Re Aphrodite- Open Conversation on Collaboration (1)
12 March at 19:00
Re Aphrodite would like to invite you to an open conversation, to discuss Collaboration: in the arts, in Cyprus, and in broader terms. The conversation itself will culminate in a contribution for the fifth issue of the Cyprus Dossier, on the theme of Collabonation, to be launched at the 2013 Venice Biennale, as part of the Cypriot-Lithuanian participation. An initial idea is that the conversation itself will be transcribed and part of it written up in the journal, with the names of the participants included.
Issues of collectivity, authorship, participation, consensus, community behaviour, group activity, labour organization and team work are only some of the elements that are used to describe the functions of contemporary collaborative project-driven practices.[5] Within such frameworks working well with other people becomes an important asset and breaking through the limitations of the self, whilst highlighting the group dynamic can be seen to assist in strengthening the process, production and development of a project or a concept. This conversation aims to critically reflect on issues of collaboration through open exchange and dialogue and it will be shaped by the concerns and ideas of the participants.
We would like to propose the following starting points:
Can we identify present trends within the arts in contrast to the auteur model and can we try out models developed and tested in other fields? If different places can be said to reflect their very own forms of collaborative patterns within the arts, then what has been the prevailing pattern in Cyprus?
How can local interpretations of what artistic collaboration can be highlight, demonstrate and challenge a trend that built up in the art world since the beginning of the 20th century and that exploded as a methodology since the 1960s?
How do different forms of collaboration act in creating community and how do they in turn challenge dominant political and social narratives and patterns? Where does collaboration fit in within the context of ‘the social function’ of the arts (a prevalent question in the last twenty years)?
Can we speak of an ethics of collaboration beyond managerial prescriptions of good practice and models of team structure? Can we work towards developing a culture of openness in the arts that reflects on broader questions around productivity, social organisation and good governance?
How can collaboration challenge notions of nationalism?
Have new technologies, and social media changed the nature of collaboration in some way?
What is the role of open conversation and dialogue within collaborative practices?
How far can a participatory, collaborative event such as this, go towards reflexively dealing with its own subject matter?