Project Lead: Ramona Güntert and Bianca Barandun

Number of participants: 15

Duration: 5 days

Project Outline:

2 fish in one room, is a five-day workshop that encourages you to share your ideas, take risks and experiment, in relation to the notion of camouflage. The aim of the workshop is to heighten your perception and awareness of you surrounding. To question our assumption and experience of space and surfaces merging with air and light. A central point depicts on the idea how a space can influence and configure the making and presentation of work.

We will touch upon the notion of camouflage and its meaning by reading but moreover will approach this theme with a series of short practice based activities. Through these experiments with various materials we will explore how bodies or objects adapts or changes to a space. Moreover, we will analyse how we can let objects “disappear” through the natural phenomena of camouflage, mimicking and imitating. The workshop will culminate in an exhibition and is aimed to showcasing your experiments, and findings along the way.

Timetable:

Day 1: Monday 4th November:
During the first day, the participants will approach the notion of camouflage through a series of short practice based activities. The aim is to heighten the awareness and response to a space. At the end of the session students will have the opportunity to share their outcomes and ideas with the whole group. We will also discuss how these outcomes are connected to the students’ own practice.

AM
Group Introduction: Practice related
Exercise
Smart Phone images :
– choose a photo from your phone and respond to the image gesture.
– discuss your outcome within small group
Look for connection of made project to your own practice

PM
Perception exercise
Walking meditation
Writing exercise
Material collection
Hand out Text

Day 2: Tuesday 5th November:
On the second day we will visit the Warburg photography collection and explore how he uses a non hierarchical approach to an archive. Aby Warburg connects images, uses traces, which are imitating the past in his own way. His presentation of constellation on black boards represents the connection between animals, nature and how through his presentation new myths are created.

Paul Taylor, curator of the Photographic collection will give us a small tour and introduce us to Jonathan Allen, artist and writer who wrote about camouflage in an essay called Strategic Arborealism. In relation to his collection we will discuss a chosen text and the notion of camouflage and how it could be used as a metaphor for making. From there we flow into the making.

AM
Tour at Warburg collection
Exploring his way of connecting

PM
Introduction Texts in relation to camouflage
Write down what camouflage and adaption to a space means to you.
sketching, reading text and doing first exercises and tests with materials.

Day 3: Wednesday 6th November:
After the research and sharing ideas we start making thinking of specific areas in the room. Testing materials, finding a conversation between each other.

AM
Production and experimentation with material

PM
Group discussion about the different technique and explored materials
Making

Day 4: Thursday 7th November:
On this day we reflect on what we have made, have discussion about how we can use the new experiences to create a response to the given space we are working in.

AM
Individual Tutorials: Talking about the process, supporting each other

PM
Making

Day 5: Friday 8th November:
On the final day we will assemble the work or research in the space. In the afternoon we have a small group crit and reflection on the produced objects. 

AM
Trying different ways of installing
Using the space to create a group exhibition

PM
Group discussion
Reflection
feedback