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Writing the rules for zoom? Navigating socially engaged art practice under lockdown
Tuesday April 28th 2020
With many people at home all day Zoom has become a public sphere of choice with work, workshops, social gatherings and public events all taking place here. As a tutor using Zoom to teach and as a socially engaged artist I am interested in how this public space is being navigated and how Zoom is shaping conversations. The workshop will in part be exploratory and in part practical through testing out some ways to help redress how communication happens here.
Here are some articles to look through in advance, but there is no pressure to do so.
Notes on Zoom The Art, Pride and Prejudice of Virtual Conversations April 5th 2020, Arts of the Working Class - An article exploring different peoples experiences on zoom.
MPs expected to approve plans for 'virtual parliament' Rajeev Syal, April 20th 2020, The Guardian
Boris Groys Curating in the Post-Internet Age - I found this useful for thinking about experiences and differences of experiencing art and life through the internet and IRL.
Students were invited to co-edit this mind map using the annotate function on Zoom. The mind map is of non-verbal communication forms. I invited people to respond to the mind map by writing what was different in the online space.
Students were invited to write their own experiences of using Zoom. We wrote this in a quiet space and participants had the option of turning off their video or sound. There was then the option to share writing with the group.
I was inspired to write my own testimony of using Zoom. I combined this with found footage on the internet of people who had created instructional videos about how to use Zoom. I found a lot of the instructional videos to be highly professionalised, with a sense of perfection. I am interested and critical of who is constructing these visions of the perfect portrait, and what these ideals are.