- Tarja Toikka, Participant Evaluation
Lanzarote, Spain - six participants hailing from across Europe converged on the volcanic island of Lanzarote for an arts course exploring Nature and Tradition in the context of Peak Oil and Sustainability. Including the invaluable art aspects assistants the breadth of nations represented included Romania, Greece, England, Germany, Hungary and Finland. The course, run in English, was designed and facilitated by Alex Robert Head.
A mind map created by Tarja Toikka during the Artist's talk given by the course facilitator - Click to enlarge
Rather than a chronological statement of our time together these notes convey the perspective of the course facilitator. The program does not follow an academic or art-historic trajectory, instead, activities and cross-disciplinary learning techniques are drawn from a series of heuristic processes developed over time with numerous other groups. The root of these methods stems from an applied interest into non-verbal communication with a focused inquiry into semiotics. The main creative task set by the facilitator was a Shield Casting activity which began early in the week and ran until the closing critique and feedback.
"In my area there are many villages, places that are looking for opportunities to develop. I am going to present this concept of Sounds... to these people."
- Lenita Nieminen, Participant Evaluation
At the center of Sounds of the Surround lays an open question for artists:
'Through a course, is it possible to engender a significant shift of perspective within an individual's understanding of global resource issues and their personal sense of self in relation to these challenges?'
Saturated with ideas we experienced too a heightened sense of taste, space, sound and light - effective conditions for peering into the horizon.
Pairing and ultimately dissolving the categories of thinking and doing participants brought their work from the studio to the beaches and back.
"...the solitude and quietness were (the perfect scenario for) an almost Hamlet like fundamental questioning."
- Bogdan Teodorescu, Participant Evaluation
With such a diverse range of participants (the group brought knowledge from the fields of Psychology, Environmental Science, Performance Art, Public and Land Art, Painting, Design and Entrepreneurial Learning), a wild, ongoing conversation rolled through the week in which topics emerged, were lost or broken off for an activity, then re-emerged at a cliff edge or shoreline.
Finding the balance between thoughts and activities was an improvised process that aimed to meet the group dynamic as it evolved. Throughout this oscillation of thoughts and ideas, relationships between individuals and the group were also developing - creating a palpable texture to group work such as a large landscape drawing and the critique of each participants 'Shield' at the end of the week.
"...it is the first time that I have responded creatively on issues which were previously treated by me as scientific problems."
- Michail Saringelis, Participant Evaluation
Perhaps the most exciting (though by no means new) idea to emerge from the cross-disciplinary process of Sounds... is the concept of applying entrepreneurial learning techniques to the concerns of those working towards sustainable re-localization. Through contributing to a paper on such techniques authored by course participant Lenita Nieminen later this year, I aim to move closer to understanding potential obstacles to this goal. However working on this paper is primarily an opportunity to reflect on my personal working methods thus far and to elaborate on my own slowly forming practice - Micro Communities Art.
Sounds of the Surround would like to give special thanks to Michael Von Erlenbach of art aspects for his continued insight into the island of Lanzarote and to Robyn Taylor, specifically for her keen photographic eye throughout this process. The course facilitator would also like to thank Jamie Mayer.
Rather than a chronological statement of our time together these notes convey the perspective of the course facilitator. The program does not follow an academic or art-historic trajectory, instead, activities and cross-disciplinary learning techniques are drawn from a series of heuristic processes developed over time with numerous other groups. The root of these methods stems from an applied interest into non-verbal communication with a focused inquiry into semiotics. The main creative task set by the facilitator was a Shield Casting activity which began early in the week and ran until the closing critique and feedback.
"In my area there are many villages, places that are looking for opportunities to develop. I am going to present this concept of Sounds... to these people."
- Lenita Nieminen, Participant Evaluation
At the center of Sounds of the Surround lays an open question for artists:
'Through a course, is it possible to engender a significant shift of perspective within an individual's understanding of global resource issues and their personal sense of self in relation to these challenges?'
Saturated with ideas we experienced too a heightened sense of taste, space, sound and light - effective conditions for peering into the horizon.
Pairing and ultimately dissolving the categories of thinking and doing participants brought their work from the studio to the beaches and back.
"...the solitude and quietness were (the perfect scenario for) an almost Hamlet like fundamental questioning."
- Bogdan Teodorescu, Participant Evaluation
With such a diverse range of participants (the group brought knowledge from the fields of Psychology, Environmental Science, Performance Art, Public and Land Art, Painting, Design and Entrepreneurial Learning), a wild, ongoing conversation rolled through the week in which topics emerged, were lost or broken off for an activity, then re-emerged at a cliff edge or shoreline.
Finding the balance between thoughts and activities was an improvised process that aimed to meet the group dynamic as it evolved. Throughout this oscillation of thoughts and ideas, relationships between individuals and the group were also developing - creating a palpable texture to group work such as a large landscape drawing and the critique of each participants 'Shield' at the end of the week.
"...it is the first time that I have responded creatively on issues which were previously treated by me as scientific problems."
- Michail Saringelis, Participant Evaluation
Perhaps the most exciting (though by no means new) idea to emerge from the cross-disciplinary process of Sounds... is the concept of applying entrepreneurial learning techniques to the concerns of those working towards sustainable re-localization. Through contributing to a paper on such techniques authored by course participant Lenita Nieminen later this year, I aim to move closer to understanding potential obstacles to this goal. However working on this paper is primarily an opportunity to reflect on my personal working methods thus far and to elaborate on my own slowly forming practice - Micro Communities Art.
Sounds of the Surround would like to give special thanks to Michael Von Erlenbach of art aspects for his continued insight into the island of Lanzarote and to Robyn Taylor, specifically for her keen photographic eye throughout this process. The course facilitator would also like to thank Jamie Mayer.
