8/6/2019 Congress Planning Dinner #3 NOTES

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CONGRESS OF THE COLLECTIVESPLANNING DINNER #33/17/11 NOTES

In attendance: representatives from BroLab, DoTank:Brooklyn, Flux Factory, SP Weather Station, Build It Green, ActionClubRyan Roa, Travis Leroy South, Rahul Alexander, Aurash Khawarzad, Joe Nelson, Christina Vassallo, Doug Paulson,Angela Washko, Alex, Heidi Nielson, Kerry DowneyVia Skype: Stuart Tait (AAS, UK), Diala Khasawnih (Makan, Jordan), Doreen Jakob (Flux board member), KeremHalbrecht (Spaceship, Tel Aviv), NIki Russell (Reactor, UK)

AGENDA1. Brief intros & discussion (focused on the groups who are just joining in).2. Discuss strategies for generating and organizing content in October.3. Strategizing for FEAST and other fundraising events/ideas.4. Discuss Conflux Festival (which will be held for 24 hours at Flux during Congress of the Collectives).How can we put a Congress spin on it? If you never heard of Conflux: http://confluxfestival.org/

Doreen is researching arts collaboratives and will send us all a list of English articles for research.

Collectives in Berlin were originally tied to urban living. Are collectives becoming less politically-minded?

Aurash: artists and collectives are a reflection of society. After 60s & 70s in US, there was apathy and a lack of socialparticipation/involvement. But today its starting to change. Public is waking up, so maybe there will be a new tidechange of people being more involved in politics. There is a surge in people interested in being politically active(Wisconsin, tea party). DoTank is trying to help this political involvement spread, regardless of the political party.

Doreen: the left is not as active here as in Europe. The American right is totally freaking her out.

Aurash: the act of being a collective is directly related to labor. The system of labor needs to change and collectivescan play a leadership role in how its done. We can learn from collectives who are being dynamic and trying new things.

Christina: why do we need to be political just because we are a collective?Kerry: its about how we communicate and operate, and that can be a political act in itself.Ryan: everything is political. But do we need to have an overt political mandate?Diala: The term collective organically became a term they use more regularly. Trying to maintain a nonprofit space ispolitical.Stuart: AAS does not act overtly politically; rather they deny control. When they do projects they absorb people into thegroup. Ryan is interested in knowing how they do thatwhat is the context in which that occurs?Stuart: its different from project to project.Molecular collaboration (someone in various groups in order to learn more).Complicated network of relations and mapping how ideas spread among groups.

Ryan: interested in who is working out of a physical space.Christina: sometimes having a space detracts from fulfilling your mission. You have to concentrate on maintaining thespace, which takes time away from making work.Aurash: DoTank would like a space, but maybe it would make them less responsive to the environment/the public,

which is the core of their work.Ryan: BroLab responds to sites a lot in their work.

Doug: Reactor took over a building and turned it into a staging zone for a political party. Blindfolded, taken to thisspace, then confronted by people who teach them how to behave. And then they end up teaching the next bus load.

Doreen: what is the definition of a collective?Christina: starting to recorgnize what a sophisticated system we have at the heart of Flux Factory and is interested inexploring other systems.Dalia: the definition is very dependent on relationships.

8/6/2019 Congress Planning Dinner #3 NOTES

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Stuart: A collective is different from other forms of collaboration because they act as if they have one will.Nikki: Reactor has a will.Kerry: an entity that is above and beyond the will of the individuals.Joe: collaborative is based in production / collective is more about the process (or structure).Do their structures embody the work they do (and vice versa).Ryan: about being part of something bigger than oneself.Kerry: Ego doesnt leave, but the ego is negotiated.Christina: an exercise in diplomacy.Ryan: is it a question of intention?Alex: gathering together out of a perceived need to do so.Aurash: starting point where people reject previously established forms.Ryan: how do you keep your structure going during changes and different parameters?Aurush: collectives embrace informality and spontaneity. DoTank is project based.Diala: Time makes a difference in terms of defining a collective.Kerry: a collective could exist for an hour.

How can the individual affect the personality of the collective?There are plenty of collectives that dont attempt to do that.Nikki: Reactor is interested in how project affects attitude and behavior of the group.Ryan: behaviorist theory

Doug: control mechanismsits so hard to be creative without rules.Dan: with Reactor the projects are distinct, demands the group to respond to situation in a particular way, whichdetermines what the group is and how it behaves in that moment in time.Angie: people assume certain roles and tend to take on similar roles project to project; people are consistent in the waythey contribute.

Christina: moving on to the agendaour major goal for this evening is to start solidifying the events that will happen inOctober.Doug: we can be more flexible than a lot of other collectives about how this will unfold, but we want to start articulatingwhat we plan to do.Kerry: can we apply to chashama to use a space of theirs?*****Stuart: thinking of doing some kind of audio performance with collectively purchased equipment. Will try to get onpublic access in BK.

Doug: how is that we are going to generate what happens in October?Is it a bunch of collectives coming together? Is it a super collective?Do we plan or do we wing it? BOTH (?)Christina would like to see something happen every day in OctoberDoug: talk with Mark Dion, Matt BuaKerry: promote collaboration and activity. Create a context for non-collaborative audience members to be part of acollaborative. Ask audience to make sense of themselves within the collaborative sense.Rock Camp for GirlsDo a 9 am 9 pm lock-in to see what happens. Ryan would prefer a longer period of time.

Doug: would like to explore conflict and embrace it. Scream session, wrestling.Doug: invite an actor to give a keynote address where each sentence is written by Congress participants.****Travis: be sure to extend the olive branch to collectives in other cities.

Lets do FEAST, people!http://feastinbklyn.org/?tag=upcoming

Reach out to documentary filmmakers or videographers to document the Congress.****