[-empyre-] FAILURE AND BETWEEN COLLABORATION AND THE DIVA ART STAR

Thu May 30 23:34:51 EST 2013

Zach, The notion of evolution or reorientation as you say from one
workshop to the next is a process that i
think is key to working with others.  As languages, cultures, and
sites change we re-imagine how our exchanges may produce new energy,
outcomes, ideas.  I am intrigued with failure though, Why does a
certain chemistry fall flat or fizzle?

And Ana
<snip>Non collaboration is antinatural as neoliberalism is antinatural.<snip>
I'd like to bring up the notion of site and place.In order to
collaborate you need willing partners.  I do not live in an urban
area, in fact we are about four and half hours by car from the nearest
urban area. Though we are surrounded by miles of green rolling hills,
majestic water falls, and wildlife beyond imaginable, it is difficult
at times to find compatible partners to work with. Finding
collaborators takes logistic planning quite frankly.  Digital networks
here are crucial but I am not sure I am ready to say that
collaboration is the only viable option nor am I willing to say that
the the artist working as a diva/star is an option I'm comfortable
with either.

Do we not as artist or activists need to be prepared to be  skillful
collaborators but also lone innovators?  Moving back and forth AND
INBETWEEN depending upon the call?  I am not ready to say that
collaboration is the only utopia or option.

Renate

On Wed, May 29, 2013 at 7:01 PM, Zach Blas <zachblas at gmail.com> wrote:
> ----------empyre- soft-skinned space----------------------
> hi all--
>
> apologies for jumping in a bit late! thanks to tim, renate, and ana
> for inviting me to join this month's conversation.
>
> while my practice has engaged collaboration in many different modes,
> this week, i'd like to share the mask-making workshops i am currently
> organizing and think through the idea of the workshop and collective
> processes and decision-making.
>
> first off, i'll just provide some projects i've recently been a part of:
>
> from 2007 - 2013, i participated in queer technologies, a group i
> started that usually operated as an anonymous collective:
> http://www.queertechnologies.info/
>
> in 2010, i co-founded the durham, north carolina branch of the public
> school, which offers a variety of courses and workshops to people in
> the research triangle area. http://thepublicschool.org/durham
>
> throughout the past few years, i have also co-curated various events
> and exhibitions, such as "speculative" at los angeles contemporary
> exhibitions in 2011 with chris o'leary:
> http://s-p-e-c-u-l-a-t-i-v-e.info/; "the coming disturbance" at mix 25
> queer experimental film/video festival in new york in 2012 with micha
> cárdenas; and "dark matter," a series of performative lectures
> co-organized with chris o'leary and michael kontopoulos that took
> place at machine project in los angeles in 2012.
>
> for the past year, i've been organizing mask-making workshops as part
> of my "facial weaponization suite" project:
> http://www.zachblas.info/projects/facial-weaponization-suite/ thus
> far, i've organized workshops open to the public in los angeles,
> montreal, and portland, oregon. i am currently gearing up for another
> mask workhop in ricardo dominguez's lab here at ucsd this friday.
>
> the "facial weaponization suite" is a workshop-driven project that
> develops forms of collective and creative protest against biometrics
> and facial recognition through masks. as erin manning discussed
> earlier this month, the workshops operate under a set of constraints.
> divided into two different sessions, part 1 of the workshop involves
> meeting together as a group discussing some pre-circulated readings
> that specifically address global / local contexts of biometrics and
> masks. this is pedagogical time for all of us, as we attempt to gain
> some common ground around our knowledge and experience with
> biometrics, masks, protest, and creative interventions. also during
> this session, everyone's face is scanned (usually with a kinect) to
> obtain 3d biometric facial scans of all participants, which is used to
> produce a "collective mask."
>
> this 1st session continues with a discussion and tentative plans of
> possible group actions / interventions to perform with the mask. the
> first session of the workshop concludes when we have agreed upon an
> action to carry out. the action we decide to perform helps us
> collectively determine the color of the mask and its possible shape.
>
> after this first session, i collaborate with a 3d modeler to bring all
> of these facial scans together in 3d modeling software. when all of
> these facial scans are layered--but not averaged, the result is a face
> that looks quite unhuman. it is a collective face that is not
> detectable to facial recognition software. this 3d model of the
> collective facial mask is then fabricated through cnc milling a mold
> and vacuum forming with plastic.
>
> during the 2nd session of the workshop (usually a week later), all
> participants re-unite, the masks are distributed, and we perform our
> action.
>
> it goes without saying that each workshop i've organized has been
> incredibly different--with various degrees of success and failure (but
> it doesn't even make sense to evaluate the workshops with such a
> rubric), and these workshops are continuously reoriented as i learn
> from each one. i have many other thoughts on ideas of collective
> transformation with the mask as well as desires for opacity / refusals
> of political recognition & representation that i can address later.
> but for now, i wanted to share the workshop process with everyone.
>
> more soon!
> zach
> _______________________________________________
> empyre forum
> empyre at lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au
> http://www.subtle.net/empyre
>
>

-- 

Renate Ferro
Visiting Assistant Professor of Art
Cornell University
Department of Art, Tjaden Hall Office #420
Ithaca, NY  14853
Email:   <rtf9 at cornell.edu>
URL:  http://www.renateferro.net
      http://www.privatesecretspubliclies.net
Lab:  http://www.tinkerfactory.net

Managing Co-moderator of -empyre- soft skinned space
http://empyre.library.cornell.edu/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empyre