Anna Irina Russell IN RESiDENCE at the School Doctor Puigvert

ACTIONS INSIDE/OUTSIDE THE CLASSROOM: Day one: Introductions (9 October 2020)

Short introduction. “Identity” of each student. Where they are placed, they should reverberate.

What is your imaginary about “art”, which art consumes you, which methods/platforms?
Presentation of the work by Anna Irina Russell.

Selection and quick look at references (particularly own and current, not “consecrated” artists).

- get to know each other, create links between everyone in order to work better.
- Find a “common language”
- Individual and common interests.
- Separate ourselves from the idea of the artist as a “genius-creator” (should this be the case)

Link to the blog of the project with reflections by the students
https://blocsenresidencia.bcn.cat/doctorpuigvert2021/2020/11/27/coneixem-la-irina/

Systems, codes and forms of communication (16 October 2020)

This session considers a historic review of codes and forms of communication (animal, vibrations, sounds, visual signals, lighthouses, telegraph, water, smoke signals, light signals, traffic light system, silbo gomero, radio, technological systems…).

During the debate and the conversation, they spoke of the errors in these systems, the purpose for which they appear and how they affect the context in which they are developed.

Right away, they begin a practical session in small groups where they imagine actions in order to attract attention without the use of known language. Through body movements, sound, beating an object, the air, etc. Experimenting with other invented forms of uncontrolled unmonitored communication.

Link to the project’s blog for this action:
https://blocsenresidencia.bcn.cat/doctorpuigvert2021/2020/12/08/formes-i-sistemes-de-comunicacio/

Virtual action: Reflection from the lockdown (13 November 2020)

Titles proposed by the students after the experience:

Mirror effect   The lockdown does not bring us the light   Nervous lights   Confused   Nights without meaning   Mirrors   Reflection online   Lights by video call   Wasting an hour   Reflecting mirrors   The mute video call   Reflecting thoughts   Faking listening   Performance   The teachers that leave without saying anything

Link to the project’s blog for this action:
https://blocsenresidencia.bcn.cat/doctorpuigvert2021/2020/12/18/un-de-molts-titols/

Visit to the action Exhibition at the MACBA (4 December 2020)

Workshop-visit to the “Action: A provisional history of the 90s” exhibition at the MACBA accompanied by the artists Cris Celada, Marc Vives and Marc Larré, prepared to once again perform some of the practices from the decade of the 90s in our closest context.

Link to the project’s blog for this action:
https://blocsenresidencia.bcn.cat/doctorpuigvert2021/2021/01/20/visita-a-lexposicio-accio-del-macba-a-carrec-de-cris-celada-marc-vives-i-marc-larre/

Group gestures (January 2021)

Over these few weeks they have reflected on gestures, and the constructions and  interpretations of their meanings according to the context. They also explored communication possibilities through group actions, placing body movements at the centre, gathering errors arising in the communication of messages.

Link to the project’s blog for this action:
https://blocsenresidencia.bcn.cat/doctorpuigvert2021/2021/03/16/gest-mimesi-i-error/

Mimicking ourselves: Urban camouflage actions (February 2021)

During this month, group actions were carried out by taking to the streets with an active focus on the environment and the body, thinking about and identifying forms and objects in public spaces where it would be possible to camouflage oneself through movement and the body.

The only compromise for this action was to dress in one or two colours. With no previously established route, they drift out of the school.
The artist and photographer Violeta Mayoral documented the process of this action.

Link to the project’s blog for this action:
https://blocsenresidencia.bcn.cat/doctorpuigvert2021/2021/03/24/mimetitzar-nos-amb-lentorn/

Mash-up session (February 2021)

In the days before the mash-up session, the students, teachers, artists and mediation team shared what they wanted to present in relation to the residence being carried out.

  • What do we explain from everything that we have done?
  • How do we explain it?
  • What would be the best format for the session (virtual, in-person, mixed)?
  • How can we involve the participating teachers?

They work on the content and the actions to share in committees.

On Wednesday, 24 February 2021, at 4.00 p.m., halfway through the creation process, the learning from the project is shared with the Year 8 teachers at the school and the heads of the IN RESIDENCE programme.

The action takes place inside and outside the school’s events room.

Link to the project’s blog for this action:
https://blocsenresidencia.bcn.cat/doctorpuigvert2021/2021/03/25/contaminacions-amb-linstitut/

Dansa Quinzena Metropolitana: “Before everyone knows”, by Paula Serrano (3 March 2021)

The students, teachers and the residence intermediation team of Anna Irina Russell at Doctor Puigvert participate in an open rehearsal of the piece “Before everyone knows” by Paula Serrano, which is performed at the Fort Pienc Civic Centre. The students, teachers, artists and residence intermediation team of Eulàlia Rovira meet at Caterina Albert. This is when a connection is formed between residences.

After seeing the proposal by Paula Serrano, an interesting and fruitful conversation begins between the company and the students of the two schools, where the lived experience is linked with the creation processes that are being carried out in each one of the residences.

“Before everyone knows” is a choreographic piece and the result of research into stage creation without seeing it; the director and the dancers intentionally refuse to succumb to the value judgements offered by sight. Sight drives you mad and the other senses disguise themselves from it. Dancers who touch, feel and read to see it. We invite the spectator to imagine other ways of moving the body, moving space, light and sound. They create a choreography where the artifice allows them to think that things must always have more than one face, other feelings; that reality might not have anything to do with what we believe. “How do they see us?”

Links to the project’s blog on an action carried out during one of the sessions without the artist associated with this experience:
https://blocsenresidencia.bcn.cat/doctorpuigvert2021/2021/05/18/veure-no-veure-veure-el-futur-ulleres/

Field trip to Hangar, Willem de Haan and extensions of the body (March-April 2021)

On Friday, 26 March 2021, a field trip was made to the Hangar Centre for the production and research of visual arts and there was a visit to the Anna Irina Russell space, where she is the long-term resident artist, from April 2019 to 2022.

Similarly, there is a welcome for Willem de Haan, who is also a short-term resident artist at Hangar during his visit to Barcelona.

Willem presents his artistic practice and shares his space with the students, teachers, artists and mediation team, before the visit to Anna Irina’s workshop.

Link to the project’s blog for this field trip:
https://blocsenresidencia.bcn.cat/doctorpuigvert2021/2021/05/18/lhangar-i-en-willem-de-haan-un-artista-holandes/

The field trip to Hangar and the meeting with Willem make it possible to create actions related to his practice, and link them to the creation process that is being carried out during the residence of Anna Irina. Body, Gesture, Environment and Absurd continue reverberating.

Link to the project’s blog for some of the actions:
https://blocsenresidencia.bcn.cat/doctorpuigvert2021/2021/06/30/extensions-del-cos-re%c2%b7significar-les-coses/

Preparations for the public presentation: Part one (May 2021)

For several weeks they have been working on imagining how to do the public presentation of the creation process of Anna Irina Russell’s residence at Doctor Puigvert.

The decisions have been made as a group, from the self-organisation and the co-responsibility of the students, with the assistance of the artist, the mediation team and teachers, sharing what/how to make it possible.

Among the aspects that have been established are the calendar and work plan, work committees (setting up, graphic image, texts, communication and actions) and the name of the group. Everything seems to point towards an exhibition of fragments of the process, activated with student actions, and it will be held in the multi-purpose room at Hangar.

Link to the project’s blog for some of the actions:
https://blocsenresidencia.bcn.cat/doctorpuigvert2021/2021/06/30/________________________/

Preparations for the public presentation: Part two (June 2021)

Over the period of a few days, work actions have been carried out at Hangar, imagining possibilities from the place, and with the assistance of the artists Roger Serret i Ricou (with the design of the modular display), Eulàlia Garcia Valls, Albert Tarrats and Valentina Cardellino, who assisted them during the setting up process.

Link to the project’s blog for some of the actions:
https://blocsenresidencia.bcn.cat/doctorpuigvert2021/2021/06/30/________________________/

 

Public presentation of Creators in/with potential[ __________________________ ] at Hangar (04/06/21)

On Friday 4 June at 5.00 p.m. the creation process was shared during a public presentation, presenting some of the actions that had been carried out as a group, constructing a common space through play and experimentation. Researching various forms of communication with the body, gesture and the absurd, placing emphasis on the destabilisation of pre-established structures when communicating, building new meanings, from a critical perspective towards the surroundings.

This presentation, in addition to the Creators in/with potential group, also saw the participation of teachers and students from Doctor Puigvert, families, artists and mediation teams from other residences and professional agents from the educational, artistic and cultural fields of the city.

Links to the project’s blog for this action:
https://blocsenresidencia.bcn.cat/doctorpuigvert2021/2021/07/01/creadors-en-amb-potencia-_____________/