essay in construction

WORKING WITH ARCHIVES
SHEDHALLE, SELF-ORGANIZATION AND CULTURAL PRODUCTION

POSTGRADUATE STUDIES 1 : SEPT 2007 - IN PROGRESS
THIS DOCUMENT CONTAINS RESEARCH WORK FOR PROPOSAL PROJECT:
1) THE CREATION OF PICA* - A SPACE FOR ART, CULTURE AND EXCHANGE.
2) DEVELOPING PERSONAL ARTISTIC PRACTICES.


RESEARCH FRAMEWORK

“THE MENTAL COMMA INSTEAD OF THE FULL STOP”. -SHEDHALLE


1. Analytical and Critical – Examining the breadth of an
organization’s archive via online and physically.

2. Participative Projects – Creating conceptual art projects
as an evidence of research.

Self-organization and Cultural Production are the main areas of my research - within it I also explore autonomy, working conditions and examine Shedhalle Archives as a starting point. The research process has involved working in a traditional systematical approach by recording and observation. In the evolution of working in this manner, the framework of examining archives progressed to connecting with creators of the archives; from artists to writers and then broadening the network outside of this starting point in more specific areas relating to women and minorities. Broadening the parameters of the framework is also a focal point in comprehending the research itself – as an important process in self-organization. The results of working in this method and working with Shedhalle Archive “Collaborative Practices” in particular, have justified some distinct areas in cultural production that the process of “work in progress” can be paradigmatic in artistic and cultural practices.

CHAPTER ONE
SHEDHALLE MANIFESTO
A WORKING MODEL FOR INTEREST AND STUDY

‘However, we prefer a slower approach by means of exhibition forms that allow for long-term projects with emphasis on content by dividing them into chapters, stages, or works ‘in progress’: “The mental comma instead of the full-stop”. (1) 

The work in progress: the in between status (2): or the mental comma instead of the full-stop (3): are critical metaphors for today’s working conditions and cultural production according to Shedhalle’s philosophies. The work in progress is a creator of different or new dialogues and languages - it is living and immediate as the anticipation and finality of the work itself, which is why I felt it was an important position to study not only in the interest of Shedhalle, but also in regard to a particular kind of curatorial practice and process. Work in progress tends to be overlooked, however in retrospective is incredibly valuable in its form. Shedhalle’s emphases on these details create a dynamic for how one can commit to projects. It is a working model for interest and study especially with the paradoxical immediacy contemporary culture calls for. In other words the idea of works in progress is not a static work or a work in idle, but importantly evolutive in the definition of a transparent work. This essay briefly describes my process in which I examine a few items from the Shedhalle archives that identify the activity of self-organization and cultural production.

(The extended version of this essay is available in my final portfolio, which contain the continuation of this study and other working models of “works in progress”. This is in reference to my RESEARCH FRAMEWORK statement - “broadening the parameters”; after working with the Shedhalle Archives I went out of this network during the projects’ “in between status”.)

(1) Shedhalle Manifesto ¶ 5
(2) Shedhalle Manifesto ¶ 1
(3) Shedhalle Manifesto ¶ 5




CHAPTER TWO
WORKING WITH ARCHIVES

Shedhalle Online Archives 1994-2007 and Collaborative Practices Archives:

There are two main archives I investigated: Shedhalle Online Archives 1994-2007 and the Collaborative Practices Archives. Their archives were very fascinating – a mélange of websites, links, artist books, diy zines, leaflets, postcards, posters, cdroms, videos, audio, magazines and books. Working with these unique archives and at the stage they were in was a critical process in itself -

a) Online Archives - Fragmented and specifically curated selections

b) Collaborative Practices Archives - Fragmented and diverse mediums

both areas in progress of a work in progress

containing complex socio-political multi-disciplinary content

I approached both archives by further organizing the information on excel spreadsheets, creating columns for the artist names, art pieces, expositions, links, main themes, an area for my own personal comments, etc. Also, in the conditions of working with online archives - I printed out hard copies and included them in a series of “research archive binders” that I have created for PICA. Thus, examining the archives in this context was more or less the starting point to begin forming an analysis for any future project(s) that could be created for Shedhalle’s WORK TO DO: Part 3 Thematic Series or for creating the theoretical foundations of PICA. Another notable key point was to also find the activity of “Women and Minorities in Working Cultural Production” within the archives, which was our original CCC Research Framework.

“The Internet is a contextual network where a different context is always only one click away, and everyone is engaged in a continuous process of creating context and re-contextualizing. “ -Christiane Paul (1)

     The online archives were the first archives to be examined before visiting Shedhalle - I was resolving any questions or dark areas during my investigation by quickly clicking onto search engines and/or wiki sites, etc. A notable point in this process was to also pay attention to the information activity, repetition, traces and patterns of sites. The internet is seemingly a precedent step for new curatorial practices with access to material and/or immateriality combined with network systems. A diagram Christiane Paul refers to by Anne-Marie Schleiner (2003) (2) exemplifies some of the processes I experienced while working with online archives– the roles from past to present are undeniably shifting:

     In November 2007 the CCC Projet Collectif went for a group visit to the Shedhalle space where we had a brief introduction and talked about the forthcoming collaborative project as well as learning about some other distinct aspects of their curatorial practices. Seeing the continuation of their archive in its physical form also further brought their philosophies into context as well as justifying the need for experimental practices with curatorial “tandem” work ie a database online, physical archives, multi-disciplinary work, discussions, and the transformation of exhibition spaces. Katharina Schlieben who co-curates with Sønke Gau at the Shedhalle as of 2004 expressed to us that– “the archives were a living organism and a central place to continue creating artistic work”. The archives brought a significant presence in the context of their experimental and working methods, a formalization of their work in progress.

     The reoccurring theme not only with Shedhalle’s curatorial practices, but also with other self-organizations alike is the process of facilitating to new technologies and information distribution. Shedhalle has an online newspaper in pdf print style to avoid the idea of an archive or catalogue getting dusty on a shelf somewhere, their statement concludes, “Moreover, the newspaper is supposed to be a medium for documenting shorter and less visible practices and projects, which might otherwise get lost in the institutional everyday life – but which are nevertheless critically relevant and enriching with regard to the kind of discourse and understanding of art that we are interested in.” (5) They are concerned with this medium to function not only as a continuation of their working methods, but also in theory and practice.

     How to get closer with the medium – how do you find a mode to bring archive information together and make it active? In the case of the Collaborative Practices Archives “what kind of meaning does this have today?” Some of their answers have been to create workshops that veer towards the empowerment of women and minorities. - Katharina and Sønke.

     The process of this curatorial working method is distinctly a matter of questioning and answering to formulate a framework, in which allow a project to develop in a process of work in progress, chapters, stages or series work as they describe it. Whilst, a project is layered with contents and can allow space for it’s develop - much different from curatorial work that is not only finished for its participants, but its audience as well. Another question to be answered that Katharina expressed to us was their archive of over 100 vhs videos just on feminism alone, which had not yet been formally archived onto dvd. For example, what could be done with this material or bring this material “active”? This kind of method is really beneficial for the avoidance of recreating works, instead can allow space for the development of works, which might be in stagnant or idle states.

     As part of our curatorial performativity that day the projet collectif brought back some 40+ boxes of Shedhalle’s Collaborative Practices Archives to Geneva. While, having the opportunity to work with these physical archives during the span of four months, it was definitely not enough time. However, I began to formulate some personally profound conclusions about collaborative work and again thinking about the “work in progress” philosophy for curatorial work. For example working methods such as essays, notes, chapters, stages, research, dialogues, narratives, experiments, tests, exercises, series, collections, conversations, dialogues, ideas, proposals and studies. The key point is the evident importance in these methods specifically in how the curators describe it as – putting together information and finding a mode to make it active.

(1) page 86 Paul, Christiane Flexible Contexts, Democratic Filtering and Computer-Aided Curating: Models for online Curatorial Practice Curating Immateriality Edited By Joasia Krysa DATA Browser 03 Autonomedia 2006 New York

(2) page 88 Paul, Christiane Flexible Contexts, Democratic Filtering and Computer-Aided Curating: Models for online Curatorial Practice Curating Immateriality Edited By Joasia Krysa DATA Browser 03 Autonomedia 2006 New York

(3) Curating Degree Zero www.curatingdegreezero.org/k_schlieben/k_schlieben.html

(4) Discussion with Katharina Schlieben and Sønke Gau 20 Novemeber 2007 at Shedhalle

(5) http://www.shedhalle.ch/eng/programm/zeitung/index.shtml


(Shedhalle Online Archive Excel File and Collaborative Practices Images available only in hard copy)


CHAPTER THREE
COLLABORATIVE PRACTICES ARCHIVES

The following are some photographs I took of the Collaborative Practices Archives. Each project more or less also used the internet as a participative platform or to continue the concept of the project may it be the evolution of the projects in progress or downloadable pdf documents readily available for copy and print distribution. The photos I took are also a reflection on the diversity of the archive contents from the Hints project, which is an organic-like catalogue to Les Complices’ postcards and newspaper or to Tester’s contents of dialogue and script documents. The Hints book contained all kinds of creative collaborative art projects and local interventions working on social themes. For example a project entitled Tablecloth Project, 2002 where Monika Balint and Eszter Agnes Szabo go to a café for almost four months and embroider sentences into a white tablecloth. They had felt that they were creating a kind of social sensation at the café. The Tester archive on the other hand talked heavily about their working methods and creating the Tester book for example as a project prior to a project; the justification of process just as important as “product”. They also encourage for the copying and distribution of the contents under creative commons rights. The main conclusion about investigating these archives are really the different methods collectives are working in cultural production – small projects to big projects, again works in progress, evolutive projects, large networks, tandem participatory projects ie physical publications and internet publications.

CHAPTER FOUR
notes on flash institut:
A MOMENT, A FLASH, AN INSTANCE FOR INTERVENTION AND STUDY

A newsroom with its own rules: to report and to be part of it. - Mirjam Wirz

The following section takes a closer look at the Shedhalle project flash institut. I first came across flash institut on Shedhalle’s online archive and later obtained a copy of the flash institut newspaper at their installation upon my visit to Shedhalle. It caught my eye in particular because of the project’s simplistic form, while its contents were politically complex with evocative interventions and articles that intervene and announce local cultural production. It is a collaborative piece of work initiated by Lithuanian artist Mirjam Wirz, her and Augustina Beinaravicous have initiated a non-profit organization entitled Involved, in which they carry out different collective actions around different cultural projects in Vilnius, Lithuania. They define their work as creating microstructures and integrate issues on working and social conditions. (1) “Microstructures” in retrospective is inevitably an important part of a larger structure – these micro or “flash” moments are more or less the truest forms of working in autonomy in this case. This particular aesthetic is again parallel to the idea work in progress; the important evidence s of parts / structures.

The flash institut newspaper is entitled flash institut Collected July-October Dossiers, which reflects upon their own situation in Vilnius filled with fragments of notes and dossiers as well as photographs and short articles. The aesthetic of ‘flash’ is fragmented, but the artistic work in full context reveals the importance of the ‘note’ taking or collected dossiers to create a coherent narrative in correlation with the space, time and working conditions or in reference to their manifesto. Wirz who also defines herself as a photographer captures this in her writing – “My photos and texts about the interventions are linked to conceptual reports on the background of the current situation and address a wider discussion and ways of dealing with reporting. A newsroom with its own rules: to report and to be part of it.” (2) She really makes an important point about the act of reporting and documenting as a form of performative intervention, as a way to work in autonomy, participating directly to get involved. Often in a flash moment things can become disregarded (again like the work in progress) or only one point of view is created, the participation is crucial – to report and be part of it. They have used an image of a workspace by Monica Ramirez-Montagut and a text that states:

“In English, the term moment refers only to an instant of time, whereas the Spanish terminology momentito denotes the complete extension of an instant, encompassing a psychological movement, an internally consistent series of thoughts or a situation of contextual events that may last from ‘one instant to several hours, days, sometimes even years.” (2)

This is from an exhibition entitled “Capturing a Momento”. A moment, a flash, an instant - it is relative in the evolution of a situation, these events are again parts of the “work in progress” just as I report now in the context of my studies and research. Wirz states in her article COMMUNICATION BUBBLES – “THE WRITING-DOWN THING – I make notes during the conversation, I don’t record anything. I write the conversation down on a sheet of paper in various languages, later I type it into the computer in German, then I translate it to English. Its not quoting what people said nor is it only what I make of it: it’s a photograph of the interview situation.” (3) The action of writing or “note” taking, photography and collecting combined together are in essence powerful tools to build a narrative, an act of journalism and a way to have information exchange, which exemplifies once again the aesthetics of this project and a valuable evidence of cultural and local intervention, community driven projects, the newspaper as a simple means for a flash of information exchange.

VOICES IN THE MONASTERY & TOWARDS A NEW INSTITUTION AND URBAN POLITICS (1968) 2007 (pg 2) is an article resonant of transformation, working conditions and cultural production, questioning space and time all in a conversational form of dialogue where a few questions are asked:

WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THE HISTORY OF THIS PLACE?
WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?

CAN YOU RELATE IN ANYWAY TO THE PRESENT CONTEXT HERE?

These are all pretty simple questions, but in relation to understanding the circulation of potential cultural production they are merely poignant in discovering the dynamics of a working condition. However, the survey begins quite serious with some concrete information about this Monastery, which used to be a hospital since WWII. Zilvinas a graphic designer, who works and lives there, was even born there. Now all different kinds of artists and musicians are residing there and use the space as studios and is more or less a place for cultural production.

History, present and to the future are more or less the order, there is also a hint of self-organization - considering if anyone was interested in the relationship to their present context there. There is also a dynamic of a collective consciousness forming, as some people who answered the questions did not all know each other. For example Lina – artist and designer answers, “The context is very important . . .” and continues, “I’m referring mostly to the 3rd floor, I don’t know what’s happening downstairs.” While on the other hand Denys a musician from a band called Fusedmarc says “For me, its not important who else is here. Because what you need to know you will get to know anyway. I just don’t want people to disturb each other. But inevitably you hear what others are doing.”

The survey style is certainly an interesting intervention for seeing the working dynamic of the people at this space, which used to be a monastery then into a hospital and then both. Speaking in humour - not too great of a shift where once monks and doctors roamed, musicians and artists have taken over with a different kind of “healing” (cultural) production.

(1) Shedhalle Website 

www.shedhalle.ch/eng/programm/thematische_reihe/projekte_r3_k1/wirz/index.shtml
(2) Shedhalle Website
www.shedhalle.ch/eng/programm/thematische_reihe/projekte_r3_k1/wirz/index.shtml
(3) page Collected July-October Dossiers institut




CHAPTER FIVE
CONCLUSIONS

In the context of examining the working methods of a self-organization, Shedhalle is unique in how they appropriate their curatorial and collaborative tools via the internet and at their art space. Importantly their concept is to work on long-term projects with the idea of the work in progress stage as a critical point not to be surpassed, but to be continued. Some projects can span for over a year, the results for this commitment create an open platform and a multitude of ways for projects to grow and develop, which differs from the monotonous methods of other institutional methods. In theory it is an alternative way to keep building upon a structure instead of recreating work. The contents of their archives are an example of these distinct methods in which you can see the diverse and multi-disciplinary projects. The uses of their archives are not only a place for knowledge, but also a place to continue working – a gathering of information for action, not just material to be forgotten.

New curatorial and collaborative practices require a lot of self-organization! It is a matter of gathering the knowledge you know, creating or finding networks, sharing and exchanging based on needs, desire, common interest and economical, political, or situational adversity are some notable reasons for self-organizing. It is also about creating a participative platform, in which others can contribute to the contents from their own field, suggest, merge, intersect, enrich, sustain or support – a space to have a common point. Importantly, while there are many traditional and contemporary ways to form our self-organizations, it is also about creating new, different or personalized methods in which we can communicate in.

Essays, notes, chapters, stages, surveys, research, dialogues, narratives, experiments, tests, exercises, series, collections, conversations, dialogues, ideas, proposals, studies are some critical processes for the activity of cultural production in a work in progress state exemplified from the collectives Shedhalle is working with. The cultural production is not so much of the quest to finish work, but the enforcement of evolution or the development of work. Whilst, the dynamic of multi or cross-disciplinary work is very complex, it is a matter of also defining or mapping the areas within it. Fragments of cultural production can get lost in the “institutional everyday life” it is important not to forget about the infra or microstructures, which can be a node to paradigmatic work.


FLASH INSITUT MANIFESTO

Flash Institut
The Flash Institute is a centre for cultural production, research, development and exchange. A communication structure set up to research and connect ongoing cultural processes. The Institute is currently based in Vilnius/Lithuania in a room of a former dominican monastery.

institut

Lat. instituere: to construct, to set up

Cultural, artistic or economic organisation

Educational or research centre

flash

To appear briefly

A short vivid experience

A sudden brilliant understanding

A short news announcement concerning an ongoing news story

Concepts:

Continuity / Contact / Copying / Contagion / Conflict

Background:

Involved project, since 2001, a cultural project referring to specific contexts and social encounters

Flash Bar, since 2006, temporary spaces for a temporary crowd / transforming urban spaces in the city through spontaneous social gatherings

Structure / Departments of the Flash Institut:

News Department

Production space and temporary editorial team of a newspaper

Living Room

Conversations, meetings, interviews

Flash Department

Investigation of potential new Flash Bar situations

Access Department

Network and exchange between departments and production contexts

Workshop

Courses and educational programmes

Additional departments can be added as needed