The Association of Collaboration

net cement

2009-05-14T13:22:00.002+12:00

so, now it seems we are not,
what do we do with what we did when we were?
shall we leave this blog meandering up as space trash to free float amongst the web-o-sphere?

'1 Week Decisions' Revisited

2008-11-29T01:58:00.013+13:00

Excavating some interesting ideas from the blog (circa 2007) we (Borrelle & Tjhia) stumbled across the '1 Week Decision' thread. Like to ask: Can we request a brief tutorial on this process, on its inception, relevance and also the successes/failures of OWD as a possible engine for action: a sort of an historical reenactment so to speak. Perhaps a concept that appealed given the ambling nature of inter-island/continental communication...

Any one up for such an activity?

...

2008-11-27T23:13:00.004+13:00

TAC as we understand it on November 27th, 2008

2008-11-27T22:53:00.012+13:00

THE Association of Collaboration (TAC) are a group of artists, writers, curators, musicians and interested people from Australia and New Zealand who converse under the auspices of a joint project to test collaborative frameworks and methods of communication.

TAC formed originally in 2006. Original members met after an open call from artist Liz Allan for people who were interested in discussing the nature of collaboration. These early meetings were in conjunction with the show Every Now & Then at Enjoy Public Art Gallery. Following this, TAC went on to put together the Contemporary Art Mobile Response Unit, an educative and participatory trolley, for Telecom Prospect 2007 at the Wellington City Gallery.

After this initial burst of activity, members of TAC splintered away from their base in Wellington, to Melbourne, New Plymouth and Christchurch. Geographical distance has demanded new methods of communication, interaction and collaboration. Members have left and new ones have joined. TAC continues in its many amorphous and unlikely forms to posit new projects, leaving an email trail of discussion in its wake.

Current Members: Liz Allan, Andrea Bell, Jessie Borrelle, Melanie Oliver, Thomasin Sleigh and Jon Tjhia

The A of C: a Low Down

2008-11-27T22:34:00.004+13:00

The Association of Collaboration (T.A.C)

Selected CV
association.collaboration@gmail.com

Exhibitions

2007 Two fold, curated by Angela Bailey & Andrea Bell, George Paton Gallery, Melbourne

2007 Telecom Prospect 2007: New New Zealand Art, curated by Heather Gailbraith, City Gallery Wellington, NZ

2006 Every Now & Then, curated by Melanie Oliver, Enjoy Public Art Gallery, Wellington, NZ

Publications

2008 Bacharach, Sondra; & Tollefsen, Deborah, ‘From Co-Authorship to Group Authorship’ Paper (Victoria University, Wellington, NZ) and (University of Memphis, TN)

2007 Brown, Amy, ‘Review: Hue and Cry Journal,’ The Lumiere Reader,
27 November 2007, see: http://www.lumiere.net.nz/reader/item/1411

2007 Borrelle, Jessica, ‘Together is the new alone: the necessity of collaboration’, Two-fold exhibition catalogue, George Paton Gallery

2007 O’Neill, Rachel ‘Attention Artword/Audience’, NZ Live.com, 27 April 2007, see: http://www.nzlive.com/blog/2007/04/27/attention-art-world-audience/

2007 Bell, Andrea, ‘The Association of Collaboration’ (Discussion Transcript) Hue and Cry, Issue 1

2007 Amery, Mark, ‘An Embarrasment of Riches’, The Dominion Post, Friday 2 March 2007, see http://lumiere.net.nz/reader/arts.php/item/861

2007 Grieves, Harold & Montgomery, Kate, ‘Yeah Totally: Harold Grieves & Kate Montgomery talk selectively about the art on show at Prospect 2007’ Telecom Prospect Exhibition Catalogue, pp.35-42

2007 Hurrell, John, ‘Fight Club’, Telecom Prospect Exhibition Catalogue, pp.29-34

2007 Gailbraith, Heather, ‘Prospect 2007: A Rendezvous’, Telecom Prospect Exhibition Catalogue, pp.11-28

2006 Amery, Mark, ‘Limited amount to relate to’ The Dominion Post, December 8 2006

Websites

http://www.telecomprospect2007.org.nz/artist/TheAssociationofCollaboration.shtml

http://www.theassociationofcollaboration.blogspot.com/

article of interest and interesting

2008-06-26T15:47:00.000+12:00

i just read this really interesting article by art historian/visual culture/academic Irit Rogoff. here's the link:

http://www.kein.org/node/62

it is quite long but i reccommend persevering - it made me full of verve and vigour for TAC activities.

basically, Rogoff is writing as an advocate for what has now become known as 'Visual Culture', an academic discipline which has splintered away from Art History. well, she is kind of an advocate for it but recognises the term as mainly for convenience. Rogoff about the disintergration of distinctions between artist/theorists/critics/curators/audience - which is a way in which I often see TAC functioning - and for "a field of complex and growing entanglements that can never be transliated back to originary or constitutive components."

it's worth a read it you have time. i'd be interested to know what you think.

Collaborative Commons website

2008-05-16T18:46:00.006+12:00

This is a website developed by a staff member of the Victoria College of Arts for their school-wide paper called Collaborative Contract. It mostly contains brief project descriptions and conversations about arranging meetings between students but it is open for anyone to utilise.

Not the prettiest site on the net but hilarious reading because of how familiar all the conversations about collaborating are. I have linked below to the groups section but you can browse around and see more.

http://cfi.vca.unimelb.edu.au/research/og

Meeting minutes 24/4/08

2008-04-28T15:45:00.000+12:00

From memory:

Lets get the Clubs exchange project moving. Tom and Liz (and now Paula too) are in Melbourne in May so lets hook up with Andie and have a meeting and then go talk to Clubs.

Liz to email Enjoy and investigate support options, Tom to email Andie and suss out who to contact (is that right? or was it Mel - i have forgotten).

Conversation as to the possibilities of project revolved around a poster idea, in keeping with resource form and providing a description of the transition from individual to group mentality.

100 posts!

2008-04-21T15:15:00.004+12:00

I want one of these!!
That last post brought our tally up to 100 and what with a wellington association meeting planned for later this week I thought a celebration was in order. Here's an image I came across on the web which tickled my collaborative imagining fancy. It's the work of a Melbourne based collab. duo by the name of A Constructed World and the image caption runs as:
Greenwashing. Environment: Perils, Promises and Perplexities, Foundation Sandretto Re Rebaudengo Turin

Hue and Cry review

2008-03-03T09:36:00.003+13:00

hey all

i was just looking through some old articles on the Lumiere reader a while ago and i found this review by Amy Brown about the discussion Andie recorded for Hue and Cry:

http://www.lumiere.net.nz/reader/item/1411

You should check it out, the reviewer thinks that our discussion is a spoof! And totally fictionalised. It made me laugh anyway.

I'm imminently arriving back in Welly (moving on Easter weekend), so look forward to seeing some of you then, discussing projects and making plans in person.

stepping out

2007-11-13T17:50:00.001+13:00

well...
in light of Sians departure from Tac the (now) two wellington-based members have decided we definitely need to make a priority of finding more collaborators.
The way we see it, a down-scaled unfunded run of posters will do the job just fine. Cheap and cheery, black and white, photocopier printed and distributed over the next couple of months with a plan to meet up in the new year.
It seems practical that there won't be much real action until around late January - considering that, I think we should work towards planning a hoolie of us all around that time in Wellington. Also, by that stage Toms move back won't be far off the horizon. (land ahoy!)
Above is a pre pre pre idea for poster, see comments for a draft of an email to be sent out to potential interested peoples.

Thank you and good night x

2007-11-10T12:16:00.000+13:00

Hi all,

Sian here; some confusion over who posted my last post.

Sorry for lack of engagment; Tyree's dad died and so that has taken huge amounts of time and energy, as well as being involved in four shows in as many months. One of which is my solo show opening next week, so still going and working............!

Anyway. We didn't get the Creative Communities funding for our poster recruitmemt project in Wellington. They rang me up to clarify the application and basically the problem was that they just couldn't understand what we were about or for or what our function was in the arts community of Wellington.

Now I did my best but man I really struggled to get a succinct version out of what we are about etc. .........and reading over the recent posts it seems that other people are a bit too?

I think the problems are that we started this group and then Prospect came along so soon that we did a big project which took lots of energy without having that groundwork on working out what we were and what we wanted to achieve. So now I feel like there is a lot of confusion because there is no solid base. I know at work that we have a very simple but totally nutted out and clear manifesto of what we are and what we do and why, so projects can be tested back against that model.

I empathise with others who have tlaked about how we seem to be doing a lot of research or something on our own processes. To me this feels laborious and is not really what I was interested in being part of the group for in the first place. As I said on the previous post, I am interest in making things and I hear you barking Liz when you say that I should pick up and make this happen, but I find at this stage that I just have no energy to do this!!!

I think I have run out of steam for this project of being part of the group, and I know that I have really no time to energise or get going any new projects between now and starting school at the end of Feb. I have plans for next year to set up critique and feedback groups in Wellington for artists who wish to build a more connected and responsive community, and I feel that this is more in line with satifying what I am interested in.

So I think I am done! We have done some great things and it has been cool working with you ladies. Paula and Liz if you would like to meet up and discuss further that would be cool, but I thought it would be useful to post this up here so we can all see it.

TAC in Christchurch

2007-10-27T10:54:00.000+13:00

Hi all,

This post relates to our discussion of re-membering TAC, and setting up individual TAC centres in other parts of the country. As sole member of TAC in Christchurch I have obviously been thinking a lot about the potential of setting up a similar group here. As a preliminary step, I have been talking with a number of people who I thought might be interested in being part of something, and in the interested of not being exclusive to people I know, I also got them to extend the network and ask other people around and about if it would be something that would interest them.

After a couple of months of testing the feeling on the ground, I just don't think that there is enough interest here to make TAC worthwhile or beneficial in any way. There just doesn't seem to be enough people who are interested in the idea of collaboration or testing the possibilities of this paradigm.

Another reason for not instigating a TAC in Christchurch was also because I'm not sure that I would have enought time to create recruitment packs and go through the setting up period, which would take quite a bit of energy. I didn't want to get involved in something down here that I wouldn't be able to properly facilitate from the development period which would be important for the group. I'm also probably going to be leaving Christchurch in March which would be a factor as well for the group.

I would still like to involved in TAC and would like to contribute as much as possibly to the Wellington group, although I realise that this is increasingly becoming unfeasible for quick decision making and action-taking on projects. So, once TAC in Wgton has recruited some more members I guess we can assess the situation further and see how our diasporic TAC members can work with this group in the best way?

At long last...Two-fold documentation shots

2007-10-22T16:05:00.001+13:00

TAC goes tweedie with Dr Bacharach

2007-10-16T16:42:00.000+13:00

Meeting up with Sondra Bacherach was really fantastic! Made me and Liz miss our discussions where we were all together as a group.

She wanted to know:
How we got started, we talked about the everynowandthen project beginnings.
How we made decisions, the consensus process, and how we worked out our times of non-agreement…

Sondra has looked at groups here and overseas. She specifically mentioned gilbert and george and the marukis. She said that as a philosopher, their processes were of lesser interest to her as she thinks through collaborative artistic output. This is because the artwork, in those cases, are the works of multiple individuals, yet each plays their own part – with the Marukis for example, each spends time on a painting before handing it over to the other.

Was interested in the nature of collaboration and the idea of a “true collaboration” as distinct from a role taking scenario where tasks are divided up and completed individually as part of a larger project (eg film crews).

We spoke about how we are a collaborative group formed to work collaboratively to explore, experiment with and test collaborative processes and structures. Sondra thought that was pretty neat and quite philosophical.

Also works collaboratively with her Marsden Grant fellow developing their ideas and writing together – understands the difficulties of long distance communication. She encouraged us to think less as a place based group and try new methods of communication such as skype conferencing.
Talked about the role of communication and our understanding of it as a part of the art that we make (process model).

Sondra said she’d like to meet with us again, later in the year, and is excited about the potential of either working with us or pickin our brains in the future.

Paula and Liz

Flow chart frenzy! 1week decision feedback

2007-10-13T18:07:00.000+13:00

Here is our formatted feedback - double click to view.
Taccers please do a close reading because there are some (mostly minor) discrepancies in understanding between members and it would be good to arrive at an overall consensus.
Can we please also feedback further to the suggestions to resolve how best to use "1-Week Decisions".
p.s. Hope you like your designated colours!

Shedding light on collaborative common ground, a book review

2007-10-02T13:49:00.000+13:00

Above image: PAD/D: DEMONSTRATE!, installation of art made for public protest, Chicago (circa 1983).

This is the second installment of my quest to harvest relevant tid-bits from between the pages of Temporary Services’ new artists’ book Group Work. The trials and accomplishments of past collaborative and collective activities can offer a lot in the way of cautionary tales and models of success. This group has got them both.

New York collective Political Art Documentation/Distribution was established to archive an amassing collection of ephemera from art/political actions and events but snowballed into something much larger. Temporary Services’ Brett Bloom conducted three interviews with four members of Political Art Documentation/Distribution (PAD/D); Gregory Scholette and Janet Koenig were interviewed together and Jerry Kearns and Barbara Moore were each interviewed separately.

PAD/D was sparked into being by writer and activist Lucy Lippard, in New York’s East Village in 1980. Lippard had been collecting up a bunch of posters and other documentation from the preceding two decades of political art activism, mostly through donations from the artists themselves. At the time the art institutions were largely ignoring socially engaged art so, in the spirit of self-organization, Lippard called a meeting to enlist help with the creation of an archival resource. Jerry Kearns recalled turning up to the first meeting after “seeing a leaflet stapled to a pole”, he describes Lippard’s continuing involvement in the group as contributing a “Leadership of doing”.

So told, this was a period of many collective activities, both locally in the East Village and in the US scene in general. Because of this Lippard was interested only in creating a resource - not in forming another group. However, after the first couple of meetings the artists became frustrated with such administrative documentary tasks and started to get excited about the potential of the group as a site of artistic/activist production. It seems like this kind of self definition and direction from amongst the members so early on really continued through the group’s lifespan. These energies meant the group were both prolific and divergent in their output.

While the documentation team became an autonomous entity within the wider group, largely left to their own devices, PAD/D grew to become an umbrella organisation for a diverse range of activities. These spanned from the initial archival project to a reading group that “kind of mutated” into an anti-gentrification project, the publication of a leftist cultural events calendar and a newsletter to distribute the contents of the archive — to name the few ongoing projects mentioned in the interviews.

I thought it was interesting to note, and of some relevancy to the TAC situation, that as the group became larger the structure of PAD/D became more hierarchical. In their first year of operation consensus was used, after which they moved to majority voting. Jerry Kearns explained “We tried to make power transparent within the group. But we also tried to avoid the endless group therapy sessions that consensus decision making often leads to”. I think one of their most interesting achievements was developing a system to deal with their growth. To keep communication and opportunities open a system was instigated whereby people proposed new projects to the group to gauge interest and gain support. In order to keep a track of all the activities there was a regular event called “Second Sundays” where members spoke about their on-going projects. PAD/D was a real large-scale group, something hard to imagine happening in a Wellington context.

It seemed like there was quite a struggle over keeping the organisation centrally located. A steering committee was formed to oversee the activities of the project-focused sub-committees. At times, although the steering committee conceptualised themselves as advisory, this caused uneven power relationships to arise. Gregory Scholette recalls that “As time went on PAD/D became very structured … to the point where there were elaborate flow charts about how you submitted a proposal to the group”. Long-time PAD/D member Janet Koenig argues “It was no longer Democratic, at that point, at least to my mind. ‘Democratic centralism’ is nearly an oxymoron”.

Despite differences of opinion PAD/D managed to hold it together through some challenging events. Koenig and Scholette were part of a reading group that was accused of trying to create a faction. Scholette explains the initial motivation for the splintering: “Some of us felt that we didn’t have enough theory. We didn’t feel like PAD/D had really thought through these issues of art and society very deeply”. During a big event that PAD/D had organised, designed to bring together other counter-institutional groups into a mega coalition, Scholette circulated an essay that he had written which mounted a critique on PAD/D. Crazy times. Luckily, the group had “a very strict structure for dealing with problems” and after an initial period of tension things settled down and people realised that the reading group was generating valuable resources for PAD/D.

One of the great things about this article was the way the different perceptions and experiences of the group are communicated through the discrepancies in opinions between the separate interviews. This group and its structures were formed from a collective desire to honour and continue the legacy of activist/artistic activities from preceding decades of political and social change. They did this through making a place for the materials that were left behind and, more importantly, through keeping the practice of collective activity alive and functioning.

Throughout the interview with members of “Political Art Documentation/Distribution”, in Temporary Services’ Group Work, there is mention of the other many and varied organisations that influenced their group – both in terms of its structure and its ideology. I haven’t really even gone into the specifics of this. There are a heap of touchstones for TAC in the stuff above, it has been great to read about some of the common threads and I hope it’s been informative for you, dear reader.

The first book review installment, which is about General Idea, can be found here: Group Work artists book review
An article on PAD/D written by member Gregory Scholette can be downloaded in pdf form here: A Collectography of PAD/D

Is artistic collaboration all about talking?

2007-09-29T13:15:00.000+12:00

hi guys,

Thought I would make a new post to muse on my dissatisfactions and where they are arising from. I read one of the articles on the list on the main blog;

"Afterall article: Group and Gang (the Absent Collective)

And it really summed up where I am at. It was talking about how making art is something which happens in space rather than in time, and so the group cannot do the same thing at the same time. Which means that in collaborative groups the main thing which happens is lots and lots of talking, rather than doing. Discussing what the group is going to do before doing it. So the decision making is consensual, rather than the doing?

"In other words, even where a group co-operates to make a video, their agreement on how to fill a given part of the visual array at a given moment can only be achieved by talking – again by a negotiation that by definition is operationally separate from the formative visual technique itself. Hence, the actions of performance groups fail to become genuine group agency in two main ways. First, because much of what the performance group does amounts to multiple synchronous actions – a mere proliferation of co-incidental separate actions. Second, because if the interweaving of these actions are integrated then (and here we return to the earlier claim) the terms of the integration must be separately negotiated, determined by talking not by visually doing."

So, this explains why the meetings felt so much better than the blog I think, as obviously talking is more satifying than reading on a screen and disjointed conversations. And also why I have developed a sense of uh I want to be DOING something. The difficulty for me I guess is that my practice and what I really engage with and enjoy about art is the actual doing. I love talking too. don't get me wrong, but it seems like this is one of the real conflicts in collaborative processes which has been hit on the head by this article.

"The group that we want acts. Above all else, it thinks/acts, and it does so beyond mere coordinated efficacy. The group we want acts beyond the linear flows of discursive thought and outside the blind sedimentation of so-called 'swarm intelligence' – the process whereby the swarm of humans en masse sleepwalks into adopting and then incrementally honing the cleverest tricks of its innovative individuals (like turning the wheel, quitting hunting to tend flocks, or flossing before bedtime). Swarm intelligence in its unguided incremental genius is a marvel: no less evident and marvelous in crows and seagulls than it is in humans. But the swarm is not the group, and the group wasn’t liberated by the web or any other revolution. The group that we want is the branching, nodal warren of thoroughfares that composes its thinking not in speech, but in enaction between and around the partial-selves of its members. The group doesn’t march on its stomach."

Sorry to cut and paste the article if you have already read it; just thought it might be easier to discuss.

What does anyone else think?

Meeting minutes 17.9.07, #1 New Members

2007-09-19T23:05:00.000+12:00

New Beginnings: re-Membering TAC

It's been 7 months since we were all together in one room. Remember convincing ourselves that our experimentation of collaborative processes could continue long distance? Well, it's official, blog friend just doesn't bring the cheese to the meeting.
We have been discussing new members for tac for AGES, and before we all wither up and die under the greying light of our PC screens, action needs to make it happen.
Welli has plans afoot and has already found ourselves stumbling into uncharted collaborative territory. We need a collective plan for negotiating the borders between autonomy and unity without the need for an international diplomacy manual.
In the absence of any experts, tac once again turns to its members for their sage and silly contributions towards a renewal of localised collaborative projects.
How do we allow new tac regional groups to make their own decisions without loosing the sense of what brought us together in the first place? What components of our current processes should continue and what should change to allow for new beginnings?

Q: How is Collaborative Art Interpreted?

2007-09-07T18:28:00.001+12:00

Hello,
I'm a Philosophy lecturer at Victoria Univ whose research is in the philosophy of art. Last year, a colleague and I were awarded a Marsden grant to study how to interpret and understand collaboratively produced art.

Obviously, your work is very interesting to our research. I was wondering how I might get more information about your work - either about your work practices, or about how work work has been received, interpreted, etc.

I'd love to meet up for coffee and hear more about your work, if any of you are still in Wellington. Alternatively, I'd love to correspond with any of you via email, or if you'd be able to tell me how to find any material on your work, that'd be greatly appreciated too.

Thanks!
Best,
Sondra
-------------------------
Hi Sondra,
thanks for your enquiry - how relevant indeed!
i am sure we'd like to communicate with you and your project sounds interesting, but we need to agree by consensus on these matters. since our PROSPECT project earlier this year, we have dispersed around the world.
we communicate mainly via a blog.
Is it okay with you if i post your request (without contacts ) on our TAC blog? It is the fastest way for us to get a consensus decision as a group - about anything.
also: the prospect project can be found at:
http://www.telecomprospect2007.org.nz/artist/TheAssociationofCollaboration.shtml
hope to hear from you soon,
Paula
_____________________________

Hi Paula,
Thanks for the quick response; I’d be delighted if you posted my request on your blog – especially if it speeds things up.
I first learned of TAC’s existence at the Prospect exhibit, and as a result invited Heather Galbraith to talk about collaborative art at Prospect for a philosophy of art course that I taught last term — and now I’m getting started on my Marsden grant more seriously, and really want to learn more about your work before I begin writing.
Looking forward to hear from some/all of you!

Best,
Sondra
______________________________

hi TAC, so here it is, posted as promised!
how exciting, x Paula

-------------------------

Banking

2007-09-05T09:05:00.000+12:00

hey all

some feedback from chch where it has suddenly become like antartica, though no snow in the city which i find quite dissapointing.

... [have moved Toms thoughts on new members to the meeting minutes comments section for comprehension -L]

in other news, am having a bit of a dilemma in the banking department. we can't open an account where everyone can withdraw money unless we are registered as a society or charitable trust. after investigation i found out that this costs about $150 to become one. so, i thought that next best option would be to open an account under my name, and someone in Wellington could sign up as a joint-account person so as to have more transparency in banking (hehehe, i accidentally wrote baking before that) matters. i have opened an account with Kiwibank, so if someone would like to volunteer as a Wellington joint treasurer then I can get in communication with them about the details.

another problem is that the cheques we have received have been made out to 'The Association of Collaboration', this means that I am not able to deposit them at all because of course I am T. Sleigh, no The Association of Collaboration which doesn't exist in a legal sense. so, I think I need to get in contact with the Museums Trust and New Plymouth City Council, to see if they can make the cheques out to an individual member of TAC and then they can be deposited in the account.

does all this make sense? and should be have one account now for all splinter groups of TAC?
whew. money matters make me tired.

Group work artist's book review

2007-09-04T21:39:00.000+12:00

Temporary Services has just published an artists book called Group Work. I got extremely excited when I found out about their collaborative book about collaboration and got myself a copy. I thought you'd all be interested in hearing about it, I also thought that as a way of helping myself think through the ideas I'd make a book review. I will add to it as I get through the articles, probably going back and changing it a bit. There's heaps of info that's applicable to us at TAC, so we could use the comments section to talk about the ideas too. Let me know if you want more info, something photocopied or - once I've finished - a lend!

The initial five members of Temporary Services (TS) started working together in 1999. The group is currently a triadic collaboration, based in Chicago and they have a very busy exhibition history, website and lots of publishing projects.
The book has been edited by the three collaborators and contains interviews with, and profiles of, active and historical collaborative artist's groups and musicians, all from the US and Europe. Their general thesis holds that — acknowledging the interdependence of human existence — all art making is collaborative at some point.
The generality of the title, Group Work, also follows from their interest in the broader scope of groupings as human/societal organising principles, an interest which, TS's editorial explains, consciously extends beyond the specificity of art practices and languages.
The list of quotes, responding to some well worded common questions on collaboration, are the only direct manifestation of this broader investigation. The rest of the contents explore group work through an artistic and musical context.
I am working my way through the book slowly, and have just finished their first interview with AA Bronson, one of the three artists from General Idea. Other collaborators in General Idea (GI) were Felix Partz and Jorge Zontal (all aliases). GI was a collaboration that began in Toronto in the seventies amongst the hippie commune scene. It was hugely prolific in both art and social activism and only wound up after the death of its two other members from HIV related illnesses.
General Idea seems to have been a big influence on the Temporary Services model.
The interview covers the genesis of the group, the way GI worked together, how they resolved conflicts, the roles and languages that emerged in the group dynamic - and finishes with a discussion of Bronson's individual practice after the dissolving of General Idea in '94.
One of the first projects that General Idea undertook was an underground newspaper called FILE which they began as a communication tool for connecting themselves beyond their small local art community to artists in other cities and countries. Bronson gives the example of their "Artist Directory", a 700-strong list of artists addresses published with the purpose of encouraging open mail contact between readers and artists. TS's questions tease out the way FILE seems to have swung between this total openness and a more insular fictional world.
I was really interested to read about their group processes, the members had a very close working relationship, lived together in the same house and used to have conversations every morning over coffee. Bronson explains "We had a rule of thumb that we only actually carried out a project by consensus. So if anybody wasn't sure about something, then we would put it on the back shelf. We didn't reject it ... at a later date ... we might pick up one of those ideas again and knit it into some other project we were doing". They found this "shelving" method worked well as a way of resolving conflicting opinions.
The roles within the collaboration were flexible, shifting from project to project according to what the members were interested in at the time: "We never advertised who did what. And people always thought they knew. People tended to think that Jorge did all the photography and Felix did all the painting and I did all the writing, but it wasn't true at all. It was truly collaborative". Similarly, their approach to their group identity was one of anonymity, initially using pseudonyms to avoid the "artist as genius" trap, although Bronson now believes that "in the end pseudonyms don't make the slightest bit of difference to all of that".

Stay tuned for more, L.

1 week decisions: How-to guide

2007-09-03T20:07:00.000+12:00

What is 1 week decisions for?

1 week decisions is a process that allows for members to not participate in administrative decisions, this means admin decisions can be made by those who do participate without needing to get others approval.
Administrative (or 'operational') decisions are ones which don't affect the structure or direction of tac. 1wds can be about things which haven't been discussion prior to posting them.

How do we use it?

Blog: Always write up the thing that needs to be decided about and post it on the blog. Include the words "1 week decision" in title and attach the same as a subject label.
Email: U decide! this is up to the person who makes the post. Some decisions might not warrant an email, or the post-er might not be into it, so it will always be useful to visit 1 week decision subject label on the side of the blog - as we have all been doing.

This process was established through a testing, review and discussion process. Below are links to the background and lead up discussions:
initial intro of 1wd
Tac flow-charted reviews of 1wd

Trolley storage

2007-08-30T17:48:00.001+12:00

Hi guys,

We couldn't cover everything in the meeting and I forgot that we need to discuss storage of the trolley. All great ideas about reusing it but all still involve it being stored in Tyree's space until next Feb! She is doing lots of work at home and really needs the space. It's urgent and I am getting hassled!! Any ideas??

TAC meeting minutes adn discussion points

2007-08-30T17:46:00.000+12:00

TAC meeting Monday 27th August

I have organised the points into the three agenda areas so it is easier to read. This means that it is not sequential as the meetings actually ran but will be clearer to follow. Points which require feedback have been marked in italics.

All of the below is my subjective note taking and is open to correction, suggestion, comment, feedback etc.

NEW MEMBERS

All are agreed that we need new members.

Suggestion that new members should be recruited in each area of the diaspora.

Blog would then become group to group post rather than internal communication.

Name suggestions; TAC Wellington, TAC Christchurch etc. The when we do something together we would be TAC United?

So, with suggested new members involved, each TAC project would become under their own regional control. Each group needs to be activated and able to act. Esp as noted by recent problems with blog re communication, loss of energy for group etc.

A group focus could be feeding into a new bio / manifesto which could be used to create a new members pack. Enough history to provide an orientation.

Importance of the power structure remaining level discussed. No experts. Decision making should be consensual.

Manifesto should not be too solid / prescriptive etc. Open; like how we have recorded our processes as conversations. New members could get the assessment of CAMRU as a conversational piece in new members pack.

Differentiation between tac groups can develop. Each group could contribute a chapter to the kit. Organic. There would be a natural progression according to each group’s interests.

Value of the initial openness of the call to TAC. Diverse range of people.

Could use photos in orientation/new members pack.

NEW MEMBERS SUMMARY

New members in each centre
Each centre deciding on how to recruit it’s own members
Create an orientation kit for new members – (photos, manifesto, CAMRU assessment?)

KIT

Use the aesthetic of CAMRU like the scattered notes. Give artists / organisations a page where they could write / draw whatever about their experiences in collaboration.

Flow chart model

Open structure for other collaborative structures to engage with.

Non-directive and non-definitive. Can keep being added to. Could be like a ring binder with new chapters / blank pages.

FUTURE PROJECTS

Developing and spreading TAC

Becoming The Association of Collaborations, ie finding ways to be inclusive of other groups without them having to be part of the every day running. Pages in kit are one way.

Funding application to Creative Communities Wellington. Idea of creating posters about TAC to create interest in group / ideas / new members. Then packs could be sent out after this. This would be relevant for Wellington audience. Other groups apply in own districts? Or may prefer alternative methods of recruitment?

Poster ideas; disseminating info, drawings, text, a series of three, drawing of writing on wall at Enjoy? Good to have a visual project to keep interest up aesthetically. Good to have another tangible project this year.

CAMRU ASSESS – questions for the group

Input are Tom’s questions and Andie’s musings previously on blog.
Discussed these and own input and came up with following Q’s;

What were our individual expectations of the CAMRU project?

What did it do?

What TAC processes worked well?

What TAC processes didn’t work so well?

How effective was CAMRU in communicating with an audience?

What did the responses tell us that was valuable towards understanding the Prospect show?

Two-fold catalogue text + images

2007-08-29T22:30:00.000+12:00

Hi all,

Would be great to get some feedback about what kind of writing we should include about TAC in the two-fold catalogue. There's only space for about 200 words, this could be a discussion piece, an interview, a piece of collaborative writing, a piece written about us by somebody else. It could even be a re-hashed collage of writing from our blog, blog found poetry! argh! Also any thoughts about images? perhaps we could use the old trusty circle o' chairs!

let me know your thoughts asap, the deadline for text is friday september the 7th... uh-oh! But it's only 200 words, easy-peasy

xA

Assessment of Prospect

2007-08-23T16:47:00.000+12:00

I've been thinking about the necessity of assessing TAC's activity in Prospect in order that me may move onto greener pastures with clear directives, awareness of successes and failures and evident focuses. I don't know if the Wellington meeting of TAC has gone ahead or any discussion has been had a about this?

I thought that since we are all now spread around corners of the globe, one way to collect and assess would be to draw up a number of questions to which each TAC member could respond (perhaps by using the email system). After this we could analyse, assess, see if there are any similarities or wild discrepancies in our responses.

I also thought that these written responses could also partially be used in future documentation of process and potentially some of it could even be re-worked for the toolkit if we decide that is something we want to go ahead with.

A few questions I had thought of so far were:

1. At what stage did you feel most comfortable with TAC's processes?
2. How effective did you feel the trolley project was in engaging with a community wider than the art community?
3. If you could have changed a process in the development of the trolley project, what would you have changed? Why?

ps Best title award goes to Sian for title previous to this one :)

Kit chat

2007-08-16T17:25:00.000+12:00

Hi hi

Having looked at that photo and thought it was great.....and also being a good TACCER and making a new post rather than taccing on to the old one with a new subject.....AND using labels.

PHEW.

Anyway. My great idea was about thinking about the kit. And thinking that the element I liked the most about what we did was that it was open and as unjudgemental as we could be. People got to say what they liked and let it be seen. So I wondered if the kit could look something like that? With illustrations and photos like the chairs one and lots of images of peoples comments and stuff rather than long and verbose. Like Liz's visual flowchart was so great and enticing because it looked interesting and good.

My thought is that by describing the project in yummy pictures we create a space for people to think about how they think about artwork and what they want from it and what collaboration is and whether we really were collaborating with the audience or not etc.

I am also thinking about the booklet that MW (is that right?!) made in their Enjoy residency where they asked a bunch of people to describe negative space. Non prescriptive and open and had the feeling that lots more idea could have been added to it too of your own.

Maybe the TAC kit could have blank pages at the end for people to work things out / add to / colour in ?!?!? I guess I just like that idea of it being like a continual work in progress.

PS and no spelling mistakes x

Wellington TAC regroup - postponed

2007-08-11T15:55:00.000+12:00

Sian, Paula and I are now meeting up next week to talk TAC, so there's xtra time to add to our agenda. Anything that you want discussed will be reported back in the minutes. It would be great to get some input and gauge where we are at xL

lecturer interested in our empty chairs

2007-08-10T11:07:00.000+12:00

Hello All,
yesterday I was asked for and gave a senior lecturer at Vic this image of our work from 'Every Now and Then' at Enjoy.
Another collaborator metioned that this fact could be of interest to the rest of TAC so here is our correspondence about the inclusion of our documentation in her Sydney Lecture.
I am not sure what angle she plans to take discussing our work, however I thought even analysis of the problematics of this installation is useful and fitting for our project.
Since some curators have complained when TAC hasd posted their correspondence on this blog, all personal references will be removed....

.....1st Email.....

Dear (Enjoy Gallery Employee),
When you talked to my class you showed an image of the chair arrangement set up by the Assoc of Collaboration as part of Mel Oliver's show at Enjoy.

I wonder if you could send me a copy of this, good enough quality to show in a powerpoint?

I'm talking as part of a panel discussion at Artspace in Sydney which is part of a project called Aftermath which is canvassing the relationship of performance and installation.
Many thanks
(Lecturer)

.....2nd Email.....

Hello (Enjoy Gallery Employee),

I wonder if you could let Paula know which image I mean and get her to send it to me?
Thanks
(Lecturer)

.....3rd Email.....( my reply)

hi (Lecturer),
I have sourced an image of TAC's residual post-meeting chair set up, from towards the end of the 'Every Now and Then' show (after a few TAC meetings). Please confirm that this is what you seek, it should be sized appropriatly for powerpoint.
See attached
best wishes, Paula

.....4th Email.....

perfect
thanks
(Lecturer)

Loosing our Threads

2007-08-06T21:42:00.000+12:00

My hyperactive brain has been whirring around the problems of the hyperlink gymnastics required to navigate our communications here, AKA: our blog is too hard to read, or too hard to follow. Yes, I put up my hand, I have been the culprit of many a post-jumping dialogue, ramble and generally confusing comment spams.
I had a bit of a surf around the pixel-sphere and would like to report that it is a very common problem on blogs, chatrooms, and in open comment forums etc.
There seems to be whole R&D departments devoting themselves slavishly to the development of conversation smart software, (in other news, Cuba is dumping Microsoft in favour of the open-source operating system Linux), but I digress – and this seems to be one of my main problems!!!! A perfectly wonderful way to be conversational but one of the reasons that our TACblog conversations seem to be fizzling out somewhat.
Me and my search-engine have come up with a whole heap of things we could do to make things easier for ourselves and potential other silent browsers (hi mum ;)

To Post or to Comment on a Post? – why don’t we reserve posts for new topics of conversation, subjects or news OR summaries of older conversations.

One subject postings – if we have something to introduce for discussion, then how about boiling it down to its essential elements and posting it as one subject.

Feed your post – when you make a posting, keep it alive by tracking the discussion, responding to comments and summarising ideas as they develop.

Bestow Titles – use them in your posts and comments to draw attention to the focus and type of your communication. Some examples: brilliant new idea, supporting idea, counter-idea, supporting example, counter-example, extrapolation, summary, reminds me that, catch-up, ramble, problem, solution*.

Subject Labels – Surely they were invented to make blog trawling clearer and more interesting. I suggest you look to the right side for labels that already exist, otherwise make up a relevant new label and begin to add these automatically when you make a post

Images – We’re all aesthetes after all, lets keep our neck of web-land pretty!

Banking & 1 week decisions, summary

2007-08-04T16:11:00.000+12:00

Admin hats on, buckle your seat belts ...

1 week decisions
summary: We all seem to be in agreement over trialing this process out, so trial starts now and ends on the 4th September. This means checking the blog once a week if you want to keep up with and participate in all small admin decisions.
When you make a posting for a 1 week decision then please enter "1 week decisions " in the subject labels for this post field (at the bottom of window). By doing this we can keep up to date easily by clicking on the 1 week decisions subject label on the side bar.
To keep the discussion coherent all contributions need to be made in the comments section of the posting - not in a seperate posting.

banking/money matters
summary: everyone is in agreement with two people (some combination of Paula, Sian, Tom) opening a Kiwi Bank account under TAC's name, and that Tom will be the treasurer! fantastic! can you Tom, be in charge of working out the details?

If any of the above is unclear or you had a different understanding of it, please comment!!!

CAMRU home?

2007-08-04T14:03:00.000+12:00

Hi all,

So just another practical thing to think about. CAMRU is currently housed in our church / studio space. We have positioned her in a corner so she is taking up the minimum of space.......but it still is rather a lot of space. I am conscious that the corner is in Tyree's workspace and she is making lots more work in there at the moment.

I guess we need to consider a more long term solution ie storage or dismantlement or gift or sale or?! I am loathe to dismantle it after all the work, but I also can't store it indefinately. Perhaps we could consider some other uses for it?

One thing I had wondered was if it could be used as something to do with the Fringe Festival? Very vague ideas at the moment, but I just know that is a really public and outdoor event where it reaches lots of non art audiences................

Could it be somehow used to gather information or be a public beacon for finding out about people's collaborative thoughts / experiences? Could it be the locus for launching a booklet?!

X Sian

Money matters....

2007-08-03T16:14:00.000+12:00

Hey all,

So should I go ahead and open up a TAC bank account? What does everyone think? And then we can all have access to the Internet Banking side of things and it can be monitored/perused by everyone? If so, Paula and Liz do you think you could send down the checks and I will desposit them?

Congrats on your fantastic new job Andie - that sounds great! I'm really interested at the moment in the intersection of artist/curator. Part of curating Continuous Memory was to give myself the opportunity to experiment with the role of curator, I guess to learn the parameters, neccessary skills, absences and requirements of the role. Working with just one artist obviously made it quite different to constructing a group show, or art historical survey. Essentially Continuous Memory developed out of a conversation and I found that that was a really productive way of working.

I would be really interested to hear what other takes artist/curators have on the experience and where they see one role ending and the other beginning, if that even happens? As far as my involvement in TAC goes, it was almost like a symbiosis of both positions into one. Did others find that? Sometimes I feel like labelling nouns are more trouble than they are worth!

Thoughts from Kassel...

2007-07-29T21:31:00.000+12:00

Dear TAC,

Sorry for my lack of communication and input for the last while – I feel particularly bad since what I have been doing lately is quite related to CAMRU - but I am now in a better position to contribute again. (In case you’re not sure where I disappeared to, I am currently in Kassel, Germany working as part of the art mediation team of documenta 12. With the particular focus on Education for documenta and the efforts of the team coordinators to encourage innovative formats for guiding tours and special projects, I’ve been learning and involved with attempts to provide more dialogical educative models within the exhibition.)

So, yes Andie I would love to share my experiences but I'm not sure what is relevant - do you have any specific questions?? Actually, the 3rd documenta magazine themed on Education is now available and perhaps you could find this in Melbourne but the articles are also all available online...

I feel like I can’t really evaluate how the programme is working yet and whether this has been successful, but when I first arrived we heard from some interesting art education theorists and one project in particular was very similar to that of us with CAMRU- it was by Anna Zosik entitled ‘Hannah Arendt Denkraum’ as part of an exhibition held in Berlin (October to November 2006). She basically set up a room in the middle of this group show where people were encouraged to respond in ways similar to CAMRU – she edited responses a little more but really had the same difficulties and results as us… the guards got really into it, people took active ownership of the space, and it took on a life of its own.

The art mediation team is actually part of a research project by Carmen Moersch who is writing her PhD on art mediation and trying to progress this in Germany in relation to UK based models.

Okay, perhaps I can write more on this soon, but love to you all,
M xx

Two-fold: the low down...

2007-07-21T23:40:00.000+12:00

Hey guys
Welcome back! ☺
Tom thanks for volunteering to be the treasurer- you be a treasure! And congrats also on your show at HSP it looks really good
So in terms of this two-fold show, I’m sorry for sounding a bit vague last time, basically the focus is on curatorship students who are also practicing artists. Originally the exhibition was going to be a showcase for curatorship students to share what they’ve been up to. However I thought that might turn into a bit of a mixed bag and since Angela and I decided to co-curate the show together we've developed the concept for the show towards challenging curatorial frameworks through artistic practice. Some other artist/curators for example are examining documentation or the support materials that accompany exhibitions, one artist is working in collaboration with a sculptor to make an interactive object- whereby the viewer constructs the work, there are some amazing cabinets that are dying to be used as a wunderkammer but I’m not sure if that will be realised. I’m hoping to create a TAC reading area- so really I’m not proposing a new project as such for TAC, but rather I thought of using documentation of past examples (such as our Prospect room sheets) as a starting point for discussion about some of the issues that haven’t been addressed in our course (such as self-organised projects, working collaboratively and the perception/positioning of art that aims to be socially engaging).
Alternatively I could just create a reading corner without any TAC related material if you’d prefer, but, what are your thoughts?
Andie
p.s. guess what guess what? I got a job working as ‘Project Officer’ for the South Project!!

Banking Scenario

2007-07-16T17:34:00.000+12:00

Liz and Paula
new post
subject: Banking
(this post is a parody based on well-established patterns)

Hi every one how’s it going?
We’ve got a couple of cheque payments made out to TAC for the pencils; one from the Govett Brewster for $149.62, and one from City Gallery for $134.00. We also need to send in another invoice to City Gallery for the last 27 pencils that were sold and pay Alex and the rest of us back for outstanding trolley resource purchases.
So we need an account to deposit these cheques into. What shall we do? Shall we set up a joint account with all 6 of us as signatories. who want to do that? or should one of us set up an account under TAC name and deal with all transactions in a transparent manner?

2 DAYS LATER…
Andie writes
I support that, sounds like a great idea!

3 DAYS AFTER THAT…
Sian writes
its awesome that were going to have money in hte bank! Rolling init!!
Htet joint account sounds good if u want somoene to come to that bank I can, as one of hte remaining wellington cru

2 WEEKS AFTER ORIGINAL POST...
No further replies

4 WEEKS AFTER ORIGINAL POST...
Liz writes
Ok, well we seem to be a little slow responding on this one, do i need to do another text around? Maybe you need personal email correspondence?
We do need consensus to move forward!!!

8 WEEKS AFTER ORIGINAL POST...
Paula writes
I want to get this money in the bank so that we can pay our bills etc.
I am happy to set up an account and have all the statements mailed to tac offices.
I am with kiwibank so the accounts are free and statments are online (emailable)
So it doesn’t matter if the money just sits there, as there is no cost. Transparent.
So anyway.....
The lack of communication with Tac is really frustrating.
This kind follows on from my last post, entitled ‘where is the association at?’
To which there was only one reply. (thanks andie!)
Who is in this collaboration anyway?

Where is the Association At?

2007-06-28T00:00:00.000+12:00

I really appreciate Andie's efforts over the last few months to make projects happen.
While I have followed her comments and contributions closely I only posted my first feedback comment today.

This made me realise that it is really hard to gauge the participation of various TAC members, especially as we have become a diaspora.
While this spreading can be positive in terms of new opportunities, contexts and associations for potential TAC projects, I think we need to collectivly ascertain a common communication or gathering method. I think we should also review our personnel situation, as suggested by Sian and Liz over the last few months. Is a head count needed?
It is certainly hard to grow legs on Andie's project or any other new initiative at the moment.
This stalling need not coninue if willing TAcers communicate and new members are allowed to be brought in.
hugs from Kassel,
Paula

Tim's article for MOB now finished

2007-05-14T14:20:00.000+12:00

Hello dears,
Tim's article on collaboration featuring TAC, Rachael Rakena & Brett Graham, and Nova Paul is finsished and you will find it in the TAC gmail account.
Check it out, it is interesting to see what he quoted from us in the final version!
x p

george paton gallery who ?what? yes let's!

2007-05-09T11:55:00.000+12:00

Hey me again

I've been invited to participate in a group show of curated by a fellow curatorship student who back in the 90s (I think) was involved in a group of VCA (Victorian College of the Arts) who started up an ARI called 'Talk'. It was quite a good one I think, anyway the curator was invited by fellow 'Talk' artist/writer/curator and George Paton gallery co-ordinator Sandra Bridie to propose a show. So far the show is looking at curatorship students who are also practising artists. However the curator is adamant she doesnt want the show to just be an opportunity to show their work, but rather set it up as a place for issues regarding contemporary curatorship to be discussed. I was hesitant at first to participate because I don't really think of myself as an artist. I've met the curator and told her about TAC and wondered about the possibility of exhibiting documentation of our work as part of the show.

Of course it is very early days and I havent met any of the other artists yet and don't know how their work will shape the show but I just wanted to post this now to get some feedback from the group. I don't want to stand for TAC but i thought maybe documentation of our work could serve to introduce topics for discussion as part of the exhibition?

look forward to hearing your thoughts

xA

success and failure

2007-05-09T11:43:00.000+12:00

Hey guys I just thought maybe we should take some time to reflect on what we consider to be our successes and failures so far...

SUCCESSES:
How things worked out with Heather and Sarah, the way they were open to our unsolicited roomsheets,and the inclusion of visitors' post it notes in the catalogue, etc. The way we allowed for a previously silent audience to participate in art dialogue and discourse alongside the curator. (Limits to this: censorship, not totally democratic-we chose some voices over others, CAMRU initiated dialogue still contained and framed within wider prospect curatorial discourse)
Public response in terms of volume of feedback/post its.

POTENTIAL ISSUES/FAILURES?
criticisms in Artbashthe catalogue and the listener- eg our work was patronising (to an art informed audience) are these points that we want to address? How? Can our work be aimed at these people?
Levels of participation by TAC members- we all have had different availability-working together long distance etc
Misconceptions that TAC is a liz/Enjoy project

Any thoughts? Maybe some other issues came up back on the day of the artist talk?

xA

Handing Over the Responses to City Gall

2007-04-18T20:00:00.000+12:00

yo, how's the collab group hanging??
we're giving the little colourful notes to sarah farrah, so she and her helpers can put them in the back pockets of the prospect catalog, as we discussed as a group a wee while ago.
we have only selected responses that related to the Prosect show (in any way) poetic, negative, illustrations, praise, the lot!! we thought that this would be an alright way of selecting the ones to document, and we have kept all the scores of other ones too.
i'll be sad to see some of them go, but they have all had the opportunity to be seen on the trolley or the wall or written about or collated. we have also scanned or photgraphed them all for CAMRU records before sending then to sarah.
liz and i just spent a wee while collating the responses that were still in wellington, many had just come off the trolley in the last few weeks.

can mel and tom please bring to wellington the ones tht they have been sent? we can give those ones striaght to sarrah as they've already been photographed.

word, p

andies response collation

2007-04-18T17:42:00.000+12:00

here is Andies contribution that she emailed thru from the responses she was sent. please post your comments and i will turn it into a template to make photocopied exhibition notes from once we have got the go ahead. x p

“Words and thoughts are pointless”

If the above is true, then what use is any attempt to facilitate engagement and critical dialogue in an art gallery? There have been many disillusioned responses with the way New Zealand contemporary art has been presented in Prospect 2007, with the efforts of the Association of Collaboration proven to be no exception. However, self-reflexivity and evaluation are fundamental to our interests, thus every scribbled post-it note has been processed, and we’d like to share some of these thoughts, ideas and feelings with you…

-I’ve never been more bored. Prospect has become mundane, predictable, tired, blasé, indifferent, incompetent, unencouraging. This work could be from the seventies, that work could be a repetition of that work, and this work could be a regurgitation of every work ever made. You could have saved time by putting a pile of FLASHART magazines in the foyer…

The Contemporary Art Mobile Response Unit supported a profusion of responses, though some felt their words were falling on deaf ears…

-You can say its rubbish as much as you like-they will still do it again next year. Proof that institutions just don’t listen unless you say what they want to hear.

The Contemporary Art Mobile Response Unit not only encouraged responses to the artwork but also inspired visitors to engage with one another’s responses

-You are allowed to say, “I don’t like it” and not have to explain yourself
-It’s not that you don’t like it, it’s that you don’t understand it or vice versa? (as Mrs V my 7th form art history teacher often used to say)

Other criticisms centred on the didactic nature of contemporary art survey shows

-Just because you use big words, doesn’t mean that what you think about art is more important, or even relevant. Art is for enjoyment, not for being a pompous ass over.

Some felt intimidated by the pressure to make spontaneous and insightful comments on the spot

-I think my own thoughts are becoming less clear... I am fading with every exhibit

While others used humour to make sense of their experience

When I went to the toilet after seeing the show I felt I might be in an installation…

If nothing else, on viewing Prospect 2007, perhaps some left with a new appreciation for contemporary art.

The Life of CAMRU

2007-04-16T18:28:00.000+12:00

I made a visit to the ol' City Gallery today to take CAMRU some more pads, pencils and pins and thought I would do a little report back for those of us that can't wander down the road to see it!
Since its outing with the sheep CAMRU has been parked back in the original installation spot, next to the comments wall. As always, not long after its 'denuding', I found it filled up again with comments and drawings. It was looking a little disshevelled, as sometimes happens after a busy weekend and especially in the current school holidays - I also found a heap of fantastic kids drawings both on the trolley and pinned low down on the comments wall.
Polly (the very fantastic full time security assistant) asked if she could have CAMRU in her gallery (contemporary abstraction) for the rest of the show. She tells me she really likes having something to do in the quiet times, and promised that she could keep it tidy (but not too tidy so as no one would think they could use it) and let visitors know they could write things, and where the wall is for pinning their comments up. So that's great news for us, and thanks to Polly for her care. We moved it into gallery one and she chose a park in the centre of the room, just to the left as you walk in.
I have had heaps of positive feedback from the gallery hosts, who have really enjoyed watching the comments growing and changing over the weeks. Lots of them are particularly impressed by one gallery visitor, who I am told stayed for a couple of hours building a very sophisticated pencil sculpture, which he then attatched to the comments wall with the help of a gallery host. Its quite an addition, with postit note eyes and long snaky body it looks like a stationary cupboard taniwha.
Most of the folders are now also housing relevant audience responses, and there has been a handfull of flow charts filled in, often in really lateral, sometimes insightful and amusing ways.
The TAC roomsheets are sitting on the fold out desk, looking quite the part and adding some weight (and more humour) to our orange experiment. I am now wondering whether it would be better to print your roomsheet now Tom, rather than wait for the next batch of Andies. It is a good way to communicate to the audience how we see the project rounding out and your summaries are really spot on, I can see those trends continuing with the current responses and it would be good to have recognition of that on CAMRU before the show ends so the audience could potentially respond to response themes. Prospect finishes in two weeks!!!
There is a whole lot more to be said, and a whole box of responses which I have taken away to sort through (Paula, Sian and I are catching up on Wednesday so perhaps we can do that then yes?), but I am a little bleary eyed at the end of my day and think I better stop before I stop making sense... I will report before I go that Et al. has packed down further to the national interest and turned off her gallery spotlights, leaving the gear tidily in the corner and a brown taped out border on the floor - quite a sombre composition. I must say I miss the audio track which had become strangely soothing... I really have to go now!

Tim Wong interviews TAC here!

2007-04-12T15:20:00.000+12:00

Consensus reached - onwards through interview process. TAC : Remember to use the association's login for commenting, and that all contributions are up for grabs for quoting. Tim: Look forward to your questions, and resulting writing!

Below is an anonymous comment gleaned from CAMRU that I thought might add something to the conversation
click on image to see larger view.
x p

New members wrapping up CAMRU

2007-04-11T11:57:00.000+12:00

I been thinking and I reckon we should think about inviting some new members to the group. Online is good but it would also be great to have some more peeps in welly. And I wonder whether we should just be quite open in who it is or select? And when we should start looking if we decide we do want to, cos what is our next project....what more do we want to do with the CAMRU info and would new people be interested in that or should we do collating etc ourselves and then invite new people to a new project?

My suggestions are that at the end of the show we do what we have done for the room sheets; ie document the responses and sort them into groups and condense them into an appropriate format. And then they could be made into a document or part of the kit or an online thing.

Then we look for new people who are interested in researching other collaborative structures, to move forward with the kit.

RE the kit; is this still something we want to do? Who do we think the audience is? How much information do we already have which we can use for it ? ( I think we have quite a lot and that we could use making the kit as a kind of debrief session which we had discussed before ie we could all write down what we think has worked well adn not so well in our group and this could start to form part of the kit.)

Personally I have to admit I am all about the art. I am not that interested in going to talk to other groups about thier structures. i am interested in collaboration in an art context and how it works in terms of authorship, ownership, how the magic still gets to happen which so often happens in solitary confinement of the studio........why collaboration is currently important / trendy / contemporary..............all that kind of stuff. Perhaps we would be able to look at areas which interest each of us?

But I do think we have a lot of info already which we haven't put down in terms of how the process has worked for us which we could start by using.

Hmm. What do others think?!

X S

City gallery publication

2007-04-11T11:54:00.000+12:00

Hi huys,

Just read the gmail account and they wanna put our popcorn room sheet in the print publication. Sounds like a good plan to me...no cost to us; they will print. Everyone keen? Sounds like we all need to agree adn let them know ( as usual ) asap

X S

p.s. a few days later Liz logged into post and uploaded new roomsheet, above. Click to view at larger size - L

TAC reviews

2007-04-04T21:42:00.000+12:00

hey guys
just thought since we're constantly re-evaluating our practice i'd cut and paste a comment from (din din din) artbash!

"My point about participants using language that is concise is an important one, for Bagnall's project has relational aspects. It is makes good sense that it is part of a partnership with Enjoy Public Gallery. CSC has similarities with the current work in Telecom Prospect by The Association of Collaboration, a seven person group linked to Enjoy that interacts with visitors to City Gallery. Again the problem is what is the desired result apart from touchy-feely vibes? Having visitors sticking little memo pad notes on the gallery wall is not a super smart method of encouraging sophisticated discourse. It is skimpy and shallow. There needs to be a lot more than fragmented and unfocussed chat for its own sake. If art is now 'post-production' and moving from 'goods' to 'services', those 'services' need to be thoroughly thought through in terms of the desired results. That is the problem for TAC and CSC."

http://www.artbash.co.nz/article.asp?id=982

maybe this is something we can discuss later

xxA

Interview Request

2007-04-02T19:26:00.000+12:00

hey all, a place holder post for possible discussions re interest from Tim Wong in interviewing us for a piece he has been commisioned to write, on the theme of collaboration in the Prospect show.
Check out our email for all the info including full disclosure of the very directive brief he has been given to work off by the commisioner: elecom 'Mob' publication. It makes for an interesting study in the commercial and economic capital spin off of the ol creative process'. I'm confident Tim has got the skills to turn out an interesting piece of writing (based on reading several pieces he has written, you can check out his reader www.Lumier.net.nz to see for yourself) - and it would be great to have a thoughtful response to the relationship between our collaborative process' and the CAMRU work.
I am also wary of our project being championed as an illustration for the values of the evil coca cola bottling company - ah i mean, telecommunications magnate (it costs E.T. alot to phone home these days!). Having said that - we are going to be mentioned with or without our involvement and it could be a chance for us to get something productive out of the inclusion. As usual, we would be working with a truncated time-line...
I suggest to you guys that if we want to go ahead that Mr T. Wong could post a few questions onto the blog and we could let it unfold from there.
What do you think???

Collational activity

2007-04-02T13:20:00.000+12:00

greetings all from merry chch,

thanks for feedback on 'negative response collation'. perhaps to avoid excessive negativity we could wait until the positive reponses have been collated from across the tasman and produce those in tandem?? this would perhaps create a better balance, and potentially get some good conversations going between the respondees (i'm making up words today).

also, i thought that the little blurb (in grey?) which was on sian and liz's collation could be transferred as a brief ending for all of the collations. it sounded quite universal i thought. how much longer does prospect even run for? i've lost track of time..........

and, um, other stuff.....HSP would love some pencils to sell down here! there is a little spot in the reading room which i would love to fill up with orangeness!!

also, just a little thing to think about. HSP is all about the off site projects this year. we even have a new position to coordinate these, and we are busy coming up with new and exiciting ideas. i realise we are all very busy, and thinking about lots of different projects. but i thought that this might be a great way to faciliate a TAC project in chch sometime in the future. whether it be talks, workshops, investigation of local art community, a publication, a discussion, perhaps even a collaboration toolkit!! i'm just planting the seed in all of your minds (speaking of seeds, one has to be careful of falling acorns in chch, they are quite sore on the old noodle!!)

hope you are all well, and miss you all heaps xxxx

A windy Sunday with the Baas

2007-04-02T10:41:00.000+12:00

It was a windy Wellinton day and the trolley was about as queit as the sheep we were collecting feedback on. This was an unusual lul for what has been a very busy site of response and writing, folding, colouring and general productivity of some form or another - including inane shout-outs.
This led Sian and Paula to deduce that while the CAMRU certainly is a mobile unit, it is dependant on the gallery's supporting framework, context as place of quiet contempation to make it communicate to an audience and act out its own role within the Prospect show.

A weekend with the sheep for Mobile Response Unit

2007-03-30T18:41:00.000+12:00

Hello TACers!
The Wellington crew have a big weekend ahead with Gregor Kregar's sheep out in Civic Square.
We''ll be there Sunday, eliciting thoughtful and crass feedback alike from 9.30am till 5.30pm...Sweating it out with the baa baas! Get your Welly pals to come visit us.

In the meanitme I emptied the trolley of its tac'ed on responses today to prepare for its sideways journey thru the front door of the City Gallery. I took some snaps as it was looking so amazing and i was sad to de-nude it. : ) p

Question Ideas & Meeting Minutes - 29/3/07

2007-03-29T22:42:00.000+12:00

The upshot of the meeting was back to Collaborative Kit research, starting by formulating some questions to ask those interested and involved in collaborative processes. This is intended to give us a better idea of potential content and an understanding of who might use a resource on collaborative processes. See comments for partially edited meeting minutes where we threw these ideas around and as a repositary for your contributions & question ideas.
And after a frustrating attempt to chat between 5 people in googleland it's back to the drawing board on how to talk online!
- LIz

I CAN BE A SATELLITE

2007-03-25T18:11:00.000+12:00

Dear TAC.

I am the person in question, the subtext in Andy’s post regarding Next Wave festival 2008 in Melbourne, later revealed by Paula as Jessie (Borrelle). I guess they can vouch for me. I am part of a unit-type-thing Poloni & Borrelle in Melbourne, a curatorial collaboration currently working on a show called ‘Shrine on! You crazy diamond’. It’s a group show at the Platform Group in the city of Melbourne that invited artist to make a shrine around the idea of 'Unusual wealth in unusual places'. Poloni & Borrelle also wrangled a proposal for NW that will offer a tea service and conversation to audiences at NW. It’s quite a kitsch enterprise that may operate using anachronistic and gendered performances (i.e. we shall dress like 1950’s air hostesses). So methinks it is different to TAC in that it isn’t especially analytical or critical necessary so

Andy and I talked about how it would be interesting to make a kind of switchboard for NZ & OZ artists/writers/curators, as I (as Liz did say!) have a wee crush on Romance formats and I have been vaguely harbouring an Art Dating Service of sorts idea for a while. But don’t get me wrong, the idea is not an in-house hook up for artists, not real saucy dates (unless that’s part of your practice) but a project that uses the format of a dating service.

I like Andies mention of an approachable booth with files, and the person manning the booth acting as an intermediary by having a system that allows Oz Artists (etc) to show interest in extant NZ artists using a dating device such as an E-card or something? As Andy said this could then use internet without overwhelming the material interface, and references the Closer Together theme -quite bang on.

I can be pretty sloppy and tacky when it comes to art so I’d be careful about having me in a reputable group like TAC. Also I get quite busy so may not be able to pow-wow online etc post and what-not that often, but really - I’d love to be part of the Diaspora and see what happens to this switchboard idea in a collaborative process.

Next Wave Proposal

2007-03-21T15:46:00.000+12:00

Sorry for the delay guys I've got a whopping 3000 word essay due at the moment on the scintillating topic of Arts Policy in Australia. But I've had a few conversations about TAC and how we might approach the Next wave brief and have come up with some ideas (not all my own) that I thought I might put out there and see what you think...

as TAC we stand for:
-collaboration
-audience interaction/participation
-questioning of frameworks (collaborative and institutional)

The Next wave brief alludes to:
-globalization (media driven?)
- the break down of public and private

eg.'The collapse of the private sphere into the public and the increasing tendency to live out our personal lives in very impersonal arenas'- A big part of globalization and the inherent blurring of public and private is the increasing number of interactions-whether mediated or face to face. YAC examines what potential these interactions have for critical, democratic or productive dialogue + exchange.

Drawing on genres of realityshows (global media phenomenon) and big screens at sports events (public/private) TAC members interview Next Wave audiences and employees asking TAc art-type questions. These interactions are filmed digitally and films are displayed at Next Wave and maybe globally online.

As well as continuing TACs practice from PROSPECT, the turning of these exchanges into public artworks addresses the breakdown of public/private spheres etc.

TAC questions,
-are people open and genuine in their responses, or fake/shy etc?
-does mediating lead to genuine production exchange or do people see this an an invasion of privacy etc?

Putting how people respond to art under the lense may give an interesting picture of how it all works.

ALTERNATIVELY we could document the audience of Next Wave by taking their photo (polaroids?) and ask them to write their response to the exhibition/event they have just attended at the base of the photo, set up as some kind of central station area with a pinboard or something. Kind of Vox-Pop-like. Not as true to the 'process' as video but less maintenance for us.

ANOTHER IDEA
is that we collaborate with another Next Wave contender.Perhaps even invite them to join the collaboration? She is a long time reader of our blog and curator of sister cities- which is quite fitting- i am wary about spilling her proposal online, perhaps if she's reading this she might post it in a comment herself? She's based in melbourne of course, which would be hugely helpful if we were to collaborate. her next wave proposal has been conspired in partnership so she needs to discuss the possibility of colllaborating with us with her co-proposer first. Because the next wave brief talks of technology etc their work is more domestic and personable which i think will be refreshing. Actually providing refreshments at the various next wave events/exhibits makes up a good part of the form and function of their work. i think there is a little bit of an overlap between our practice and theirs which would make it an ideal collaboration.

OR....?
an idea-posed by the aforementioned contender, might be to set up an art and artists dating service?! kind of like a switchboard between melbourne and wellington, with profiles on different artists. maybe it could be a way to connect artists with curators and vice-versa? I envisage this to be played out in a booth using one of those old library catalogue systems, with the little drawers. perhaps we could profile 10 nz artists and 10 australian artists and invite those interested to contact us with their tastes and interests, then match em' up. The development of their correspondence is not our concern.

This could also lead to more contacts for us to draw from in future projects for TAC?

The deadline for next wave is FRIDAY the 30th of MARCH! that's just over a week away!!!

I'm confident we can whip something up if we can make a consensual decision in time. failing that, maybe we could hook up a sattelite show. Maybe we decide we dont want to work within the confines of the institution afterall-or whatever it was that was criticised about us in the Listener?

Looking forward to your comments!
xxA

-

Where for art thou?

2007-03-13T19:42:00.000+13:00

TAC hits paydirt with pencil profits!!

2007-03-13T19:26:00.000+13:00

Dear public:
To own your own 'People's Pencil' designed by TAC - as modelled by 'Paula' - please visit City Galley in Civic Square, Wellington, NZ and talk to a nice counter assistant to see our full range of merhandise. Prices start at just NZ$5

That is right folks, we've offically sold 40 pencils at the City Gallery Prospect Multiple Cabinets netting a total of $134.
Woo hoo..another 40 pencils and well be out of the black and into real profit!!

Meeting & CAMRU visit & Flowcharts

2007-03-10T16:10:00.000+13:00

Draft version of responses about CAMRU collated into a flowchart. Click to view at readable size.

(Bad photo of) drawing of proposed outpost additions.

Collaborators reading & harvesting the first round of responses for roomsheets.

One example of the conversations that sprout up on the Contemporary Art Mobile Response Unit.

An audible silent response.

Self authored info panel.

Hi all,
we had a power meeting this morning with just 1 hour and the three of us available: Sian, Paula and myself (Liz).
It focused on three main things:

*How to modify the outposts so they can function better as a display for the responses generated in their respective galleries (with view to keeping the responses site specific). We now pose to you that: wires are attatched to the outposts and the mini bulldog clips we are using on the wall down stairs are attatched to the end of the wires for attatching the resposes. Concrete cinder blocks are also suggested - strapped on with the kind of blue tape you see around bundles of newspapers - for raising the height of the outposts - logic - temporary/functional/building site.
We want to get this done ASAP so please lodge your opinions now!!!

*Catalogue inserts: we had a chat about this but Paula has made a posting about it already, so see below: 'what to do with written feedback - catalogue' for that discussion. Additional comments included "that would be like slipping someone a note" and "nice and random".

*Managing distance: how can Andie, Mel and soon Tom contribute to the creative decision making process from their ends and avoid being relegated to the function of 'rubber stamping' decisions that Wellington members make?
We talked about the time-delay involved in making decisions (see above) and discussed the possibility of making calls for the group in peoples absence: when is this appropriate and when is this not? and the need for members to initiate potential new ideas for current and new projects from their end: see Andie's new post below for pre-emptive movement on that front!!

THEN:

We went next door to the city gallery and took away all of the responses (off the wall and the trolley) that had been around for a while (with help from an attentive gallery host) and Sian now has them to document. Since that meeting I have contacted Tom and Mel, fielded their (positive) reactions to the alternative roomsheet idea. We should be on task to collate responses into seperate piles for each work, and send them out to all us talented writers to collate compile and draft up an incorporative collective take on an alternative room sheet for situating next to Heather's.
This is going to be a creative challenge i rekon, so lets share methodologies in a similar way to the process we went through when making the flowcharts.

xxliz

Closer Together

2007-03-10T12:47:00.000+13:00

hello!

I just got an email about next wave 2008, which is well a whole year awaybut got me thinking about the possibility of our involvement given the theme which is CLOSER TOGETHER, here look i'll cut and paste the info for ya..

-------------

"Applications are now open for the 2008 Next Wave Festival!

We are calling for proposals from projects across artforms, to be a part of the 2008 Next Wave Festival program, which respond to the festival theme, Closer Together.

Applications are due on FRIDAY 30 MARCH 2007 at 5pm.

Further information and application forms can be downloaded from Next Wave's website at www.nextwave.org.au . Alternatively, email nextwave @ nextwave.org.au or call the Next Wave office on 03 9329 9422.

ABOUT NEXT WAVE

Next Wave is a biennial festival dedicated to developing and presenting innovative work by Australia's most interesting young artists. Next Wave supports the creation and presentation of new work across all artform areas including visual arts, performance, dance, new media, literature, hybrid projects and beyond, pushing the boundaries of traditional media and encouraging connections between diverse artforms and disciplines. Established in 1984, Next Wave encourages artists to undertake ambitious new projects, to experiment and engage with new ideas, and develop new skills and networks. Next Wave is also dedicated to exploring different contexts for contemporary arts practice, activating unconventional spaces for exchange between artists and audiences.

The 2008 Next Wave Festival will take place in May 2008, with exact dates to be confirmed in the coming months.

2008 NEXT WAVE FESTIVAL THEME
CLOSER TOGETHER

The rhetoric of global culture tells us that we are being brought closer and closer together. By media, communication technologies, the free market and other snappy buzzwords which signify somewhat less transparent systems. But how close are we, and how much do we really know about each other?

The 2008 Next Wave Festival will explore new ideas of closeness and its conflicted nature: as a catalyst for connectedness, community and exchange, but also of claustrophobia, confrontation and invasion. The collapse of the private sphere into the public and the increasing tendency to live out our personal lives in very impersonal arenas. The demise of public space, as a concept and a reality...where is the space for vulnerability, intimacy, privacy and exchange in an increasingly globalised world? What is the potential for genuine, unexpected connections, and what might they look like?"

--------

it's true that we are not australian artists as this brief seems to be targeting, there is also a condition that the festival also favours artists 25 and under, or at least prefer a portion of artists to be 25 or under, I'll still be under 25 by then, and Tom too out of our lot which could pose a problem but maybe the content of our work might override this....
just thought I'd put this to you all as I thought our practice could work with this framework quite nicely in regards to blogging, the way our work demands interaction, participation and engagement and human connections/collaboration etc

let me know what you think, perhaps we could put together some kind of proposal if you're interested,

Andie

What to do with written feedback - catalogue?

2007-03-09T15:09:00.000+13:00

"People write so much crap -including me- but on the wall it is beautiful art..." Anon
True indeed! Among the notes I think there are some real pearls. I am really keen to resolve what wil happen with our paper & post-it responses, we have got loads! I think that we should put them in the back of the catalog as i proposed 22 Feb - see below, but what do TAC think?
I think that using them to write a real alternative to the curatorial voice would be a great thing to do with them, as Liz proposed (see below) I think that would change the work up a bit and develop our critcality - sharpen our tool if you like...If we can combine these comments into blurbs that imitate the institutional frame then there is a real presence in the show for those critical or bored voices. Once thus combined and recorded I reckon why not give the original postits away in the catalog? How cool that each catalog would be different thanks to TAC!
This would also solve one of our major issues 'wasted paper' and mean we do not need any more reseourse to contribute something great to the catalog. As i recall the ewall was looking good after the show had been open for one week, and toatally full after 2 weeks so there is not too much risk that it would stay empty for long. We should leave a few up for interest and to get visitors started.

Liz said last week in her 'converstaional ramble' Post:
________
I had an idea that we could start drafting up a more formal 'alternative curatorial voice' by sorting through and surveying/paraphrasing the responses. I rekon it could be tongue in cheek - " popcorn mountain ellicits a strong public desire to get naked and disturb in its pyrimidal perfection, to kick it, eat it, and ultimately sweat out the viewing restraint required to comply with the institutional directive - DONT TOUCH!!!"
or something to that effect - whaddya rekon? Then we could pop them in the same place as Heathers A4 info sheets..."
-------
During a meeting on the 22 february we discussed what to do with postits and other paper feedback. See below for those notes by Sian.
------
* Catalogue
-Possibility of adding some material into the catalogue.
There are approx 500 to be printed (actually 1500). Paula suggested that we put approx 3 (actually one) original response into the each catalogue. This would mean that they were one offs and that we are spreading and not owning the responses.
Personally I like the distribution aspect of this, and also it is material generated from the public not from us which is nice. I will check when they need this material, as we will need to see how many responses we have by then.
There was also a suggestion of putting some of our own material in there. I will check whether we are to be given any budget for reproducing material ie photocopying-
--------

So we keep talking about it and now we really need to resolve what we will actually do. The small Wellington group are meeting at the trolley Sat morning and it would be great to get some thoughts, esp from out of towners about what you think.
If you're keen on the idea of A4 write ups we could snail mail you comments and you (MEL and ANDIE and soon TOM) could assemple individual blurbs from the sorted responses? I reckon it could be a fun challenge! xx p

Conversational Ramble

2007-03-01T18:05:00.000+13:00

some quick shots of a few responses from CAMRU

& some thoughts that have been floating around in me 'ed...

wanted to say thanks thanks thanks to Tom and Sian for taking the responsibility for the artists talk - a big thing to step up to, all public forum like! Sounds like there were some persistent questioners in the audience, (usual suspects!) and the angle that Heather Galbraith took on the self help language seems to be solidifying as her curatorial reading of our work - I'd be keen to hear more about that discussion, and to talk about how we are thinking on that (self help) reading...

Also wanted to mention that I was frustrated not to be there myself, to answer to some of the 'how did it begin' questions and any murky misunderstandings about group authorship that I was anticipating coming up - on reflection of your comment Tom, maybe we should have made it a priority for all of us to be at the talk - and i was also thinking (and Paula suggested) it might have suited us better to make our talk to the end of the exhibition, when the project would be a little more rounded up, and talk would centre around things that happened and conclusions we/public responses came to. No regrets, just thinking in terms of next time - always difficult with process based projects to get the timing right!

Glad to hear the scrap book is working - how you are using it sounds great Sian - I had an idea that we could start drafting up a more formal 'alternative curatorial voice' by sorting through and surveying/paraphrasing the responses. I rekon it could be tongue in cheek - " popcorn mountain ellicits a strong public desire to get naked and disturb in its pyrimidal perfection, to kick it, eat it, and ultimately sweat out the viewing restraint required to comply with the institutional directive - DONT TOUCH!!!"
or something to that effect - whaddya rekon? Then we could pop them in the same place as Heathers info sheets...

Cool, look forward to next meet up - x liz

Pub drawing session to improve outposts?

2007-02-28T11:30:00.000+13:00

Hi guys,

Just wondering when we want to have the next meeting and thought I would mention that Tyree has a new open mike night starting this Thurs at 8.30pm at Our Bar. Perhaps we could have another pub drawing session to improve the outposts and catch up on the artists talk? The gallery preference is that we alter the outposts themselves rather than attach anything to the wall. So perhaps wires attached is the way to go? Also a seat is fine beside them.

Also talking of pub sessions we will be receiving a voucher for our talk for a cafe I think probably Nikau so we can celebrate somewhat!

The scrap book is great by the way, people have been using it and it's really interestng to see what gets put in there. I wrote my rule in the book along with my arrangement so people couls see how I had arranged them. Good idea?

I should have some more time after this weekend cos T is going away and I will be bored on Sundays. I would like to get in and play with all the responses which are in the tray and arrange them in the scrap book so that people can see them and engage with them that way. Just feel a little hidden away.

Comments at the talk about us not all being there made me very glad that we had put our names on the wall!!

Artist talk

2007-02-25T19:00:00.000+13:00

Hi all,

I thought I'd just make a quick note to let you know how the artist talk went on Sunday. Sian and I turned up and had a bit of a chat with Heather about what we wanted to cover, and what sort of questions she was likely to ask us.

We had already decided in the meeting to cover general history of the Association/purpose and intentions of the trolley project. So we started with this sort of general introduction and went on to some questions from Heather and the audience.

It was good, Sian and I worked well together (Sian was good at leaping in when I had a blank expression on my face). It was nice and informal and we had a lot to say.....

I can't exactly remember all the questions and responses, but Heather was interested in our use of language, ie self-help language, technical art-speak, and asked how we felt about the amalgamation of all these forms of communication. She was also interested in the way in which we responded to the negative responses that some people had put up, and in what way we saw those as being beneficial in any way?

We were also asked about the fact that all the Association was female, not neccessarily as a negative thing, but just about the way that it shaped our decision making and processes. We were also asked about what exactly we hoped to achieve, individually as well as in the Association collectively.

We talked about our plans for the future and the ongoing nature of the Prospect project, how it is likely to change and adapt during the course of the show. But we bemoaned afterwards that we forgot to use the word 'conversation'!! There were some other bits and pieces that I can't quite remember, we actually talked for quite awhile.

That's a rough outline of the goings on, it was nice afternoon. Would have been great to have everyone there though. There was only one microphone, so it would have been nice to pass it cheekily between seven.

Meeting notes 22.2.07

2007-02-24T13:22:00.000+13:00

So I thought I would put up some stuff from the last meeting. I think I mainly notated (is this a word?!) the actions which we planend to take rather than every detail.

So, first we discussed what we would try and cover in the artists talk on Sunday. Sian and Tom to do the talk;

* How the Association came about; 'Every Now and Then', call for involvement etc.

* What the connections are between members (I wasn't sure if this meant previous experiences with collaboration or between us as people?)

* Aims of the group; To investigate, test and experiment through collaborative processes to find out how collaboration works (and doesn't work....) To use these cumulative experiences to build a resource for other group to use. To develop further projects which further investigate collaboration through other avenues as well as art practice (political organisations, groups, etc)

Values
Commitment to process over product / object based outcomes.

Use of various models of decision making, but underlying an agreement to work on a consensus model.

Sustainability of the group in terms of management of time energy and resouces.

Flexibility to change evolve and grow as we find things which work more or less well.

CAMRU
Decision making processes evolved for this project due to time constraints. We developed a practical and pragmatic approach which worked on the most practical approach. We did not make decisions purely on an aesthetic basis.

Part of the CAMRU project is to test out models of participation within the gallery context. This means that the structure of the work is fluid to change and development. CAMRU is responsive to its audience. What happens during the show feeds back into the system. What you think matters to the association x

CAMRU has developed in the context of a survey show and aims for a conversation which has the potential to become a form of collaboration between the Association, gallery hosts, the public audience, the gallery and the other artists work.

Some other points which were discussed

*How to document peoples' responses.

After some discussion it was decided that the best idea would be to have a large scrap book into which responses could be stuck with bluetack. This would document how people had decided to take the responses off the wall (their particular rule) and also mean that it was easy for others to take those responses out and possibly put them back on the wall or elsewhere.
Ideally people would write down what the response was in the scrap book if they took one out, so that the 'map' retains that integrity.

We thought that this idea could be a good way to encourage further host engagement with a clear role.

* How to make the outposts more outstanding

Ideally we would like to use the walls behind them as another area where peoples' responses could be put up. Sian will email CG to check this. Otherwise we thought about adding wires to the outside of the outposts so that responses can be attached to them, or stringing a washing line between the outpost and the wall. For either of these last ideas the outposts would need to be weighted at the base so that they are balanced.

There was agreement that we should purchase some more white plastic chairs which can be situated beside the outposts for people to use. Also we discussed raising up teh posts to make them higher, perhaps with rubber feet on the bottom, or pieces of wood cut to the same size as the base.

* Catalogue

Possibility of adding some material into the catalogue. There are approx 500 to be printed. Paula suggested that we put approx 3 original responses into the catalogues. This would mean that they were one offs and that we are spreading and not owning the responses.

Personally I like the distribution aspect of this, and also it is material generated from the public not from us which is nice. I will check when they need this material, as we will need to see how many responses we have by then.

There was also a suggestion of putting some of our own material in there. I will check whether we are to be given any budget for reproducing material ie photocopying.

* Manning the CAMRU

Has been noted that we are all a bit burnt out but also that we all need to make some level of personal commitment. Problems arising are that some peopel are thinking this project is solely Lizs' as she has been a regular visitor. We discussed the best use of time, and decided that perhaps it is more useful for us each to make some commitment each week, even if it is just an hour, rather than trying to commit to chunks of time.

In terms of visiting on a regular basis, one of aims is to keep engaging with teh resposnes. We are still working out how we will use them as a whole resource, and part of the process of doing this is to document them (digital photos, scrap book, map making) and to look for themes and conenction within them. Thus they have the potenital to grow into a true 'Alternative to the curatorial voice'.

* Hosts

Decided that the best way to engage them is just for us to be around more and talk to them on a regular basis. Liz has found this effective.

* Inviting others to join the group

Not yet while the project is in a practical function period ie CAMRU.

Headhunting?

Asking people to join for a specific reason / time period?

Should we have a boy?

Could be hard to 'initiate'?!

*Blog

Discussion due to address being published in catalogue. Decided that although it can be quite 'intimate', that is appropriate for a blog and that it is good to be transparent. Value on process not product and the blog shows lots of the process. Keeps us on an equal level with others ie it's not us being experts, we are obviously working things out as we go.

OK I think that's it, sorry it's huge!!!

See you all soon X Sian

Images of CAMRU at the City Gallery

2007-02-24T11:07:00.000+13:00

The trolley is currently located (23/2/07) in the West Gallery in Prospect at the City Gallery, amongst the Geometric Abstractionists (next to Judy Millar and Miranda Parkes)
The wall is filling up fast and has been edited by hosts, TAC and the public occaisionally. Edits are open ended, and editors are just asked to expain their 'rule of edit'. To date some edits have been based on:
-removing food or eating based responses
-taking off advertising and grandstanding posts
-removing some non-orange posts to allow a dominance of this colour through the middle of the wall
-relevancy to prospect show
-swear words are removed by the City Gallery decency incentive (woah!)

-

Chartwell Website Homepage??

2007-02-23T17:04:00.000+13:00

Hi All ... following up from our discussion last night, and FYI for Andie and Mel ...
We have been invited to post some of our CAMRU resources up on a page on the Chartwell Trusts Website called "Thinking about Contemporary Art". Copy this link to their site to check out the existing format;
http://www.chartwell.org.nz/startthinking/thconart.asp
The suggestion is that we could use the "Thinking about" page like an artists page, our resources would add to the existing ideas about appreciating contemporary art that the Trust is interested in fostering.
The Chartwell Trust are philanthropic proponents for the cause and reception of contemporary art, have been collecting (mostly) NZ and Aussie work for about 30 years and are also interested in the practices and process' of c.art.
Seems like a good context to me, have a look around the website for more info.
Any ideas as to how it would work best? Alot of their info is text base so it would be great to contribute something more visually stimulating, and perhaps even drawing on some choice comments from CAMRU collaborators . . .
Check out the tone of the writing too - we might be able to ah, orange it up a bit :-)
Have a great weekend everyone!
I really enjoyed the meeting last night, it totally cleared my stress about the project - yay T.A.C!!!!!

Burn out and meeting agenda

2007-02-22T11:53:00.000+13:00

OK so just had a read and I agree with Paula. I think we are getting ahead of ourselves and all getting a bit wiped out. I had an exhaustion meltdown last weekend which it's a good idea not to repeat! I feel like it's really important to focus on the current task at hand, which is the Prospects show.

My feeling is that we should stop pressuring ourselves with stuff which isn't important in the immediate future. At the moment the priority I feel is continuing to make sure that CAMRU is operating well and effectively in the gallery, and that we are able to make adjustments to it as we need to or want to. Thus my feeling for an agenda for the meeting is as follows;

Share feedback we have had from others on the CAMRU so far and discuss what action needs to be taken on these points. Some of these so far from what I know would be the following;

* How to document peoples' responses.

* What to do with the responses as the wall fills up.

* How to make the outposts more outstanding. Use walls behind them? Make them bigger? Supply chairs beside them?

How we are going to better manage manning the CAMRU. So far it seems that the hosts are having to take a laissez faire role becuase they are too busy with other things in the gallery. We had thought that we would be able to man it over the weekends but due to a level of burnout in the group this has not so far been sucessful.

* Roster

* Volunteers. I have interest from people at ROAR! and I think it would be great to get some others on board so that we can share the load. It is better to haev someone there than noone there, even if the person isn't one of us!!

* How to better engage the hosts. (can City gallery supply more than one where the CAMRU is?)

Artists Talk

This is this Sunday and I don't have a good idea yet what the ASsociation wants to say as a whole. I think this should be an important part of this meeting so we can get it thrashed out so we are confident that we are representing all of us on Sunday adn we have some kind of united front?!

Inviting others to join the group

As our numbers have decreased somewhat, I think this is something we shoudl talk about. It would make it a whole heap easier to man the CAMRU and get things done, as well as possibly injecting some new life and energy into making things happen. I realise that there will be a crossover thing where people will need to catch up etc etc but I think it's something we should reexamine. Perhaps there could be some thing where we are looking for peopel to volunteer and help out with this project and then be part of the next one? ! I don't know, may be a bad idea but I think we should start by at least getting some volunteers to help us man the CAMRU. Unless we think that it operates well enough on it's own. In which case perhaps we need a roster so that one of us can just go in each day and check out what's happening and reorganise things etc?

Collaborative Process' Debrief

2007-02-17T12:52:00.000+13:00

Howdy folks, a quick rundown of the last meeting with plans for the next...

We have scheduled our next meeting for this coming Thursday (22nd) 6-8 pm at Roar. The focus will be on reviewing our collaborative processes so far and we decided to come to the meeting super-prepared:
We are going to bring written documentation of our individual experiences of the collaborative processes we have used so far, with some theories and questions to pose to the group.
Mel and Andie - it would be great if you could also contribute your responses, theories and questions - perhaps by email if its easier than blogging, before the start of the meeting on thursday.
We also decided to have a time constraint (2 hours), appoint a whip and work to clearly defined goals during the meeting.
We didn't decide what those goals would be (!) so it would be great if we could do that ahead of time on the blog - everyone post your comments below!
The idea is that this debrief will start the collaborative process documentation which will eventually become part of the content of the kit. The need for developing and accumulating research on other collaborative enterprises was also brought up, so any relevant resources you can get you hands on and work through will be invaluable as we start to get stuck into the development of our Collaboration Kit.
Awesome!

Clubs Project

2007-02-16T17:12:00.000+13:00

Hi there everyone,

I recently got in touch with Clubs to check out how we should proceed with our project with them and here's the update:

'Clubs are also pretty busy organising a forum on sustainable practice, for which we will be renting a space at the Meat Market, A large studio complex. Which will be free in june/july if this suits your project? We have found co-ordinating the many Artist run spaces of melbourne quite a task, and wouldn't be able to be verry much help on this. But are happy to host you spacially in june or july and do emails etc. Sorry, it is hard with out a fixed space, but if these dates don't suit we could also help with some where to lauch the publication, and try with the exhibition space?. I am happy to be the liason with you guys, but will be going overseas towards the end of July till sept, so if you guys can fit in to these tight limitations (sorry kind of a busy year for clubs, and clubs members) that would be great.'

... which is cool but I feel like June/July is a bit soon for us??? Good if you guys could have a bit of a chat at the meeting about this. Considering our ideas for Melbourne so far we don't really need a space as such anyhow - just an event venue, which could even be outside.

Happy meeting!!!
xx Mel

Prospect show begins

2007-02-13T11:27:00.000+13:00

well folks, congratulations!!!!!!!!!!! - the Contemporary Art Mobile Response Unit is installed and with the help of ourselves and the hosts is undergoing functionality testing... post your responses - celebratory and critical - in the comments section below!
Next meeting is scheduled for Sat morning 9.30 and so please use this forum to contribute to the agenda also (esp Andie and Mel!!!).

Subjective meeting rememberings

2007-02-03T15:59:00.000+13:00

Hi guys,

Just thought I would try and write up some of the stuff from the meeting.....I didn't take notes so this will be super subjective and stuff but here goes.

Agreed to meet Monday at 10am at City Gallery. Will but stationary make last decisions etc. Tyree will make and attach the handle as soon as possible during the install week.

Intrays and various means of attaching them were discussed, but decided I think that the best idea is to use the shelf which the desk is part of. On top of the trolley will be various trays which are labelled with different kinds of 'guidance' / 'encouragement' material. (can't remember if this was discussed in this meeting or the last one, but I remember having an idea about labelling the trays with notions like 'Opinionated', 'Emotional', 'Investigative' etc. I think Mel made the point that it would be good to have some way for audience to orientate themselves around what kind of material they would prefer to use.

We will have post its and plain paper (a ream of A4). We will use our pencils which will be attached to the trolley, and also will purchase some plain ones.

Poems, various flow charts and ideas were discussed, and decided that all manner of material is good and useful. Mel had a selection of quotes, which we thought could either be typed up or handwritten. All material to be finished for photocopying at C G on Monday.

Putting readings in the reading room was discussed, but uncertainty over whether the reading room would be available in that way. Suggestion that some material could be photocopied so that we had a number of copies for people to take away with them. Suggestion of this material being on the outposts also.

Diary / log book discussed for the trolley so that manners can communicate any thoughts etc while workin the trolley. I wondered whether this material could be collated into stuff which goes into the reading material in teh spirit of self documentation. Also I reckon it will be really useful information for us because others will be manning the work so will be giving us feedback on things which work well or not.

Pencils have been ordered and shoudl be hopefully finished by Friday, and we are trying to think of people coming down for the opening so we can avoid courier costs.

Some discussion of Melbourne Clubs project possibilities for the end of the year.....like that it is a good idea, that it would be great to get all the runners of the artist run spaces together, that there is lots of potential and that Andie will be super useful 'person on the ground'.
(Hi Andie we miss you!)

Orange nail varnish and lipstick will be provided by Alex.

That's all I can remember folks!!

Sian

Final Draft Prospect Text - Go Go Feedback!

2007-01-27T18:21:00.001+13:00

BIO

Collaboration is the answer but what is the question? 1
The Association of Collaboration (TAC) is an art project currently consisting of seven participants who meet on a regular basis to practice and critically discuss collaborative processes and frameworks. Current members were initially recruited through an artwork established by an open call for involvement. A number of these participants recombined to begin TAC’s ongoing collaborative experiment through the forum of Every Now and Then, a show designed to investigate relational practices at artist-run initiative Enjoy in late 2006.

Challenging the potential of a ‘creative democracy’, the Association seeks to develop their skills with regards to the collaborative process and consensus-based 2 decision making.

The Association of Collaboration is an ongoing experimentation that attempts to distill and explain collaborative models for others to make use of. To find out more about our processes you could visit http://www.theassociationofcollaboration.blogspot.com

1 Hans Ulrich Obrist, Cited in Hal Foster, ‘Chat Rooms’ (2004)
2 “Consensus involves the complete exploration of a particular situation with the recognition that there are going to be conflicting points of view, and that it is important that these come into the open during this process. These differences are not resolved just because a decision is reached. Individuals who are not in agreement with the “majority” perspective do not just give up their differences and comply with the majority […] It mean[s] that everyone has been involved in the process, and that every one agrees to test a particular outcome for its workability.”

Blurb on Work

Do you avoid asking questions about contemporary art for fear of seeming ignorant? Are you choked up and jittery when asked for feedback from an artist? Do you avoid eye contact with gallery hosts?

TAC helps you to help yourself.

Contemporary Art Mobile Response Unit oranges up a rally cry for the audience to join TAC and the trolley volunteers in the common cause of enriching our collective Prospect art experiences.

The Unit aims to provide an open, interactive alternative to the curatorial voice. The work’s primary function is an attempted intervention in the gulf between art and its audiences, a complication and analysis of **** roles. With participation and critique at its core, it offers a forum for animated conversation, provoking interrogation of meaning and response.

By providing interpretive models that are suggestive rather than prescriptive, The Association of Collaboration (TAC) has designed ’Mobile Response Unit to encourage visitors, providing thinking tools and opening the passage of communication around contemporary art. The unit establishes an opportunity to share a critical response, to clarify and challenge.

’Mobile Response Unit is an expression of a stage in the journey TAC is making to explore useful and operational models of collaboration. The trolley is the first product of TAC’s collective process, hopefully building an auxiliary curatorial voice and challenging notions of individual authorship. Audience participation (input) will widen the scope of the collaboration.

YOU, the public as a potential collaborator…
Join in and make this a zesty collaborative experience!
Perhaps prompted by our festive flow charts? Or by adding thoughts you’d like to share…
Do you like a work just because it’s blue/tiny/shiny…?
Does it make you happy/sad/angry…?
Sharing is caring :-)

Love, The Association.

Final Draft Go

2007-01-27T18:21:00.000+13:00

Documenting processes and writers

2007-01-27T15:57:00.000+13:00

Coupla things, one is just to comment that I reckon LIz's idea about documenting some of the processes we have used would be a great idea. Any ideas on how this might be do able? Obviously there is consensus, and then there is our ad hoc kind of everyone makes lots of comments on a thing and then we pull out words or phrases which we think expresses what we are trying to say. Collective writing?

Also, during Prospects there will be a writers thing where writers have been invited to read for 5mins each either an existing work or a work in response to the show. A friend of mine, Therese Lloyd told me about it, adn I suggested that she might like to come and check out the trolly as an artwork which will hopefully have some writing happening too. I thought it might be worth seeing if we can contact the writers involved to let them know what we are about and see if there are any ways we want to work together / collaborate / have them respond to us / just let them know we exist.........could be interesting.

Criticality in Curating and Writing

2007-01-26T20:11:00.000+13:00

Hi folks

An essay The Great Curatorial Dim-Out
by Lawrence Alloway in Thinking About Exhibitions has got me thinking about the role of the trolley - Contmporary Art Mobile Response Unit, and how it has an intereractive and educative purpose within the wider construct of the curated survey Prospect 2007. I found the excert below especially relevant thinking about Response Unit's alternative to the 'curatorial voice'.
Here's a quote
"Assuming there is an academic ideal, it can be expressed as knowledge. Clearly museums are ontinuous with universirties in the aim of training our investigative capacity and increasing self-knowledge...Curators, instead of maintaining intellectual independace which can be equated with cultural responsibility have allowed decisions to slide from their hands to others...There has been a failure of eduation in museums. This can be seen in the way they habitualy restrict the term, so that "education" has come to mean the complex of school visits, gallery guides, lectures & other community services - all peripheral to the collection and exhibitions...The curators often supply some cues and notes... but as an additional chore, not as a central activity. Actually the key educative acts are the presentation and interpretation of art both in the exhibition and catalogue..."

And in terms of catalogue essays, I found a writer who can tell me what they're for!
Ibid
"A museum catalogue in not for puffing and it is not for amatuer aesthetics. It is useful if it contains verifiable biographical, stylistic, comparative or social information in an easily consultable form. Analysis, which is not the enemy of cordiality or passion, is what is needed."
Whether y'all agree with Alloway or not, I think they are really good points to keep in mind when preparing our catalogue text.
x Paula

Prospect Catalogue Writing

2007-01-25T18:20:00.000+13:00

Sarah Farrah contacted us yesterday to discuss the piece of writing on our work that is to be included in the Prospect catalogue and website.
She has offered to write a piece herself but also wondered whether we would prefer to write our own, in the spirit of continuing our presence as an alternative to a curatorial voice.
The writing is 250 -300 words in length and is due tomorrow (!!!)

Update:
Jury is in, we all agree that writing our own piece for the catalogue is a great idea (haven't heard from alex but am assuming from this that she is happy to go with consensus also considering she is most likely working her ass off in film land right now)
Sarah has kindly given us till late sat arvo to come up with something;
see comments below for our email reply to Sarah

please use comments below to feed into the content of this writing, noting that we will also need a re-written slimmed down (100) bio to include below the catalogue writing also.

Welcome hosts and volunteers to TAC blog

2007-01-24T13:53:00.000+13:00

Thanks for your interest in the Contemporary Art Mobile Response Unit. Special thanks to the City Gallery hosts that turned up on Tuesday to hear about our project to date, we appreciated your feedback and questions and are keen to keep in touch with any continuing thoughts, questions and suggestions you might have. This post has been set up as a place for continuing discussion so please feel free to make comments below...

ohmygodwhaddamigunnaweartotheopening???

2007-01-18T17:10:00.000+13:00

this is it guys, the serious conversations can begin . . .

Images of unfinished trolley unit/lift height

2007-01-17T21:42:00.000+13:00

Here's some pics of the trolley under construction at Nae Nae in Tyree's workshop.
The bottom photo shows the trolley awaiting City Gallery pickup truck a few days after the images above it were taken.

Phew! The trolley will fit in the lift!
It's taller than 2.2metres I'm sure of it.

(wo)manning

2007-01-17T20:55:00.000+13:00

hey guys

i really like the idea of creating a little write up for the hosts to read and use when it comes to (wo)manning the trolley in our absence. maybe it could say:

-who we are and what we want to achieve
-ways in which people can use the trolley
-ways in which is might make their job more interesting
-ways in which the trolley can be used by the old and the young alike
-encourage them to take the trolley for a spin....

i guess this might be redundant if all the hosts come to the meetings. but the show does run for 11 weeks and it may be useful to have reminders in order to increase the efficacy of the trolley/project in general?

i also thought that this could be quite tongue in cheek and hopefully the hosts would feel like it is their perogative to have some fun with the trolley, to mix it up on a dull sunday afternoon.?!?

TAC apologises! The NEW 'how to' communicate with Prospect curators.

2007-01-17T14:41:00.000+13:00

please visit our gmail account to check up on the recent communications with Heather and Sarah

Many apologies to Heather and Sarah whose communication we have been posting without their awareness or permission!!!!

Apologies to the artists whose unconfirmed works have been mentioned also.

Meeting with hosts

2007-01-17T11:46:00.000+13:00

Hi TAC, there was an email here from Heather, but now the post has been removed out of respect for its intention as private communication. See gmail account for original correspondence. See below this for comments on the original post though.

Meeting Minutes - 15/1/07

2007-01-17T01:03:00.000+13:00

Finished minutes for meeting on Monday 15th Jan

Adgenda whip - Tom
Notes – Liz
Catering – Paula, Liz and Roar

Adgenda:
- Wallspace: need and purpose
- Hosts: how to bring them on board
- (Wo)manning the trolley
- Acknowledging Tyree and self identification
- Entitling the trolley
- Trolley update
- One liner pencils
- 100 words
- Flowcharts
- Thursday night working bee and meeting
- Materials budget
- Turning the criticality on ourselves

Alex sent her apologies, general comiserations: Paula will keep in contact, update & refer to blog.

Wallspace: need and purpose.
Decided that yes, we do need wallspace for collating and displaying audience feedback notes. General discussion on how audience would be encouraged to write their responses on notes: Tac to start the activity (lead by example), more ‘examples’ created fresh each day by gallery hosts, favourite past responses recycled and positioned around the gallery on audience barrier floor markings (don’t cross the line, be well mannered but active in distribution).

Hosts: how to bring them on board.
Andie to ‘drip feed’ info to the city gallery hosts about tac and the project as a way of cueing them into the concerns in manageable chunks . We decided it was important to contact hosts personally as soon as we could put together a good description of the aims and concerns of the project. We decided the best way to do this was a meeting with the hosts in the board room, tac supplying food (each bringing a plate), on Tuesday the 23rd – 5 or 5.45 – to confirm. Andie to check with Heather and email hosts in reciept of go – ahead.
Although there was some suggestion we could tack (!) ourselves onto the end of the walkthrough it was generally agreed that the distinction between hosts turning up because they are required to (walkthrough) versus because they are interested (tac meeting) would provide a way to differentiate those who are (personally) interested from those who are not. A separate meeting would also provide a distinction between the standard institutional blurbage and our intentionally more critical venture.

(Wo)manning the trolley;
It was agreed that we would all be present for the first weekend of Prospect, hanging around the trolley, painting our nails and getting the critical responses off to a healthy start. We discussed what other ‘high traffic’ times there might be, such as weekends in general and the symposium weekend in particular, and decided to arrange for a member of tac to be present during these times. Mel to post symposia timetable on the blog. Tom to make availability diary for filling out at next meeting.
It was noted that we were waiting to hear back from Heather re the stationing of a host in the west wing and their possible facilitation of the trolley.

Acknowledging Tyree and self identification;
We talked about Tyree’s request to have her labour and skills acknowledged, which opened up some questions about how Tac wanted to acknowlege ourselves (and the distinction between fabrication, construction and cabinet making). It turned out that there was a discrepancy in the groups perception, some thinking that Tac was going to remain anonymous and others thinking that we were going to identify (name) ourselves. We talked about what it would mean to be anonymous, agreed that anonymity wasn’t an important goal to persue and that we (and our work) would operate with more disgression by us remaining identified. We compared this choice to the that of the et al collective, and discussed how direct comparisons would be drawn between our choices because of the curatorial neighbouring of our two works. Mel described this difference, rather eloquently, as ‘many attempting to be one rather than one attempting to be many’ and we all ohhed and aaahhhed at her. We decided to make a flowchart comparing our work to et al’s and add it to the trolley.
Through that discussion we, somehow, arrived at the decision to acknowledge Tyree for construction (her pick) and Tac: [list of our names] for conceptualisation.

Entitling the trolley;
We debated the current idea: Contemporary Art Mobile Response Unit. General positive response, Melanie suggested dropping contemporary art and Liz (ah - I) said I liked it because it comedically connoted an emergency service like the police or ambulance. We decided to take it home and try it out on our friends.

Trolley update;
We updated Andie on the changes to the trolley, namely the stripey canvas instead of the umberella. We were concerned the umberella was making a suggestion that the audience needed some kind of shelter and protection from the scary art exhibition, and felt the canvas was more like a stall, more festive. We also covered our decision against a banner because of the desire to be more suggestive and less prescriptive.

One liner pencils;
We decided on printing pencils with slogans on them to sell in the multiples cabinet. Slogan ideas included;
- have you tookin a lookin?
- language at me
- Fear no Art
- TAC it on
- try not trying so hard

100 words;
We checked out the draft on the blog – thanks Andie- and worked through a few concerns including:
- the aim to expose & challenge the limitations of the institutional framework rather than the curatorial voice or the format of prospect shows
- the provision of an environment (physical and social) where people will feel comfortable and open about sharing their responses
- the desire to provide a means for audience responses to be physically present alongside the standard curatorial narrative and develop into a conversation between many voices
- a chance for this conversation to potentially widen the scope and diversity of comprehension
- the provision of a place to pause, sit and be

We made some headway but decided it would be faster to work independantly and blog it. Cut off for contributions and feedback is 10pm on Wednesday night after which Paula to edit and Andie to pin on hosts notice board.

Flowcharts;
We did a check in on how everyone was feeling about the progress of their flowcharts. General agreement that seeing everyone elses attempts, with their different approaches, content and designs was very helpful and would make subsequent flowchart making easier. We talked about the success of;
- using phrases like yuk! Relax! Try not trying so hard! as a good way of lightening the tone and taking people out of themselves
- andies design layout for its comprehension
- leaving gaps for the audience to fill in their individual responses

It was decided that we would stick to the origional plan to include one flowchart from each tac member so that the diversity of design and conceptual formats could be represented.

Thursday night working bee and meeting;
To be held at the boxing church workshop Thursday night. From 6pm. Sian mentioned there were lots of great fish and chip shops in Naenae for getting dinner at. General appreciation of Tyree’s discovery of the trolley width versus door width. Sian to spray canvas for Paula to carefully craft canopy stripes.

Materials budget;
($400) needs to cover:
laminator (Melanie to research)
uphostery pins
pencils (Melanie to research)
ribbons & pins
coffee grinder (Tyree koha)
Bunnings materials ($104.51 on Liz’s credit card)
Paint ($34-8[?] on Melanies credit card)

Turning the criticality on ourselves;
Sian talked about the importance of keeping in mind the origional aims of TAC – to be self critical of the means and processes of our collaborative activities. She suggested we document our beginning, developments and current processes and create an archive of them. General agreement and interest in making a folder with the history of the association and further reading in it for potential inclusion on the trolley. No decision on who to action this (!)
Liz (me again) suggested the need for a document stating the values of TAC, the functions of the members and an auto biographical statement on our individual contributions which could be supplemented by other members. Sian exampled her boss’s habit of writing something like ‘I will always believe wholeheartedly in what I say until I change my mind later’ on the board during meetings as a possible value.
Melanie talked about her desire to keep some information (such as this ‘internal admin’) closed to public access to provide an intrigue factor and we decided to keep the autobiographical discussion (and potentially our values and member functions? Mel can you clarify?) within an email only circulation.

Phew! I hope that’s covered everything, I rekon this meeting went really well, we kept to time thanks to our nights whip Tom, and the adgenda was completed almost within our 2 hour timeframe aim. Yeah!!!

Vote for images from TAC's Enjoy show

2007-01-17T00:09:00.000+13:00

Hey all, here are 4 images 1 - 4 from the top. I think we'll be able to publish 2 or 3 at the most so please list your fave two, with an optional third if you like. (e.g. #3,4 and optional 1) FYI for #2 when the image is bigger you can see wall writing.

We need to know what we all want to have published with Andie's discussion transcript for 'Hue and Cry'
We have lots of shots, but pretty much all the same at mo. Do we need another action shot? During construction perhaps? Can Mel supply? Or is this going to do for this publication? We can always use different images for the prospect catalogue.

Our email to City Gallery re: meeting with hosts

2007-01-15T23:42:00.000+13:00

Hi xxx,

Could we please use the boardroom on tuesday the 23rd of January at
6pm for about half an hour to an hour? We'd just like to introduce
ourselves to the hosts, and brief them a little on our project and how
we'd like them to be involved. We don't need any supervision, infact
Andrea is happy to lock up the gallery afterwards if need be, and can
also organise the inviting of the hosts to the meeting (we'll each
bring some kind of plate of food to try and entice the hosts to the
gallery after-hours)

We thought about trying to incorporate our briefing into your walkthru
with the hosts before the exhibition-and we havent entirely ruled out
this option for the hosts who are unable to attend on the 23rd-but we
thought it'd be nice to have a small get together in an informal
environment to give hosts an opportunity to ask questions about the
project. Because our project relies on participation in order to
succeed, we feel that by getting them on board as early as possible we
can better invest in them. Andrea will also contact the hosts via
email and post information on the hosts' noticeboard to avoid any
confusion over the purpose of the project.

We're happy to run the briefing ourselves and look forward to your
response in regards to the borrowing of the boardroom.

Many thanks!

TAC

Edited Discussion transcription for Hue +Cry

2007-01-15T13:49:00.000+13:00

I'm actually going to try and post the script as a comment 'cos it's MEGA and that way there'll be lee scrolling to get to other important posts. This is what I've sent to Chloe at Hue+Cry just now because of deadlines but I've said I want the OK from you lot first. I've removed the names of who said what and cut and pasted a little, let me know what you think...

Entitling the trolley

2007-01-15T13:11:00.000+13:00

Here's the post for our pre-meeting title ideas . . .

Finished TAC Manifesto in 155 words

2007-01-13T23:08:00.000+13:00

TAC Manifesto developed for Prospect 2007
--------------------------------

The Association of Collaboration (TAC) is an art project currently consisting of seven participants who meet on a regular basis to critically discuss collaborative processes and frameworks. Working within the format of a survey exhibition, Prospect 2007, TAC has developed the project: ‘Contemporary Art Mobile Response Unit’ to provide an open, interactive alternative to the curatorial voice.

The work attempts an intervention in the gulf between art and its audience, a complication of roles. With participation and critique at its core, ‘Contemporary Art Mobile Response Unit’ offers a forum for animated conversation, provoking interrogation of meaning and response.

By providing models that are suggestive rather than prescriptive, TAC seeks to equip and encourage visitors, empowering them with tools to think through aspects of contemporary art. The unit establishes an opportunity to share a critical response, to clarify and challenge. We're hoping to create blanks for the audience to fill in – and a place to be.

----------------------------------

Hi guys this is a summary of what we discussed to be included in our manifesto, please add to or subtract from it in the comments Andie :)

Working within the format of a survey exhibition The Association of Collaboration is a project with a critical rather than curatorial voice. Incorporating visitor participation TAC exposes the institutional framework from within. It's an intervention in the interaction between art and people. It's a confusion of meaning as much as it's a faciliation of meaning and of response.
The TAC seeks to equip and encourage visitors, empowering them with tools to clarify and challenge. We're hoping to create holes for the audience to fill in.

-there was also something about flowcharts being suggestive rather than prescriptive, I wasnt sure where to fit it in though, just wanted to get this up asap so the comments can proliferate a plenty before our next meeting :)

Documentation of Every Now, And Then

2007-01-13T20:52:00.000+13:00

Paula or Mel could you please email me some pics taken from Every Now, And Then? Do we have any images of the chairs in a circle like in Mark Amery's article and/or of the wall brainstorm? Would everyone be happy for the possible inclusion of these images alongside an edited discussion transcript to be included in Hue and Cry? (discussion transcript soon to be posted!)
Andie

Meeting Minutes 13 January 2007

2007-01-13T20:03:00.000+13:00

Today we talked about so much stuff I'll try not to miss anything out. In any case I'll soon re-live the whole meeting as I attempt to transcribe it :-/ just as an aside I composed a very draft essay type writing piece for Hue and Cry but I felt the style of writing should have better reflected our way of working- today's meeting was a good 'un so fingers crossed it's not as earstrainingly difficult! soon as it's done I'll paste it on the blog, get your approval and voila!

We talked about flow-charts:how ours didnt function so well linear-ly but more as a mindmap type of structure. We started to discuss our 100 word manifesto but I'll save that one for the next posting.

We also talked about who to contact in regards to info packs for hosts and using hosts as facilitators. I think Liz said she'd contact Sarach about that. Andie said she'd sort out a meeting time for the hosts and or some kind of note for hosts to read on their noticeboard. It feels weird talking about myself in the third person.

We talked about how we can intervene between the artworks and the public, post-it notes were suggested as a means for visitors to voice their opinions on artworkd, but post-it notes are bad for the environment, so that idea was quickly dismissed! We also considered using honesty boxes (orange painted shoe boxes) around the gallery) for visitors to write their comments in as their comments might be more honest/less banal that way. But then we wondered what to do with all the comments at the end of it? Does it matter as they're anonymous anyway?(to be discussed more in next meeting).

We looked critically at our project and agreed that it's all a bit geeky really.

The diagram of the trolley was next addressed and we decided against the umbrella for its overly 'nice-nice' connotations, also we want visitors to feel comfortable in the whole institution not just at our station, AND opening umbrellas inside is bad luck! Sian's partner also helped us discussing technical details of the trolley as she'll be helping us build it tomorrow.

Instead we agreed on some kind of banner with some kind of slogan or branding painted on it (yet to be decided)
And we agreed on an orange, tangerine I believe it was.

By our next meeting (Monday the 15th 6pm at Roar) we've got to come up with a name for our work.

There's one thing that we might need to clear with the gallery...providing water for visitors (we're going to use Liz and Paula's camping water container and collect plastci cups) this could be problematic considering the 'no drinks in the gallery' rule? Of course they should make an exception for us! But it probably is something we should check out...

We talked about doing an alternative podcast, doing ours during installation week as reflective of our behind the scenes approach, also we might get to ask difficult questions of other artists and have more fun that way.

In terms of manning the station we discussed contacting Biddy Grant and getting volunteers from PACE to mind our space, aswell as hosts who can SIT in the gallery.

Tom's going to organise our stationery (STEALTH!)
Maybe we can have personalised pencils in the multiples cabinet, with helpful slogans such as...'try not to try'

right-o i think that just about does it! If anyone can think of other things we discussed please attach as a comment, cheers, Andie

Provisional drawing of TAC trolley

2007-01-11T21:28:00.000+13:00

Sketched out by Liz, Sian and Paula
This drawing is provisional, we just need to get something done to look at before Saturday's meeting. I hope yopu can see the little notes with the details of what is what.
We have dicussed beginning construction on Sunday 14 Jan and Sian's partner has offered to build it. Anyone keen to help (you're all needed!) is welcome to join in at Sian's place in Naenae on Sunday. More details at the meeting.
The essence of time's passing nature has occured to me...I'm sure i'm not alone on that.

Paula

longtimereaderfirsttimecontributor

2006-12-29T15:04:00.001+13:00

howdy from sunny, still christchurch -

i think sian's dimention approximation sounds great. what about pockets on the ends for holding forms/feedback/materials? i'm thinking 2 on either end, one above the other and about 200mm deep...

i don't know if this was already discussed but what do you-all think about a tape recorder on the trolley?

re andi's computer and auxiliary blog idea - i feel like giving the participants time for digestion might influence their initial reaction... maybe they will be able to communicate ideas better? does this give them some kind of advantage over others?
an on-site computer seems important for this to work so that the virtual/paper ideas are all available to potential collaborators.

i'm back in wellington jan 5th

Prospect Blog?

2006-12-23T21:16:00.000+13:00

Hi just some ideas my partner and I were discussing...

thinking about blogs as alternative collaborative spaces for visitors to post comments during the exhibition-maybe we could ask to have a computer in the gallery foyer? I know there's not much space but we could set up ANOTHER blog, specifically for visitors to place comments on the works in the exhibition-to run only for the duration of the show-kinda like a Prospect ArtBash, except, cool?!

If the gallery doesn't let us have a computer we could always set up the second blog if we wanted to, and hand out business cards to visitors inviting them to post comments. The only reason I'm suggesting a second blogsite is because if we invite the public to post on this one it could get really full, and it would be specific to Prospect. Just a thought- as it'd be an easy way to test and document the success of our project.

p.s. If any of us did end up doing time at the gallery we could record our encounters on the blog- because of course the focus should be on face-to-face interactions

but maybe this is all a bit naughty-naughty?

Practicalities

2006-12-23T13:02:00.000+13:00

Dimensions of the trolley I reckon around 600mm wide x 900mm high. That's measuring off my desk. Anyone in a bar for a good bar height?

I have a letter box. Address 42 Treadwell St, Nae Nae, Lower Hutt, Wellington. Welcome to use it.

After reading the article I wondered if the bio could be a little bit of a manifesto like what we aim to do? Only 100 words though. Instead of putting qualifications what about putting things which we reckon qualify us / make us good peeps to be in the group / collaboration? Could be past experience or personality traits or?

23rd Jan is scaring me a wee bit for the collection of work! How soon can we meet up in the new year? How about deciding on some dimensions for the trolley and then our first meeting we could have in the church at my place and actually make it?

Paint; From Fringe I reckon we will get it too late. Tyree has a trade discount at Resene which gives her 50% or 60% off paint. Perhaps we should just use that and buy some? I am gonna look online and see what colours of orange they have so maybe we could decide that too before we next meet? Gonna get off the blog now I feel like i am being a one woman show.......................just bored at work!

Well done Mel for the new job; very exciting! Welly will miss you!

2006-12-23T10:33:00.000+13:00

Hi everyone, here's the minutes to our last meeting, they're a little bit patchy but hopefully you'll get the gist.

We started off by talking about if two new contributors, who had expressed their interest in the project should be able to take part now at this later stage. This brought up some interesting ideas about levels of participation and commitment to projects, and whether or not there was some sort of qualification that was needed to be a part of the group (in an abstract way).
The logistics of making the group bigger was an issue, as even now, with 7 members, it is really hard to get people together in one space. We decided that it might be best to keep it simple and perhaps open to more people in the future, our invite them to post on the blog as a way of contributing.

We went on to talk about Prospect and what sort of things we would like to do for the show. Colour was discussed, and the possibility of having some kind of colour coordination. We decided upon orange, for it's myriad of connotations, and also lack of connotations as well. It is a kind of neutral colour. Sian said that she will be able to get some free paint it necessary.

We also discussed the idea of being a mobile unit, being able to move around the gallery and outside of it as well. 'Orange roving brigade'. The idea of using a trolley was raised and well recieved, as it would allow us to move freely around, and would also be very functional in terms of carrying items and equipment. We liked the idea of decentralised our work, so that sometimes the trolley would be in its allocated space, and sometime it wouldn't. The object would be dissasociated from us in a way, and not remained fixed and static. While we wanted to disrupt the gallery space we want to do so in a useful way, in a way which animates Prospect and lends to its ciritcality.

We talked about the idea of gallery goers contributing to the work, with post-it notes or something they could write on. We could ask for responses to works and ideas surrounding the pieces. We also discussed the idea of working with the gallery hosts, perhaps swapping roles with them, as a way of interacting with the art audience. We liked the idea of working on something that was cumulative and building up an effective collaboration between us/hosts/audience.

We worried also that this was leaning a little towards 'nice nice' and we preferred to be 'naughty naughty' - both very technical phrases!! We wanted to challenge Prospect and exercise our right to be critical and not just support the sort of congratulatory institutional writing which would surround the show. We want to counter the standard institutional blurb and create meaningful dialogue around the work.

We also discovered the TAOC was a Sagitarius, and went on to talk more about the practicalities of the trolley, and its associations with service and communal interaction.

Mid way through we decided to make a list of things to do. This consisted of:
-getting a photo of the trolley
-thinking of a title for the show
-getting some promotional images
-organising binders
-organising what to put in multiples cabinet
- (i'm sure there was some more but can't remember)

Finally, we went on to talk about the interpreation and understanding of flow charts as potentially useful tools for our project. We discussed using flow charts as a way of mapping responses to work and how they could apply to this function. There was also the tentative worry about over-simplifying, and it was thought that having a number of flow charts would help towards remedying this. We also talked about having a binder, which was cumulative, building up a sort of tool kit to detail responses to contemporary art and they way in which collaborative practice works. We liked the idea of having something we could leave behind, and also found the idea of charts and tables for some reason. Perhaps as a way of clarifying and stimulating interaction and thought.

I think that's all.............let me know if I've missed anything important out. and merry christmas everyone!!!

Consensus: A definition

2006-12-22T17:06:00.000+13:00

Hi all,

Here is that description of the process of consensus decision making that I have been referring to in our meetings...

Consensus

"…It does not mean that everyone agrees on a particular outcome. It does mean that everyone has been involved in the process, and that every one agrees to test a particular outcome for its workability.
Most descision making situations do not have as an inherent component only one best solution. If such were the case there would be no need to decide anything. Consensus involves the complete exploration of a particular situation with the recognition that there are going to be conflicting points of view, and that it is important that these come into the open during this process. These differences are not resolved just because a decision is reached.

Individuals who are not in agreement with the “majority” perspective do not just give up their differences and comply with the majority. They sit back and wait for some way to sabotage the outcome, or to say, “ I told you that wouldn’t work.” These outcomes are likely because a competitive process is established where the goal is to ‘win’ rather to arrive at a workable outcome. Since winning is the predominant goal, all of the dynamics described earlier emerge in a miniture form during this process.

Stereotypes of both paries influence what they hear the other party saying, and power gaining, rather than power generation is the outcome. A nonconsensus descision making process results in the dominant coalition in the process or larger organisational context retaining their power base, and the lesser coalition looking for ways to regain their percieved loss of influence. Immediately they begin to develop strategies to regain their lost “clout” and prestige, or at least to minimise their overall losses by gaining ground in other parts of the organisation or in future descision making situations.

Consensus is a critical value for organisations, not because it is good in and of itself (although that is true), but rather because it leads to better quality decisions, with more investment in implementation. There is less focus on decision making to protect organisational boundries and authority distribution, and more focus on decision making to solve diffulcities facing the organization".

P 138-139. William A Kraus, Collaboration in Organisations, Alternatives to Hierarchy. Human Sciences Press, 1980, New York.

Also, I was chatting with Sue Shone, an advocate for ihc who has had lots of experience working for collectives such as rape crisis and womens refuge and she has promised to send through some relevant resources on collective structures to our email address.
She had some interesting things to say about the importance of the place for individuality in collective bodies, that at their best they worked against a culture of individualism, but for a culture of diversity. Sue also suggested that a succinct one page charter that outlined some goals (a re-occuring suggestion in our blog) and guidelines for process might be helpfull for ongoing functioning (and perhaps a good alternative to an artists statement about ourselves).

Anyway, Merry Xmas and congrats to Mel who has just been made the new assistant curator for the Govett Brewster Art Gallery!!!!

Why collaboration?

2006-12-21T17:40:00.000+13:00

Ok, well, good question. Why did you set up a collaboration? Break it down .. . . .

Call and Response: A curators invitation.
The initial catalyst for TAC came from an invitation to make a new work for a group show that Melanie Oliver was putting together for Enjoy which was later titled Every Now, and Then. The curatorial premise of the show focused on the nature of the relationships formed when artists invite varied kinds of participation to realise their artwork. Melanie was particularly interested in foregrounding the problems and politics involved in the claims made by and for relational practices as being (among other descriptions) inclusive, participatory and democratic artforms; “Rather than designing happy, harmonious projects, the artists featured in Every Now, and Then develop and maintain social tension within their work, addressing the political aspects of communication that are often overlooked” - Melanie Oliver quoted in the press release for Every Now, and Then.

I’ve been making projects that contain relational elements since art school, experimenting with various tropes and degrees of participation to provide subject matter for, enact, and demonstrate concerns and propose questions through my work. I was particularly interested in the critical context that Mel was creating because I have experienced the challenges inherent to these encounters – both as an artist, participator and critic of these works.

These challenges have included questions like: who is the author of this work? Are artists exploiting a participating audience for their own proffesional gain? Are artists prescribing the audiences participation in a way that prevents their role from having any real affect on the work? How can the audience see the results of their efforts? Isn’t the artists role always priveleged in any exchange that they have set up? What is the role of an artist in this kind of work? What is the role of the institution in this kind of work?

These kinds of questions have always been present in my practice but only existed in my work in a backgrounded way, so it was exciting to be given the opportunity to make work for a show that had this very pointed focus.

The following text is a piece of writing I sent to Melanie Oliver during the idea proposal process;

“The politics of human communication are at their most perceptible in group dynamics.The desire to create a project that utilises the structure of collaboration to address these politics is also a desire to imbed the project in a practical and collective experience of a structure which operates by working decision making processes through the problematics of human interaction.
Imbedded in the value system of collaborative structures is the belief that a common goal can be found and achieved in a group setting. Their ability to operate effectively is reliant on the productivity of human interaction, participation and goodwill”.

In retrospect I think part of the motivation for the initiation of the collaboration and its attendent values was to respond to the tone of the show. I felt the critical framework had a slight but perceptibly pessimistic edge, that its review of contemporary relational projects was proposing to be a more ‘realistic’ view and that this de-romanticised de-throning of relational practices presented a challenge to their potential to do more good than harm.

Every Now, and Then’s curatorial framework and the platform of Enjoy’s institutional support provided me with an opportunity to engage a selected part of Enjoy’s ‘audience’ (those that had previously responded to an open call through email) at a much deeper and more generative level than my projects had previously allowed for, and in the continued life of The Association of Collaboration I am able to ask the questions I am most interested in within a group that is similarly interested in discovering the answers - together. (sorry ending is cheese factor high!)

Hope that this goes some way to answering your question Andie! and please respond to any of the ideas raised every one, Im sure you have some questions/challenges of your own too. . .

Some subjective answers

2006-12-21T16:32:00.000+13:00

Hi there,

before the meeeting just thought I would post some totally subjective individual thoughts on the questions that Andrea asked.

I feel good about my involvement with TAC so far. I have found it is a hard thing to find people to work with in artist groups. I have so far had two unsucessful attempts at setting up artist groups where my aim was to be able to give and get feedback in a post-art school critique kind of mutually beneficial way. Both of them ended in disaster - collaborations which failed before they even started. First failure due to mismatched expectations and practices. I faced a table of blank painterly faces at the mention of the word 'installation'. The second one failed because the group just didn't get it together to keep meeting up. The writers groups I know which I hoped to emulate have enough members so that there is always someone at the meetings even if not everyone is there. That's something I think we have done well. Somehow there is a shared need which is bringing us together regularly even though that need may vary within the group.
So I feel good and excited and reinvigorated in my faith in collaboration.

I think we have done working together well and agreeing by consensus. I think we have been good at being flexible. I think we do well at everyone expressing their opinion and differing opinions being able to be heard and discussed. I feel like it is a pretty equal collaboration.

In terms of the show, I think we could have maybe made more of an impact on it in terms of visibility, but I think that would have taken more meeting up and I feel like we have done pretty good especially at this time of year. I also quite enjoyed the set up at Enjoy with the chairs because it seemed obvious that we were a bunch of people talking and trying to work things out together rather than setting ourselves up as experts. Which was continued on the wall with the process.
I wonder if we could have done better at encouraging people to contribute to the wall....more porousness?

I think one of the challenges for TAC is to define some ways in which we will determine sucess. I think we are all having a nice time and good conversations but I also wonder whether we are in danger of falling into one of the potential traps of collaborating which is meeting new people and gaining from the group but not necessarily producing anything. I wonder whether that is one of the things to be gained from collaborating though, to appreciate a slower and more organic process. Like when you are single you can be a much easier high achiever go getter cos it's just you doing your thing but when you are with someone you might not achieve so much but you learn more because you have to negotiate with another person. Does collaboration make you a better person? Does collaboration teach you about social engagement? Is that what makes it important? Is collaboration like a relationship where you choose someone who is different to you so that you can be challenged and thus grow somehow?
Now I feel like I am that woman in Sex in the City who writes in questions. Sorry about that. But maybe that's another point, does collaboration make you a better artist because you have to be more rigorous in deciding what you do because there is another person involved?

Now that the Prospects show has come along, sucess could be gauged somehow through our working process with that. Like we have been talking in the abstract about what collaboration is etc and it's easy in a way because it's abstract, but my feeling is that we will be able to learn more by doing an actual project and seeing what happens. In that case we maybe need to document / think about it through the process, which is what this blog is so good for! Yay for cyber presence.

Hope that's useful for the thingy Andrea, Sian

A question for Liz...

2006-12-21T10:15:00.000+13:00

Hello Liz,

just a quick question I wondered if you wouldn't mind answering so I can have it in writing ;-)

Why did you want to start the association of collaboration?

thanks, Andie

p.s. what time zone is this blog set in I wonder? I didn't actually post my previous comments at midnight!

Some questions

2006-12-20T21:58:00.000+13:00

Hi again!

I was planning on producing an edited transcript of our discussion for the writing I am submitting for publication in Hue and Cry, but, it wasn't quite like the roundtable discussion I had envisaged. Also to be fair it wouldn't have done justice to our cause as not all members were present during our meeting and did not have the chance to speak up! I'm pretty confident I can use some quotes from the recording ( I promise not to use them out of context) but I was hoping I might be able to additionally ask some questions of you online, to be included in my/OUR co-authored work(!)

How you feel about your involvement with the association of collaboration so far?

What do you think we have done well?

and what do you think we could have done better?

What do you think will mean success for the association of collaboration?

Please post your comments in response to these questions asap! Thanks!!