movement as action: ... that game we played outdoors on the lawn to resolve the knot into a circle

Movement As Action: Creating Community

A Workshop: To bring together people of varying backgrounds to generate collective creativity as performative and social action.

As social beings, we are constantly moving together with people through space. What happens when this movement is shaped consciously? Does it become (social) action? What happens when we consider or define "community" as an attitude, rather than a demographic?

本工作坊的目的，在於集合來自不同背景的人，
來完成一個具有表演性與社會行動的集體創作。

存在於社會的我們總是與它人在空間中互動。
這種流動是有意識的被塑造出來時，是怎麼一回事？

它是一種社會行動嗎？
當我們將「社群」定義為是一種態度，
而不是人口群體時，那又會是什麼狀態呢？

Sunday, March 1, 2009

... that game we played outdoors on the lawn to resolve the knot into a circle

Old habits die hard. I used to study computer related science, the underlining theoretical basis of which is math, topological math, to be specific, which applies perfectly to this game. It was sensational when we resolved the 1st try with a smaller group but when two groups were combined into a larger one, we gave up eventually. I wondered whether we would actually resolve it if we had insisted on or perhaps the knot we initially formed was unresolvable at all. It's very well a mathematical question.

(source: Wikipedia)
Trefoil knot (三葉結) can never be resolved into a circle without breaking and reconnecting it. A formal process would involve reducing the knot we formed into a trefoil knot to prove whether it's resolvable which I won't bother but yes, having given it up could be the wise choice.

This is the drier part, what I am even more thrilled to share is the following.

當我們在玩解開握著手的圈圈時，我聽到了兩位同學的對話，覺得相當有哲思，忍不住想分享一下：一位同學說，如同許多複雜的人際關係一樣，如果有一個人放手，事情就好解決些；另一位同學回應說，是沒錯，不過既然這是一個遊戲，就好好地把它玩完吧。雖然它們呈現的形式是對話，卻不見得必須是對立的，我想。如果把它們分別應用在各自適當的情況，豈不都是金玉良言嗎？而我們有幸從這好玩的小遊戲中體會。

While we were playing the game, I heard an interesting dialogue which I am tempted to share. A classmate said: just as in many complex inter-personal relationships, it gets easier if someone lets go of a hand. Another classmate then responded: well yes but it's meant to be a game so let's finish it the way it's meant to. Though in the form they were uttered, they don't mean to be contradictory, I believe. Don't they both sound just like apples of gold in settings of silver if applied to respective situation appropriately? And we get to be so enlightened from this interesting harmless little game.