LOADS of materials in to the tubes, to a more methodical approach. We were really surprised at how long people stayed and I think that they would have stayed longer if possible. Each group had their own approach both in in terms of tube contents and decoration, but there was also a real sense of being part of the bigger event due to the circular configuration of the seesaws. On the exhibition day I was again surprised at how long some people wanted to stay and play. People instantly knew what to do and seemed to enjoy exploring the different weights, sounds and decorations of the seesaws. Again this interaction varied from 'let's tip them all as fast as we can' though to more careful listening and exploring different ways/speeds of tipping. It was lovely to overhear some of the ways people described the sounds that they heard. "It's like the rain on the tent last weekend!" I also loved that a sizeable number of people who took part in the workshop came back on the Sunday with their friends to see their work on display and share it. We had lots of visitors who were coming because of the Art Trail but we also had loads of people coming along who were just out in the park and had no idea that we would be there. This was great! There was just a real sense of playfulness and discovery and surprise which was wonderful!

dellymair — 2021-07-26 06:28:27 UTC

There was lots I wanted to explore! How would Ruth and I work together?

dellymair — 2021-07-26 06:47:09 UTC

How could an environment be created that allows for different paces of and approaches to play and interaction?

dellymair — 2021-07-26 19:09:28 UTC

How could decision making become something that participants take more responsibility for in terms of creating an exhibition/installation?

That I like to be really well organised when preparing workshops/exhibitions! That sometimes you have to let go of things due to time/money/energy constraints!

dellymair — 2021-07-26 19:12:02 UTC

eneslen — 2021-08-02 14:12:59 UTC

I wanted to find out about delivering an event, not a workshop but a performative collective act.

I also wanted to explore what would happen when people made their creative work at home and brought everything together on the day.

eneslen — 2021-08-02 14:16:49 UTC

How much I need other people's help! The other person who was going to run the day with me was ill, and I really felt out of my depth.

It would have been good to have a meeting with everyone involved before the day. It was too sketchy and didn't flow as well as I wanted it too. Having said that, everything still happened and it was wonderful.

I discovered some people are uncomfortable with destroying things. I think of it as a vital part of the creative process, and a useful tool. But it was genuinely distressing for some adults. I'm still trying to work out how to integrate that.

eneslen — 2021-08-02 14:24:46 UTC

It was actually difficult to make even basic assumptions. I didn't assume that they'd turn up - that was nerve-wracking. But they did. I wasn't sure that they'd all have costumes, but they did. They had some wonderful costumes! And they all stayed til the end, in the unbearable heat.
I think I assumed the participants would come with their own stories about the trees they'd made, but that didn't come out in the activities.
I did make the assumption that the participants would be mostly white, and they were. I'd really like to change that but am not sure how.

eneslen — 2021-08-02 14:41:17 UTC

Honestly, I think they were somewhat bemused, although they enjoyed the activities and engaged with everything. There wasn't the opportunity to talk much about the costumes as people arrived, and the photographer turned up later so there wasn't a sense of a beginning, or of a celebration of the trees people had created.
When we were imagining what it was like to be a forest, people were excited about that. If I get the chance to do this again that is the part I would build out from. And the procession at the end was great.

eneslen — 2021-08-02 15:06:04 UTC

I feel very strongly that I wouldn't do something like this on my own again. I thought I had planned very well, but actually it was difficult to keep track of on the day.
One of the ways that I think about my artistic practise is that it is always progressing into a partially unknown space. I try to embrace that in the work I do with groups too, but this event would have been better if there was more sense of a narrative.

Develop ideas that incorporate music/sound into my participatory projects.

ruthfenton — 2021-08-09 19:40:37 UTC

I would like to work more with music/sound in the local community and am starting to explore how this can be done in simple and engaging ways.

Due to the restrictions and having to make the workshops pre-book only, my main assumption was that the workshops participants would fit a demographic most likely to engage with an art trail. The free-flow of the Sunday event attracted a more diverse mix of people.

ruthfenton — 2021-08-09 19:43:05 UTC

Del has really nicely summarised the experience we witnessed over the weekend. This will be a re-telling of the same experience but here are my main observations:

ruthfenton — 2021-08-09 20:04:30 UTC

The groups/families that came to the pre-booked workshop on Saturday were immediately engaged with the tubes. Uniformly they instinctively knew what they were going to be asked to do and were visibly excited to get started immediately (most did just that). They really loved the colourful crates of materials. The eagerness to get started allowed for a lovely sequence of engagement between Del, me and the participants...instead of doing long-winded opening gambits (we had intended to speak to all groups in a oner!) we dotted between each group have lovely conversations about the project and what we were asking them to do in the workshop. It created a very free-flowing, easy-going, workshop. As we were telling them the other tasks they needed to fulfil (decorate tube, name artwork) they relished having more and more to do. It was lush to see how engaged everyone was in the activity - I believe because it was such an innately simple and joyful task.

Each group worked very well together. They enjoyed experimenting together and easily reached a happy medium of how they wanted their tubes to sound and look.

The members of the public that came on the Sunday were a more diverse group. Because of our location and the (gorgeous neon!) aesthetic of the tubes, we could see park visitors spot us and make a beeline over to investigate the tubes. Again, the response was instinctive. People asked interested questions about who we were and what we were doing there in the park, but there was never any question as to how one should engage with the tubes and everyone instinctively knew they were 'rain makers'.

There was something really lovely about the simplicity of the tubes, little requirement to explain what (or why!) you were were supposed to do and the free-flow nature of the installation on the Sunday attracting participants in an outdoor public setting.

Engagement times were as expected but we were unsure about whether people would go around looking/listening to each tube. A huge percentage of visitors went round all the tubes and many went round the tubes multiple times. All ages engaged with the tubes and (as anticipated) the vast majority of participants were in a family group. As the weather dried off and the sun shone a lot of families started to hang out by the tubes after play.

Del and I worked very well together, it made me feel very confident that every aspect of the event was being covered (prep, engagement, h&s, etc). I learnt that there's a joy to innate understanding of music and sound that can be further explored.

ruthfenton — 2021-08-10 07:21:07 UTC

How to share my research and enable a a thought provoking experience in a participatory way.

kaelakatz — 2021-08-18 15:20:22 UTC

I really wanted to be able to engage the local community and make sustainable material development accessible to people and also to learn from them.

That a much wider audience that I initially expected was really engaged, interested and so sincere.

kaelakatz — 2021-08-18 15:28:23 UTC

There was such a positive, grateful and sincere comments from all of the participants. People of all ages, some as young as 5 and some well into retirement surprised me with how well they were able to contribute. Their responses to prompts were moving and their physical manifestations from making were some of the best. I was also really surprised by the gratitude that everyone expressed after the workshops, participants lingered after the sessions ended, sharing their like-minded perspectives

I expected a certain type of participant and also kind of planned for a worst case scenario

kaelakatz — 2021-08-18 15:36:58 UTC

I assumed that most people who would attend would be a similar demographic to those who follow Fibre Lab (my business/research), recent grads, students, local makers and artists. This was true for about half the participants, and the other half were passerby's, young mums and their children or the retired people who congregate at The Mill. I also (sadly) prepared for the worst mentally... disruptive, loud and chaotic participants or people who were bored and left, walked away after I started the sessions, rolled their eyes or complained it took so long. Thankfully I received the complete opposite. People were so patient and compassionate and wanted to stay even longer!

Everyone responded so positively!

kaelakatz — 2021-08-18 16:07:57 UTC

Of course I was a bit nervous for the very first session but everyone was so patient, kind and reassuring. The participants responses to the prompts were beyond my exceptions and everyone engaged with the making process very well. A few people needed a bit more hands on guidance but it was all very manageable. Afterwards, everyone was so pleased and grateful, saying they've never done anything like this before and found it so interesting and also an important topic. Really powerful conversations took place afterwards and there was a fun, lightheartedness in the conversations that took place during the workshops.

kaelakatz — 2021-08-18 16:11:24 UTC

I know now that I CAN do these types of workshops (something that I've been wanting to explore for the last 2 years but never had the space or support to do it). I know now that people are actually really interested in it and would show up again. I know now how to prepare, what to think about and how to go about experimenting with creating other participatory workshops. Overall just really grateful to have done it because I am so much more confident in doing it again.

chloelayla — 2024-08-19 15:58:33 UTC

this is incredible