“You hear more when you look, and you look more when you hear” – Artists Discussing Collaboration
Friday, March 12th, 2010 by Chelsea RichardsonYesterday, March 11, 2010, I was pleased to attend a panel discussion moderated by our own Lucinda Dugger. The discussion, titled Cross-Discipline Collaboration: How Writers and Artists are Working Together to Push Boundaries and Engage the Public, was part of Washington DC’s Split This Rock Poetry Festival. It explored questions about the collaborative process and how artists of different disciplines working together can help to create a broader dialogue with the public.
As a simple example of how a group of strangers can begin to collaborate, Lucinda had everyone in the room look at a painting, and then write down a single line of poetry based on what they saw. After everyone had written their lines on separate index cards, we went around the room and read them as one long piece.
It was interesting to hear all of the different themes and ideas that this one painting was able to elicit from everyone. It was equally as interesting to hear the ideas strung together into something larger. By the end of the exercise, I think everyone in the room started to see the painting in new and unexpected ways. As Lucinda pointed out, the image inspired all of these words, which in turn inspired ideas for many more images.
This got me thinking about the artistic process in general. I was recently discussing a film I had seen and been disappointed in with a friend. My friend stated that she felt the lead actor in the film (someone we had always admired) was starting to play the same character over and over. I realized that this actor had been working almost exclusively with the same director and group of actors for almost twenty years. I commented to my friend that typically, when working with new directors, a new crew, new co-stars, an actor is continually adding new tricks to their process. Every new gig is a learning experience. It occurred to me that if this actor has been working with the same people for twenty years, it isn’t all that surprising that the work is beginning to feel familiar and even repetitive.
As discussed in this panel, branching out and participating in collaborative work not only has the ability to enhance one’s process and inspire their creative juices in new ways, but also has the ability to enrich the art forms themselves. It furthermore allows artists to break into new audiences and reach a much broader population with their messages.
Seeing such a diverse group of artists sitting in a room and discussing the enrichment of the arts and the effectiveness of the arts as a tool for social change really resonated with me as a part of the Copyright Alliance team. Cross-discipline collaboration for the betterment of the arts as a whole is something the Copyright Alliance strives to make a reality every day.
I found the panel to be extremely enjoyable, informative, and poignant. If you are an artist in the Washington DC area, I would highly recommend participating in the Split this Rock festival, as well as stepping out of your comfort zone and trying some unexpected collaboration! As someone at the panel said yesterday, “You hear more when you look, and you look more when you hear”.
