WorkingMethod

The project can be divided over 4 phases:

0.participants and initialisation

The first thing to do for all participants, is that they are required to read Cat's Craddle by Kurt Vonnegut. On the website they find the quotes from the book of bokonon, and an additional list of materials and information.

There will be an active series of meetings with the interested participants, resulting on visions on how to work from the particular vision of each and leading up to a complex and collaborative suite in the end. The first general meeting is planned in Bratislava, due to its central position in the project and in Europe. This first meeting is the evaluation of an intensive scouting for interested people. It is fundamental to the project that it contains an open start with a low entrance level for potentially interested participants. A special point of attention will be given to an active involvement of female artists.

Meantime the server and web environments are being prepared for extensive sharing and versioning of text, image, sound, and other data. A dedicated extension of the monoskop environment [1] is proposed, including advanced wiki and database management. Also the infrastructure for the documentation of the process (the making of..) has to be designed.

       activities and outcomes
       1. content research
          -> collection of essential working materials (existing and new)
       2. web infrastructure
          -> flexible working infrastructure online
       3. meeting
          -> solliciting interesting artists, introduction of the project
       4. documentation phase 0
          -> online

1. research and composition planning

Several preparatory issues are in this phase accomplished : - investigating the background and themes of the author and his work - visiting the author and his agent in new york - small compositional sketches from the participants are reviewed

A series of meetings with the participants is taking place, documenting as much as possible on creative insights, productional and recombinatorial techniques. The meetings will also be used to finetune the net-environment that is used as a crucial communication and exchange tool in the development of the piece. Meetings are planned in Berlin, Bratislava, Brussels, Budapest, Graz, and Linz. These meetings are crucial points in which an indepth vision along a method can be deviced to build up the suite. At this point it has to be decided for the next phase who the active participants for different outcomes will be, and what is to be expected on actual practical and creative level.

       activities and outcomes
       1. content research
          -> collection of essential working materials
             (continued and finalisation)
       2. web infrastructure
          -> problem solving with the users and improve the tools
       3. meetings
          -> building up of working methods, collaboration issues, timelines
       4. documentation phase 1
          -> online

2. experimental collaboration phase

With the net infrastructure in its place, the preparations on the material and the preliminary pieces available, a very important period starts. It mainly deals with communication issues. Important in this phase is that the discussions on the structure of the pieces for output is being discussed. Inventive and partial rehearsals are being organized, mostly in a connected way. Each location organises a meeting with the rest of the participants.

First and intermediate structural approaches are tried out on the composition of the suite. These are discussed and altered. Each participant is entitled to make his/her own version with the material. Interesting intermediate works are to be expected resulting from this.

       activities and outcomes
       1. preliminary creative results
          -> first combinatorial pieces
       2. meetings
          -> planning of rudimentary rehearsals and collaborations,
             comparison of try-outs and evaluation of results
       3. documentation phase 2
          -> online

3. output generators

Each participant can as well work in his/her own domain for creating an output format: video, film, sound works, radio pieces, performances, concerts, improvs, dance. Depending on the co-producers interests, the project will be performed, published, installed and distributed in as many possible forms as required. All this will also be documented extensively on the site.

A final piece in the form of a radio piece will be produced by the initiators. This piece will be available for distribution on alternative and free radios. This will be presented at several working locations by the participants.

       activities and outcomes
       1. creative results
          -> first full pieces, esp. a final radio piece
       2. final project meeting
          -> roundup, overview and evaluation of the project
       3. documentation phase 3
          -> finalisation of the web environment,
             with links to all (continued) results
          -> rapportage
       4. presentations at the supporters, co-producers and
          participants' locations