Tuesday we had our usual creative meeting (sink or synk … depending on the day!). Centered on putting the last touch to an important grant from the Donnelly Foundation. Although I had already read and offered to correct it a bit, I was surprised by how unconsciously self-censorship operates in this group. The use of wishy-washy words which reduce dreams into doubt. I proposed that we be more, much more ambitious, assertive and sure in our purpose. For one, we are not begging for funds. We are ready to prove that, with the financial support of Donnelley, we can give TINYisPOWERFUL a new lease on a long life. I also insisted that we be very assertive about the specificities of our IN/WITH community work. Donnelly, by funding us, would, in a way, give credibility to our approach, based on designing tools for the practice of art, in the spirit of the arts, in/with a community of people who chose to work with us. This represents quite a rich ground of creativity and we are its (organic) farmers!
This (manmade) environment gives me, for example, the liberty to work on imaginings before consulting with eventual partners, as long as I am ready to listen, modify and adapt when the time comes. And as long as, at the end, I give the work away. I see this as a clear affirmation that the art we do is mindful, knowledge-based and relevant. Of course, here also, I am thinking about the Tale. I know it represents such a long-term effort that I am not sure many communities would be available to dedicate such an extended time to it. But, the intellectual in me, although I am constantly trying to tame him, sees enough legitimacy in brainwork to pursue it fully. After all, it will end up translated into a visually very stimulating installation. A great way to apply, once again, the knowledge Gwylene and I acquired when teaching our collaborative Beaux-Arts Nancy School course: Space and its Representations. In this case, I would say, from conceptual space to uncomprimisingly visual.
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Another addendum I proposed to the Donnelly Grant application had to do with acknowledging the now unavoidable presence of climate change as a factor in all our art work. We added to the requirements for TINYisPOWERFUL’s new assistant that (s)he be current with environmental matters.
This brings me straight back to the Tale!
Today’s Guardian opening article is about an urban farm in Brooklyn. Where a Black woman started to combine agriculture with pisciculture. Right away, I remembered all my attempts to integrate just that: a fish/veggie urban farm, in the Tale. Immediately, an image formed in my mind: that of a seesaw farm where, following the Brooklyn model, the same water goes from fish to lettuce! When filled with nutrients from the fish tanks, the water is filtered to the veggie farm … I would like to come up with a visual where the enriched water is gravity-fed to the salads by way of a simple seesaw mechanism! Maybe so intriguing and suggestive that it would not to necessitate much explanations.
Magic? Exactly what I am looking for.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/sep/07/oko-farms-brooklynaquaponics-fish and: https://www.okofarms.org/river-street-farm