Kristiania discussion questions for our retreat at Art Omi: Writers, September 2016
Here are the discussion topics we explored during our Kristiania retreat, September 2 to 5, 2016, at the Omi International Arts Center.
Topic 1:
The current mood, in leftist and academic circles, is anxious. Debate swirls around the sometimes conflicting goals of emotional “safety,” inclusion, intellectual honesty and freedom of speech.
It seems at times as though we’re called on now to “represent” the group identity by which we define ourselves (or that we feel society has thrust on us) rather than to engage as individuals. And we blind ourselves to the specifics of each other’s lives, too, eagerly thrusting “identities” onto them based on the most immediate visible evidence of their skin and mannerism. Words like “microaggressions” and “privilege” are used to close down debate as often as they’re used to open a space to further our understanding of the very real cruelties and inequalities of the contradictory world around us. People are expected to suppress their honest, nuanced responses to the world in favor of an ideologically bound conventional wisdom. Discussion is distorted by the sense that there are things you just can’t say. And fear of offending creates both self-censorship and an impulse to patrol what others say in search of offense. We don’t trust each other. We don’t extend our good will to each other. We want to win, not to grow, and to do so we play dirty.
This environment presents a conflict for Kristiania.
Who do we want to be?
How do we want to engage with each other?
Topic 2:
When we are discussing the responsibility of the writer/artist, we often come to the conclusion that the only real responsibility we have is to make the work. Make your work truly, with intention — do whatever that works calls for. But in light of what has been happening recently in the USA and the world, this question deserves a reexamination. When our art has the potential to reach others and begin dialogues, spread information, expose truths, give voice to the experiences and struggles of others — what is our responsibility in this? As creators, if we are making work that will be out in the world in some form or another, we are making work that will form a collective memory of this moment. What will our collective memory of these years look like from some future moment in time?
And in this way, what is our responsibility to memory?
Topic 3:
The concepts of identity and diversity surround and permeate the world we live in, perhaps especially Kristiania, and they influence our conversations, our work, how we perceive each other, how we receive what others say or write. (As an example, do a mental exercise and pretend these words are written by Ben Clague. Now pretend they’re written by Rien Kuntari. Do they have the same meaning?)
We do not have a clear definition of either identity or diversity. What is identity? Is it synonymous with group-membership, be that group cultural, ethnic, national, gender, age, sexuality, etc.? If we identify with certain groups, does that mean we must (always) represent them? When used as a verb, “identify” is something one does, as in, “I identify with X” or “I identify as Y.” And yet it often feels that identity, particularly group identity, is thrust upon us by others, by what they perceive us to be. Is it possible to identify as only ourselves, and represent only ourselves? In short, what does identity mean to you, and how does it influence your life and your work?
As for diversity, it seems like a plural version of identity — that is, diversity is what happens when multiple (group) identities are represented. But this leads to the paradoxical conclusion that an individual can be “diverse” if that individual represents or is a member of more than one group, and is therefore seen as having more than one identity. In May we began to discuss the pursuit of diversity. To continue that discussion, what does diversity mean to you? How, if at all, does it tie into definitions of identity?
