Galapagos Now:
July 5th - Aug 7th, 2015
Averill Park , NY , United States
Inspired by the Galapagos Archipelago and the knowledge transformations that emerged from Darwin’s five-week experience within their dense bio-diversity, the Galapagos workshop invoked the first principle of the theory of evolution. When individual agents are brought into proximity, they interact, building new linkages. Under the right circumstances, these symbioses create transformations, catalyzing new forms. The proximity and interactions within diverse agents is fundamental to the emergence of new logos, new species, new modes of being, the events of variety and variation; knowledge evolves, comprehension evolves, new forms emerge. Recognizing these diverse forms of agency as a diversity of ‘ways of knowing,' we begin to understand a living system of knowledge permutations—thereby, a 'general assembly of education.'
The structure of 2015’s workshop was situated between the collective embodied process of construction and the dynamic interactions of a wide range of disciplines understood as a living system.
People and institutions across all disciplines and across the globe are increasingly confronted by the need for new models of asking the extraordinarily complex questions of our time. The challenges and possibilities of such a moment are paramount; they call for creative urgency, considered stewardship, and new spaces for bringing together plural voices. With ‘Galapagos Now:’ Arts Letters & Numbers initiates the Galapagos Project; an educational project in collaboration with institutions and individuals world-wide to foster active proximity and dialog among diverse cultures, disciplines, and living systems. The mission and meaning of this framework is to encourage, facilitate, and advocate for a multiplicity of agents to interact, which in turn enables individuals to build connections between their unique processes of living/knowing.
The 2015 summer’s workshop was arranged as a five-week intensive program. The structure and nature of the questions offer different ways in which the experience can be meaningful for each individual and where the contribution of one’s own work supports the larger body of work.
The Mill, the House on the Hill and its context were a stage for the new bridge and the questions asked across all of the disciplines, serving as the primary site for collective sharing and learning. Our dinners, lectures, workshops and critiques were held in this space. A communal live-work environment is an integral part of the workshop experience where the practice of living reflects an approach to the work and the potential for interactions across disciplines and their philosophies.
Participants
Line Moesgaard . Martin Lysholm Hjerl . Elsa Mencagli . Malin Wahlström . Sarah Abarbanel . Bryan Wilson . Vaughn Lewis . Danny Kuperberg . Evan Brugess . Daejeong Kim . Francisco Perez . Joey Pfeifer . ZongYun We . Izak Ishraki . Merethe Bahn Trolle . Lorenzo Bertolotto . Kathryn Dallimore . Jacob Gurin . Sabrina Sadique . Loren Howard . Che Perez . Rikke Jorgensen . Tine Bernstorff Aagaard . Troels Steenholdt Heiredal . Frida Foberg . Sarv Gersten . Rostam Gersten . David Gersten . Rebecca Woodmass . Amara Figeroa
Galapagos Now: Performance
Aug 7th, 2015
Averill Park , NY , United States
In just five weeks we have had Actors, Architects, Mimes, Neurologists, Filmmakers, Opera Singers, Composers, Welders, a Physicist, Master Craftsmen, Painters, Writers, Performance Artists, Chefs, Dancers, a Magician, a Surgeon, and a Poet join us at the Mill. Together we asked, ‘What happened down there in the Galapagos?’, and co-constructed a performative gesture of great emotive depth. This workshop tangibly enacted our hopes for education and for Arts Letters & Numbers: to create circumstances for and bring into proximity and interaction a giant diversity of ‘ways of knowing’; catalyze a microclimate of diverse forms of agency and create a living system of knowledge-transformation. Galapagos Now: is the first step toward “a Galapagos Project”--a global project that aims to promote collaboration, foster creative alliance, and advocate for greater empathy, compassion, and ethics in developing new spaces of education and forms of knowledge.
Participants
Line Moesgaard . Martin Lysholm Hjerl . Elsa Mencagli . Malin Wahlström . Sarah Abarbanel . Bryan Wilson . Vaughn Lewis . Evan Brugess . Daejeong Kim . Francisco Perez . ZongYun We . Izak Ishraki . Merethe Bahn Trolle . Lorenzo Bertolotto . Kathryn Dallimore . Sabrina Sadique . Loren Howard . Che Perez . Rikke Jorgensen . Tine Bernstorff Aagaard . Troels Heierdal . Frida Foberg . Sarv Gersten . Rostam Gersten . David Gersten