Creative Interventions

I’ve come to the conclusion (with the help of many kind souls who have generously offered advice) that I have been (embarrassingly) misusing the term “relational.” The term still applies to the types of projects that tinygrants will fund, but it also excludes many possibilities. I will start using the term “creative interventions” instead of “relational projects.” I think it’s easier to understand and is far more inclusive.

Tinkering with language and terminology has raised several other issues, namely about selection criteria. The application guidelines currently state that selection will be based on accordance to the tinygrants mission statement, creativity and ingenuity, and viability/logistics. I think over the coming weeks I will be including other criteria to more specifically address the common threads that run through the kinds of creative interventions I am looking for, such as activating a public, initiating dialogue (implicitly or explicitly), visibility in non-traditional spaces, education components, inventive use of funds, etc.

With these changes, the overarching principles behind tinygrants remain the same. The coming specifications will only be to name what has already been inferred.

This entry was written by Marissa Neave, posted on November 2, 2009 at 12:42 PM, filed under Process, Research and tagged creative intervention, dialogue, education, public. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.

DodoLab

DodoLab is a collaborative, nebulous “organization” that stages interactive seminars that ask its participants, “What are the barriers to adaptation and change?” The question is posed in as many ways as it is answered through a variety of participatory projects. (Full disclosure: I traveled to Montreal with DodoLab as part of their involvement with WEEC5.)

What’s interesting about DodoLab is that it is never one thing, one project, or one idea, which fits well with their interest in adaptation and change. What links all of their projects together is their dependence on participants to supply data or share experiences. There is no “final product” with DodoLab, just new evolutions of ideas, questions and responses.

Read their About page for a list of DodoLab values. You can read what DodoLab is, and what DodoLab isn’t. And on the latter’s list? DodoLab isn’t just an art project.

DodoLab is a great example of how relational art can be collaborative, educational and investigative.

This entry was written by Marissa Neave, posted on October 24, 2009 at 4:46 PM, filed under Research and tagged collaboration, dodolab, education. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.