let's start

Dear all

On the airplane I was reading the booklet we received about the ENPARTS-campus 2010, Belgrade. It became clear very quickly that this previous edition was curated in a very political way, dealing with specific local and national politic problematics of Belgrade. In that sense I totally understand that Anna and Dansens Hus decided to throw the curatorial dimension out, in order to be able to deal with us directly - as artists - in order to create a platform that would deal with our own concerns, rather than with the concerns of the curator or initiators of campus 2011. Not having this burden of a common theme or topic is a luxury, but also the most tricky thing. During our two days together, I was truly amazed by the different approaches and aesthetic diversities coming up during the discussions. But I was also asking myself if it wouldn't make more sense to build up a frame around our concerns? What links them? What is the network that might keep our interests together?

Building up a frame does NOT mean that we agree on everything, that we all have to do the same things at the same time, but it would rather serve as a place where we all can go back to, at any time in the process. This frame could be a concrete starting point for different groups, all dealing with it in another way, depending on different methodologies, aesthetic preferences, philosophical backgrounds and so on. In that way all sorts of "products" (I know that we were talking about "production" and what it might mean during the campus and regarding the "open campus" at the end or our working period) that come out of it will be connected with each other and they will display this groups' heterogeneity.

So there are a few questions: Can we find a common frame that brings our different concerns together? In which frame can we function in order to translate it into a(n) artistic project(s)?

Things that were present during the conversations Sunday morning were for instance "network", "fragility", "the position of theatre", "truth of the body", etc. But we didn't really think them through in the afternoon when we were making the schedule. The idea of Anna, to open it up towards other artistic practices that are based in Stockholm is also a thing or concern that we can put in our frame. But the question is: what is the link between all those things? I'm just a bit afraid that it might become random if we just say "we'll see in those 10 days what will happen". That's why I firmly agree with Aneta when she was speaking about a very clear and semi-open structure/protocol.

However, I'm still very fond of the idea of spending a lot of time together in the first phase of the campus, engaging in communal practices in order to get us out of regular production routines. In that way we get to know each other, and we can make proper choices about with whom we'd like to work together on individual projects.

Let's start the discussion.

All yours,
Tom