Early on in our history the Post Collective used a line from the Spanish poet Gabriel Celaya: “Poetry is a weapon loaded with the future.” I cannot remember if we discussed then what it meant for us and why it was an inspiring image for what we are doing as a collective? But perhaps I understand it a bit better now after our last meeting. One way of reading it: if one engages with poetry, to make and to experience poetry, then the future is brought into play, brought into the mix in a very special way, and becomes a weapon for changing the present into the future. Also after the last meeting a line from the Philosopher and activist Simone Weil came to mind: “Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity”. Might this offer a thought model and reminder for how our meetings and exchanges can be approached through the importance of a generosity of attention. Can we develop possibilities of talking and listening that allows everyone to participate in their own way with their individual voice. A circular and attentive method of passing thoughts and ideas between each other so they grow like snowballs adding layer after layer with everyone contributing to discussions and then the developments that arise out of them. Surely an important part of developing a collective recording would also begin and be connected to a practice of collective listening. To think about different ways of listening together as part of forming a social and recording community. Listening plays a pivotal part informing any effective and non-toxic collective. A question I asked myself after the last meeting: How much do we need to justify and explain in terms of what we wish to do together? It seems that a important stage now is in finding a group awareness of how to use collective time together both in allowing enough time for things to emerge freely and naturally but also of being aware and careful to not waste too much time. Can we experiment and explore different ways of designing and planning our time together so it involves various exercises and experiments in communication. There are many of us and it seems important to invent inclusive and effective modes of approaching our meetings and sharing ideas. So as to come to decisions and understandings together, but also recognising when we need to move on, shift gears and attention if things become too entangled/ repetitive and start draining/wasting our time and energy. Lets consider breaking up into smaller groups to discuss the same clauses from the contract and coming back together to report on each groups findings. After reading the contract the curator from Lyon said it was like a manifesto. It is as much a manifesto as a contract. A very memorable point made at the last meeting is that the contract should be written in a way that is directed towards institutions, individuals and to all future collaborators equally and be not as be about addressing those in power exclusively. We could think of connecting to the sans papier group in Brussels who having been working on developing legal contracts and legal procedures for refugees. What we do together is as much about creating/ building a social and artistic community based on individual and collective self determination and dignity. This seems more important than achieving/making anything more concrete. With the process being more important than the product: this seems pivotal in what we do together. It was mentioned that the funding rationale requires that we produce some recordings and public moments. These recordings and public moments can be as much about our process of creating a community as about producing any definitive outcomes or productions. They also could include both aspects. Building elements of social self determination and autonomy for the group is in itself a very important and radical/rare achievement. And something that will require special attention and patient processes of exchange and care. Might this collective/ this group be seen like a barricade. In that it provides both protection and relief for its members against the corrosive and negative forces placed upon individuals especially those in precarious and so-called marginalised positions, in this society. It offers a place from which to draw strength through solidarity and interdependence between members/ and this reaches out to other participants beyond the group. The finding of common ground and the sharing of this ground between ourselves and with others outside the group for me has many important social ramifications and offerings. As it relates to the idea of changing the world without taking power ( See: John Holloway and Zapatista movement).
Since I have a long connection to the practice of working with voice and poetry/ radical literary practices, I was inspired and moved by listening to the many voices and unique qualities that each of these voices materialise There were also so many poetically rich images and expressions that arose from the meeting that it occurred to start to write such things down and build upon them somehow from each meeting.
Perhaps we could make a collection of phrases, thoughts and poetic images arising from our meetings and then do a rereading or reenactment of them in a recording.
The Italian philosopher Adriana Caverero in her book For More Than One Voice considers the voice in ways that might offer a useful approach for thinking about any recordings we make together. Cavarero sees that the possibility of a collective entity or plurality is stressed by the importance of recognising singularity and uniqueness in relation to individual voices. This means rethinking politics through voice and the utter uniqueness of each persons voice. She sees this importance of returning to the appreciation of voice beyond the strictly semantic, encouraging a deeper vocalic listening and reflective engagement with others. The voice approached from this material and embodied perspective reveals rich and essential evidence of the uniqueness of each individual. Caverero writes: The voice, indeed does not mask…It communicates the uniqueness of the one who emits it, and can be recognised by those to whom one speaks.” In this sense voice is inextricably tied to identity, as the uniqueness that supports one in having subjectivity. If we build on these ideas in our recordings we might think of ways of using our voices as ‘a primary sounding’ material. This could involve playing with words in our different languages, impersonate others, explore qualities of our own voices and those of others. Can we develop an oral imaginary and material source for recording through playing with words and voices?
At our last meeting I was reminded of how feminist activists and thinkers like Silvia Federici, Alison Jagger and Audre Lorde among others explain that so called bad or outlaw feelings like anger, depression, anxiety and guilt can change their meaning through the building of a collective subjectivity. Such feelings they explain if collectivised can be socially useful and even politically subversive. It means forming a collective feminist subjectivity which is also a collective of feeling, allowing people to find communal ways of refusing and also using these so-called bad feelings in ways that bring change about. With such refusals and placing great importance on feelings the aim is to turn the effects of exploitation and oppression outward rather than internalising them. Jagger terms these ‘outlaw emotions’ as ones not allowed in certain social situations; Isolated when feeling these emotions one labelled as disturbed or unwell but as Federici writes those instants of feeling differently can also a way of knowing differently, and knowing that the world could be different.