Valentina Vella Fri, Nov 1, 2013 at 7:31 PM
Guys,
do you have any thoughts about the THING we are supposed to do for Institutional Memory? Personally I haven't even looked at the handout yet. But I attached my stupid essay (not really an essay, more of a collection of informal thoughts) for you to read and I think that maybe we could use some TRICKSTERS.
Ok, I just read the assignment. It's a disaster. I have no energy or time for this. Haaaaaaaa.
V
Sid Yiddish Fri, Nov 1, 2013 at 7:56 PM
I'm with you Valentina-I'm writing the paper right now and am having trouble with wrapping my head around this. i think after I finish this paper, which hopefully will be in a couple of hours, I might have some thoughts about the 2nd assignment.
Leonardo Selvaggio Fri, Nov 1, 2013 at 8:46 PM
Hey everyone. I don't know if this will help but I just kind of made a strong stance in reaction to the position statement and then dug my heels in staunchly. It might actually total bullshit, but when i reread it it sounded alot like french theorist bullshit which is the best kind. I think "negotiating" the assignment is actually the problem and the lesson. I don't know if that makes sense but that is what I did. I have some super preliminary thoughts about assignment 2 but I need to formulate them. One thing we might want to consider is what particular institution if any do we want to model the activity after? I was think American culture might be a funny one because its difficult to even think of our kind of citizenship as institutional.
Valentina Vella Sat, Nov 2, 2013 at 6:02 PM
I think this Robin guy uses the word institution a little too lightly.
Everything is an institution to him. Even this stupid assignment. But we haven't really spent that much time understanding what an institution actually is.
In my "essay" (which is the worst piece of writing ever because who has time to waste on papers? Not me) I challenge the idea that art-making is an institution. It's really a basic human activity like sleeping, eating, having sex. The Art World is an institution for sure, though, or rather a macro-institution made up of smaller proper institutions (my theory is that an institution is an artificial society that we enter in order to gain benefits of various kinds) so if we make art with the intent to engage the Art World then our art-making will definitely be affected one way or another. The other important point I make is that institutions are almost always highly hierarchical, even though there are ways to get to the top eventually. By the time we get there we have internalized the voice of the previous "kings" so we are unlikely to bring about any significant changes.
I agree with Leo about the fact that the lesson here is that we are supposed to challenge the assignment.
Robin is an outsider that has been put in a position of power in an institution. Since he comes from a different place he hasn't internalized the voice of previous Columbia College rulers. He feels a little lost and conflicted. Maybe he wants to promote real change and he is in the position to actually DO it if he wanted to. He can see this place with the fresh eyes of someone who doesn't belong. But something is holding him back. I think this class is some sort of weird psychotherapy session for Mr. Bargar.
Maybe we can challenge this stupid "assignmentstution" and our activity could be a psychotherapy session.
Instead of responding to one of our class members' results from assignment 1 I say we should respond to Robin Bargar himself. Him as an artifact.
Maybe instead of a psychotherapy session it can be a trial. We take turns interrogating him. The rest of the class would be the jury.
At the end they have to come up with a verdict.
Valentina Vella Sat, Nov 2, 2013 at 6:17 PM
Also, this whole class lacks real art. Basically we have forty minutes to do anything we want, so we could do something crazy and beautiful like sing stuff and read poems and whatnot for five minutes and when we're done we stand up and say: Robin Bargar, you are under arrest. You will be tried right now by a jury of peers.
And we say all the things we didn't like about the class and what we think he is REALLY trying to do with it and we try to delve deep inside the psyche of our dean.
Maybe the point is that we as students are not quite part of the institution so we are able to critique it in a way that full members aren't able to do because of the blindness that comes with belonging to it. When you are paying for services (tuition) you are not a full member. A member is someone who gets paid by the institution, who has been accepted inside of it as a spokesperson/teacher.
Valentina Vella Sat, Nov 2, 2013 at 6:21 PM
we could even have a portrait artist make sketches of him like in those trials in which photography is not allowed. And someone would transcribe his deposition. So at the end we would have the transcript and the drawings and we can just hang it all on the wall with all the other stupid stuff.
LEO SELVAGGIO Sat, Nov 2, 2013 at 8:20 PM
HAHAHAH Valentina you are SOOOOOOOO funny. I hear what you are saying, and its smart, but I would like to pass the class…..LOL
Sid Yiddish
Sat, Nov 2, 2013 at 8:22 PM
i don't know about that leo-i think Barger would be amused and might pass if we did something like that.
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Valentina Vella Sat, Nov 2, 2013 at 9:34 PM
To: Sid Yiddish
Cc: LEO SELVAGGIO
I think we would pass the class... he probably hopes that someone will challenge him because it's the whole point of the class.
Sid Yiddish Sun, Nov 3, 2013 at 9:12 PM
To: Valentina Vella
Cc: LEO SELVAGGIO
have we figured out what we're doing as an exercise and are meeting anytime this week?
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Leonardo Selvaggio Mon, Nov 4, 2013 at 8:08 AM
To: Sid Yiddish
Cc: valentina vella
Hey guys. I am with Annette today installing her show. Could we meet Tues night around 8? Or Wednesday after 6
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Sid Yiddish Mon, Nov 4, 2013 at 8:18 AM
To: Leonardo Selvaggio
Cc: valentina vella
Tuesday is doable for me.
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Valentina Vella Mon, Nov 4, 2013 at 10:20 AM
To: Sid Yiddish
Cc: Leonardo Selvaggio
evenings are extremely difficult for me.
is lunchtime a possibility?
I also think that we should brainstorm some ideas by e-mail before meeting otherwise we aren't likely to come up with a definitive plan when we meet.
Another idea that I have is that we could pretend that Robin Bargar is King Harald of Norway. A little history lesson: in the 9th century King Harald decided to become king of everything so a lot of people moved to Iceland. Once they got to Iceland they created a very different society, with no central state. A system of chieftains who all met at the Althing, some sort of proto-parliament. In many ways it was a much simplified society, with no cities or taxes or law enforced by a supreme authority. They solved their issues locally, creating local alliances and trying to deal with a harsh landscape and limited local resources. They also produced a stunningly beautiful literature.
I'm not saying that we need to be philological here. Just imagine a situation in which we distance ourselves from a motherland and create a new society elsewhere, while being aware of the shortcomings of the OTHER way of doing things. Imagining an island is preferable because it creates a self-contained world and because it is naturally protected from enemies, thus making the need for an all-powerful king that could assemble an army less pressing.
Now, I have no idea what the activity might be. Maybe the point is to show that only an institution with no supreme leader can be an Unstitution. Maybe each student is given a name and a parcel of land and we create some activity we engage in. At some point one of us might start to gain power over the others so the rest of us get on a ship and leave to a new island. Because the "constitution" of our "state" says that there can be no king, so we keep creating a new state somewhere else. Maybe another article of the constitution says that there can be no writing. It needs to be an oral society.
Eventually Iceland was conquered by Denmark so they lost their independence and they became literate because of Christianity. But they had a much better life before that.
There could be some fun roleplaying enacting feuds and battles and reciting oral poetry. Hip hop songs count!
Really guys, I have no clue. Just trying to help.
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Valentina Vella Mon, Nov 4, 2013 at 10:30 AM
To: Sid Yiddish
Cc: Leonardo Selvaggio
... I also think that it's important to pay attention to the language of the handout he gave us.
It talks about making an Unstitution. And then it says that a class assignment is an institution we can tackle. Here I see a clear invitation to unmake the assignment.
If we limit ourselves to following his directions carefully then we are not making a new institution. We are just accepting the status quo.
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Valentina Vella Mon, Nov 4, 2013 at 10:38 AM
To: Sid Yiddish
Cc: Leonardo Selvaggio
at the same time we don't just want to make a new institution. The point is to make an institution that has embedded in itself the possibility of not getting stagnant or turning into a dictatorship.
Consensus is a good way to stay away from dictatorships. But consensus becomes impractical once an institution grows large.
At the class level it would still be possible to operate by consensus. No decisions can be made unless EVERYONE agrees.
Until then we have to keep discussing.
The topics don't matter, we could make them as surreal as we want. Maybe we try to write a collective poem together, and everyone has veto power. In the end we have a poem that will most likely suck. So the experiment fails. Or maybe it works, who knows? After all we are a fairly homogenous group. But we show how difficult it is to work on things pretending that our brains are one brain.
Sid Yiddish Tue, Nov 5, 2013 at 12:42 AM
To: Valentina Vella
Cc: Leonardo Selvaggio
I've been reading your emails, Valentina & I really liked the idea of a trial-that fascinated me a lot.
i can be at Columbia closer to 1pm, if either of want to meet. i have meetings in the mid afternoon and evening, so i'll be there, if need be.
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Leonardo Selvaggio Tue, Nov 5, 2013 at 9:15 AM
To: Sid Yiddish
Cc: Valentina Vella
Hey guys, yes, the trial thing sounds interesting, I can't do lunch time today, but I could do wednesday around 12:30 if that works
Leonardo Selvaggio
MFA Candidate- Department of Interdisciplinary Arts
Director of The Fountains Foundation at 916
Gallery Assistant- Center for Book and Paper Arts
Graduate Assistant for Upper Dwight, Dept of Residence Life
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Valentina Vella Tue, Nov 5, 2013 at 2:41 PM
To: Leonardo Selvaggio
Let's meet tomorrow at 12:30 over some food.
Valentina Vella Tue, Nov 5, 2013 at 2:59 PM
To: Leonardo Selvaggio , Sid Yiddish
Also, Ahmed is really pissed about Columbia as an institution right now. We could have him as witness.
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Sid Yiddish Tue, Nov 5, 2013 at 3:24 PM
To: Valentina Vella
Cc: Leonardo Selvaggio
to you both: i have class at 12:30pm. i have a break between 3:30-6:30pm
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Valentina Vella Tue, Nov 5, 2013 at 3:32 PM
To: Sid Yiddish
Ouch. I can meet at 3:30 but I don't know about Leo.
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Leonardo Selvaggio Tue, Nov 5, 2013 at 3:58 PM
To: valentina vella
Sounds good!!!
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Valentina Vella Tue, Nov 5, 2013 at 4:07 PM
To: Leonardo Selvaggio , Sid Yiddish
At 3:30 then?
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Leonardo Selvaggio Tue, Nov 5, 2013 at 4:26 PM
To: valentina vella
Cc: Sid Yiddish
Hi guys. Sorry. I didn't see Sid's email. I have class at 3:30. Maybe Valentina, you and I could meet at 12:30 and then u and Sid could meet at 3:30? You do seem to have the best handle on the idea. I can help u refine it tomorrow and then Sid could do the same later in the day. What do u think?
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Valentina Vella Tue, Nov 5, 2013 at 4:41 PM
To: Leonardo Selvaggio
Cc: Sid Yiddish
This could be problematic but we don't have much of a choice.
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Leonardo Selvaggio Tue, Nov 5, 2013 at 4:49 PM
To: valentina vella
Cc: Sid Yiddish
Agreed. To be honest these scheduling issues is why I raised my concern about a group project in the first place. But I think it will be fine. In some ways I think u have the best handle on the subject Valentina. While this might not be an ideal collaboration, me and Sid can act a filtration system for your initial idea. I think the product of that process will be very interesting and worth showing in class. I am going to spend tonight thinking about it before we meet tomorrow
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Valentina Vella Tue, Nov 5, 2013 at 5:35 PM
To: Leonardo Selvaggio
Great. I'm worried about the media artifact thing.
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Valentina Vella Tue, Nov 5, 2013 at 10:38 PM
To: Leonardo Selvaggio
Cc: Sid Yiddish
One of the things we should consider is how we could start the "presentation.". Maybe we need to perform a little collective piece? Do you guys have something that can be read aloud/played that could constitute a media artifact? We could maybe meld our pieces into one.
Also, I now have a million doubts about the trial idea so remind me why it's a good idea? Haha, I just feel tired and lost. Should we have a plan B?
Anyway, I guess I will met Leo at 12:30 and Sid at 3:30.
My number is 215-470-6131
Send me text messages so I have your numbers...
V
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Valentina Vella Tue, Nov 5, 2013 at 10:51 PM
To: Leonardo Selvaggio
Cc: Sid Yiddish
Also, wikipedia says some stuff that might be useful:
Organizational structure determines the training requirements and expectations of behaviour associated with various roles. This is part of the implicit institutional knowledge. Progress to higher echelons requires assimilation of this, and when outsiders enter at a high level, effectiveness tends to deteriorate if this morale is unjustly ignored.
So maybe what we're focusing on in our "presentation" is the specific thing that happens when an outsider, our dear Mr. Robin Bragar, enters the institution at a high level, without prior assimilation.
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Leonardo Selvaggio Tue, Nov 5, 2013 at 11:03 PM
To: Valentina Vella
Cc: Sid Yiddish
Ok, so I have just reread all the emails and I am not really convinced that the trial is a good idea. While the idea of putting Robin on trial sounds really cathartic right now, lol, i am not sure its the way to go. I am thinking about what Valentina said about the language of the assignment and it being an opportunity to break from the assignment rules. I was also thinking about what she said about consensus, which I agree with and wrote about in my essay as well. I think that the institution that we should be examining is the class room. The class room has its own syntax. where students sit, where the professor teaches from, how we absorb information, the expectation of a product/assignments. All of these things create a type of institutional memory I think. Why isn't a class playful, kinesthetic in nature? why do we sit? Why do we wait to speak? why does the teacher have authority? etc. What if we developed a process for allowing the class to decide what the assignment is? facilitate a way to use consensus to determine the group's activity for our 40 minutes. In this way, we challenge the very idea of a workshop as instructional. And through the breakdown of our assumptions of what instructional means, we may learn something about the institutional memory of the class room. Thoughts? also my digits are 2017048520
Valentina Vella Tue, Nov 5, 2013 at 11:21 PM
To: Leonardo Selvaggio
Cc: Sid Yiddish
I think you're absolutely right but I think that we could start this "activity" by reading some of these e-mails that we sent to each other. It's the prelude.
So we threaten the trial, we talk about our discontent and we set the stage for the real activity, which is a negotiation of what we'll do in the remaining time. The consensus might be that we just want to sing karaoke.
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LEO SELVAGGIO Tue, Nov 5, 2013 at 11:23 PM
To: Valentina Vella
Cc: Sid Yiddish
HAHAHAH!!!!
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Valentina Vella Tue, Nov 5, 2013 at 11:37 PM
To: LEO SELVAGGIO
Cc: Sid Yiddish
I think reading these e-mails would end up being a pretty funny performance. Here you have the artifact. Sid didn't write a whole lot but he made his positions and his discontent with the class very clear. I wonder whether you (Sid) might be interested, besides reading your e-mails, in providing a musical background to the performance. It would be a dialogue between words and sounds.
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Sid Yiddish Tue, Nov 5, 2013 at 11:38 PM
To: LEO SELVAGGIO
Cc: Valentina Vella
hahahahahhahahah!!! that's what uninstitution is. total anarchy, ending with song.
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Sid Yiddish Tue, Nov 5, 2013 at 11:43 PM
To: LEO SELVAGGIO
Cc: Valentina Vella
I could provide a soundtrack, both sound and instrumental, if need be, i'm a little muddled by the whole class myself, it's a bit of a farce. i've been following your emails, reading and rereading them; they've become almost intertwined, like a great vine with all these little branches spurting out everywhere, like improvisation, a full composition.
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Sid Yiddish Tue, Nov 5, 2013 at 11:45 PM
To: LEO SELVAGGIO
Cc: Valentina Vella
if i'm able to get a few guys together on short notice, would you 2 be okay with me bringing in a kind of orchestra effect to our presentation?
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Valentina Vella Tue, Nov 5, 2013 at 11:46 PM
To: Sid Yiddish
Cc: LEO SELVAGGIO
I think we nailed it.
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Valentina Vella Tue, Nov 5, 2013 at 11:47 PM
To: Sid Yiddish
Cc: LEO SELVAGGIO
the orchestra effect is a wonderful idea
SID: By the way! Valentina, Leo.... How are really supposed to pronounce Robin's last name?