RAT Re: Novi Sad postscript

["Erik Ehn" <shadowtackle@worldnet.att.net>]

Dear All-in All:

     Successes, Mistakes, Next.

     Full notes are coming from Amy Sarno-Fradkin. Here are impressions, on return.

     As per other conferences, our presence to one another in an hospitable atmosphere was the essential barter. Personally speaking, that this atmosphere was maintained in a place that was stunted in my imagination by my many preconceptions made the action of witness that much more vital.  I can't say I understand Serbia, I can't say I understand Novi Sad, I can't even say I understand the conference... but I was alive as an artist in the company of other artists, and faith inclines me to believe that the examined and hopeful practice of craft and the sweaty rehearsal of ideas opens space for understanding. We made space and I leave with a space inside; how it will be filled only time will tell.

     This meeting was less about the creation of a network than the introduction of network to network. We've talked before about Natasha and Magdalena - we have some faces for each other now. There is much, much promise in our association. Many workers there have Odin Theater and Eugeno Barba in common, and their thinking about the ethical purposes of theater and the need for rigor and excellence in process is crystal clear. They are together to share work and ways of working; I hope Rat  meetings will increasingly focus on practical workshops and immediate exchanges. 

     Some conclusions re the subject of peace: We heard from people who work across borders, who work with at risk youth, with refugees, with mothers of the disappeared, who work and work... And finally all our questions and answers are rooted in art. Perhaps artists can't make peace primarily; perhaps we can't even make a substantial difference. Artists make art, and a consequence of art's methods (collaboration, trust, inquiry)  is sometimes peace (or a prayer for peace; prayer is listening).... When we direct ourselves towards results, we run the risk of being co-opted (if we work towards a word, forces we resist can manipulate that word, can claim our success or excoriate our failure). Part of art's process is distance: the distance of craft, the distance of esthetic perspective, and social and economic distance (we are mindful of society and susceptible to market forces, but anomalous as well). Bridges naturally came up as images; art creates invisible bridges; bridges are all about space - they don't remove the river, they maintain difference but allow communication; the invisible bridge  - sustained by trust and relentless, patient practice of forms, is strategic (suspension of disbelief is a suspension bridge). Peace, it was suggested, and art, for that matter, are not always about everyone being happy. Peace and rehearsal make room for difficulty. Peace cannot hold itself to war or art to human nature without volatile mutability, and again Eckart - the breaking forth is holier than the flowing out.

     "We must do our jobs better." To be awake and significant, make space where space is required. "The issue is quality." Our standards for quality remain a constant; our circumstances shift. Do we work well where things work well? If we do, then is our art distant enough from our surroundings to reflect, to agitate, to create desire...? Do we also work well where and when things around us don't? Do we work well on things in ourselves that don't? Do we know where we are and what we're doing?

     I went to Yugoslavia naive and enthusiastic. I return naive and enthusiastic, but more aware of how these features limit me and lead me to moral error. I substituted bonhomie for organizational focus, opinions and apologies for thinking. I overstated my statements, when all the time I had with me an icon of Ignatius with his finger to his lips - in every case where I made hasty speech I could have more participated in the making of a careful, slow silence. But I stumbled in the presence of admirable people, who are more interested in what trips us on a common road than in the lividness of a blush.

     From contact, contact. People were in the room together, found points of sympathy, and leave holding open the possibility of further conversation. The idea of a meeting in Buenos Aires in 2001 came up, and seems worth pursuing. Amy Woolf knows Diana Raznovich; the daydreaming continues. I will work hard to lure companies and artists there to show (but not showcase) new material, to participate in workshops, and to make a piece with members of Natasha and Magdalena.

     A thousand details to share; many impressions from a full time. I'll have to unpack them slowly. Know that I had Rat in my mind and heart the whole time; Rats far from home appreciated your good wishes.

     Difficult and at a distance we continue to become.


peace,


e