1020_21_Final preparations and work on the sound art pieces before the opening. Group work and trouble shooting.
field notes
final thoughts
"In this project, the ability to maintain the clarity and concentration of its purpose, process and goals was a sheer necessity through-out.
I also learnt, that even if these parametres are initially clear, they may quickly become lost if the schedule is too sporadic and changes too often. Sometimes it does not take much for a project like this to fall into oblivion and lose its urgency.
Based on my experiences, from both Örbyhus and Uppsala, I believe that an even greater focus on doing over (any) traditional learning (via talking and lectures e g) is super key.
This goes against the foundation of the traditional pedagogy of the art universities, where a clear context (aka history, concepts, key figures) tends to be important.
However, in this specific setting, dealing with the complexity of a completely diverce group not necessarily with any particular, previous interest in art, the art context itself is precisely what must be downplayed – because it is unimportant and possibly even exluding.
Since most participants lack previous experiences within the contemporary arts and its various practices, talking about it does not help. Instead, it is through the doing that the participants may get an idea of its possible potentials.
If one was to remove this project of all its "unnecessary fluff", then, only the most core, actions would remain.
Even the little talking that this project actually contains, runs the risk of diluting the focus required for its implementation.
However, there might be some openings where the practical parts may be developed to even further integrate theoretical perspectives.
For example, the listening meditation (or other practical exercises) with subsequent, inclusive conversations and discussions, in themselves, constitute a kind of contextualisation of what the group actually did and experienced and why.
The potential of "the hidden being heard" via this project should not be overlooked.
Another key factor is the power of representation. Showcasing a multitude of cóntemporary artists active in the sonic field from similar cultural backgrounds as the participants themselves, for sure made the sound topic more relevant.
There is a self-centeredness and an impatience in the lethargy of the present time of the digital that this project may be able to respond to.
The main task is not to activally counteract these tendencies.
Instead it is the possibilities of the fragmenturgy listening actions themselves, "a listening through field recording", that have to speak in order to finding focus, stillness and a potential "We".
Fragmenturgy actions may rather find space to. explore ways to endure rather than "transform". Tamper with the system, within the system."
0519_ Coordination before the sound exhibition taking place planned for the autumn. Group work and short presentations of possible sound concepts to develop. Opportunity for the participants to ask questions and help eachother.
field notes
"The fragmenturgy performance became a social exercise where the participants caught sight of each other - and surprised each other through the sonic exchange. The frustration when people didn't stop playing. The fear of being heard/not being heard.
Am I sounding too loud, or too weak?
Feeling powerless in the face of ruling over others."
Being held in the hands of "a collective WE", proved difficult for some participants in this excercise. Other participants thrived, as they suddenly became visible; because they had recorded interesting sounds; because they put care and talent into playing them, adjusting the volume to create "a collective weave" in tune with their peers.
Most importantly, these newfound skills were accknowledged by the other participants. Alternate capacities became apparent and even important, through this exercise.
The usual hierarchies that exist witin a group may challenged through the fragmenturgy excercise. But it may also become clear to strong people in the room that they are dominant. Maybe they notice this themselves when they overshadow everyone else's sounding?
It is important to run the excercise several times and let the group find a collective "end" to the performance.
This proved a real challenge here, perhaps because the group was so heterogeneous with so many cultures, and various levels of previous knowledge, expectations and modes of communication.
field notes
Did I do enough "recky"?
Was a couple of days research before the project start really enough?
It is fair to say that my knowledge of Ultuna was fairly limited when I eventually started to work here. I soon realised that I did not go nearly deep enough into its diverse and complicated history as a place for treatment of mental illness, as well as a Center of agricultural studies inm Sweden.
On the other hand, the sense of "outsiderness" helped me to maintain a curious and open "learning mode" during the explorative listening tour inside the school building which helped me learn about the place entirally through the participating students.
It felt as if the participants had a good relationship with the place indoors. The tour opened up for everyone to talk about their personal relation to the site. Showing me, the ousider, around to a place, unknown to me, in fact opened up for something way more important; showing themselves to eachother.
field notes
The many changes and cancelled sessions, due to Covid pandemic, for sure caused some problems for the progress of this project.
Firstly, we had to slimline the project in order to fit it in the curriciulum as days were cancelled due to restrictions.
The constant delays also made the drawn out process difficult for the participants.
The purpose of the project itself, which was clear at the beginning, was a little lost over time and its purpose became increasingly abstract over time. The long summer break did not help.
In hinesight, the compromise to prolong the project duration over the cause of two semesters with a summer break in between (due to Covid) was not the ultimate decision. Based on the uncertainties of this particular group where the Covid pandemic as well as other contributing factors made the attendance of the participants unpredictable.
The constant delays contributed to an overall fuzzy, lethargic, pandemic mood.
The decision to prolong the duration of the project also affected the collaborating pedagogues, who ended up having to persuade the participants to follow through.
Despite this, I believe that the positives of fulfilling the project (for those who did) outweighed the negatives. The sense of acheivement, and even bewilderment, of the participants in relation to their sound work was substantial.
Another thing that affected the project, was the difficulties of the project functioning in my absence. Although time was set aside within the usual curriculum for the participants to work on the project in my absence, little happened without me being there. Why was that?
Maybe the educators were not fully convinced of the project's function and value? Or was the setup too complex, unclear, or out of their comfort zone?
In this respect, the project in Ultuna differed from the previosus Case study conducted at Örbyhus school in 2019.
In Örbyhus, the pedagogue Lena, often worked on the project herself together with the class of 12-year olds, which meant that a momentum was maintained over several months.
Going forward, it will be nescessary to emphasise more efforts on the collaborating teachers, and institution, if the end goal of FACT is to provide an open source pedagogical, sonic toolbox.
One possible solution might be to host a "start-up day" for the teachers, and the surrounding institution, in order to grasp the aims, artistic and pedagogical methods and incentives.
Another addition might be to put together a comprehensive project folder that explains the aims and goals of the project.
Without the full support, time and commitment, of all collaborating initiater/teachers as well as the hosting institution, it is very hard or near impossible to fully execute this kind of project.
On the other hand, one must be aware that projects, such as this one, nearly always have to be "shoe horned" into the usual curriculum, and "make some sense" within it. This nescessary "shoe horning" is nearly always made possible by the substantial efforts of an individual "driving force" within the staff team. In Ultuna's case this special person was the teacher Christina Hillheim who believed in the project from the start and made it possible to realise within the school framework.
If too much preparation time is required, the worry is that the prospect of hosting the project becomes too much for institutions and the nescessary individual "driving forces" to stomach.
field notes
"This was an great day!"
The workshops "Spatial politics I. and II." have been mentioned as "project highlights" by both participants and teachers. Working outdoors in the surround nature led to several of the participants continuing to work on their projects outdoors.
I think that FACT methodology is a lot about "opening doors", maybe not wide open, but providing a small gap or a crack in the system. The participant then has to do the rest themselves. Before the project, however, the door was invisible to many of them, or even locked. Something suddenly becomes possible. There was also a lot of random, funny stuff that happended during the day that made "the day stick" in the memory. Taking the wheelchair for a short ride, crossing a stream, was a challenge that everyone certainly remembered afterwards.
I was unsure whether Pauline Olivero's text score "Rock piece"* would work in this group. I thought it would maybe be too fuzzy? It certainly was not. Despite the location being windy, making it nearly impossible hear the rocks tapping, the sheer determination and concentration of the group, made the excercise make sense.
The group had great imagination as a whole and understood the meaning and the mood of the excercise, but maybe not so much endurance. To learn from the experience, one needs to repeat these kind of excercises several more times during the cause of the project.
"I would have liked to work a lot more outdoors. It felt as if the natural surroundings were alien to many of the participants, which is not strange because the participants do not live at the school and therefore just have their lessons and go home. But it is indeed important to explore alternatives to possible places "to be" as it underlines the additional layer that "the sonic" provides."
field notes
"The joint tour of the school's premises (the basement, the library, the "non existing room", the yoga room, the kitchen, the attic and the entrance) was experienced as exciting and the participants were able to share their personal experiences of the school with each other. The highlight was getting the keys to enter the extensive attic, because no one had been there before. The attic space is usually locked up.
This exercise, shed light on some hidden minority perspectives in relation to sound, sonic clichées and sound norms. It became clear that sound environments (quiet or loud) were interpreted and experienced very differently by the participants, for example the "noisy" entrance and the "quiet" library.
The assumption that everyone, by default, perceive quiet environments as comforting, superior, soothing and clean environments is misleading. People of diverse backgrounds and various cultural conditioning carry different perceptions and norms when it comes to sound and sound etiquette.
A noisy environment might be considered "a safe, friendly and warm space" by somebody used to the frantic, vibrant soundscape of a heavily populated, large city. Meanwhile a person rooted in a sparsely populated or rural setting surrounded by nature, might consider "silence" and "the quiet" as prefereable.
These insights challenges the Westernised and norms that heavily influences most contemporary sound practices, and the way we make assumptions when it comes to "a general sound aesthetic" in urban planning, institutional design and public art.
In this particular case, it points to something that in some way, put the entire school environment in Ultuna (and many other school environments), with its minimalist, sterile and bureaucratically, maybe even user-unfriendly style, at question.
Who are these schools and institutions built for?
