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My latest piece, “A Manifesto for Transformative Collaboration: Reframing Collaboration in the Arts as a Values-Based Practice” is now on Medium.

Building on my 2020 Art + Culture Manifesto, it offers a living, evolving framework for values-led collaboration in the arts: a guide for transformative practice. It’s the second in a three-part inquiry exploring what’s broken in current collaborative models, what’s possible, and who is already leading change.

Thanks to Jonas Eltes @[email protected] for the design!

I welcome your thoughts. Responses via email, comments, or the embedded Google Form will receive early access to upcoming essays and a digital copy of the Manifesto.

A Manifesto for Transformative Collaboration

Reframing Collaboration in the Arts as a Values-Based Practice

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I’ve been thinking a lot about my time in the arts lately. I can’t stress enough how important it is to build supportive/healthy environments and value systems that can tap into the sector’s potential for change and liberation. With everything going on in the world right now, this feels more important than ever.

Last week, I published an essay on Medium reflecting on my recent experiences in the arts, and sharing thoughts and observations on this topic that I’ve been sitting on for some time. Link in bio.

This essay is the first part of a three-part series about Art and Change. In the second part, I’ll look into what makes collaborations successful or not, what we can take away from the good ones and how they impact our sector and society as a whole. Then, in the final part, I’ll highlight what’s actually working and who’s shaking things up.

Your words say groundbreaking. Your actions say status quo.

Who knew collaborating with an arts organisation could cause so much professional and emotional distress? Watching everything that I had bee

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The wrap-up publication for the pilot edition of "Think Systems" is available for download via THIS link.

This document, written by yours truly, provides a comprehensive summary of the workshops held online from April 22nd to May 2nd. It concludes with my personal reflections and observations.

The main purpose of this project was to inspire the arts community to broaden their perspective and harness their creative potential in order to bring about meaningful change in society and the world.

Along with the workshops, I gave two talks titled “Transformation Through Systemic Thinking” at two different locations: the Biosphere Environmental Museum in Montreal on May 4th and the Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery in Ontario, on May 23rd. In addition to these talks, I commissioned my designer friend, Jonas Eltes, to create an interactive 3D visualisation or constellation to accompany the presentations. The information and link to the visualisation will be shared in a separate post.

Thanks to everyone who participated in this experimental initiative.

Credits: Publication written by Carmen Salas. Design by Marion Rouayroux.

Project conceived and partly curated by Carmen Salas.

Workshop series produced by Molior. Design and facilitation by Jana Awad.

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On May 23, 2024, I delivered a talk called "Transformation Through Systemic Thinking" at the Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery in Ontario.

During the talk, I used the project “Think Systems” as an example to illustrate the creative and curatorial direction that emerged from it. Drawing connections with the transformative process and work of influential artists and thinkers connected to the project, I shared thoughts on the role that art plays in social and systemic transformation.

To wrap things up, I shared my plans for using the insights gained from "Think Systems" to motivate artists and the arts community to embrace a more transformative approach in their work

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On May 4th, 2024, the Biosphere Environmental Museum in Montreal hosted the public presentation of the project Think Systems. 

As part of that event, I gave a talk titled *Transformation Through Systemic Thinking*

Although the journey that led to this event wasn't easy,  I'm especially pleased that the talk I gave allowed me to connect with a bunch of like-minded people.

I wanted to use my voice at this event to raise awareness about the importance of thinking systemically by sharing my own transformative journey, and then by illustrating how thinking in systems contributed to the work of influential thinkers and creatives like Buckminster Fuller and Cassie Robinson. 

Because one of the principles of Systems Thinking encourages us to look for connections, I used an interactive 3D visualisation to illustrate the relationship between the ideas/values/principles that transverse the work of these practitioners. 

This constellation designed by my friend Jonas Eltes @jonaseltes was structured around 5 nodes: interdisciplinarity, conscious transformation, the whole/the collective, the universe/the cosmos and change/transition/creating a new model. Link to the visualisation in bio.

Finally, we did a group exercise so the audience members could embody the power of thinking in systems, and to experience what emergence is in the context of collective behaviour.

Image 1-2: photos of the talk. Credits: Juliette Demers-Cyr. Image 3 photos of the group activity. Credits: Juliette Demers-Cyr. Image 5: high res image of the interactive 3D visualisation or constellation by Jonas Eltes. Link to the visualisation in bio. Image 7-8: Feedback from an audience members. Image 9: Buckminster Fuller's geodesic dome at the Biosphere Museum.

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Think Systems is a project conceived and curated by Carmen Salas, which grew out of a series of conversations she had with artists and cultural workers during the pandemic, following the publication of her May 2020 article What should we expect from art in the next few years/decades? And what is art, anyway?. The project seeks to inspire artists and the cultural sector to think more systematically about the arts, society, and the world, so as to raise a greater awareness about the role they play in transitioning towards a more just and sustainable future.

Produced by Molior in collaboration with the Concordia University Research Chair in Critical Practices in Materials and Materiality, the project consisted of a series of workshops, an in-person event taking place at the Biosphère Museum in Montreal, and an online publication. 

Collaborative workshops Four invitation-only collaborative workshops took place online between April 22nd and May 2nd. The workshop group comprised participants from different backgrounds and regions around the world, including 6 artists and a multidisciplinary systems practitioner.

The participants engaged in reflecting on the interconnected challenges of the present day, as well as envisioning the future they want for art and society.

The themes that ran through these participants’ work include art and sustainability, social and climate justice, traditional systems critique, systems thinking, art for action and change, and collective thinking and making.

The group was made up of: Alice Jarry (CA) Amahra Spence (UK) Cassie Robinson (UK) Grace Samboh (Hyphen—) (ID) Miguel Braceli (LA ESCUELA___) (VE/US) Noémie Fortin (CA) Paola Palavidi (HYPERCOMF) (GR)

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I spent most of September 2023 in residence at NeMe Arts Centre in Limassol alongside curator Régine Debatty. The residency was part of Sea Blindness, an exhibition about the Mediterranean Sea we ran between September and October.

Sea Blindness is a term/expression that has been used by many creatives and researchers throughout time to depict our inability to identify and understand certain issues related to our seas and oceans, such as environmental protection, migration flows or global logistics and its impact on coastal ecosystems.

The exhibition situated the Mediterranean Sea at the heart of artistic, scientific and critical discussions. It aimed to shed light on the infrastructures, phenomena and relationships unfolding in and around the Mediterranean, revealing on the one hand, the complex mechanisms of humans and material flows passing through the basin, and on the other hand, the importance of sea protection for the future of food security, and the resilience of marine and terrestrial ecosystems.

Some of the projects presented at the exhibition have been conceived as an act of resistance and change, others to raise awareness about a specific issue, or to examine the current idea of progress and the way our systems are constructed and operate.  

The artists, speakers, and filmmakers participating in Sea Blindness included: Futurefarmers with Ignacio Chapela & Alfonso Borrogán, Border Forensics & Giovanna Reder, Hypercomf, Moritz Frischkorn, César Escudero Andaluz, Heba Y Amin, Ingo Niermann & Eduardo Navarro, Ruba Salameh, Jafra Abu Zoulouf, Dr. Manfred A. Lange, Denis Delestrac, Ana Serna & Paula Iglesias and Corina Schwingruber Ilić.

Programme

Sep 19 2023, 19:30: Documentary Screening: FREIGHTENED The Real Price of Shipping. At the Department of Fine Arts, Cyprus University of Technology, 12 Achiepiskopou Kyprianou, 3036 Limassol

Sep 22 2023, 19:30: Exhibition opening at the NeMe Arts Centre, Corner of Ellados and Enoseos streets, 3041 Limassol, Cyprus

Sep 23 2023, 18:30: Seminar at the NeMe Arts Centre

Sep 24 2023, 11:00: Curators in Conversation at the NeMe Arts Centre

Sep 27 2023, 18:30-20:30: Screenings of All Inclusive and They’re Just Fish, followed by a discussion with Jafra Abu Zoulouf. At the NeMe Arts Centre

Sep 30 2023, 11:00: Guided tour of the exhibition by curators Régine Debatty and Carmen Salas. Organised by Polina Dobrogaeva (Artnow). At the NeMe Arts Centre

Oct 20, 2023, 18:00-22:00: Launch of We are all going to make it, an EMAP produced artwork by Paul O’ Neil, funded by Creative Europe. At the NeMe Arts Centre.

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From 2021 to early 2023, I was involved in a project focused on the effects of human actions and the shifting climate on the coastal ecosystem of Cádiz in Andalucía. In the initial phase, we had the opportunity to speak with a diverse group of individuals who play a vital role in the area, including:

1) Andrew Zionts, a devoted permaculturist and earth steward who has been dedicated to restoring the ecosystem functions of his farm and protecting the adjacent native forest since 2014. His efforts involve implementing water retention techniques, reforestation, regenerative agriculture, and composting.

2) José Conde, a 90-year-old farmer, and his daughter Rocío, who have successfully kept alive the ancient Navazo technique of cultivating eco-friendly vegetable gardens in the sandy areas of the marshlands after generations of hard work.

The outcome of PLAYA FUTURA is an educational resource designed to cultivate a sense of care and shared responsibility among secondary school students, while empowering them in the face of climate change and unpredictable weather conditions in Andalucia's coastal areas. This resource was created through a collaborative effort involving researchers, educators, activists, artists, and community initiatives focused on regenerative practices.

Conceived by Jorge Gallardo from Be.Time SCA, Playa Futura was supported by Fundación Provincial de Cultura and Fondo de Transformación Digital de la Junta de Andalucía.

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[Re] everything

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Happy to share a new version of the Art+Culture Manifesto I created in 2020.  It is a “non perfect” and “not yet complete” document that contains some of the ideas I have been sharing with peers during the past years.

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Trenčín European Capital of Culture 2026  Under the title Cultivating Curiosity, the Slovakian city of Trenčín worked with thousands of citizens, artists, consultants and organisations to put together the Bid Book for the final round of the European Capital of Culture competition. On 10th December 2021, the title of European Capital of Culture was awarded to Trenčín, not only as a city, but as the entire region, with connection to the Zlín region. The Trenčín 2026 team brought me in for this final round to help them design the strategy and activities for a section of the programme. These are some of the concepts that resonated the most with me: transformation through culture, long-term change, collaboration, ecology, sustainability, communities, collective action, care and empathy. 

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Stockpiling Food for Thoughts: Imagining New Sensibilities During Quarantine

I had the pleasure to work with the Sensorium team in the production of this book

In this book, three authors in quarantine reflect on the Covid-19 pandemic, finding hope in art and culture. Sensorium Festival's Lucia Dubačová, Celia Bugniot and Juraj Hoppan draw connections between the global health crisis and neoliberal politics, corporate surveillance and indigenous knowledge in a stimulating mix of personal observation and critical research. Edited by HOLO magazine's Alexander Scholz and featuring the voices of interdisciplinary luminaries such as Anna Dumitriu, Irini Mirena Papadimitriou, Michaela Musilová, Hyphen Labs, Saša Spačal, Laura Boles Faw, Summer Lee and Iris Long, Stockpiling Food for Thoughts explores ways in which the crisis has nurtured new sensibilities to governance, the planet and to one another.

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Photos and design material from the third edition of Connecting the Dots in Mexico City. The 2021 edition took place in a hybrid format with activities happening from January until December 2021.

CTD 2021 was dedicated to exploring the social, creative and educational possibilities of dance through the development and presentation of two projects and a new short documentary, a conference, a series of workshops and an international dance screening programme.

For the 2021 edition, we worked very closely with three choreographers from Mexico in the conceptualisation and development of two projects. In their work, we appreciate how through choreography and dance, processes of care, listening and reconnection with ourselves and the world around us take place. By supporting their work we wanted to make visible alternative modes of creation that place other corporealities and care at the centre of the creative process. The programme also featured the participation of artists and professionals from the world of dance and culture, as well as students, and people from many different backgrounds for activities such as the conference and the documentary “Cartografías de lo Laboral”.

More images: 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/192677587@N07/with/51746839650/

Videos: 

https://vimeo.com/connectingthedotsmx

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Last June, I took part in the Bergen Salons together with artists, designers, musicians, policy makers and representatives from the City of Bergen in Norway. This initiative had three core aims: 1) discuss the role of artists in society 2) foster deep and meaningful conversations between politicians/policy makers, artists and cultural institutions & 3) understand how to create/provide sustainable work for artists and change-agents.

Funded by The City of Bergen (Norway) and delivered by Lisa Baxter, Founder of The Experience Business (UK), the Bergen Salons brought together human-centredness and eco-systems thinking to encourage a deeper, more empathic understanding of people and place, one that can advance the co-creation of sustainable creative engagement fuelled by shared ambition, purpose and values.

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“SHIFTING PARADIGMS”, my latest article for TAAK Amsterdam, published on 25th May 2021.

Link to article: https://www.taak.me/en/activity/shifting-paradigms/

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My team & I are working really hard to make the third edition of @connectingthedotsmx happen despite the pandemic. This year’s edition is dedicated to exploring the social, educational and creative possibilities of #dance. There are 4 key areas of work: 1) dance + research 2) dance + education 3) dance + creation/production 4) dance + presentation. Big thanks to my team, the participant artists, our main funder, the National Culture and Art Fund (FONCA) and the partner institutions Centro Nacional de las Artes (CENART), Centro de Cultural Digital and Centro Cultural de España en México. More info soon. 

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I took part in the 2021 Molior Symposium 𝘙𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘍𝘶𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴: 𝘈𝘳𝘵 & 𝘊𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯. On 23rd Feb, South African curator and cultural worker Kefiloe Siwisa and I talked about empathy and solidarity for the time to come. The conversation was aimed at addressing strategies to convey empathy and solidarity through the sphere of digital art, with concerns for social impact within communities.

The conversation is now online: https://youtu.be/rg_Ciy8X3sc