ArtStart Diary – Chicago: Standing Tall On The Wings of My Dreams

Sometimes the world seems perfect, Nothing to rearrange,

Sometimes you just get a feeling, Like you need some kinda change,

No matter what the odds are this time, Nothing’s gonna stand in my way,

This flame in my heart and a long lost friend, Gives every long street a light at the end,

Standing tall, On the wings of my dreams,

Rise and fall, On the wings of my dreams,

The rain and thunder, Wind and haze,

I’m bound for better days,

It’s my life, And my dreams,

And nothing’s gonna stop me now.

No nothing’s gonna stop me now.

 

Baseball diamonds dot the landscape out my airplane window, urban crop circles remind me that Field of Dreams is the film most likely to make a grown American man cry. I love the hackneyed phrase “if you build it they will come”, an assurance that I’ve always relied upon in my career. But, no cultural symbol of Chicago carries more sentiment for me than Perfect Strangers. It was my favorite show, often watched with my good pal Shane – I just wish that he were with me, playing an accidental Cousin Balkie to my over-organised Cousin Larry, we would surely do The Dance of Joy. (My impromptu acapella karaoke renditions of this song are designed to annoy my pals/show off my 90s power-ballad range, but the joke is often on me when I finish and need to wipe away a sincere of true nostalgia. Don’t be ridiculous!)

 

Sure, I plan to check out some culture while in Chicago, but the triad of 90’s based references that truly inform any of my pre-conceived notions of the city mean a tour along the Perfect Strangers locations, a Cubs game at the Friendly Confines and a Bulls match where MJ beat the buzzer again and again are really are my top 3 priorities. Apart from that I’m at the whim of recommendations, local arts listings and the few links I can muster through fellow Melbourne artists, one step at a time like this, ongoing creative development at the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre.

 

But immediately upon arrival I’m introduced to another of Chicago’s true famous icons – deep dish pizza pie with sausage and some really good local beer from the Goose Island Brewery. Food continues to be a top recommendation as my week progresses. A friend said the “best thing to do in Chicago is just to be in Chicago” and went on to recommend a long list of coffee and food joints. I brought my running shoes fearing that the American diet would need counterbalancing, but during the week I manage no more than walking across town, but at least I’ve realized that I only need to eat twice a day if I keep up with these over-generous portions of rich, restaurant quality, gourmet junk food. But, I think instead I’ll “just be in Chicago” and leave the jogging till later.

 

TV, SPORT, ART & JUST BE IN CHICAGO notes to follow…

www.theSBSB.com: We have been nominated for a Melbourne Green Room Award! The nomination is for Outstanding Production - Creative Agency for Audiences under the Alternative & Hybrid Performance category. Our work is mentioned alongside some terrific artists and work we admire - congratulations to our fellow nominees Triage Live Art Collective, Team Mess, Elizabeth Dunn & co and Jason Mailing. The nomination is for ALL of the collaborating artists who made The Stream / The Boat / The Shore / The Bridge. Further congratulations to Andrew Bailey who was also nominated for his entire Years Work at Melbourne Theatre Company for Set And Costume Design in the Theatre - Companies category. Finally, particular thanks and awe to Next Wave Festival for supporting our work and so many others - 8 Next Wave Festival events were nominated!

www.theSBSB.com:

We have been nominated for a Melbourne Green Room Award! The nomination is for Outstanding Production - Creative Agency for Audiences under the Alternative & Hybrid Performance category. Our work is mentioned alongside some terrific artists and work we admire - congratulations to our fellow nominees Triage Live Art Collective, Team Mess, Elizabeth Dunn & co and Jason Mailing.

The nomination is for ALL of the collaborating artists who made The Stream / The Boat / The Shore / The Bridge. Further congratulations to Andrew Bailey who was also nominated for his entire Years Work at Melbourne Theatre Company for Set And Costume Design in the Theatre - Companies category.

Finally, particular thanks and awe to Next Wave Festival for supporting our work and so many others - 8 Next Wave Festival events were nominated!

Today I start development of a new project, collaborating with Andy Field as part of the Going Nowhere program at Arts House - take a peek and keep up to date via this work in progress tumblr…

citycyclegoingnowhere:

First day of development on City Cycle as part of Going Nowhere at Arts House: Dan Koop is in Melbourne AU, Andy Field is in Bristol UK, 11 hours and 17,073km apart. During the creative development neither of us will travel to meet each other, we’ll purchase no new materials (second hand or recycled is okay) and we’ll work up an idea for a new work that can travel without us getting on a plane or sending equipment either. Perhaps we’ll present the work in a 3rd city altogether…

I started by visiting the Melbourne Visitor Centre in Federation Square and picking up maps and guides for tourists visiting Melbourne. These readily available printed collateral will be our materials. The sites surrounding also provide key Melbourne sites for exploration: the City Circle tram, the Melbourne Bike Share system and the Melbourne Visitor Shuttle. Even Eureka Tower rises above the iconic Flinders St dome from this angle.

Federation Square claims to be “Melbourne’s meeting place” but perhaps this boast is for tourists? “Meet you under the clocks” at Flinders St is still a default meeting place for many Melbourne locals. But is this the centre of town? Both Fed Square and Flinders St Station sit on the “southern” border of Melbourne’s city grid. Travel up Swanston St to City Square and were getting closer, even if this isn’t a square at all - at least Melbourne Town Hall is directly across the road giving a sense of being near the seat of local power.

Bourke St is the (almost) west-east spine of Melbourne, with the pedestrian mall situated between busy Swanston & Elizabeth Sts. Here, we find the Melbourne Visitor Booth and helpful staff. Anyone can drop by and grab a tearaway black and white map of Melbourne. The Melbourne General Post Office (now a boutique shopping centre) stands in the background on the corner of Bourke & Elizabeth. All the highway signs leading into Melbourne measure the distance to the GPO, marking this as the “centre of town”.

But Melbourne is expanding. Many times I’ve heard it said that “geographically, Melbourne is one of the largest cities in the world”. I have no idea if that’s true or not, but seeing as there are no mountains to stop the city growth I know there’s something to the statement… It’s like pancake batter that continues to ooze outwards from this centre. So if this really is the centre, what revolves around it?

The free City Circle tram carves out a boundary around the edge of the Melbourne CBD, now adding the Docklands to the west to it’s route. What’s inside this boundary and what’s outside? Who’s inside this boundary and who’s outside? Who’s in this city as a local and who’s the visitor?

DK

Interview with Deakin’s Arts Participation Incubator

artsparticipationincubator:

image by Sarah Walker

Dan Koop
Producer, ENCOUNTER(S) presented by Theatre Works, St Kilda (www.encounters.org.au)

1.What started your interest in arts participation?
I am an Artist, Producer and most often an audience to art so I guess I like multiple view points that art provides and I like opportunity to be in on the act of creation. I figure if I like doing it, there is a chance that some other people might like the opportunity too. I like offers of participation, rather than requests - I like it when people get something new during the act of participating, rather than the feeling that they have given something up or paid for it in whatever way. And so instead of a subtractive or binary relationship, we get to explore notions of exchange where 1 + 1 can weirdly = 3. My favorite works have not so easily been placed into forms, like theatre or visual arts, and I like that there is a kind of negotiation required for these works exist.

2.What can/do you do to incorporate arts participation and inclusivity into your practice?
The list of small things you could do to include participation into your practice are immense… But, I’m more interested in works where the practice isparticipation. Tacking on a Q&A to the end of a theatre show or letting people choose the colours for their colouring in book aren’t enough for me. I get really excited by projects where some genuine decisions that effect the course of the artwork are made by participants. So, for me it’s about having a series of moments throughout the process of a works development and presentation where input is possible. Sometimes this is participation by other artists or arts professionals, but I really value works when there is a nuanced way for the input from non-initiated individuals or communities too. I recognise that there is a danger that unrestricted participation could lead to a big old mess of a project, so I think it’s really important to have a structure in which participation is carefully considered within - the artist has always got to have a way to keep a work on track in order to keep asking the significant questions that it set out to ask in the first place.

Inclusivity is a funny one… I once heard that love is the ultimate act of exclusiveness - an intense focus on a certain thing that blocks out other possibilities. Sometimes, rather than wildly inviting anyone in a good intentioned “everyone gets a go” kind of way, it is healthy to exclude some from participation so that we can focus on something specific and with a greater intensity. For example, we may have heard from enough white males with a university degree (pot-kettle-black…) But, I do always like asking the question “who is not here?” and seeing what answer that provides. Sometimes we realise that we really don’t need the people who are absent, but often by realising who is not there a bit of curiosity can be unlocked and explored. As artists and as a society we might have questions that we don’t know the answer to or are not well placed to answer and there might be some people not too far away that can provide that perspective we are curious about.
To sum it up: foster your curiosity in your prospective participants.

3.Why does arts participation matter?
Because participation is an active mode of behaviour, useful in life not just the arts. But the arts are a rare space for independent thought and I think everyone should have the chance to have self determination and input into the process of making the world around them. To only be a consumer of someone else’s products seems a bit restrictive and old fashioned to me. It’s like to be a good DJ you have to know how to dance, to be a good talker you have to know how to listen, to be a good writer you have to read…
Theatreworks is having intensive three day master class facilitated by UK performer Adrian Howells Friday 7 – Sunday 9 December. This will give participants an unprecedented opportunity to explore both personal and performative boundaries.For more information, go to: http://encounters.org.au/2012-public-program/back-to-nurture/ 

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The Supported Projects for ENCOUNTER(S) 2012 have been announced! All artists will congregate at Theatre Works this December to participate in a masterclass with Adrian Howells (UK) and then undertake a residency in an unusual St Kilda location to develop their new work. Head to www.encounters.org.au to find out more about the artists and their projects. You can also keep up to date with ENCOUNTER(S) via twitter and facebook.

The Supported Projects for ENCOUNTER(S) 2012 have been announced!

All artists will congregate at Theatre Works this December to participate in a masterclass with Adrian Howells (UK) and then undertake a residency in an unusual St Kilda location to develop their new work.

Head to www.encounters.org.au to find out more about the artists and their projects. You can also keep up to date with ENCOUNTER(S) via twitter and facebook.

ENCOUNTER(S) is a three-year Theatre Works project that will commission and present one-on-one and small-scale intimate performances at various locations throughout St Kilda. In 2012 some of Australia’s most adventurous performance makers will undertake creative development residencies as they explore more profoundly the relationship between audience and artist through the development of new work in surprising and unusual locations. During two weeks in December commissioned artists will be given the opportunity to share their creative developments and Theatre Works will program a series of workshops and discussions focusing on small-scale, intimate and site-sympathetic performance. In future years ENCOUNTER(S) will develop to become a full scale festival of intimate performance presenting a program of events which celebrate immersive, experimental and participatory artistic experiences. EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST CLOSE 5PM 23 JULY 2012 DOWNLOAD ENCOUNTER(S) 2012 EOI FORM If you have any questions please contact Dan Koop, Producer via encounters[at]theatreworks.org.au Photo by Sarah Walker

ENCOUNTER(S) is a three-year Theatre Works project that will commission and present one-on-one and small-scale intimate performances at various locations throughout St Kilda. In 2012 some of Australia’s most adventurous performance makers will undertake creative development residencies as they explore more profoundly the relationship between audience and artist through the development of new work in surprising and unusual locations.

During two weeks in December commissioned artists will be given the opportunity to share their creative developments and Theatre Works will program a series of workshops and discussions focusing on small-scale, intimate and site-sympathetic performance.

In future years ENCOUNTER(S) will develop to become a full scale festival of intimate performance presenting a program of events which celebrate immersive, experimental and participatory artistic experiences.

EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST CLOSE 5PM 23 JULY 2012

DOWNLOAD ENCOUNTER(S) 2012 EOI FORM

If you have any questions please contact Dan Koop, Producer via encounters[at]theatreworks.org.au

Photo by Sarah Walker