\chapter 5 – translocal geographies of london: belonging and ‘otherness’ among polish migrants after 2004 (peter & gabrielle)

i can relate to the feeling of “otherness” and longing for a sense of belonging in far away places… it’s a basic human need to feel a sense of belonging and acceptance when i lived abroad in 1984/85 local residents of an area have expressed resentment towards me . . . . . Katherine Brickell and Ayona Datta(2011) Translocal Geographies – Spaces, Places, Connections Guy Debord (1956 ) Theory of the Dérive (Excerpt, 3 pages) Doreen Massey (2004) Part Five – A relational politics of the spatial Grant Kester (2000) Dialogical Aesthetics: A Critical Framework For Littoral Art Rachelle Viader Knowles (2017) A Translocal Approach to Dialogue Based Art  : : : : WORKSHOP NOTES : : : : At last! I finally get to take a course with Michael Bowdidge! I’m thrilled. I have heard lots of praise and admiration for MB and friends have really loved his workshops, his sense of play, spontaneity and chance – all some of my favorite invisible things as well! So here we go… : : : : SYMPOEISIS WORKSHOP DETAILS : : : : 3-day workshop The Translocal Neighbourhood with Michael Bowdidge As an institution we have constantly sought to understand and occupy spaces of liminality and in-betweenness, always responding to what we find and where we are in a spirit of optimism and openness. Given the enormous changes that the events of the last few months have brought, it now seems both urgent and necessary that we bring our creativity to bear upon one of the biggest questions that we now face as a species: How can we be together when we are apart? We do not confront this conundrum alone – thankfully there are artists and theorists who paved our way along this difficult path, whose thoughts and actions we can now experiment with and re-evaluate with a view to shining some light upon the darkness. The key idea here is the notion of translocality, which  can be understood “as an expression of “simultaneous situatedness across different locales” and “connectedness to a variety of other locales” (Brickell and Datta, 2011: 4), no matter the proximity” (Knowles, 2016: 4).  We will explore this notion in discussions and collaborative creative exercises over the course of several days, in order to survey, map and understand our translocal neighbourhood. Artists and theorists whose work we will examine include: Rachelle Viader Knowles, Jorge Luis Borges, Grant Kester, Katherine Brickell and Ayona Datta, Arjun Appandurai, Ewa Wojtowicz, Kit Galloway and Sherrie Rabinowitz, Guy Debord, and Suzanne Lacy and Linda Pruess. This is a field that has been extensively theorised, but the implications of these theories have been explored in practice less often than might be supposed. This workshop attempts to re-address this imbalance in in an urgent and timely manner. Michael Bowdidge (PhD) is an artist who works with found objects, images and sound. He received his undergraduate degree in Fine Art from Middlesex Polytechnic in 1989, and completed his doctoral research at the University of Edinburgh in 2012. Michael works in a variety of educational contexts, which include academic and community settings. All of these activities enrich his teaching practice, and by extension, his creative output – as, for him, these two areas of endeavour are fundamentally intertwined.

SYLLABUS

“Being with you and not being with you is the only way I have to measure time.” – Jorge Luis Borges As an institution we have constantly sought to understand and occupy spaces of liminality and in-betweenness, always responding to what we find and where we are in a spirit of optimism and openness. Given the enormous changes that the events of the last few months have brought, it now seems both urgent and necessary that we bring our creativity to bear upon one of the biggest questions that we now face as a species: How can we be together when we are apart? We do not confront this conundrum alone – thankfully there are artists and theorists who paved our way along this difficult path, whose thoughts and actions we can now experiment with and re-evaluate with a view to shining some light upon the darkness. The key idea here is the notion of translocality, which  can be understood “as an expression of “simultaneous situatedness across different locales” and “connectedness to a variety of other locales” (Brickell and Datta, 2011: 4), no matter the proximity” (Knowles, 2016: 4).  We will explore this notion in discussions and collaborative creative exercises over the course of several days, in order to survey, map and understand our translocal neighbourhood. Artists and theorists whose work we will examine include: Rachelle Viader Knowles, Jorge Luis Borges, Grant Kester, Katherine Brickell and Ayona Datta, Arjun Appandurai, Ewa Wojtowicz, Kit Galloway and Sherrie Rabinowitz, Guy Debord, and Suzanne Lacy and Linda Pruess. This is a field that has been extensively theorised, but the implications of these theories have been explored in practice less often than might be supposed. This workshop attempts to re-address this imbalance in in an urgent and timely manner. Goals To explore the use of non-medium specific creative strategies in relation to the notion of the translocal, and in particular the register of the translocal neighbourhood (after Brickell and Datta, 2011). To achieve a general understanding of the many ways in which the notion of translocality has been brought into fruitful and productive dialogue with creative practice, and the current possibilities for further exploration of this nexus of praxes. To explore the relevance and utility of the notion of translocality as means of establishing meaningful connections across geographically distributed communities Day 1: The Translocal Neighbourhood #1 – Mapping Schedule Course introduction: course aims, course ethos and protocols (10 minutes) Short exercise #1: A Round Robin #1 (20 minutes) Class presentation and discussion of readings (1 hour) Long exercise/individual exploration #1: The Dérive (2 hours+) Undertake a derive within the neighbourhood that you live in, capture your movement and thought during this process with images/sound/video/drawing/whatever medium seems appropriate to you. Add your images/files to the shared Google Drive account. Class debriefing and sharing of materials gathered (1 hour) Please bring to class A digital image of something in your neighbourhood that captures something important about it for you. Please read for today Chapter 1 – Introduction: Translocal Geographies in Translocal Geographies by Katherine Brickell and Ayona Datta (18 pages, PDF) Theory of the Dérive (Excerpt) – Guy Debord (3 pages, PDF) . . . . . . . Day 2: The Translocal Neighbourhood #2 – Connecting Schedule Short exercise #2: A Round Robin #2 (20 minutes) Class presentation and discussion of readings (1 hour) Long exercise/exploration #2: Making Connections (2 hours+) Working either individually, in pairs or in a larger group, begin to work on bringing together/juxtaposing/combining the materials that we gathered yesterday during our Dérives to create new images/sounds/artworks that speak to our shared commonalities and differences. This may occur by finding ways to allow these traces of other neighbourhoods to manifest in your own neighbourhood, and then recapturing that manifestation, or by bringing these materials into other forms of dialogue.  Again, share your results into the project Google Drive when you are done. Class debriefing and sharing of the day’s work (1 hour) Please read for today (Please note that I’ve divided up the readings amongst you as follows, to ‘spread the load’ a little 🙂 Gabrielle & Peter:  Translocal Geographies, Chapter 5 – Translocal Geographies of London: Belonging and ‘Otherness’ among Polish Migrants after 2004, Ayona Datta (19 pages, PDF supplied in Day one’s readings) Rudi & Sarah Jane: Translocal Geographies, Chapter 6 – ‘You wouldn’t know what’s in there would you?’ Homeliness and ‘Foreign’ Signs in Ashfield, Sydney, Amanda Wise (16 pages, PDF supplied in Day one’s readings) Sheila & Syowia: Translocal Geographies, Chapter 7 – Ways Out of Crisis in Buenos Aires: Translocal Landscapes and the Activation of Mobile Resources, Ryan Centner (18 pages, PDF supplied in Day one’s readings) Please bring to class 20 individual words that each capture something about your neighbourhood for you. Please list them alphabetically on a piece of paper . . . . . . Day 3: The Translocal Neighbourhood #3 – BUILDing Short exercise #3: A Round Robin #3 (20 minutes) Class presentation/discussion(1 hour) Long exercise/exploration #3: The Map is The Territory (2 hours+) Schedule Working either individually, in pairs or in a larger group, we’ll work together to find a final form for our map of our translocal neighbourhood, stitching together and interweaving the various fragments and entanglements that we have worked on over the past couple of days Class debriefing and sharing of the day’s work with guest Rachelle Viader Knowles (tbc)( (1 hour) Please read for today Doreen Massey (2004) Part Five – A relational politics of the spatial in For Space (18 pages, PDF ) – – – – – – –

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Readings Excerpted chapters as indicated above from: Katherine Brickell and Ayona Datta(2011) Translocal Geographies – Spaces, Places, Connections (PDF supplied) GS: Ch. 1 & Ch. 5 All of the following: Guy Debord (1956 ) Theory of the Dérive (Excerpt, 3 pages, PDF supplied) Doreen Massey (2004) Part Five – A relational politics of the spatial in For Space (18 pages, PDF supplied) Suggested additional readings Grant Kester (2000) Dialogical Aesthetics: A Critical Framework For Littoral Art (available at http://www.variant.org.uk/9texts/KesterSupplement.html) Rachelle Viader Knowles (2017) A Translocal Approach to Dialogue Based Art (PDF) The rest of: Katherine Brickell and Ayona Datta(2011) Translocal Geographies – Spaces, Places, Connections (PDF supplied) Special equipment and other needs for your class Any portable equipment or items which you normally find useful in your practice.