In Heraklion, the scores were written on a big paper roll. The roll travelled from the ceiling, along the floor, out a window. It was hanging, folded, ripped, seperated, changing with the accumulationg scores and traces from the sculpture built on and around it. The ARTwork took place nearby the institution that hosted the encounter, in a building that had been abandoned – an old raisin factory turned art school, which in itself enriched the ARTwork significantly through its very visible layers of local history.
I N D E X
sculpture – an assemblage of objects and bodies, including what they do
assemblage - a gathering of materials with an intentional focus on how they correlate and interact
encounter – a meeting between students, teachers and staff involved in the RELAY project. The encounters took place in (in chronological order), Cologne/online, Copenhagen, Bucharest, Cologne, and Heraklion.
time capsule – a distilled version of the sculpture. In a suitcase, time capsules were sent from one encounter to the other.
score – a set of instructions, often in chronological order, for engagement with artistic materials
distilling – to reduce something to its most essential components;
in relation to the time capsules this meant a process of finding objects and assemblages that are small enough for the container and carry the most important aspects of the sculpture
letters – the final form of the sculpture; small assemblages of objects from the sculpture with a personal note from a participant → you can order one home -- HERE ---
The ARTwork was one of the two outcomes of the RELAY project. It revolved around a sculpture that was made collaboratively by all project participants; never by all at once, but at least once by every person involved. The sculpture was constantly changing and traveled from one encounter to the next via a time capsule.
While engaging with the sculpture, the participants were introduced to forms of collaboration that didn’t depend on consensus, but that functioned through a direct engagement with different artistic materials including objects, sound and movement. Maia Means and Max Wallmeier, the two artists responsible for the facilitation of the ARTwork, provided scores for collaboration and artistic exploration while minimizing their own influence on content of the sculpture, leaving that open to the participants’ interests and desires, as well as their experiences throughout the encounter.
At the start of each encounter, the time capsule from the previous one was opened and laid out in the sculpture room by the group travelling with it, in an opening ritual. All participants were then presented with scores for gathering both local and generic materials – local materials being something specific to the institution/building/neighbourhood/city of the event, and generic materials being the things you might find at any of the four places. With the found materials, the participants started to build a sculpture. During the entire duration of each encounter the sculpture continuously morphed as the participants added, changed and activated the sculpture, informed by the other work and information they took part of during the week.
At the end of each encounter there was a closing ceremony that distilled the sculpture into a time capsule, which was then opened at the next location. At the end of the last encounter in Heraklion, the sculpture took its final shape – for the time being – in the form of small assemblages placed in letters.
A last time capsule was packed and buried in the sand of an urban Cretan beach.
For every iteration of the ARTwork, the main mode of instructions were hand-written scores. Underneath you find the scores from Bucharest, originally written on big papers to be hung on a wall during the week. The scores proposed a reflection on the differences and overlaps between "local" and "generic" materials, which we encouraged the participants to find during walks and the other activities of the encounter.
In Cologne, daily scores slowly filled one wall of the studio where the time capsule was opened and the sculpture was built and activated throughout the week – the scores are pictured underneath approximately like they were placed at the end of the week. The intention of the ARTwork in Cologne was to provide scores and structures but let the contents come entirely from the students. The activities, methods and materials that constituted the ARTwork suggested sustainability by creating a structure for non-linear entanglements, with a focus on tasks for re-tracing, recycling and listening, as well as incorporating local and seasonal materials.
The assemblages that were made from the sculpture during the last encounter in Crete. They were paired with a written letter from each participant, and are sent out together with a collection of scores. The letters are sent to collaborating partners; artistis and institutions whose work relates to the RELAY project; and to a small amount of people who are interested in receiving the letters. Sign up for receiving one such letter here by emailing Relay.Project@hfmt-koeln.de
