Bicara Seni Planet Akal: Kola-BOO!-rasi: Gerun...dan Perlu!



Kola-BOO!-rasi: Gerun… dan perlu!
Colla-BOO!-ration: Scary… and necessary!
This is a sharing session about Studiolog, an exchange project between artists from SE Asia and Europe. We’ll talk about: 
1. Building a Network
Starting where we are, using what we have, expanding to include others

2. Online and Real Life
The possibilities and limitations of online exchange, and why face-to-face contact is essential

3. What do monsters have to do with collaboration? 
The thrill of uncertainty and the unknown!

Project Background
Studiolog was initiated by artists Varsha Nair (Bangkok) and Lena Eriksson (Basel/Lucerne).  
It started in Dec 2011 with ‘Monday2Monday’. Every Monday, Varsha and Lena email each other a snippet from their respective lives and art practices. This ongoing conversation can be seen at the blog http://monday2monday.tumblr.com.
In 2017, their personal exchange became the basis for Studiolog. Six artists who had never met, were paired with each other and asked to conduct a daily correspondence online for 2 weeks. The pairs of artists were: Sharon Chin (Malaysia) with Prisca Wüst (Berlin/Lucerne), Parinot Kurnakornwong (London/Bangkok) with Corina Schaltegger (Lucerne), and Jerome Ming (South Africa) with Marc Gerber (Lucerne). Their conversations were conducted and documented on the website www.studiolog.ch. 
In Jan 2018, everyone involved in the project met in person at the Studiolog – Media/Exchange Symposium organized by Lucerne University of Applied Arts and Sciences in Switzerland. The 3 pairs of Studiolog artists held discussions and conducted workshops with over 200 hundred students in the Master of Arts in Arts Education programme. 

About Colla-BOO!-ration
Workshop by Sharon Chin and Prisca Wust
This workshop explored monsters from different cultures as a form and metaphor for collaboration. Participants were given short introductions to monsters from European and South East Asian traditions, then recreated these monsters collaboratively using image, text and performance. 
Sharon Chin shared important observations and outcomes from her experience in Switzerland and taking part in Studiolog, including: 
- Cultural differences in Switzerland and the impact on communication and exchange
- Building an environment and atmosphere for exchange: space, furniture, shared meals, scheduling slackness or ‘unaccountable’ time 
- New workshop methods (particularly for arts education): working with hands (coloring, crafting, drawing), balancing group and individual activities, building narratives
- New methods for reading texts and conducting discussions as a group
- Thinking by doing and making, why research can be a trap
- Being present versus being mediated
- The question of ownership in collaboration
- Understanding the relationship between uncertainty, flow and attention – why this is an essential skill in today’s hyper-mediated environment
- Learning to welcome discomfort, failure and risk

This sharing session is especially recommended for: 
- Arts educators
- Arts practitioners interested in organizing collaborative or exchange projects
- People interested in different approaches to collaboration and how these can be applied across various fields and social life in Malaysia

Full Video Link:
Bicara Seni Planet Akal: Kola BOO! Rasi; Gerun dan perlu! by Sharon Chin