We're (Un)translatable: Collective sense-making on Arts Collaboratory Experiences

2022·2 MB·English

by  AC Translation Working Group

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04 08
Listening Sessions
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Resonances
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How did we
Listening Session #1
get here? Listening Session #2
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Listening Session #3
Arts Collaboratory
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Cyclical Learning
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From Cyclical Learning
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towards being stuck
From being stuck towards
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Translation
Appendix
From Translation towards
Resonating
Appendix 1
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What happens next
Appendix 2
Appendix 3
Cyclical Learning
How did we get here?
Even though Arts Collaboratory has led to profound transforma- By the end of 2018, the working group developed a tool
tions, one of its challenges has been to ‘tool’ the knowledge, called “Cyclical Learning” that was used as part of the AC
learnings and experiences of Arts Collaboratory beyond its ne- Lifelines 2018-2020 that were needed to release the last
twork and ecosystems. And next to that, to collectively imagine installment of core funds from DOEN. Mainly, the “Cyclical
and create an alternative ‘accountability’ model that focuses Learning” tool was a way to shift the standard ‘summative
Arts Collaboratory
more on learning together in a continuous way. evaluation system’ to a more ‘cyclical learning system’, un-
derstanding that Arts Collaboratory works in a way where
To approach this challenge, a Cyclical Evaluation Working
things, people and organizations cannot be ‘summarized’.
Group was formed during the PaLebJo Assembly in Jordan
The intention with this tool was also to develop a more con-
in 2018. This working group came together to study and dis-
tinuous learning loop together.
cuss how we can learn within our organizations through the
Arts Collaboratory is a self-steered and self-organized ecosys-
use of dynamical methodologies that are context oriented Next to that, DOENs Board also made a request for an external
tem of 25 organizations that are all active on art and social
(instead of standard evaluation systems) and also sharea- evaluation after the first five years of AC’s Future Plan with the
change in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Netherlands.
ble with others. Maria Scordialos from the Art of Hosting intention to determine ACs impact and how this way of wor-
Through a ‘Collective Pot’ filled with knowledge, art, materials
assisted this group by sharing her experience with working king also contributed towards more ‘healthy’ organizations.
and financial resources, they strengthen each other’s program-
me, organization and ecosystem. with these methodologies.
Since 2016 all involved organizations have been collaborating
together and building the network, based on a collectively wri-
tten Future Plan. Through Arts Collaboratory, the involved mem-
bers not only work on the further strengthening of their work and
organizations in their own contexts, but also jointly experiment From Cyclical Learning
with new forms of art making, organizing and living together, in
order to ultimately bring about social change through radical
imagination.
towards being stuck
Over the years, many self-evaluations have been carried out.
Not only during the annual, in-person Assemblies at one of the
members’ organizations, but also during smaller gatherings and
several Banga’s. These self-evaluations have reflected on the
profound transformation within certain AC organizations, but
In 2019, after the Uganda Assembly, the Cyclical Learning evaluate AC. By this time, the working group re-named itself
also on the involved individuals and ecosystems. But the value
of the work of AC has also been shared outside of its ecosys- working group gathered together to reflect on how to con- as the AC Evaluation WG.
tem through the recently published publication ‘Forces of Art: tinue its cyclical learning mechanism and also to discuss
Since 2019 many meetings were held and people came in
Perspectives from a changing world’ (November 2020; Valiz): more in depth ways to be accountable to each other, our
and out of the working group. At the end of 2019, the wor-
an in-depth qualitative research (initiated by Hivos, the Prince own ecosystems and funders like DOEN. The group also
king group shared a first attempt at a possible way to eva-
Claus Fund and the European Cultural Foundation) into world- looked into ways to develop the requested external eva-
luate AC in the TAM TAM. The network was also invited to
wide best practices in the field of arts/culture and social im- luation by DOENs Board. The intention was to develop an
reflect on this and to radically imagine other ways to eva-
pact. The intention of this research was to showcase ‘how’ the evaluation proposal that would take into account the lived
transformative forces of arts and culture reveal itself, instead of luate AC as well. Besides that, all members were invited to
realities of ACs members and their ecosystems, the work
(again) proving ‘if’ arts and culture contribute to change. The share input for research questions to focus on in this evalua-
of the network itself, and their artistic/social practices, as
majority of the involved case studies concern Arts Collaboratory tion. Not much came out of this request.
opposed to more traditional, summative ways to externally
members and several researchers come from ACs ecosystems.
A few months later the group announced a more worked organized way. However, Maria’s proposal for this process
out proposal in the TAM TAM called “TALES of CHANGE in was not collectively accepted by the whole network. For
From Translation towards Resonating
Art, Money, Collectivity and Life. ARTS COLLABORATORY PA- some, the proposal seemed to go against many collecti-
RADIGM SHIFTS”. The intention was to focus the evaluation vely shared AC values, but more importantly, it was felt that
on collected stories from events/occasions within the timeli- the proposal was not aligning well with the funding para-
ne of AC as a whole, but also from individual organizations, digm shift that AC has at its core.
as well as from individual persons. Because of the comple-
The experiences during the process in 2020 took the working
xity of this approach and the many interlinkages between
group to another round of deeper reflections. At a certain
the different themes, values, stories, etc., the working group
moment we collectively felt stuck in the process. To cope
was not able to carry on with it. During 2021, all translators worked on their own projects and we were now, what we have learned so far and to unpack
with this situation, we organized an open session with some
by February 2022, we called for an open session with AC to where we see the AC Translation process going.
At this point, the working group reached out to Maria Scor- members of the network after a call for help. At this time,
announce the finalization of the projects and to think toge- The listening sessions were hosted by Alfonso Diaz and Ravi
dialos to share the many challenges with this process. Ba- Merel and Paula, as the remaining two members of the
ther how to share them both internally and externally. After Shetty, both well experienced narrative practitioners1 who
sed on several meetings, the group invited Maria to assist working group, specifically called for a meeting to share
this session, the idea of holding “listening sessions” to share were interested and enthusiastic about facilitating this pro-
AC with an evaluation process that was based on cyclical the struggles of the process and to collectively find ways to
each project with AC and collect resonances emerged. cess with us. Also, we had a documentation team during
learning methodologies but carried out in a collective, self move forward.
these sessions consisting of: Sofía Olascoaga, Andrés Villa-
These listening sessions were held on April 20th, 21st, 22nd, lobos, Jazael Olguinzapata and Marat Raiymkulov. This pu-
2022. The main goal for these sessions was to learn together blication captures the collectively documented process of
from the different translation processes and assess where the listening sessions.
From being stuck
towards Translation
What happens next
The open session led to conversations about the impos- thin AC available/understandable to those outside”. Also,
sibility of AC to translate what the value is of what we by this time, DOEN granted Arts Collaboratory EUR 25,000
are collectively doing together and what this means to to carry out this translation project. All these steps made
ourselves as well as to outsiders of the network. And so it possible to think about a new way to move forward, As a working group, it has been an enriching experience. So- ting the (un)translatable. We consider this process not finali-
the concept of “translation” was borned. By December and a translation project was borned. At first, we invited metimes we were stuck with frustrations, sometimes uplifted zed by sharing the following pages, but rather as something
2020, new people joined the working group (now consis- three ‘storytellers’ - who happen to be both friends of AC when we had the feeling we were grasping at something in open-ended. And we hope that it will stimulate others to
ting of Paula, Merel, Yu-Lan, Ferdi and Nuning) and re- as well as ‘outsiders’ to the current AC network: Kabelo this ‘living compost heap’ or understanding the ‘many hea- keep on searching for a multiplicity of ways of translating.
named itself as the Translation Working Group. The rena- Malatsie, Sofía Olascoaga and Serubiri Moses. They were ded hydra’ that Arts Collaboratory perhaps is. We also con- Whatever will come into being in the near future, human and
ming was relevant to move away from the framework of each approached to help us out with translating AC in cluded that we need more and multiple ways of translating, non-human alike, we hope that the following nurtures you
“Evaluation” towards “Translation”, which entails a very their own (artistic) way. And a fourth one, Jumana Emil for example to ‘talk’ to outsiders, or to funders like DOEN. to keep on translating the (un)translatable and to keep this
different process: from trying to “determine the value or Abboud, was nominated by the network. All this process, therefore, has been an attempt at transla- process flowing.
significance of AC” towards “making what is going on wi-
Paula, Yu-lan, Merel, Nuning and Ferdi
July 2022
1 In many ways, stories are similar to living beings: They seem to have their own interests. They compel us to share them and, once told, they begin to grow and change, often becoming
longer, stronger and more elaborate. Stories find each other, they intermingle, and multiply. Stories need our attention to thrive in the world: each time we tell or represent them, we help them
pollinate other minds. And it seems that we, as storytelling animals, need them even more, for they give structure to our thoughts and lives: they make it possible for us to have memory, to
build meaning on the events that we are living, to be able to imagine the future. Stories determine our relationship with time, and they make it possible for us to communicate in elaborate
ways with those around us, far across time and space-- to what extent, still remains a mystery. Identity is always a multiplicity of stories. Narrative practices are practices in witnessing, asking
questions, documenting and linking lives which contribute to foster, nurture and bring forth the stories we need in order for dignity to be a possibility for all. You can see more about the work
of the collective Ravi is a part of here: https://www.narrativepracticesindia.com/, you can see more about the work of the collective Alfonso is a part of here: https://www.colectivo.org.mx/
if you don’t have the network, you have no tools.
AC and the secrets of the network ----> who possesses this
Listening Sessions Resonances memory?
ongoing public facing knowledge
that doesn’t reach “the west”
if it does, is in the form of
metrics, a form that is legible
to those in the west
Secrecy / Memory / Legacy
Listening Session #1 Dutch audiences do not necessarily have a context for AC.
Resonances on Serubiri Moses translation project
April 20th, 2022
(See Appendix 1 to know about this translation project)
What follows are some notes of the resonances that came out of this session.
And then we meet and we talk
And of course we have questions
Restitution We are interested in stories
And then there is a relationship that is formed
a way of taking back what is (was) stolen -how they shape our lives?
pre existing relationships, holding network together
AC taking back continuously -create the world we inhabit?
The glue of the network
-how to change when they don’t describe the
tremendous potential
worlds we need to see?
connection
art cannot be unified
threatening? your sense of identity
art & culture is different in different colonial histories
a multi context, multi continental network
it’s what makes art, art
languages that one doesn’t recognize as one’s own
Primitive accumulation - How does it affect AC?
AC as an art project in itself
banga
organization as practice
gang up and deepen in the conversation
People visiting each other,
people learning from each other.
Resting and dreaming Topology - sedimentation and we meet, and then we dance, and we talk
Could be also one way of study each layer of memory have their own holders Se convirtió el viaje de 24 hrs
(not as gatekeepers) divertido
interesante
estresante
todos sentados ahí
esperando a que
se resolviera
autobús y carretera
Adversidad y obstáculo nos hizo
sacar nuestro verdadero yo
Lecciones frente a ese momento de adversidad
enojos
risas
Malika se
AC is- Many-headed hydra. it needs relations puso a
a snake it’s about the relations cantar una
canción
knowledge sharing comes from relations
A bus stop How difficult it is to work across so many differences
it’s Messy
it’s frustrating
and yet
We are still here
We still exist
Where of all of these feelings inhabit in our minds
in our secrets
places we shared together
Awake so many memories frente a quién estamos fracasando
that we inhabit in our minds el fracaso puede ser una virtud
Invisible territories that we have de buenos perdedores
me sirve saber qué honroso puede ser perder, también
que hay ritmos Tener tiempo para sentarnos a reflexionar
que van cambiando tiempo para despotricar
recordar → amuleto reflexionar
para saber qué son reír
acelaradísimos cantar
armonicé ESO DIO TIEMPO
experimentales Las relaciones son el pegamento
extraños siento necesidad de visibilizar más
ese pensamiento
How to understand? AC as a living being, morphing all the time
How to read AC? present / background
it behaves differently
How are they feeling at this moment
The language, the meaning, the secrets behind it? I could feel frustration
there are many languages in AC what are we trying to do here
language in not strong enough
not clear
too ambiguous
it’s not me We are now more of an ecosystem,
it’s someone else not a membership collective ecosystem xxx
it’s difficult no estoy entendiéndolo
but it works todo.
but it’s difficult Lo que me cuenta uno, es una historia
Yo construyo otras a partir de los que me
How do we measure movement differently than big/small? cuentan los secretos.
smooth/hard?
Maybe the measure does not exist yet
“We are making the measure as we are moving”
“Absences”
who is (are) this network
how do I talk about the network without seeing my privile-
ges and people who are there (absent)
quiet but critical voices - I wonder why they are not coming out more
qué tanto esta lógica del fracaso es parte
de lógicas coloniales
What is AC ? Then talk Pauses And then I didn’t
Unevenness of How difficult it is This works for me It’s a constant
What is It is messy This rhythm search
Art and culture What ‘s AC? A complex never-ending
Mean to different But we are still here In ENGLISH Pattern
New faces from new places Because of the relationship It was Patterns
We all perceive things Porque el tiempo tiene grietas The worst situation It’s like
Differently Because I see An editor’s My mother
We forget AC as an Can imagine My sister
It’s not possible ENABLER BUT And me
To perceive Time has cracks We came up Having different experiences
Art equally It was so beautiful for me With a sentence Of the same memory
I don’t think I was so happy Which is
Art should be When I was listening Now a picture What is AC?
Unified To Moses Of our whatsapp group Trying to find language
What makes art art if I don’t connect Its difficult To contain AC
Is the diversity. I don’t listen But it works. The logic of failure
It’s very important It was the multiple voice I think i’m more funny Comes from colonial
To perceive In Indonesian English We are failing
How different people What happened in Senegal
Perceive AC Remains in Senegal I don’t think scale is our friend IN WHOSE EYES
Not having gatekeepers We laughed But enemy
In AC When I see faces I remember AC as an act of restorative justice On being a good loser
So many Taking back The pride
WHAT IS AC ? Moments What’s been stolen Failure as a virtue
HYDRA Feelings inhabit Actually
Old and new In our minds Extracted WHAT IS AC?
Each layer In our secrets Because there is a
Has its own holder In our invisible Rupture A living organism
A historian Territories Making dialogues Morphing
And a gatekeeper The music With various colonized history Moving around
No one dares The timing of the music Some images are present
To be a gatekeeper The rhythm What is AC? Some in the background
The beats A constant Depending on time and space
It needs relationship Moments Search of a Depend on energies
To share knowledge Of which the organ Instruction manual Of the members
At the bus stop Goes through What is AC? Ecosystem
First we met Fast I had a feeling And not
Then danced Slow I found it Membership collective
Sphere of strength/ SHE
magnify the circle of imaginaries and visionaries
Listening Sessions Resonances > Chinampa: dissemination is a matter of life and death
eat from the handgrown chillies (handgrown)
> the spell of remembering
> talk to the earth
recollect and cultivate local seeds
(astronomy of nouns)
Listening Session #2
They needed each other, nothing else
Restore: move the mountain back to its territories (family)
>TEQUIO Feed the earth, the wind
Compartimos cómo estamos atravesados y nos
Resonances on Jumana Emil Abboud translation project permeamos mutuamente por los territorios
los sueños, la tierra que caminamos, la forma que
April 21th, 2022
habitamos
lo habitan muchas realidades
(See Appendix 2 to know about this translation project)
existencias simultánea de la utopía y la distopía
hay mucho violentado, y muchas cosas maravillosas
What follows are some notes of the resonances that came out of this session.
sucediendo. Me emociona compartirlas ambas.
Folktales & Storytelling
real / mythical - Sometimes I’m in the group
Sometimes I’m in the imagination
Who is the we?
Como estar entre un sueño y la realidad. Tener un norte e imaginarse ese territorio
A movement
Somos la montaña? la trajimos? o no?
Chapter 1: where there is a mountain and we must move it
the mountain itself that decided to move itself Anoche le volví a escuchar antes de dormir Juntar esas geografías en la red.
A 100 year old process
movemos la montaña? la queremos quitar?
La capacidad de imaginar posibilidades No queremos ser un concepto anquilosado, sino vivir.
Lo que uno siempre se está imaginando.
seres ajenos la pusieron aquí?
all text sound like a feeling
Me transportó a ese lugar “imagination is ones defense”
These words we play with
asumimos que hay una FICCIÓN OPERATIVA: en el sentido the value
de imaginarse algo, una posibilidad, vivirla como si fuera affinity, care, self care, horizontalizing, solidarity
una realidad.
I like it is “PLAYING”
le queremos tener?
It is difficult for me to say it. This is as radical as I can be today Stories bring image of snakes
TIME OPENS UP MORE PERSPECTIVE histories as snakes
reminded of the tea ceremony in Kyrgyzstan. We are in ≠ places at the same time come from the mouth and wonder around from one person
I love it. to another
I didn’t understand it deeply, but I feel its deep potential La montaña me sirve para entender los distintos to think with the specifics of stories
and very nice forms of being together. momentos de cada une en la red
Arriba, abajo, desde adentro, caída en un cráter to explain the specifics of INTERDEPENDENCE
Feo o extraño: siento dificultad de escuchar Desglosar y seguir abriendo esta metáfora en otras collective pot is the specifics of interdependence
Sometimes it’s non linear, more levels of reflection about interest in borderlands I am not yet willing to give up metaphors: not drawing
our situation. a space that has possibilities sometimes for meanings that them for themselves but for external eyes, for the one who
can be transformative doesn’t know it yet
No tomarse tan en serio. la unx o lxs otrxs
Buscar otras metáforas que me funcionen What are the languages to name this that have not yet what are the new metaphors?
metaphors can be understood in different ways existed?
Not to take it all so serious that can draw people into the inside of the mountain
¿Cómo zafarse de estos protocolos? inside out of the mountain, hold on to this metaphor and
Dónde están las otras metáforas, otro tipo de metáforas think about it a bit longer who are the believers and the unbelievers?
moviéndose a otros niveles how do we navigate?
what kind of maps are there to navigate this? *sometimes we are too close to see what’s going on
unlearning in everyday practice what’s not being spoken?
How do we approach the inside out? possibility of art as translation?
¿Cómo hacer metáforas de las relaciones de poder entre navigating what’s hard to speak about: frustration, pain mirror what we are doing, on what’s working and what’s not
funders/fundees? There might be maps that you already have?
pedir, rogar, exigir, demandar, convencer How can a bus or mountain be worn out? Is it our own
we can make relationship very interesting gaze that is worn out?
through metaphors we can find new relations with each other
¿Cómo podemos mover una montaña? how to create a map in which we are still in it?
¿Qué pasa con el silencio, el no-cuidado, la no participación La asamblea de AC como un encuentro de culturas
de la red? The elephant in the room MONEY
utopian, mythical,can be beautiful, frustration, misunderstanding