c.along - norm-critical modes of dialogue
| Reference number | |
| Coordinator | c.off |
| Funding from Vinnova | SEK 215 000 |
| Project duration | September 2014 - August 2015 |
| Status | Completed |
Purpose and goal
Nine salons, or c.alongs, have been presented in the research study c.along during 2014-2015. How can traditional formats for artistic and political dialogue be challenged, and with which designs can we replace them? The c.alongs have experimented with these questions from an artistic/choreographic perspective, together with ten invited artists and about 20 guests per c.along. More than 200 people have participated and collectively generated a multi-medial work, which also is a research report of the study, which will be released on www.c-along.com in October 2015.
Results and expected effects
The way we gather in space to have artistic and political conversations follows a set of patriarchal norms. Formats such as `lecture´ and `panel talk´, repeats ideas of `the logic´, `the linear´ (from beginning to end), and `the vertical´ (from the top to the bottom) ideas deeply embedded with a masculine, white western literature canon. c.along springs out of other forms of communion, most often not associated with knowledge production, when collectively generating innovative, more inclusive and multiplied effects and formats when reflecting upon and producing new knowledge.
Approach and implementation
The general method begins with a letter exchange that is both personal and theoretic between the two artists organizing the c.along, which after being completed is sent by mail to 20 guests who are all asked to invite one person further. The letter exchange constitutes a kind of curriculum of the c.along, which in itself also `speaks´ with other languages that those most often associated with the knowledge producing discourse. The method for how to talk / perform during the c.along, as well as methods for documentation, have all been intertwined into the topic of each c.along.