Thoughts from Rick

I wanted to write something quick before I forgot, and I'm stuck waiting in the Center for Kin, while my room mate is in some lecture about Buddhism.

First- to expand on my first thought about corporate sponsorship in education.:

I need to read up more on group growth vs individual growth. Rick said a whole lot of terms that are relatively new to me- as I live in my performance art world vs. teaching world. But I think technology is great when it, as he says, "helps [teachers] facilitate education to meet how the students are learning" though I don't think it's realistic to say that they will replace teachers. As the discussion went on- I thought more about how technology impacts the content. Specifically sponsorship/involvement from corporations.

So some folks totes quoted M. Mcluhan "the medium is the message" and I'm gonna twist that a bit and say, "What happens when the brand of the medium is the message?" My example was... a thousand years ago when I was in highschool- Rogers TV offered to put flat screen TV's into every classroom and boost our media "program" to allow us to show tv broadcasts of our morning student news and announcements, but in return we had to watch some Rogers stuff everyday.... and of course- see Rogers branding- every-bloody-where. I don't think many schools jumped at this, we certainly didn't- though I will say that I think we turned it down more from the fear of technology than the... social/brainwashing implications of it.

I went to uWaterloo... kind of the home of engineering and mathies... to a lot of people. Our alumni created Blackberry (formerly RIM) blah blah blah, and continually Google, Microsoft, EA, Blackberry, Lucas Films come to school and throw jobs at people. I'm not bragging, I'm not actually proud of this- but I'm happy for our grads who get it.

But what it made me think about is access and outcomes. A few people on our thread talked about measuring outcomes, and a big part of that comes down to what our students expect to do with their education, and the realities of what they will do with the education.  For uWaterloo grads, a lot of our hard science & tech students aim to move to Seattle, Silicon, San Francisco, etc. And the tech they use/develop/learn are directly in line with their trajectory.

On the other side of this.... I recently got to travel to some more... remote towns in Saskatchewan- and found these schools where they were BLINGED OUT (even more than some buildings on campus) with smart boards and wifi, etc. Unfortunately- half of the faculty didn't know how to use this tech, and there was one or two lone (often young) teachers who were charged with being the "tech" teachers who knew how to run this stuff.

In an attempt to keep up and be state of the art... I think they missed the mark on staying present with how and what the students learned. I think there is something to be said about staying present with your students vs. staying current with tech... to be hip if nothing else- or to take advantage of what funding you can get from whoever funds you.

And somewhere in between these two, or perhaps on another side iof its own, Dr. Charity Marsh from UofR taught some guest lectures in some of the Creative Technology classes that I was TAing. She discussed going to Nunavut, and how remote schools from remote "fly in only" cities used youtube and social media to connect to each other and share information.

Ugh- I  feel like I'm dribbling into some mass stream of consciousness- I guess this is my 'flow' but I'm continually unconvinced by this notion of balancing and using technology or assuming that anyone is an authourity or an expert. I feel like if we're actually going to adapt to the learning styles of the students, we need to actually continually talk to our specific students and negotiate how they learn.

I predominantly teach performing arts and fitness- theatre, movement, music, dance, yoga, etc. And it's definitely been impacted by technology- not only in reassessing the patterns/habits of how students connect to each other, but also in how they consume the content that we teach. I'm totes not bragging, I'm just saying it's tough because I have to be transparent when I talk to them and not pretend to know their pup culture references or latest hashtags or assume I'm still cool. LOL, not saying that's what anyone else is doing, but I think I'm saying that- THEY can tell when we struggle, and somewhere in that struggle we still have to be Experts.

Ahhhh, I'm an extrovert- thanks for reading- I need to type it out to realize what I'ms saying, and I'm saying- we need to trust the experts and set outcomes that match how they learn.- even if it's sad.

I was teaching a lit class in Canadian Theatre and none of these students read the plays or tried to critically look at the content... correction... very few of them did. In an honest (unfrustrated way) I asked, "what do you think you'll be doing when you graduate? don't you think you'll be the future of Canadian Theatre?" to my devastation- the answer was almost a resounding "No." Yay liberal arts classes where you have to foster and recognize why they learn something to create realistic standards while not compromising the quantity of information that they leave retaining.

So leading to my second thought- I'm saying that the students are, in fact, the experts to their own individualistic learning, so how do we prepare and offer content for them to learn and exist somewhere between edutainment and education on demand?

For many years, the performing arts- specifically acting, recognizes that we can NOT separate ourselves as artists and our own histories from the characters we approach and put on. (Check out Heddon on Autobiographical Performance). One thing I am excited about is that like the Brooks Ted Talk, and some of the other folks Rick mentioned- we need to recognize that we bring an emotional, historical self to our experiential learning too.

Shit that was long- I hope that counts for two blog posts. Maybe I'll just split them..... ha....

OK so fun video for this weeks blog- actually inspired by Brooks and this lecture it's.. less funny, but a video that really influenced my journey through tis MFA. The video is by Renny Gleeson and the proliferation of mobile devices and our "obligation to engage"> Check it out!!!

POETS IN THE KITCHEN!!! My proposed upcoming educational video...

Hahah, something you may not know about me is that I'm a budding foodie. Both my parents worked in professional kitchens for many, many, many years. My mother's family had a restaurant in Vietnam, and my dad worked in one of the best fine dining steakhouses in town. I'm subscribed to many cooking channels on the youtubeees and often cook for my friends. The feedback is generally really positive.

Thing is- I have a really hard time cooking for myself- so when I'm alone- it's totally ramen/kimchi/boiled egg combo... which is tasty... but not too thrilling. I love entertaining and cooking for friends. So last year, I simply would post my menu for the night up online and say if friends wanted to join- they could. They just need to bring ingredients/something to share (food/art/drink). For my birthday last year, I had a POETRY Potluck. It was awesome.

A fair bit of food that I cook, and a fair bit of food that I order can be seen on my instagram: johnnydtrinh So go check it out if you don't hate online foodies :) If there is something you like, let me know! And I'll post the recipe or make a video of it.

Something else that people may not know about me- I'm a poet. I'm a feature presenter this year at the national conference/competition: Canadian Festival of Spoken Word as a panelist, and also as part of the Regina Poetry Slam Team: Word Up. We have events every month, and one is coming up this FRIDAY! So come check it out at the Creative City Centre on Hamilton Street @7:30 pm.

I think I'm going to mix poetry with this cooking channel.... OH Shoot, lol, I was so inspired that I forgot to actually write what my proposed project was. I'm going to make a video series on how to cook... whatever comes to mind or is suggested. I'll probably do some baking, and some frying, and stews or something.

But to 'set myself apart' and add something extra, I think I'll also include some spoken word by having poets/singers/guests/friends come over and join me each video. I think I can realistically make 1 video either weekly/biweekly.

But it should be fun! And my video for this post:

Those people you love to hate- food instagramographers:

EC&I831 OMG my feeds are overloading

Hey everyone- this is my blog. I started this at the beginning of my grad studies back in 2012! It's been an intense 3 years, and I am finally finishing my degree this coming spring. I have three more courses left before I graduate, and this is not my first online course, but is will definitely be the most involved.

If you swim through my blog you'll see entries for other courses, but also you'll probably see a trend of viral media and art pieces that pertain to my research and performance interests. I'm really interested in (not just mildly interested in- but REALLY interested in) how we engage and 'perform' ourselves online and/vs. in 'real' life.

I think what excites me about this course is that it looks at education in a relatively new way to how I was taught. Another lifetime ago, I was the communications officer for the University of Waterloo in the Student Life Office. I oversaw the communications that went out internally to students, and connected  a lot of the other departments. I often faced struggles with people who were resistant to social media etc. One area that really got me fired up was this idea that the EQ (emotional intelligence) in young people faced degradation from lack of real human contact, where my belief was that it was simply changing. I admit there is some loss in some areas of interpersonal skills and relationships, but there are also some gains in the nuanced and intuitive ways in which people communicate via sms/twitter/vine/insta/etc.

Over the next few posts you'll probably learn more about me and what I do, actually... I might just do that right after this post. Oooh- some ideas are popping in!

But my focus for this particular entry today was a question:

Does anyone else feel overwhelmed by the sudden ONSLAUGHT of posts and notifications in their newsfeeds? I am so stoked that this class is HUGE and there seem to be so many engaged people, but DAYYYUUUMMMMM.

I'm a big social media kid, and total Apple fan. I usually have my macbook within a few minutes of me, my iPad within arms reach, my iPhone in my pocket, and my pebble watch bolted to my wrist. I teach yoga, theatre, and sometimes dance and work at starbucks. The pebble watch is awesome for controlling my music in class, and a sneaky way to not have to check my phone during my shifts making fancy lattes. But I feel like my wrist has become a perma-vibrator. Because of the nature of the course, and not wanting to miss posts- I haven't figured out what notifications settings I want to put in place, but this is getting excesssssiiivvve. Though, not in a bad way, it's pretty neat to meet you all.

So I'm going to make post number 2 in a few minutes because I just thought of what I want to do for my project.

Chat soon!

Johnny

Also- most weeks I'll probably post some funny social media related parody video or something... maybe a twerking video. But for this week- since we're talking about education and group shared knowledge- a video about Yahoo Answers:

OMG these next 5 minutes really did change my life....

http://www.upworthy.com/loneliness-illustrated-so-beautifully-you-will-need-to-tell-someone?c=upw1

OK OK, Damn it. I just got knocked onto my ass 0_o after watching this video. Argh, I really hate upworthy sometimes, but the link above opens to an animated video that in 4 minutes captures what I've been trying to say about loneliness in a way more articulate way that I am.

There is so much fodder to fuel my project from this short clip, where the creator Shimi Cohen- a graphic designer, blatantly calls out social network as the innovation of loneliness and how our need for self actualization (thanks Gardner) has led to an alienation of real relationships and thus leads us to being addicted to the virtual leaving us lonely- the largest sickness facing the western world away.

Because we are in major control of what we can put online- we have way more control that allows us "to edit, and present ourselves as we want" thus losing the risk of spontaneous and real interactions.

He says that social networks grants us "fantasies"
-we can focus on what we want
-we will always be heard
-we never have to be alone

and he then culimates this amazing video with a new mode of thinking "I SHARE THEREFORE I AM"

and then bam, my face started to melt with his final thought.

"if we're never able to be alone, then all we'll ever know is how to be lonely."

He speaks directly to what I'm trying to say that we've become so dependent on our networks that we are indeed compelled to continually feed content to our online profiles, and are more focused on our narcissistic selves than real connections. Because the potential for us to maintain relationships over great distances and distract ourselves from "the ones we're with," and our growing addiction/need to always feel up to date with other online content, it's incredibly difficult to disengage and re-evaluate our relationships, and thus understand what it is to be alone and inversely- what it means to be in a relationship/not alone. (relationships being any form of relationship with other people).

I really want to succinctly capture the messages in this video somehow in a live (performative) way. I need to figure out a way to make this happen.

I keep saying it over and over again, and I don't know what I am trying to say. I've been lonely my whole life. I was raised by lonely people who only spoke through yelling or hitting. I've been so lonely that I'd take abuse, rape, drugs, and debt for a few moments of love. But funny enough, I've never given up art or education for a relationship. I've never given up a career for a relationship. Though I've run away to those things so I wouldn't have to deal with it.

I work 5 jobs. I don't need to work 5 jobs. (OK I might need to work 5 jobs- grad school isn't cheap), but so many of those jobs are because I need to have some sort of human interaction or I am left lying naked in bed alone all day, too depressed to walk out into the sun, or crying alone in my stark, almost sterile, mouse infested studio with little more than facebook to keep me company.

I can't speak enough about how this video captures me. And the people I want to address.

How do I make this happen?

These next 10 minutes will change your life....

http://www.upworthy.com/watch-what-this-make-believe-girl-means-to-1000-sexual-predators?c=reccon1

The above link is to an upworthy video. I wasn't sure what I should post, and was supposed to look for inspiration. So of course, upworthy.

First of all, I have to say- I don't subscribe. I'm not a subscriber, and any site that promotes to continually change your life, or change your week, or flip your perspective upside down- leaves me leery. It just seems like propoganda, but propoganda that feeds on some part of us that needs to feel good for a short while.

The video above is about a group in the Netherlands who created a CGI 10 year old Filipino girl to chat with men online, and uncover sexual predators. I find this video inspirational on a lot of levels. Here's why:

1) Activist are using art in the pursuit of justice, and vigilantism.
2) This video is going viral.
3) This video is calling for names and supporters- and despite people becoming more wary of what they petition or sign their name to online, and the apparently value of how little information someone needs of you to find you, people will give up their information for free.

I want to go back to my earlier point about feeding parts of us that need to feel good for a short while. I wonder how much upworthy videos actually change the way we behave. I wonder how much videos like it, instead simply feed our apathy. If we look for something inspirational, and while on yet another mindless hour of facebooking, are fed just enough words like "you won't believe what she did..." "these next 10 minutes will..." to get us to watch something for a few minutes, potentially sign some online petition or share the video... and then we return to our mundane unchanged behaviour- feeling good that we promoted a good cause. yay us. As opposed to going out and doing something.

Just how many videos do we need of how "women are changed with photoshop" and "ideals of beautify are flawed" for us to realize that... those things are true and we have a choice to change them?

With #itscomplicated- I want people to change. I want the videos of the amazing spoken word, and music and sounds that come up to be spread like wild fire on youtube. That's not my intention, but it'd be amazing if it did. So i wonder if I need to employ these online marketing tactics to bait viewers? But knowing I employed these devices (if I did/do) would that dilute what I'm trying to say?

Also- I am inspired by the sudden relationship we form with these people in these videos who pour out their hearts for 2-4-10 minutes and suddenly we feel like we know them, empathize with them. We do this all the time with tv and film, but the difference with youtube and online videos is that these people suddenly seem more "real" and less like "actors" or "characters" though we'll never be able to tell for sure- until they tell us.

What I do love about upworthy is its ability to mass market- empathy. Whoever is behind it, pulls on heart strings and understands how we work online. This is something I do want to be able to do better, not so I can manipulate viewers or users, but to... honestly... better communicate our content.

Canadian Festival of Spoken Word 2013

Canadian Festival of Spoken Word 2013- Montreal

So I know I’m supposed to talk about one specific artist, and why their work excites me- but seriously, seriously, I can’t think of a more inspirational and transformation art experience (that I JUST HAD) at the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word in Montreal this past November.

So quick backstory- I just spent the month of October performing in a play by playwright/poet/mc- Donna Michelle St. Bernard. The play was titled, A Man A Fish, it was an amazing experience- because the script, the words in the play were so heightened and poetic that I was essentially immersed in a month long study of an epic poem. The day after the show closed I was on a flight to Montreal- to an even bigger epic poem experience.

The Canadian Festival of Spoken Word is run under the auspice of SPOCAN: Spoken Word Canada, the national organization that fosters growth and development of and within the Spoken Word Community. Up until now, I’d thought of spoken word as small cafés with tiny stages where poets would share their words to snaps and claps, or under street lights, and in other moody speak easies. I’d been privy to any number of Def Poetry Jam episodes on youtube, and Upworthy videos on Facebook, etc. but discovering this sizeable organization of poet elders and young poet activists pushing the limits of the artform, and mindfully maintaining the importance to openness and acceptance in the community was awe inspiring.

With this post, I’m going to highlight a few artists/events and performances that really changed my perspective, and opened up ideas and possibilities for this type of work. I’m hoping to somehow process this and incorporate it into my thesis. OK, so let’s do this…

First I’m going to talk about- the workshops. OMG the workshops. I was left thirsty because I was just NOT having it. The first workshop I attended was “safe(r) spaces” facilitated by the amazing Ryan Thom, a trans identified poet/performance artist, who I am in talks with collaborating with in the near future, and Janice Lee, a renound poet from my old hood in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario. These lovely people worked hard to promote an open and safe space where the bathrooms were gender neutral, you could speak in English, French, or ANY language you wanted- even if it meant that NO one else could understand you.

A huge chunk of the beginning was establishing ground rules of respect and understanding- and that there were always people ready to listen to us if something in the workshop triggered us. Then came the round circle introductions. I’m always amazed at how soft spoken and shy some artists can be. I of course, was loud, brimming with energy and this may or may not have served well in this environment. But enough play by play, the heart of the workshop was problematic for me. At the core, the discussion was on creating safer spaces- especially in slam environments and new slam communities- with a focus on supporting and fostering new poets.

A significant amount of time was spent on shared (horror) stories of racially, sexually, discriminatorily bent performances in past events where audiences did not react well, and some of the challenges faced by the host/moderators who had to either step in or manage the situation. I felt like too much time was spent on validating the challenges of people facing a hard time, and not enough time was spent on speaking about the issues and how to deal with them.

We moved into a role playing scenario, and my benefit of the doubt was… given, to a semi-improvised scene where “actor A” portrayed a trans audience member who spoke to “actor B” about a fictitious performance she gave- where she essentially excluded trans-identified females. It was tough to watch, and tough to take it- because there was no time to debrief. We committed to discussing the issue further, talking about what strategies could be used to help that situation, and broke into two groups. Unfortunately, the groups were divided by experience (those who had been running spoken word events and programs, and new comers to the scene). Both groups began speaking in another round table of sharing where we “were” how we were doing, what we were feeling. That unfortunately took up the rest of the workshop.

Was it beneficial? Absolutely. Ryan and Janice were fantastic at listening, mediating, and facilitating. Unfortunately we never got INTO the discussion- and much of the session was spent on story telling of traumatic experiences. So why am I talking about this sessions so much. Because the core of this workshop strikes the heart of what I want to talk about. The point where catharsis meets art, and focusing on the artform of spoken word. Spoken Word is a style and practice that, quite frankly, CELEBRATES struggle/difference/trauma. In a later workshop, Poet/Facilitator/Elder/Saskatoonian- Louise Halfe spoke on writing past fear, and beautifully summed up that the act of Spoken Word and Writing can be a beautiful process of release but it is NOT the same as healing. Because if we do NOT reframe, transform, and change our behavior/patterns/situation- it will be a continual cycle of catharsis and repetition of trauma.

I voiced my frustration, anger, and essential intolerance of the Safe(r) Space workshop when it was my turn to speak- saying that I believe this is an artform, and that what we seemed to be talking about was how to reframe and communicate feedback and manage tough situations- which was not the same thing. This was met with positive feedback, and also some… stiff spines.

When it comes to safe space and inclusivity- with my experience working with social advocacy groups etc. I am very opinionated. I began my work- deeply aware of my ‘otherness’ and my sense of displacement and came from a place of discrimination and intolerance. My goal for this week was to not speak, to listen, and take time to learn and hear what other people had to say- and I left… thirsty- wanting more.

And then I found it. In the form of epid DADA poet, and Spoken Word BIG LEAGUE- Sheri D. Wilson. I hit the street screaming, indignant at my experience, voicing it to my team mates and colleagues as we strode away…. Only to run into Sheri-D. I had no idea who this person was. But her first words were “I couldn’t go into that workshop because… I don’t believe in safe spaces. I think poetry and Spoken Word is inherently UNSAFE. We push the boundaries, we speak what needs to be said.” Sheri-D. and I hit it off- sort of. I was on a tirade, and vehemently agreed with her, but also staunchly struggled with the ideas that THIS WAS ART, this is performance- my years of theatre pedagogy came spewing- demanding for presence, integrity, transformation, as opposed to catharsis and validation for traumas that did not need to be Relived, but recognizing that they needed to be (re)told.

She dragged me to a listening party- where, as the living icon that she was, was impromptu-ly asked to sit on the panel- where the artists SPOKE about the word and the performance, and recording, and viability of the craft. This was so satisfying and refreshing. It was my first taste of the ROOTS of this craft, and the vitality and the legacy that we come from.

For the first time- I realized what it means to choose your history. I don’t know if I was meant to be a poetry slammer, but I do know that I was meant to write, speak and more than anything else- perform. I clued into the reality that this artform that I have fallen into holds a legacy that I am now a part of. My supervisor, prof, mentor, and ass-kicking-whereisyourhomework-teacher said to me “Johnny- you are indeed a spoken word artist, and of COURSE you need to incorporate this into your thesis and final product.” This terrified the Heck out of me because I felt like I had NO idea where I came from. Now I know more. Now I’m ready to do more.

In the listening party workshop, artists commented on the difference between live performance vs studio recording. Of course- I chimed in- what I wanted to say, and was trying to say, because of all my grad school crit and theory was backing me up- what if- we recognized that our studio persona, and recorded work represented- simply- another narrative, that it was a persona unto itself- and if we just GOT out of our own way, and stopped trying to recreate or force the sense of live performance aesthetic we could create something.

I was slightly misheard- and got into a relatively intense discussion with- non other than- TANYA EVANS. Like a bull in a china shop, that’s what I am. It took a few seconds of discussion to realize that we were saying the same thing differently. She bee-lined to me after the workshop- while Sheri-D dragged me to her. Because… what I didn’t realize was: Sheri-D founded- FOUNDED- the SPOKEN WORD INTENSIVE at the BANFF CENTRE FOR THE ARTS- the program that I am APPLYING TO for a week of study in Spoken Word………. And Tanya Evans… just happens to be the current director.

My personal performances that week- well received. I was devastated by the arbitrary and subjective point systems which lead to my team losing our bouts, and realized how during the day- outside of performance- artists were just trying to be HEARD. My vocal outcries and opinions on the work garnered VERY MODEST attention, but lead to key figures wanting to hear me spit. This was humbling, and encouraging. In the evenings- I was terrified because some of the artists were screaming, shouting, and ripping out their bare, broken, shredded souls on stage to have anonymous judges validate with random number scores. AWKWARD. I understand better now. But I can’t help the part of me that is competitive and still wants to WIN. Ugh.

I finish off this LONG post with something that inspired me, and is driving me to engage more in this community. The conference was lovely. BUT there was such an Emphasis on the WRITING. But Spoken Word is an artform that unifies both Speaking and Writing. Frankly- the word “Spoken” comes first. After my year of study and practice as an artist- I’ve had numerous opportunities and engagements to coach and develop the performance aspect, which I love. I coached my team, and some of the pieces I was able to work on even scored an arbitrary/subjective 10/10. All the pieces I worked on within my team however… received great feedback from my team. It meant a lot that I was able to help them, and they valued my input. 13 years of ‘formal’ post-secondary performance training has to be useful for something right?

Here is a post of a video of a highlight from CFSW 2013. By poet and new friend Aaron Sim- about his discovery of Disney producing an amusement park in Baghdad. OMG.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzMh6NUN_js

Camille Utterback is awesome because...

Camille Utterback

Why she is awesome:

1999. While people contemplated the falling sky- Camille Utterback contemplated the catching and falling of words and translated that into Text Rain. (http://camilleutterback.com/projects/text-rain/). Text Rain was an art interactive art installation Utterback created a light sensitive projection that used motion sensors to read the shifting light patterns as patrons entered her installation. The light patterns were connected to a projector that showed the images of falling letters, seemingly random, but formed the lines of a poem. Depending on the level of darkness, the letters essentially rested on the silhouettes of patrons. Patrons (users) were able to manipulate the letters as they moved, and as soon as they moved beyond the range of the sensors (or as soon as they could no longer cast a shadow), the letters continued to fall to the ground.

In terms of interactivity, and actually engaging audience/attendees with interdisciplinary art- Text Rain was able to accomplish two goals that I would love to see in my work: 1) using video projections in a more (inter)active way and 2) demanding audience engagement, so that their physical presence and movements through the space directly impact what happens to the “art” in the space. Being a theatre practitioner, I’ve had the opportunity to see a lot of shows, lives performances, etc. Beyond the role of sedentary spectators who have been trained to applaud, laugh, cry, hiss, boo a performance- the opportunities that Utterback explored, showed a great deal of possibility for what we can do now.

From the video footage, it appears that upon first entering the space, audience members didn’t realize how the installation would be affected by them, but from the various video clips, it’s apparent that as soon as the opportunity presented itself, there was created a “state of play.”

A personal bias of mine… I guess I’m just tired of arbitrary use of projections in theatre. We get it, technology is there to be used, and sometimes it’s cheaper and easier than building a bunch of flying set pieces. Furthermore, I pretty much exclusively use projected images to frame my shows and performances. But I guess here is where my hypocrisy diverges. I use projections in tandem with other electronic and mobile devices in an almost Brechtian way, where I constantly want to audience to be aware of the technology, and yet still be immersed in the narrative story/experience. I use projected images because I have an affinity to the aesthetic of images projected onto a wall, onto a body, displayed on a screen. I just want to recognize how technology is an extension of who we are in how we tell stories- and it’s a way to bring social media (instagram/vine/facebook) into a physical space. Perhaps a poor attempt- it’s my way of opening a portal to welcome in multiple layers of personal narrative and interactivity into one single moment. What I mean is- we exists internally, externally, physically, and virtually- we are each our own hub to hundreds of connections with varying degrees of intimacy and relevance. I want to bring them all to the forefront in a single performative experience.

The other reason I love Text Rain, because I’m trying not to go on too much of a rant is of course, the poetry.  Since 1999, other artists, students, etc. have explored this piece further. One artist, Sam Gruber (http://golancourses.net/2013/projects/samgruberupkittextrain/) re-implement the project to have the letters interact to crisper edges and lines in the projection as opposed to a brightness threshold which is how the original piece worked. In the link above, he is able to display the poetry within the projection:

“String[] poem = {   "I like talking with you,",   "simply that: conversing,",   "a turning-with or -around,",   "as in your turning around",   "to face me suddenly . . .",   "At your turning, each part",   "of my body turns to verb.",   "We are the opposite",   "of tongue-tied, if there",   "were such an antonym;",   "We are synonyms",   "for limbs' loosening",   "of syntax.",   "and yet turn to nothing:",   "It's just talk." };”

            What I love about Text Rain is that- especially with the use of poetry, as you interact with the art piece, you become the performer within your own show, but also, one is often left looking for words. From the random collection or coalescence of words as they rest on your forehead or shoulder, fragments of meaning that ultimately mean different things to different participants are communicated. So in a public environment, these individual experiences are unique to each person. This of course can be argued… for any experience anywhere- but what I mean is that- I think that these specific words, and word choices create unique images and frame/reflect the individual memories of each person who walks into the installation.

           

            This is how I feel about poetry. As a budding Spoken Word/Slam Poet, and having immersed myself into the Poet Community, I realize that the stylized performances with super heightened text, rapid delivery, rhythmic breathing are tools that break up the streams of conscious thought, that spew from the poets’ mouths. As audience members, you are only ever able to collect certain images and ideas, and leave with limited fragments of the piece- which is why we come back and listen again, and why there is a strong sense of ritual and appreciation for the live aspects of the performance.

           

            I’m just glad I was able to discover artists like Utterback, and pieces like Text Rain. For the first time in a long time, researching and learning about this piece leaves me more inspired to create as opposed to feelings of being unoriginal or redundant. I hope to utilize the projection aspects of this piece, and the use of animated words to heighten my live performance for Rice in Hybridity.

Marty Pottenger

Homeland Security was a performance created in 2004 from the diverse cultural communities in Portland, Maine and artist Marty Pottenger.

Pottenger is a performance artist and director who has extensive experience in community based art practices. In Engaging Performance: Theatre As Call And Response, Jan Cohen-Cruz documents the development of Homeland Security and the methods of Pottenger in its creation.

In 2004, with the enforcement of the American Patriot Act, raids were performed through Portland, Maine with intentions to uncover terrorist activity much to the subjugation of the ethnically marginalized communities in Maine.

In response to this, Pottenger took an approach of "first voice" performance.

"The notion of 'first voice' contrasts with much radical theatre of the 1960s and early 1970s, which , while a viable form of political activism frequently entailed middle-class actors speaking for the poor and oppressed. In contrast, Pottenger and other grassroots artists incorporate storytelling to facilitate a process whereby people with stakes in the topic respond publicly for themselves." (Cohen-Cruz 68)

As exemplified in the video link above, what was presented were the "real" people of Maine, telling their stories directly to the community, to each other, and broadcast to anyone who can now find them on youtube or elsewhere.

My immediate question is how does this change or redefine these people who are now "actors" in their own story. In some ways, this literal transplanting of people and their lives onto a stage provides a genuine telling of experiences. The beauty of this performance is that the actors (beyond needing to make sure that they are hear/understood) don't need to "act." They instinctively understand the back story, and have the lived experiences to impact their physicality on stage.

The challenge is navigating through their experiences (especially traumatic ones) to facilitate an expression of work that has positive results as opposed to damaging ones. This speaks to questions of risk and disclosure.

Many of the participants in HLS experienced first hand the experiences of the raids, much like my earlier post about Urban Theatre, it changes the context of the performance when your actors and audience members were all present for the real events that inspire the performance.

In this case- the risk comes when the oppressed feel the acute surveillance of the government. To then publicly, on video, and online show this resistance... some might argue that it risks incurring further retribution from the government.

On a completely personal aside, I would suggest that the US, even Canada present themselves as the lands of the free and liberal, but in reality this is not the case. The only difference is that in many other countries, the government does not hide their extreme censorship. And the connection I make here is that many immigrants (the majority of the people raided in HLS) come from countries where they left for this very reason.

Cohen-Cruz later cites Dwight Conquergood in his assertion that "marginalized people need spaces for 'public discussion' of vital issues central to their communities... Self representation frequently contrasts with mainstream images, such as those of dangerous aliens propagated by the Border Patrol raids." (Cohen-Cruz 74)

Beyond the risk and dangers, which I unfortunately feel that I've perhaps dwelled too much on these last few posts, I need to highlight the power and empowerment of these performances.

Cohen-Cruz later recounts her own experience witnessing the performance. She is able to recount the performers and their deeply personal stories. One community member shared how her father was the first African-American to serve in the State of Maine, and even after being in Maine for 9 generations, she still did not feel like a "Mainer." (Cohen-Cruz 78) The power of this testimony is that it voices out loud a need in the community. For those who care, it means that they were not doing enough to build community, and this went beyond the acts of the Border Raids. In some ways, the Raids provided an opportunity to openly discuss some of these cultural differences and challenges facing the greater community.

In my work, I think this is the ultimate goal- to take calculated risks that push and challenge all of the artists (including myself) to an end where we produce work that encourages questions in a healthy way. What does healthy mean? It means one where people are able to feel safe in their vulnerability, and be able to voice questions and concerns without fear of retribution or recourse because they are asked from a place of sincere yearning to improve and not destroy.

I read this reading over a year ago, and it didn't make sense to me then. It's finally starting to make some sense to me now. I think I'm beginning to understand who I am, and what these labels of Queer, Asian, Male represent to me and how I can act as a conduit for other voices to be heard. Firstly, I have to use my voice- correction- I WANT to use my voice and story to start that conversation. This is not meant to be all hugs and butterflies, or a lovein of my work. I sincerely mean that I need to better understand what and why I want to share, so that I can accomplish this and not (instead) drag my family, friends, and people in my life down a path of exhibitionistic/voyeuristic work that doesn't earn the ability to change for the better.



Cohen-Cruz, Jan. "Self Representing: Testimonial Performance" Engaging Performance: Theatre As Call and Response. Routledge, New York. 2010. pp. 68-81.

Our reality is less interesting than the story I will tell & multi-dimensional engagement

Renny Gleeson is a the Global Digital Strategies Director for Wieden+Kennedy. In 2009, he presented a 3 minute lecture for Ted Talks, the video is uploaded above. Though a bit more of a stretch in terms of performance. I came across the video and was taken aback by some key terms that he touches on. I am going to try and expand on them, and more importantly- connect them to my work and the how they fit into socially engaged performance/art.

The beginning of his talk titled, Renny Gleeson on antisocial phone tricks broke down some common social strategies that people use to interact with their personal mobile devices (at the expense of realtime interaction with the physically present people sharing their space). Some of these include the discreet "lean" or "stretch" to the brazen use of devices while driving or the the midst of engaging in personal interactions such as holding hands and kissing.

Gleeson's main argument and hope is that as a society that continually develops and evolves devices to match growing consumer demand, we should ensure that the devices we create work to connect us as opposed to disengage us further.

Key terms that he discusses: culture of availability, multi-dimensional engagement, and internal/external narratives.

As far as a culture of availability goes- it is the expectation of interaction and response and response time. As devices become more intuitive and available, the expectation for response rate dramatically increases among users. This has dramatically impacted the way we communicate today. I often hear of anecdotes from colleagues and professors who observe the absurdity of being expected to respond to student emails at 2-3:00 am on a weekend, and receiving complaints when they don't get responses until Monday. Until the recent decade, theories and research on emotional intelligence (EQ) proposes that as a culture, our youth are losing the ability to empathize and connect with each other. These theories have changed to recognize that we have been conditioned to better read into text messages and brief online messages to form our relationships.

Continuing on the discussion of interaction and perceived relationships, and tying this to everyday performance- multi-dimensional engagement is the act of being connected and engaging in multiple interactions at the same time. So being present in a room and engaging with the people in front of you, while having a different dialogue with various people on your mobile device, and also posting images on Instagram, while managing relationships on Facebook would be an example of this.

And deepening that observation to thinking about how our current and real interactions can be reframed and posted online as an external narrative that we control when we are the authors of our own content, and then managing the same content when it is appropriated by others and public narratives about us are posted without our control.

In all of my recent work- mobile devices have been an integrated/integral part to the performance. My mobile device (an iPhone 4) is used to document my journey, and represents my connection to the world around me, and my communities that I prescribe to, but am removed from.  My iPhone 4 also provides my music and media that underscores my experience and archives my memories in song and performances that are heard by myself and my audiences.

For Alien Soiled, Rice, Spitting Too Close my iPad and iPhone 4 were used to create sound/music/media that was incorporated into the show. As a symbol and device I did not want to separate these tools that become part of our identity. My actors used them in Spitting Too Close throughout the piece- partially because of a need to prompting for their lines, but also because they felt significant in our hands.

Through these glowing conduits we connected to the women and men in our lives, indicating the invisible but present scene partners in our stories.  I think the "glow" of mobile devices also provide recognizable images to the audience of our experiences and our need to connect, and the act of disconnection when the lights go out.

During rehearsal and in discussion with my actors, the idea that we constantly checked our devices for messages from potential partners and the manifestation of these partners in the rehearsal hall changed the context in which we performed. It created an incredibly strong barrier from being completely present- so as a director and an ensemble, we had to negotiate how we can become present. Do we turn off the phones? Did we have time to practice and train ourselves not to wait with anticipation for the next call or text? Or perhaps we work within it, and with the devices. Though I asked for ringers to be turned off- we established that we wouldn't turn off the devices during performance. It provided an interesting risk and reflected how instrusive these devices are.

I want to explore and articulate this further in my work, and am interest in how I can work with these devices more. I'm still not entirely sure what these can mean or how to best use them in performance.

One question I continually ask is- just because I use personal mobile devices... does that make my work interdisciplinary or intermedia? Which is sometimes often branded and associated with work that does use these. An important question that I have yet to answer from Rice is how we actors interacted with the video or rice pouring on naked bodies on film in front of us during the performance. For me, it represented the people in our minds pouring in and out, intruding on our experience. But this did not read. A future incarnation of this will be to have the videos playing off of mobile devices and projecting them via mini projectors attached to the actors, so that the films will be screened onto other bodies and audiences and screens which I think will build a more engaging interaction and possible read more clearly.

I am not sure I am commenting on how this affects social engagement, as much as I am concerned with recognizing how these devices are in fact a part of who we are and who we build ourselves to be.

Gleeson, Renny. "Renny Gleeson on antisocial phone tricks" Ted Talks. February 2009. Last accessed: April 12, 2013. http://www.ted.com/talks/renny_gleeson_on_antisocial_phone_tricks.html

Art changing and Life changing read: Roundtable with Urban Theatre Project and Collaborators

Urban Theatre is a theatre company based in Australia. They create community engaged works that highlight the lives and stories of members in their communities. Their work can described as testimonial, documentary, and autobiographical performance. In October 2009, Byroni Tresize and Caroline Wake facilitated a roundtable discussion with members of the company and their partners. It is one of the most impactful interviews that I have read and I decided to blog about it.

The approach to this post is going to be slightly different from my recent annotations of other papers and essays. The nature of this publication is recorded dialogue, so I thought it best to discuss like dialogue.

The bulk of the discussion is a probing question and answer period that explores the success and methods of Urban Theatre and how they negotiate the questions of ethics and disclosure with their works. Immediately, in application to my work- Urban Theatre articulates their practice in a way that I have been looking for. Their definitions of personal experience and the reliving of trauma resonates with my process of asking actors, collaborators and even myself for stories and experiences that can be shared in a theatrical way.

For this annotation, I'm going to pull out lengthier quotes/passages and unpack them a bit more in terms of meanings and applications to my practice.  The first is a response from Alicia Talbot. Here, she discusses how she frames a process to protect her participants:

“When working with people in crisis we often relate to people in terms of their problems. Rather than engaging people as a pathology, the process of public dialogue and consultation engages with people as experts. There are a number of international theatre companies who use the term “expert” Rimini Protokoll, Quarantine, or Mammalian Diving Reflex. In my practice, the consultants or experts
are asked to respond to the thematic concerns of the work. So, when I was working on this process with young people who were experiencing homelessness in a work called The Cement Garage, the work was about the concept of belonging. Rather than speak about their personal trauma.” Alicia Talbot (Performance Paradigm 5.2 pg 2)

I chose to reference a larger section in the above passage because I feel it contextualizes the most important statement which states that Urban Theatre focused on concepts and issues that frame the creation of work. This creates a space where participants can offer stories and experiences to add to a piece of work as opposed to becoming the product. In the undergraduate class- Community Engaged Art that I was a part of- many of the students entered... and I would say, left with an idea that community based work in some way has to involve the marginalized. On the final presentation day of classes, the majority of the students recounted proposed projects where they would work in high risk communities (sexually abused persons, prisons, at risk youth, etc.) and ask the members of these communities to share their stories through text and video and potentially present them as plays and in various forms of theatre. As the presentations progressed- I could not help but think of this reading and how we could have better framed our presentations to avoid putting ourselves and our participants at risk for further trauma.

“We need to destabilise what we expect from people in trauma. When someone is in crisis, they tell their story to the social worker, then to the mental health worker, and then to someone else and so on, until they have retold their story many times. In essence, they are reliving trauma and crisis, potentially without a sense of containment. When people are consulted instead of interrogated, they are more likely to cooperate and, ideally, collaborate.” Alicia Talbot (Performance Paradigm 5.2 pg 3)

Containment is the key word, and in direct response to my previous paragraph, I want to make sure that my work provides a clear frame and container to allow participants to 1) give whatever they can/want/need to give 2) ensure that what they offer is still turned into quality performance. What I mean by quality performance is that it goes beyond a cathartic retelling of their story to a group of anonymous/familiar faces. I've spoken a great deal on this blog about humour, self deprecation, and victimization in the process of empowerment through comedy.

Hopefully I can avoid sounding trite, when I say that the last thing I want to have happen is for community based art to turn into the stereotype of an after school special.

So how does Urban Theatre accomplish this? Some key thoughts from the article exemplified how they make a point to connect with as many parts of a community as possible when creating work. For instance, if the theatre work involves exploring a conflict within a community, UTP makes a conscious effort to connect with both sides of the argument with the intention of creating a fuller story.

Often times conflicts arise from misunderstanding, and this work, like comedy, can provide a space beyond retribution where through a developed common language and framework of performer and audience- they can discuss sensitive issues that hopefully will foster dialogue and change in their communities.

“What specifically makes us into witnesses, as opposed to watchers, bystanders, spectators or voyeurs in your work? What are the different communities of witness that UTP’s work assembles and how do these co-connect?” Bryoni Tresize

“A very important part of the work is that we feed back to the community. It’s essential to the truth of the work that it goes back to the communities who created it, and those communities are all invited to be present on opening night as VIPs. At one of the school shows I asked how many of the audience were at the Cronulla riots, and most people put up their hand. Performatively speaking, that’s a very interesting moment where the watchers are also the people who have been interviewed for the work, or who have in different ways lived through its context.” Rosalyn Oades (Performance Paradigm 5.2 pg 8)

A beautifully poignant part of the discussion focused on the ideas of being 'witnesses.' in the passage above, Rosalyn Oades articulates how they bring the work back to the communities who produced them. By inviting the members of the communities who were interviewed and recognizing their contributions, and also elevating their status in the context of the performance that night- in a way it validates and affirms their integral role within the project. Without the source material, there is no performance, and through the performance- change can be instigated in a symbiotic relationship of creation and experience.

I recently struggled very much with this concept. In Spitting Too Close, I allowed personal dialogues, conversations, memories to enter my writing. It was the first time that I made a conscious choice to NOT list names or relationships in a specific/identifying way. In past work- I would list/label roles such as father, mother, sister, or relation- to which the audiences would then know/connect the performance with the real people in my family. I did make reference to geographical locations as specific as major highway roads, or monuments, or landscapes. I thought this would be enough to maintain anonymity, while specific enough to locate the work as a device to help audiences "land" the work and be able to connect it to themselves.

As expected- members of my community and people in my life who were part of the conversations and thoughts that I repurposed for the performance- recognized it. Overall there was a sense of pleasure and enjoyment of the show- but there was definitely an awkward and resistance that was present. Had I crossed the line? Had I gone too far? Was it less about publicly identifying them as contributors to my experience? Was it perhaps their own sense of privacy that was violated?

WOULD THEY FEEL SAFE INTERACTING WITH ME AGAIN, OR WOULD THEY BE APPREHENSIVE ABOUT THE POSSIBILITY OF ME COMMODIFYING THE WORK AND TURNING IT INTO PERFORMANCE (ART)?

“At one point, the ending of Stories of Love and Hate was ‘the riots’ - we’d had all these strong stories and characters drawn together by ‘the riots’, so our first instinct was to end with the big, climactic event. But then it became obvious that that wasn’t the right shape for the work and it was really important that the story went beyond that point; that it was also about how to reclaim your dignity after you’ve gone through that sort of trauma. Whereas the media leaves everyone at the moment of crisis, theatre gives us a chance to go beyond that.” Rosalyn Oades (Performance Paradigm 5.2 pg 14)

Some of the text in Spitting Too Close focused on heart break, struggle, and the need for nurturing a relationship. I will admit now that from some times of stress and emotional upset, writing and performing the piece was a part of my healing. I wonder- because I didn't look to my partners and friends to broaden the specific experiences and create a bigger picture, did I 1) do myself an injustice? 2) impede the healing of another person because of my very public testimony of troubles?

To be quite fair- these moments and some of these writings made complete sense for the work and were written for the work. The concepts with Spitting Too Close were to examine the negotiations that men who are artists and men who do not conform to certain standards of masculinity have to make on a personal and social level. From scene to scene exploration, we worked in states of being and perspectives to create visually engaging moments on stage. That said, it would have been stagnant to have characters existing without some purpose or action. So framing the characters in scenes where they exposed themselves as characters but then showcasing how they engaged and navigated through murky relationships and conflicts provided a much more telling experience for everyone in the theatre.

Dealing with gender identity, sexual orientation, and questioning the masculinity of a cast of young men can be as traumatic as working with war survivors or at risk youth. I know that I needed to frame the work around activities and actions to give space for the actors to express in ways that felt true to them and bring integrity to the work.

As mentioned in my previous post on Chutes Incandescentes, in a very intimate moment, one of my actors stated that he had never had relationships like this before. He was referring to playing tag and forming relationships with the other cast members through the activity of running around. What I did not realize was that all of my actors for this show had been through some form of bullying and at some point felt isolated and lonely in their childhoods. Thankfully we created a safe space to openly discuss and process these realizations. So in connection with the last line from the passage above- Spitting Too Close as a theatre piece allowed us as creators and the audience to go beyond what is often presented in the media. It allowed for some healing for my actors, and the discovery of making newer and equally strong relationships with other members of their community.



Tresize, Byroni. Wake, Caroline. "On the Ethics of Non-Disclosure: A Roundtable with Urban Theatre Projects and Collaborators" Performance Paradigm: A Journal of Performance and Contemporary Culture. Issue 5.2. October 2009. Last Accessed: April 12, 2013. http://www.performanceparadigm.net/journal/issue-52/interview/on-the-ethics-of-non-disclosure-a-roundtable-with-urban-theatre-projects-and-collaborators