Summer Session July 2010 (How to Question?)
Jul 8th 2010
The Experimental Inquiry Methodology Conference has temporarily evolved into a series of summer classes called “How to Question?”
Much akin the EIM, “How to Question,” classes are interactive, creative exploration of the question: how do we think/inquire/question?
These classes run the entire length of July and are held at The School of the Future – an un-schooling re-schooling experiment in free, all-age education located in park in Williamsburg called Srgt Doherty Park.
Here’s a short list of classes.
Thurs. July 8th 6-8pm Reading While Walking
Sat. July 10th 1-3pm Urban Dialoging
Thurs. July 15th 6-8pm Philosophy Yoga
Thurs. July 22nd 6-8pm Creative Surveys
Sat. July 24th 1-3pm Question Maps
Thurs. July 29th 6-8pm Text Performance Creation
Sat. July 31st 1-3pm Interactive Hegelian Lordship and Bondage
Below is a full course list with descriptions.
Week 1- Perambulations
Perambulate. To walk through, to inspect an area on foot and to roam about or stroll. We shall be doing all these things this week. Thursday we shall explore how walking and reading can be integrated to create a reading practice that moves bodies, thoughts and pages in some flowing directionality. Saturday we shall engage in what I call Urban Dialoging. We will roam about the neighborhood seeing what objects or environment provoke questions. We will write down these questions on little sheets of poster board with pens attached and glue the paper onto these objects for future passerby-ers to engage in conversation.
Thurs. July 8th 6-8pm Reading while walking
Reading is great. Except you don’t get much exercise and it can strain your eyes and neck a bit. Walking is great. Except sometimes you want to engage with some developed story, thought, idea.
Well we are going to try both. I know the classic tale about walking and reading is that “Oh! You are going to bump into things!” But this is just a myth. I walk and read all the time. Please come with a book. We will try to keep together for a bit, but then we will break off in our individual paces. We will regroup at the end to discuss how this reading (and walking) experience is different than what we are used to.
What to bring? A book!
Sat. July 10th 1-3pm Urban Dialoging
Urban Dialoging is a method of having a public dialog with an environment. We will explore the neighborhood with paper and sharpies. As an object or scene invokes questions, we will document our question on the paper and post it on the object that elicited the question. Pens will be attached to the paper to encourage future viewers to respond and continue the dialog.
Week 2- Body/Music
Moving bodies and music are quite related. Both involve a non-stable entity moving or flowing. Thursday we will use yoga mats and our bodies to explore how our process of thinking or asking questions changes as our body is changing. Saturday we will team up with Rachel’s song creation class and explore this activity’s relate to questions and answers. (please note Saturday’s class has been cancelled, perhaps it will be suplemented with another yoga class!)
Thurs. July 15th 6-8pm Philosophy Yoga
Thinking and having an inquisitive conversation is great! But how does the way our body is shaped and positioned affect our thoughts? We will explore this question. We will explore some yoga positions and/or just some unconventional body positions for conversing. While in these positions we will have some sort of challenging or inquisitive conversation. We will then discuss afterwards.
What to bring? A yoga mat if you have one.
Week 3- The Other
The Other is the set of things outside of ourselves. Specifically the Other is the idea of other persons and the distance they have from ourselves. This week will be devoted to communicating with an other (a one-on-one communication). On Thursday we will be designing creative surveys to ask car passengers and drivers as they wait to get on the BQE. On Saturday we will be making Question Maps- interactive conversational dance-charts that are mapped out with tiles onto the pavement.
Thurs. July 22nd 6-8pm Creative Surveys
A survey is a means of asking someone questions; a way of having a conversation. But surveys can be somewhat one-sided, intrusive or biased. We will explore ways of making surveys a bit more creative. Can we use surveys to ask people questions with no obvious answer? Can we have people ask us questions? Can we ask questions that provoke a certain kind of conversation or dialogue?
Sat. July 24th 1-3pm Question Maps
How do we converse with another person? Is there a particular structure or order? We are going to try to create this kind of loose structure and guide people through a conversation. We are NOT going to create scripts for 2 people to have a conversation; rather we are going to create lose guidelines (such as “ask a question” or “shout an emotion” etc). Using tiles and sharpies we will write in various conversational cues and directions and then order these tiles into a dance-map formation on the ground. People can then walk through our conversation map and have a conversation.
Week 4- Text
In our modern culture written text has a tight hold on thought. Its hard to even imagine a serious academic conference, class, lecture, etc without written text (although the Greeks were clearly able to do this). This week we will explore the edge of text and how the written word passes over into action. On Thursday we will try to stage a collaborative enactment of a famous text- Hegel’s Lordship and Bondage. On Saturday we will come with a text and attempt to turn it into a performance using mime, gesticulations, interactive gestures, etc.
Thurs July 29th 6-8pm Text Performance Creation
Texts are great. And reading texts is great too. But reading texts could be more involved that just reading the text. There is room in texts for them to be performed. Some words might need to be said 5 times. Some sentences need to be said while moving around in a circle. Some sentences might need to have an interactive component built-in. We will try to create a performance out of a text (without being too literal). Please bring a text, preferably one that brings out questions or curiosities.
What to Bring? A short text (1-2 paragraphs) that brings about questioning in some way.
Sat. July 31st 1-3pm Interactive Hegelian Lordship and Bondage
Hegel was a German philosopher who lived about 200 years ago. He had some pretty crazy wonderful ideas about how our desires logically progress towards freedom. We are going to follow his argument of Lordship and Bondage using an easier to understand secondary source. And then, because philosophy can be quite boring and esoteric, we are going to bring that philosophy into the world as we act out this text!