 So I've just started the live stream so welcome everyone to the arts link assembly. You can see I'm in the remote arts link studio here. This is the final week of what's been assembly usually spending one day together in New York. This year we spent five weeks together online and this is really the concluding week where we're bringing lots of the strands of thinking and ideas together. Can I just suggest you mutual mics when we're not speaking week. So this this day is very much focused on the arts link international fellows of 2020. We probably, as you know, have a three year residency program that enables. We can hear you very loud. So we move this year of course to working online and really what I want to explore with everyone the fellows and the hosts is how that experience was and how it has impacted their work and how they've been able to use the virtual platform of the residency to develop their ideas and to develop their thinking. So, first of all, I should introduce myself I'm Simon dove I'm the director of CC arts link. What I asked everyone to do is to introduce themselves just to give you a sense of their practice and where they're based, and whether they're a fellow or a host. Given that everyone has a different image I think on the screen. It's going to be important to, for me, perhaps to to call you out. Just to say then who you are your practice where you're based, and perhaps then who you're working with, and we'll do that fairly quickly going around everyone. So can we start with you, Bermond. Yes. Hello, everyone. My name is Bermond. I'm an artist and curator, based in Kyrgyzstan, mostly, but yeah, I have. I work was mostly with the urban environment and labor rights. Thank you. Hi, I am done the blue. I'm from Montenegro. And I will be next year at the contemporary and your leads. But until then I have the pleasure of working with. I'm the laureate preacher, who is the director and curator of performing arts. And in my art, I'm very curious about untold stories and clear perspectives. Great. Gideon. Hello, everyone. I'm from Kravyshe and I'm falling in from Vermont, where I'm based. And I work with, I'm working with you on iris is based in the Republic of Georgia. And I work as a vocalist and facilitator and educator. One of the projects that I do is we've found sound nation based in New York City. And I'm excited to see where this conversation goes today and to meet you all. Great. And Miriam. Hello. Nice to see you all. I am on Miriam Vaikla, and I'm from Estonia, based in two cities in Tallinn and in Narva. And my practice lies in the intersection of performing arts, but also visual arts. Yes. And I also work as a curator. And my host institutions are Triangle Arts Association and Grand Central Art Center. So one in New York and one in Santa Ana. So, Iman. Hello, everybody. I'm Iman Zaki. I'm the manager of reflection for arts. It's based in Alexandria, Egypt. And I'm, I work as an actress, as well as a curator. My host is a 600 high women, Abby and Michael. That's it. Laurie. Hello, everybody. I'm Laurie Richard and thank you Dante for the introduction. He said I'm a curator of performing arts at the contemporary art center in New Orleans. You need to unmute yourself. Does it work now? It's great. It's important for a vocalist. Well, I'm Katja Schultz. I'm a vocalist, a musician from Slovenia. I'm based here in Ljubljana. My host is the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico. And my project is based on indigenous culture on its tradition, its poetry. I'm mostly focused on setting poetry to music and performing poetry. Hey, my name is Mirna Bamyan. I'm speaking to you from Ramallah, Palestine. I'm a multidisciplinary artist. My work is mostly in food. My medium is food. I do live art performances, video, different, different things, but it all revolves around food for the past three years. And I will be staying at The Invisible Dog, Lucien Zayan, next year, and I cannot wait for that to happen. Lucien, good intro. You're still mute. I know you're good. Hi, everybody. Very nice to meet all of you. Most of you for the first time. I'm looking forward to this conversation. My name is Lucien Zayan. I'm the founder-director of an art space in Brooklyn called The Invisible Dog Art Center. And I'm also a little chef. I'm cooking a lot in a place called La Salamanger, the dining room. And I will have Mirna as a guest for a few weeks. And I want to send a special hello to my fellow from Alexandria, because I am from Alexandria, too. John? Hello, I'm John Speak, and I'm the director and chief curator of Cal State Fullerton's Grand Central Art Center, located in Santa Ana, California, Southern California. I'm the co-hosting and Miriam Vecla for her residency with Triangles Gallery. Johanna? Hi, everybody. My name is Johanna Ayers. I am the Konstushko Arts Link Fellow. I come from Poland, but at the moment I am based in Georgia and the Caucasus. I will be very lucky to be hosted by the Found Sounds Nation in New York at the moment I'm working with Vivian Kravachoy and Jordan Paul. And I'm a musician, mostly interested in working with the voice and finding the connection between the voice, body and emotions. Hello, everyone. My name is Meika Rallapati. I oversee the residency program at Hyde Park Arts Center on the south side of Chicago, a community-focused arts center. And we will be hosting Bermud next fall. Vitale? Hello, everyone. My name is Vitale Tronecki. I'm a professor at the University of Kansas, Department of Slavic and Eurasian Languages, Literatures and Cultures. I'm really happy to be now one of the hosts for the CEC Arts Link program for the fourth time. I'm looking, and I've already begun and looking forward to doing more work with our fellow, who is Alftina Kahidze. Abby and Michael, or should I say 600 highwaymen? We're open to either. Hi, I'm Abby. This is Michael. We are 600 highwaymen. We are based in between New York City and Rensselaerville, New York, which is upstate. We make performances right now. We're working on a series of performances that are facilitating conversations around strangers. Nova? Okay. I'm Nova Benway, the director of Triangle Arts Association, which is a visual arts studio based residency in Brooklyn, New York. And with John from Grand Central Arts Center, we're co-hosting Anna Mariam Baikla in Estonia. Hello, I'm Zach Treger. I'm a master of projects in Austin, Texas. We're hosting Mikhail from Georgia and yes, greetings everybody. Hello, Tina. Hello, all. My name is Alevtina, and I'm an artist who works with performance drawings, research, and the topic, which is is mostly interested for me is a garden and a garden. And I'm going to Kansas to Slavic Department University and Vitaly is one of the representative of this university. Aaron. Sorry, I had a little technical problem. I have been hearing you. You're back. That's good. Can you hear me? Very well. I have been able to hear you the whole time so I've been listening to your introductions. My name is Aaron. I work for the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art. It's Pica in Portland, Oregon. Dante was here last year and is part of our festival. And this year we're hosting a shot to I'm not sure if a shot is in the meeting yet. Yes. Okay. Hopefully he'll join soon. It's true. I'm looking for a shot what I do. If he joins, we'll feed him in. So, thank you everyone that gives the viewers a clear sense of the range of your practices but the geographic scope of your of your work. I'm curious to start with an open question and it is for all of us to respond to and perhaps in in dialogue to respond to each other. But I'm curious when we propose the idea of moving, of course, away from bringing you physically to the US this year because of the pandemic but proposing. We work virtually I'm curious as to how you responded to that I've heard from a number of other residency organizations that many artists were resistant because they had a very clear idea about what a residency was could be and how it would work. I would propose something very different. I'm really curious as to what your initial thoughts and reactions were to the idea of being hosted or hosting to the to the US hosts artists virtually. Who would like to start or or I can. I can dive into people. I can start. Because I can just say that I felt exactly as you described. I was quite. I was, it was quite strange. The whole idea and I was quite terrified of it and, you know, all kind of mixed emotions. But then the story turned as we, you know, went in inside of the process. I'm actually enjoying it and there are benefits of it. I see it as a sort of preparing time. Before we actually gather as a search time so I hope this gives you an idea. What moved you from that initial reticence to what what was what was the motivation to to dive in and explore it. Yeah, I'm not such a how they say zoom or you know, virtual person. So that was probably the thought that you know scared me because I'm used to, I mean I like to go physically to the place physically see people. So once I accepted it and I guess I saw it works also in a way. Then it just naturally turned. I'm not saying that I wouldn't enjoy, you know, the original idea of going and meeting and no she line person having coffee with her life and exchanging thoughts. But my experience is that it works as well in the way we are working out virtually. I mean you just adjust your work, you know, you adjust the things you do now and maybe it's not the original plan but you can still do a part of your work in this way. Dante you're shaking your head a lot. You're muted. Sorry, I'm shaking my head because I don't know like my connection is like, it's kind of like trying to pick up everything. But, but how was your response to the idea of being hosted virtually. I mean, like, it's just, I don't know it was, it felt like normal for the time being what happened and it's kind of like it felt in a way safe. Of course, I wanted to go to New Orleans, because that would have been fabulous. But as I said, for me, it is a very great pleasure to work with Laurie and we've been doing a lot. So it's kind of like it at the moment it feels very natural, because I mean, here we had like several lockdowns from country to city and now again we are heading to another one. So it's kind of like, I think this is a good way in order to keep moving forward that you have this idea of moving forward and because there was nothing else to be done according to the situation. Nova, can I move to you because I remember when we were having a conversation. You were very clear that it was opening up a lot of possibilities for a level of conversation and dialogue that was actually unusual. Could you expand on your thinking your experience. Yeah, I mean, it's been tremendously helpful for us to be in conversation with john. I mean the times that we've met on zoom with with and we've also, you know, it's been a three way conversation and also to have you involved actually for some of the calls. You know, it feels much more collaborative. And I think, I mean, and should speak to this but I think it's beneficial to to even to hear, you know, the different ways that different organizations work with artists. I think that's something that artists and curators maybe can make a comparison over time as you know if they go through multiple residencies but but being able to do that at the same time, and have that kind of dialogue has been, has been great for for us. And I also feel you know I mean I think we'll probably all agree that there's no substitute for being in a real place with with real with real people and I don't think that that will ever go away, but it's kind of forced us I think in a good way to do probably, I would like to continue doing you know when all of this, not that it will go back to normal but you know when things, you know, when there's a certain kind of regularity that returns that these kinds of longer term conversations that happen you know a year or many months in advance. I mean I really feel like we're laying the foundation and understanding the research process and you know I started doing it with other artists even who will be joining us much sooner. So, yeah I think you know I'm hopeful that that will really enrich and deepen the experience when when it actually does happen. Other other thoughts on this issue. Yes, what I would like to say is more. I think we have to thank you Simon for being so persuasive and to continue this program and to encourage all of us to change our habits and pattern and so that's also something we have to say about you and your organization. It's still not overcome your, your zoom phobia though. And it's the second zoom I'm doing in eight months, so great. We're very honored, thank you. Well, actually, actually for me it was very beneficial. Having this kind of talks with Abby and Michael before even thinking of going to New York and to understand more about the place that I'm going to visit to understand more about the scene. And to have an idea about what kind of right questions that I need to ask. So, I think this period is for me it's really beneficial, and maybe you can consider, like of course not not that big period like one year or so, but like shorter like one month before the next rounds to have like one month before going to their host places to have interaction via websites or via via internet in order to understand more about what they are going to what they are expecting or what they are going to do. It's great. Vitaly, yeah. Yes, I just wanted to echo what Imanda said, I mean, with each fellow we host, it's wonderful also to develop a network of local allies partners with whom we work to make sure that the fellow has a meaningful and rewarding experience here. In this particular case it's giving us a longer head start, and it is of course complicated by the difficulties of the pandemic, but folks have been remarkably willing to step up find ways in which one could engage and especially in that Aliftina our fellow's project involves gardening and something that is tied to a natural cycle which during the typical time of the physical residency here in the northern hemisphere it's already past harvest time so most of the gardening experience is not possible this way. It looks like we will be able to plan and develop a long term project that will be carrying on during the year and this is actually quite exciting. That's great. Gideon, yeah. The experience that that we have a fence on nation doing residencies over the last almost 10 years there's there's usually this very concentrated amount of time where the residency happens over a month or a few weeks, and there's this explosion of creative energy. And I'm finding that this is such a unique chance for as people are saying to really research and go deep and slowly evolve an idea that it sometimes can be a little frustrating but there's something to be said for this really slow intentional approach to to making something and getting to know you on us so so well we've had a lot of really. It's a lot of our meetings over the last few months have just been about getting to know each other and our artistic processes and our stories are life stories and that is something that can only be seen to a certain extent in the in the span of a few week residency. So that's, that's been a really interesting thing to to experience. So, can we move then forward a little bit to what's what's been working I know, many of you have been using different methods to connect and to communicate but also to connect fellows to different artists and different colleagues. Can you share a little sense of what's been effective what's really been working well for for you in terms of as Gideon says building the relationship but also exploring the ideas. Zach, do you want to talk about your, your little WhatsApp usage. Yeah, because it's not always trying to schedule video meetings but finding other ways to be in dialogue with your with your fellow. Yeah, so the answer may be both your first question and this question. I think the hurdle for myself and for the residency program here in general has always been to try and think around what feels like maybe the most important part of any resident arriving in Austin is to go eat, have a beer and sit for an hour and two or be friends, like to develop trust with each other and not necessarily even talk about art but to to gather physically. And the other way that we've sort of navigated that is just through WhatsApp and casually sending each other messages I feel like I just have another friend in Georgia, which is very nice and sometimes we talk about petty art concepts and sometimes we share about not art at all and talk about he's very excited about text mix food I'm very excited to talk to Mikhail about text mix food. So yeah, I think the keeping it very low pressure has been always like a part of the program here. It was very nice that we previously had a resident artist from Georgia, and who I think I see in the chat which is lovely. It's nice to hang out and meet, but we, I think it's like short form, modern short form letter sending or something and that Mikhail will send a few texts and the next day I'll wake up to be like, Oh, great and be excited to respond and just, yeah becoming friends. In a very drawn out fashion and I think it will complement future projects. I'm excited about it. And I'm sorry, a short is not with us to talk about his, his experience but what I was able to join you on was your sort of open house. It's, it's again this extension of the idea of, let's meet together and share drinks and bread and chat but you did it all virtually with a kind of open house zoom session. Could you share how that worked. Sure. I've seen in the chat that maybe is trying to help a shot. Join. So, maybe they will come but he's coming now. It's a MacBook is he him. Yeah. Oh good. Mr MacBook. You know, we're talking about you welcome. I could. Okay. Yes, yes. Hello everyone. Sorry for being late. It's, it's, it's always a problem with the internet in Uzbekistan. We didn't know your name was MacBook, I think I will change it now. Oh, no. Sorry. Aaron is talking about the open house. She set up with mommy and you and yes. So we, you know, similar to Austin, we have a big food culture in Portland, so we would also normally invite the host and some local artists to meet over food and drinks and it's sad we couldn't do that but we did have sort of a coffee time meeting and maybe was successful in getting a good group of artists and local, you know, Portland folks here to meet a shot. And I do think one thing we've learned from hosting many residents is that those kind of synchronistic meetings in between people are really important. You never know exactly who's going to make a connection and end up collaborating together so it's important to bring the element of chance in to the meetings and the hosting as much as possible. And that's pretty hard to do online, but I think inviting more people into the process and being open to see who's interested in meeting the fellow and and yeah it doesn't always you can't always prescribe or match make you know who you think they need to meet. I think by introducing them to a lot of different people. Sometimes you know they'll meet one person and then they'll say oh you need to talk to this person you need to talk to this person and it's the second or third person that ends up being the where they make a real connection so we're trying to replicate that and it's good to have time also because when we are able to welcome a shot in person hopefully next year, he'll already know something about us and vice versa. I should, everyone said who they are and where they are and who they're connected with. We now know some of that story but it might be good if you can just share with the viewers where your base and what your practices and share perhaps some of the processes have been you've been using to to connect to pay. So, yes, thank you. Yes, once again, hello everyone my name is a shot the nearly and I'm from Uzbekistan I'm a poet rock musician and I do some multidisciplinary projects, arts projects, like cross cultural and it's something around these. So, and with the arts link program I. I have a connection I my host organization is is pika. Yeah, it's Erin, Erin. And maybe so. From we started some thinking about the collaborations and I really feel thankful for Erin and made me that they already find found some very interesting connections and artists from Portland and just not on only from Portland but like some interesting artists who I might be interested in in in a collaboration. So I already just a few days ago. I had a meeting with a co otake. Who is a artist from the from the New York. And we have both interested in the nuclear disaster and Fukushima. This is very interesting. And we just to leave there as well. And so we had the very interesting conversation and and thoughts about these. And also, I just recently have the idea, and I talked to Mamie because me with my band are going to have the online concert on 21st of November. And just thinking about what if there would be some artists maybe performative artists or someone who could be who could share without this performance from the US. I know it's it's maybe too early. And but just it's just came up. And why not as an experiment. So this idea also came up. I mean, it's a good way method of also connecting in a different way to a potential group of artists you want to work with. With with I should we were we were talking more about what's what methodology we were using to make these connections. And I'd like to extend the thinking more to how that changed, either what your practice normally is or how it's extended your thinking about what is possible with this fellowship, working in this virtual way and connecting in a very different way. As you explain now you're already talking to people who are not anywhere near Portland or even in Oregon but you're connecting across the country. Others have talked about other international connections they're making so the, the, the issue of the virtual residency has moved the idea of networking or our thinking to something beyond the specifics of a community in which you may be living or based, even the city or the state in which you're based to look at more at how ideas connect you to other artists and other ways of thinking. I'm curious for you to share some of that thinking if by working in this virtual way it started to extend your ideas of what is possible, and especially with changing your ways of thinking about the way you work as as artists. So, yes. I thought you don't have to answer but if you if you'd like to start please do. So it was a long question very long questions so I just want to say that here in Uzbekistan have this very very strong specific and to be true. We're always searching for the alternative way to express ourselves because we still have very strong censorship. It's not very good developed. And for us, it's kind of, I don't know, maybe natural to find the alternative way of collaborating of so for me it's not very, you know, strange to to have these zoom meetings to do online projects to do something very creative to like a classical way maybe. So that's why I found it quite comfortable for me because like previously as I said, we did kind of successful networking project across the Central Asia, which is also it the art plough, it started and we made just a collaborative when it was a lockdown. We made a collaboration with just four countries Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, and just on the virtual way we had some, you know, collaborations and we did a book. You know, it was a British Council project, but I want to just continue and continue this. And we made the actually book in the virtual way. And I really believe that it works good, because I have this kind of small success for doing this virtual projects. And even now, yes. So I just making the research of those artists who were suggesting to me from Erin and Miami, and I found a lot of opportunities actually, at least just to meet them to talk to them or the zoom or something. And the last meeting with Acre was very, I don't know, was it was it good for her but for me it was very, very nice and it was very impressive that I could just meet someone from US and doing the same things in the in the way of Japanese things I'm interesting in. And so, yes, for me it's it's very useful work. So other other thoughts on this issue about extending your practice or shifting your way of thinking about how you're working. I was thinking. Yeah, you need to. Yeah, I'm super happy to be residency in Hyde Park Arts Center. And I was lucky also because now I'm in residency in Moldova, so I came here and I feeling me a bit like in residency anyway that it's like, give me maybe out of everything and just concentrate on my work. And also, it was for me always a question about how we can build our work, our methodology in all these times and now it and because we move everything to online. And we had a group of students we restarted the School of Contemporary Art in Bishkek. And we had a group of students that we wanted to share with them meeting with the artists from Chicago. It was, I think, super great that we were able to invite our students and artists also was not against this. So, and actually this part of our my virtual residency was in cross dated to the to our like school program and actually that all this meeting was like public and open and we still want to make this practice. And I also like it that we sharing the methodology with the artist. I really had a super nice conversation with Melissa Potter and she's a producing paper and it's her art project and she even grows cellulose and plant it and yeah she can make a super nice work and then also met Rudy and Medina, Rudy Medina and Alex from Open Kitchen and they also showed us tell us about their practices with food and it was super interesting and also Selma Banich. She's from Bosnia and we also told talk a lot about methodology. And next year we decided to concentrate on our educational platform mostly on methodology and art research. And I think we will collaborate with them further. And, for example, Melissa Potter wanted to make for us open workshop how to produce paper. So I think if you anyone from you also interested we like always can join and collaborate. And it was also interesting how we can put in touch also Arctic Chicago artists between themselves. And for next year. Yeah, because it's unknown about all these borders and etc. We're planning to conduct some events just in two cities like Bishkek, Chicago, because it looks like quite affordable. And I also like these intersections and experimenting with format and I really am glad that I have an opportunity to read in advance before I come because one month it's like two to short period to be really involved to the context. So I think we had having a really good now experience as well. Thank you. Great. And, and Miriam I wanted to bring you in because you have the benefit of having two hosts which again we know is not feasible if you're physically here especially one on the East Coast one on the West Coast. And I'm interested in how, how that is complimenting your own research and your, your own exploration. Yes. So as I mentioned, my, I am a cinematographer so my practice is in stage design performing arts visual arts, and it's very much about, I'm relating to what is there. The idea sort of arose from the context and I work with time and space, ephemerality, also different senses. And besides that, I also run an art residency here on the Eastern point on the border with Russia in Estonia. I have an online residency, even though I've done it before has been challenging in terms, because really my creative process is usually that I sort of hop into the situation and then I start to relate and listen in. But I think from the moment that I made this switch in my head that it's about to be like a long term dialogue and engagement that I actually find the equivalent kind of like, yeah, how to put it like a PhD program or something and then things changed for me, and I found some peace and I'm sort of, yeah. For now, I've been from these conversations with Nova and John, taking the inspiration to implement it into the projects that I've been working here, because in Estonia, the society is open and next week I'm stepping up in the biennial here. So it's kind of like, I will see how the shape of this own body of work in terms of coming next year to the States will start to take shape, but I will, for now I've just been giving things space and time. And John and Nova then has been connecting then with one fellow being interesting from your points of view in terms of your practice with artists or your institutions. The nice thing for us is that one of the individuals that she's been researching as part of her thesis was Grant Kester who has written a lot of books on socially engaged practices and so it was nice. I know him, we were able to connect her connect the two of them and when she comes, he's just on the freeway in San Diego now so there can be those deeper connections we've also connected her with Bill Kelly who is looking at socially engaged practices and public practices throughout Latin America. So I think it is, it is tougher because we're used to having an artist residence here and we do longer term residents so we have some residents that have been here as long as five years. So we're really about following the lead of the artist and following that process and however long it takes. But we do, you know, a lot of times do really Skype conversations and really communications online so this is a normal practice but I can tell on is eager to be here because that the practice is very much about physicality of place so we'll make it happen when she gets here but these connections that are building early I think will be very beneficial. Yeah, I wanted to add one thing that really stroke me this kind of new normal how easily we can connect with people. I don't mentioned like, I've got the theorist I've been interested in and I mentioned his name and the next moment I'm actually exchanging emails so it's quite extraordinary. And, yeah, yeah, I also wanted to say I read recently then that you're invited now to the Festival of fermentation. Fantastic. But can you send give us a sense to have how how this opens up possibilities this connection with Lucy. I mean, I was lucky that was at one of my tables in New York last year, and that's how we started the connection. And then I visited the space and it's an amazing space everybody should go and experience that space so I'm really happy that I'll be able to do something that really helped a lot because this year and I are not really good at this zoom thing, but we're good at work we're very serious. So what I did is that I was I knew that I wanted to do something with fermentation but because it's now it's it's my, it's my focus in my research. Somehow I was connecting with people in New York that work in fermentation and the residency was somehow created this mental space for me to approach people and you know not to keep postponing it. I also opened lots of opportunities and I virtually met amazing people, and now I'll be fermenting new kinds of fermentation with Koji with me so I'll be doing temper so things that I didn't work with before. And I, what I'm mostly interested in creating when during the fellowship next year is to create moments of gathering, and my whole practice is around those moments. And for me, I want somehow to, to take the opportunity of the amazing space of the invisible dog and make bigger performances and live live actions. Because fermentation is a very physical aspect that has this connectivity of the human and the microscopic world. It really teaches a lot about us and how we should look at ourselves and un notions of empathy and care that I think we really need at such times to bring forth more and more. And I really hope we will be able to do that like we will all be able to do our projects next year. Yes, so it was a really good opportunity for me because it keeps somehow it if the project happened this year it would have been totally different from what I want to create for next year. So yeah. And don't forget Lucia has a great basement for doing lots of fermentation too. Yes, yes. And what I would like to say is, maybe we should also take the opportunity in in general we will never have the opportunity to be all together like that so I probably don't know who are the artists or who are the other host. So I think we should maybe in that session next year, try to make connection between all of us during, for example, if he man brings more area from Alexandria, maybe me now you can you can fermented it or something like that will be a great experiment right. I will don't worry I will bring something to ferment for sure. But again, yes, I think I think we should keep that connection here and not have everyone separately our experiences but try to find connection even if they are very keen or just like keep this group together. No, a really important part of the fellowship has been to connect the artists each year, because many of them are in neighboring countries but rarely are connecting simply locally so bringing everyone together in in New York when they arrive but also just as importantly before they arrive, you know, to go back to their home countries are really important part of the program. So that's, that's a date Lucien will be with you for dinner fermenting. Maybe we can bring something to ferment and then we eat it all six weeks later. That'll be perfect yes absolutely. But I'm really counting them all here from Alexandria that's really. As you can see there's a very important focus there. But thinking more broadly cut here I know you talked a little bit about your reticence and and I know in the conversation with your with your host she lose not with us today but you also felt. You needed to embark on this whole process of a kind of almost what you would call a desk based research. Connecting both to her networks but also to the histories that she's talking about to the, the, the cultural practice to, there was a lot of groundwork contextualization that you needed to do and that for you was not a usual practical practice I'm interested in you sharing what emerged from that not necessarily describing it in detail but what emerged for you from that process. Well, first, I'd like to say that dealing with indigenous culture. I mean this is something that is really based. You hear me. Yes. I mean this is really based. I mean deeply rooted in tradition. This is, it's not, you know, it has to be done carefully as Sheila mentioned so these things are not very easily accessible as I know from work of previous artists. These are we are talking about indigenous communities who are guiding their, and, you know, protecting their culture so it's not just easy to go there and you know show up and I mean I think you have to really really have a good basis and knowledge about certain rules that exists or how can you can approach to this. And Sheila is really Sheila is my host and the Institute of indigenous arts and she's really giving me a really good foundation she's guiding me very well through, you know, all these sensitive questions so I started to you know we made this research list and I don't know at the moment I'm I found in Slovenia this book that it's translated and this is the book is based on on speeches of indigenous chiefs. For example, this was this goes back years back when it was written and I don't know it's very helpful at the moment. And as a vocalist. I'm getting ideas how I would like to, you know, do the final project and performance. So, I, I recently enrolled in a storytelling course. There is also a storytelling course at the Institute that I would like to take part at. And so this is one interesting. A part of the project that I'm researching right now. And the other one is the, are the indigenous chance, but I just was discussing this with Sheila and this is really something that's very protected. So for example, I don't know. It's not so very accessible as I thought but I will see how to find my way through and hopefully get close to the source. Great. You are now you are keen to speak I think. Thank you. Can you hear me. Yes. But if you can be closer to your mic that would be. So, I think I chose the topic for my research. I was even not aware of it when I was thinking that I would like to expand my knowledge on this topic that there's so much available, especially in New York. So, I think if I wanted to work and participate in everything that went in for hours a day it wouldn't be enough because did you on shows me so many organizations that deal with this topic of working with the boys and nursing in the connection between voice and body and emotions and finding your own voice and then like the feeling practices with the sound of the voice and with the movement. I think it's really good for me that we have this virtual residency for the reason that now in the country you are everything online and all these organizations also started to work online so the classes that would normally take place in New York and now now are taking place in front of the on my computer. For example, I participated on already twice in the kind of open workshops run by the company of marriage smoke. I was always very interested and I even didn't dream of meeting the people with whom she's been working so I found it really funny but nice to dance in front of my laptop with maybe 100 of other people around the world and singing last time some Jewish song so such experience is really good because I can explore and see how different organizations work and what are their methods and then when I come to New York I will already have quite a good view what is the methodology of different people of different organizations so now the task is rather to make the clever curriculum to choose the right people and places where to go but you don't really kind of guide me for this so I'm sure that people like after a few months I will really benefit from this. To be honest, I don't really know how I will find the connection between all this research and my project, I have some ideas, but it's a bit overwhelming for me so I'm feeling a bit lost but I hope that through the time I will somehow find the right way. What I miss is some kind of a immersive myself fully in the new environment because as you were saying in the beginning that we should come to this residency without a plan for what we want to do with our project and I think it would be much easier if we were there in the US and we could like get this fresh perspective. I think it's possible to do it online but then it would be some more guidance from people who can somehow share this US perspective or somehow inspire us how to do it because just some folks on Zoom I think it's not enough to completely change our perspective and to be able to produce something fresh rather than the things that we've had previously in our hearts. And Laurie, can I ask you in terms of New Orleans, I know there's a regular practice of working closely with artists and I'm wondering how it is for you to be working remotely with Dante. Whether it's shifting your way of working with artists, whether he's also extending the way you're thinking about what kind of support an arts centre gives to an artist. That's a good question. We've been working since March with trying to figure out really how to work with artists and continue to make connections. Mostly starting from the artists that we had to cancel, the artists who we had planned to present in this 2021 season, and obviously a lot of that work has been virtual. We recorded a number of conversations between Joe Crider who has a big project hopefully coming up in the spring and local activists in New Orleans who work on prison reform and issues of decarceration. So that in a sense has been very constant in a way it's pragmatic and it's. I just mostly don't want to lose touch with those people and I also don't want them to know if they're not from here to be connected to here in different ways. With Dante we've talked a lot, we've shared a lot of links of artists who are interesting to you know one to the other people we each knew to share to share those interests. And there's an online program that was produced here in New Orleans called Letters from the Porch, in which a number of musicians I think they're over 25 now. It's a great series, anybody wants to take a look there, you know 15 to 30 minutes concerts with musicians playing on their porches, very New Orleans settings and the range of the artists in the series is quite stunning if it goes from folk to traditional jazz to jazz to rock and roll I mean it's really really across the board and so Dante looked at all of those and and based on his interests, we're starting to connect to some of those artists here. But when he spoke about other, you know, international connections, and I'll let Dante talk about this more I also introduced them to an Irish artist who I know well who's both a choreographer and a singer. And they have very different practices, but there are also some very interesting tangents. And yeah I'd like to hear Dante talk a little bit more about because we had a zoom all together the other day a couple weeks ago. Yes, I mean, it was very interesting to look at like the music scene because my project is kind of, it is based on collaboration with the musicians. So thanks to Lori, you know, I've been able to dive into the musical scene of New Orleans, which has been amazing. So it's kind of like especially in this time, where we are all confided to these spaces and like getting like this input of this beautiful music is sort of like very helpful and very inspirational. So we met with Jebny Louis, who is one of the producers from the letters of the porch, and we had like a very productive and very like on point meeting regarding what it takes to produce like music and music album and songs and everything. And also we met with John Scott, who is a timer and choreographer from Ireland, and we talk about the possible collaboration so, and we've been back and forth with a lot of links and like different approaches to music and what we are interested in what could we do and kind of like hoping that once we make this resonant reality that we kind of have like pretty well done to do this, what is going to be done. That's great. I'm missing people putting their hands please on mute and shout because I'm, I think I'm missing people but I live Tina, I thought it would be good also for you to talk about the relationship you, you in a sense already had with Vitaly and how that has moved forward your project in a in a really kind of exponential way. Actually what we have done already, we created a program actually the five have, and we already have had, we already have had three meetings, actually no two meetings, and I have met three institutions in order to plan and also just to be introduced to the people. In order to work in will be in the situation which we all have the COVID I mean, so we just have our program and try to go through the already plans events and to be prepared. More than it, we could just imagine if we just have the situation like we planned in the past, we just could arrive in the US and start our residency. Now we have kind of privileged to plan events and do have some preparation time. I know it's moving but I just want to be totally just to share the context of how you were aware of a lot of Tina's work. I was really thrilled to see her name, among the name of the artists selected for residency this year because we had a chance to collaborate many years ago on a different project. At the time she was based short term in the Netherlands, and this was in artists book project and I helped with preparing an English language version of that. And that contact came through another mutual friend who was very active Katrina Botanova in the center for contemporary art that was started with the help of Open Society Foundation, one of the many foundations started by George Soros in post communists in Europe in the 1990s so things built up through that and this allowed many good productive collaborations to happen and there is a lot of synergy and cross collaboration between fellows for instance, Alif Tina and the fellow we hosted here at the University of Kansas for the, as our first CC arts link fellow Xander Mikhet five years ago, they have also been collaborating so this kind of synergies and building on those past experiences for future interesting projects I think it's really wonderful. Great. Thank you. So, make her you were waving I think, or swatting flies I'm not sure. You know, what I was thinking I can share two things just in response to bear me its description of this, you know, virtual residency phase that for our residency program. And two things that we try to do within it are to invite any artist whether they're local Chicago based or visitors to be able to kind of shift out of the mode of execution and production into one of someone else described the kind of chance encounters or some unexpected links and connections and for us definitely this longer period of the research phase of the residency has has enabled that where I think there me it's broader practice and all of the different kind of facets of it have been able to unfold a bit, even for our own understanding, kind of the complexity of how she's thinking about pedagogy teaching about environmental issues about food justice recycling, for example, and so it's really allowed us to think more broadly ourselves about who appropriate links could be, and kind of unexpectedly, our arts link fellow from last year who we hosted I wouldn't have necessarily thought they would be, you know, right to be in conversation but that was one of the things that emerged and that conversation of our previous fellow and very at this year connecting made a lot of sense over this time. And the second piece is, we are often looking to how this residency experience can be a mutual learning. So at the end of any visitor visiting resident artists time with us, we try to think about how our institution has shifted, and what we've learned and you know what really any changes have that can result from this and so one of those things too is these different arms of bearments practice, which is the, you know, from bike sharing to recycling and reuse to food justice to policy change and activism curatorial work teaching. I would have realized that in Chicago, these are quite specialized distinct fields and areas, but through bear me at work we're kind of thinking about how she might actually be able to make introductions to Chicago artists to each other, who don't really know each other. And so that's been kind of an unexpected really exciting way to think about her role and the work role that her research can play in, you know, maybe further linking art practice in Chicago. Great. Thanks, Mika. Can I just say, yeah, I think it's also really all what we're having now it's really in my virtual residence and it's really thanks to you because you really made a great job to like, and like researching different direction and combining with what I'm doing. And we also, yes, thought maybe we can make some kind of guide for such initiatives and for me it was also as I work with the urban environment. For me it's always like very clear that for example if we work with food. So it's really like very close for example, like you come and yeah for like for this transportation and transportation is close to bike sharing and everything close to close to agriculture seeds and because we all that's why I really like it's a book of Melissa Porter Porter that called an illuminated feminist seeds book that is I found super great. And yeah, and I really try when in my like artistic and curatorial practice I really try to put like everything in one event just to show as an alternative of how like actually cities can look like and etc. So I think Chicago is also very cool place to combine such direction and yeah maybe we will have chance also now to join Kishinau and Kaliningrad as well to our festivals because yesterday had also some conversation but we didn't even had a chance to discuss it with me, but probably it will, it will maybe it will be something like wider festival event in this fall for our initiatives. So I'm looking forward. Great. I'm just scanning to see if anyone wants to offer anything because what I wanted to ask you all was given the context that we've been in this year this extraordinary historic moment this pandemic that's impacted all of us. And this is to how this helped you individually or you institutionally in some way get through this, this moment, how, how being part of this scheme was was useful or helpful. Let me quickly comment on that which is that one of the surprise. One of the surprise gifts of this is having the opportunity to sort of get out of my American head for a little bit to connect with somebody on the other part of the, on the other side of the globe. The past few months or few years depending on how you look at it have been kind of intense on the US domestic side of things and one of the gifts has been to to connect with him on and to have moments where we get to take a bit of a break from a break happening by way of just hearing somebody else's voice and hearing how they're experiencing this and hearing how things are over there. So on a purely selfish level, not as an institution but as not even as an artist but just a human being to speak to somebody on the other part of the world has been a real gift that I didn't see coming. That would be my knee jerk reaction to, to this, to this experience with him on. Thank you. Thank you, Michael. Well, can I say, by the other hand, for me, it was when when you get into the trouble you get always an extra strength to solve it. So, it was the same for us. Well, at least in in our country in Uzbekistan, we got into big trouble with these pandemic things. There were, as I said before, like even soldiers with Kalashnikov guns, starting down the the streets. And when you get this extra pressure, when you get this extra stressful situation, you kind of think a bit in a different way, you get extra strength, extra inspiration from like, you know, from the inside, I think. And this made me, I didn't, I was like planning for five years to record an album with a band. And finally we did it in the, in the time of the pandemic. And it was the first experience for us to make an online concert. And we didn't know what what it would be and what kind of thing it would be. It was quite also successful because a lot of people just saw it and even saw our band for the first time in, you know, in this kind of way. So, yes, there, there, there is always kind of, you know, universal balance. Other other thoughts. I wanted to ask Gideon actually because when we were chatting a few weeks ago you were talking about, you know, in a sense you're a version now to being overly zoomed. And you will need to have the personal connection so you are developing projects but I'm, I'm wondering if, if this fellowship or this the process of taking on a fellow as has been a part or enabled you also to be connecting in a different way to another part of the world. Yeah, I think it's, my, my initial thought is, is actually how, how much well you wanna and I share many, many interests and that's been very nourishing. And I think nourishment is something I've been thinking a lot about during this time of how to stay nourished artistically and and not just artistically but fully in the human experience. To be nourished. And so I think a lot of the conversations we've had have been partly you want is interested or very much about healing and healing trauma that's in the body through the voice through movement. And this is allowed both of us to, to go kind of deeply into research about that topic. And it's something that I often in my own artistic practice said I'm, I'm concerned with these, these issues but I haven't given myself enough time to go as deep as we are going now because it's this weekly check in about this, this practice about this process and And I, I imagine for you on others a similar. Well, I won't put words in your mouth, you know, but it's, it's allowed for something that I wasn't expecting from zoom communication, which has been quite tiring for me, and I'm sure for most people. And Lucien amazed that this is only your second zoom in eight months. That's, you deserve a medal for that. Yeah, we get the metal for getting him on zoom. No, we just have a few minutes left. We wrap up on 30. So I'm just something for others. What else was surprising or, or what kind of stimulating or provoking or just want to make a quick reaction to what you're not anticipating or expecting. Apart from 20 different comments. Any last minute. I should, can you hear us. Yes, yes, yes. It was just a quick. What was surprising about this process what emerged that you were really not expecting. I mean, for me, it was, it might seem very strange, but it, the arts link, what the only program, which wasn't just, you know, canceled. I mean, there was some some events and some also different programs, which I was also involved in. Like in some, some geeks in Japan, some things in Tajikistan. And of course I can understand it was all canceled. And that's it. That was just the stop. And I really thankful for the art sling that you just keep doing these. I know it's, it's difficult. It's hard to do this, everything online and everything, you know, to set up everything. But in, in my case, in, in, in my area of what I do, the arts link was just the only ones who didn't give up and did all these things and gathered us all together now. And I just really thankful for this. It's a great way to end actually that CC arts link never gives up. Sorry, we put you through all this trouble this year but it's only really thanks to all of you for being so open and willing to engage with each other and with us in rethinking what a residency could be that this has been such a productive I think and fruitful year so far. We're looking forward to projects that emerge and we hope you will all get to the US next year. I should remind everyone that the fellowship scheme is a completely open process we work with 37 countries now. We've extended the deadline for next year. The deadline is now November 30. So for those of you who still haven't applied to be a fellow, you still have a couple of weeks to get your applications in. And let me thank all of you fellows and hosts for 2020. We look forward to seeing you all around a very large fermentation dinner at the invisible dog next year. Thank you, Lucia, and thank you, and thank you everyone. We'll talk soon. Yes, bye. Thank you.