META

[Marlon Barrios Solano]

It is a space for ongoing feedback reflections on the pedagogy and methodologies: process on process.

[Elena TaJo]

Primarily, I loved the contents of this workshop and the fascinating collaborators, including all of the participants.  I admit, though, that my initial enthusiasm was ultimately washed away by the Overwhelm of many options.  Some of the tasks were quite easy to do, like the mini underscore, glyphs, and word clouds.  Others would have been doable and interesting if I knew for sure I was going to do it.  But I didn't have a good sense of priorities. Sometimes I would watch a hangout and there would be much discussion of the technical glitches, and I feared that I would get bogged down. Finally, I gave up, deciding that I was a disappointing student indeed.  Having said all that, though, this was a profound introduction to the work of Nancy Stark Smith, and I absolutely loved the way that people played with her process and mixed in their own concepts and methods.  Thank you ever so much for doing it!!  

[suzon fuks]

sounds all interesting, unfortunately could not participate more. Above all about the underscores glyphs...somehting i am totally attracted to!
about the online performance scores i would love to go further and also have sessions on Waterwheel's Tap of people are interested. People are free to use it anyway...but would be great to have some set times...  I was delighted to meet people. WOuld like to know more about their works.
some have contacted me afterwards, one for technical consultancy for a personal project.
about to travel, so cant write more... cheers!

[Daniel Pinheiro]

The space given for interaction and collaboration within the Meta Academy was one of the key aspects that made me immediately engage with the initiative; at the time when it happened I had few free slots of time to be part of it, so I decided that I would try to "sit" in conversations as an outside listener, so I could experience it and analyse it as such. Not being part of the activities but as observer. And as such I realized that the immediatism provided by the medium made me already part of the action, and wanting to be part of it, not knowing what I was getting into or what the result would be. I look forward to be part of another moment like this. Meanwhile one of the results of being involved is a on-going collaboration with artist Lisa Parra, after having done one of the tasks of the workshop (Embodied Investigation #3: Simultaneous Duet Mini Extended Underscores - Nancy Stark); a collaboration process based on exploring the possibilities and resonances of the work developed within the Meta Academy.

Also I believe that the work around exploring the medium was one of major importance, triggering thoughts about a process of redefinition of concepts adapted to the digital sphere.

Thanks again for such a good experience. #summer2013

[Ellen Maynard]

I value my experience with meta-academy! 

The entire course was a dissection of Nancy's initial interview, it was helpful to have activities for each of the sections of her class, and each part of the interview went with the sections. It was successful to have her words, as well as the words of the guest lecturers, paired with the interactive work that we did online. 

The collaborative doodle project ended up making my day, once we got hooked up and drawing. I felt very close to my partner as I created a picture with her, in real time. 

The format of the site is confusing or cumbersome at times. It would be nice if each link opened up on the same page, rather than opening a new page. 

Overall, I gained connections, new perspectives, and knowledge, from Meta-Academy. My time on Meta-academy left me feeling refreshed and inspired. I saw it as a fun activity to engage in for a few minutes here and there during the day, and then when I could, I would delve in for more of the in depth activities. 

I hope that Marlon and Rachel get to continue putting on these classes, there are endless possibilities waiting! 

[Lisa Parra]

The ideas on process, pedagogy and methodology that MetaAcademy proposed has been very useful to my own work and process. My recent work has focused on dialogue which grew out of my interests in collaboration between artists and wanted to look more closely at dialogue as a key aspect of the collaboration with regards to process and art making.  When we use different codes of communication and different codes for art making, how does this translate? What gets lost? And how do ideas get transformed during process and with methodology? MetaAcademy inspired me to rethink ideas of place, language, identity, culture and time within the context of communication and embodiment.  The rethinking and questioning is an ongoing investigation/collaboration that Daniel Pinheiro and I began while doing the duet/trio exercises of Nancy Stark Smiths’ Underscores.  The experience of the study and my encounter with Daniel has been wonderful and I look forward to sharing our work/collaboration with this community as it continues to develop-- daniel&lisa (Daniel posted in above as well).

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! It was so fantastic to meet a great group of people and reconnect with friends and colleagues.

 

[Glenna Batson]

[Marlon Barrios Solano]

Hello Glenna,

ahhh,

 sorry to hear that!

wow,  thank you and i hope that you can gather  the energy and time to...try to send us your feedback.

Part of the mysteries of the online environments.

It went to  THAT  parallel universe.

[Katerina Elraheb]

First of all let me thank you for putting in action this nice idea. It was a great chance to know new things and interact with people all around the world by exchanging ideas on interesting topics, but also meeting  inspiring "keynote" participants.  In addition the whole process for me was a continuous dialogue about being present and being absent, about exchanging but also being isolated in my room sitting in front of my laptop and camera instead of dancing with people, touching them and feeling sure about their presence. I liked however the fact that the whole conversation was based of the notion of presence which at the same time was questioned by the media through which we were to communicate. Finding the correct time slot to fit people who were at the other side of the world as well as the fact that due to technical problems sometimes we were struggling to hear each other, created the feeling of a hide-and-seek game. This game on its own was intriguing on the notion of presence. The only "bad news" are the fact that sometime due to my heavy schedule and the time difference (I'm in Greece and some meetings were organized at 11.00pm. local time) I wasn't able to complete successfully all the tasks. Nevertheless I really enjoyed the parts I could participate as well as  the feeling of being a part of a larger community. Hope to meet again in a similar experiment soon!  :-)

[Adriano Bittar]

I would like to firstly thank all the ones involved on making Meta-academy a reality! The knowledge gained through the activities proposed made me aware of the beautiful works of Nancy Stark Smith, Marlon, Rachel and of a few colleagues that I could be in touch with. The interactions that happened significantly changed my perception of embodiment as I could be guided by and dance with others through the space created. I also started using the hieroglyphs and the idea of being present on the body in other dance works I am engaged in at the moment. I think that it would be perfect if Meta-academy could offer occasional activities such as this, as they are so informative and motivational. Although the activities proposed were varied and challenging, due mainly to the technical requirements, or the time differences, I did not feel overwhelmed if something I was doing could not be achieved perfectly. I also could not do all the homework proposed, due to different reasons. But I felt that despite all of that, the experience was highly positive! I propose that meta-academy sends us a certificate of completion of the hours of study on this process. This certificate would make it even a stronger and more grounded experience for all of us! Cheers!

[Glenna Batson]

I don't know what happened to my reply? I wrote a fairly lengthy response...hmmm...

[Sandra Mathern]

Marlon, Rachel,

Thanks for making the Meta Academy happen -- it was exciting to be a part of it. Being able to meet others in the field, network a little and hear from some experts about their work was one of the main take aways of the project. It was so wonderful to hear Nancy's ideas, memories, and intelligent comments! Negotiating the notion of embodiment via a flat screen and stationary interaction was fascinating.

I think the biggest challenge was the multiple spaces for communicating -- email, googlehangout and Dance-tech page.

It was difficult to remember which place to go to, what google hangout to be logged into and when things were occurring. So, providing consistency in this would alleviate a lot: one place, perhaps a couple of standard day/times, etc. I was longing to collaborate more and meet more of those online, but I never knew exactly when or where they were. Perhaps assigning partners could also help to facilitate dialogue and networking, and then switching those groups part way through?

Despite some of the technological glitches, I would definitely sign up again. The discussion was provocative, intelligent and inspiring. Loved it.

Thank you!!!

[Sue Lauther]

Overall the experience was good.  I enjoyed learning about more tools on the internet.  Some of them I hope to be practicing soon with a video project with others sending in their videos for me to edit.  I enjoyed the struggle of going through the steps and succeeding; and when I didn't, the pillow of support was there.  I was really really happy to have that.  You guys put a LOT of time and energy into us pupils.  I loved that there was a huge international group of people -- that if I had time and energy -- I could connect with and ask them about things that interested us both/us all.  Thank you for collecting this group.  I liked how the skills increased in complexity until I couldn't accomplish them with the time/equipment I had.  I felt successful with the first few things and gained confidence and tenacity to try and get through all of the rest.  Sometimes I thought that we should be really dancing together, but not able to figure out how to transform someone from being in a box square image that didn't move around the room.  :-)  Maybe a person needs to be dancing the computer around the space!  Also, with good enough wifi, we could be ANYwhere--not necessarily gathered in a space.  It was dancing where we were.   It was nice having Nancy a frequent visitor and guide, and to spark conversations about learning and doing art with each other.  Thank you for this opportunity.