Best_Practice  01/28/2004 - 16:35  Array  

Kinetik - Do it yourself theatre and games is a d.i.y. project with rom and semi nomadic children living in urban environments. It is d.i.y because it is realised with recuperated materials on or close to site, and is based on the stories and interests of the children for play and to make short improvised performances. The first part is on site in three different locations, Dublin, Rome and Amsterdam; the second part is on the net.

D.I.Y theatre
kinetik observations>>>>
http://www.inventati.org/kinetix

- An Interview with Ema Nik -

Whom are you trying to reach?
Children with a nomadic history living in urban environments, and people who live and work with them in their immediate community.

What does networking mean for you?
Providing a space, a platform to meet and exchange.forming links, making multi directional connections.
(A bit like a fishing net, lots of intertwined ropes of fibers spiraled arond each other connected together at certain points with other ropes whilst leaving alot of space inbetween for whatever might come......)

How do you make yourself heard?
Through interactions and by giving others the space to be heard.in doing so recognising that to be heard is to listen. It is not important who says what more maybe what is said.often we were working without talking, in fact we were working on communicating without talking. in emphasising other means of corporeal communication, such as touch, smell, sound...

What is your personal motivation for doing this?
I find it really inspiring to work with these children..during play we enter a flow of inter dependency and acceptance. The communication becomes very direct without becoming accusatory/judgemental. I recognise again the importance to articulate, to continue, the weight and insignificance of every action. The openess of a child requires a huge responsibility, they copy and question your every move. I find the work we do together very rich.
I am interested in giving attention to sensoric communication and allowing space for the imagination to become an inspiration for living, children are quite close to this, they have not enveloped themselves in rational yet.
These children have taught me how to improvise, a very handy tool for life.

i also wanted to work with local support groups to feed into sustainable self organised structures.

What was the initialising idea or happening of the project?
(Hard question. Each project overlaps and is a developmennt rooted in another.)
It started from personal encounters with the children in their environments.
It was to give them a space to play. That was the first idea. The first happening was a visit to the camps in rome, the suburbs in amsterdam and meeting the traveller children on the streets of dublin.

How come you pick up on the support of roma and semi nomadic children?

Stasis seems to be the acceptable standard of living. A fixed abode/job/name.i was ineterested to give attention to nomadism. It is however not so easily categerised most of the nomadic groups we worked with have not moved for at least five years. They are in fact quite settled. There is a history though and that affetcs their lifestyles. It is enriching to step outside the mainstream to give space to those on the fringe. now i think children are children people are people, it is not too important to get stuck in categerisation. although it is important to understand a context.

How did the network in amsterdam;/rome/dublin start?
Very personaly. I am born in dublin, i live in amsterdam and i work anually in rome.In fact besides for this these paticular cities are not relevant, probably you can go to any city and find a sinilar situation.

Why do you use means of theatre and play?what is your idea behind it?

Theatre is a safe place to observe each other and lifes situations. Safe in the sense that it is a platfrom with a frame, the consequences for actions are not so threatening as in ‘real’ life. It is a great and immediate tool for communication exchnage and participation.
playing is fun. Through fun we can often penetrate the layers of protection we wear in daily life. trust and acceptance can be built there.
It is a great way to enjoy the process of interaction and interdependence. In moments of play we enter a flow.we can learn alot about life.

Do the kids actually use the website for communicationg about the project?
Not yet hahaha. First we worked on of the net later we will upload the documentation and invite the children to see what the others have been doing, and to comment about it. This is the first step to see if there is a genuine interest. if there is we can develop the website and the childrens involvment.

Alot of times it is difficult to develope net enviroments that are actually accessible for kids....

I think that is in general. Lets see, but i think that it is necessary to humanise the net, to make visible the process of information assimulation, documentation and distribuition..(ie that it is people uploading the net, and that those people may be similar to you..) if something is personally relevant then there is usually more interest, as awareness grows what is personally relevant stretches slowly encompassing wider issues.So if it is possible to make something very personal and then put it on the net, then a starting connection is already there.

How did you manage to develop the site?
With someone who is much more experienced than me.
The site was structured half way through the project and fully uploaded towards the end. Everything comes from the children but they were not involved directly in the structuring of it. I thought of it as a pilot project. it is easier to explain with something personal and concrete than to start from abstract theory.
To have more invlovment for the children in web would be the next step in this project.

What does your project mean in practice?
Working on site with the children. On site means either in the camps or in the schools.

Structuring a website that documents the workshopds and provids a psace to wirte commetns to each other.

It also means linking local interest and support groups together for specific periods and exchanging resources about other similar projects.

What exactly are you doing with the kids since when and are there any results yet?
This project began in january. One year ago.

We play games, improvise, talk.We play together in groups, improvise stories, make costumes, music etc.It is very much improvised and as much as possible led by the children themselves.the main focus is however on sensitisation of the body in its environment, development of articulation and awareness of interdependency.the theatrical aspect aims to validate their personal histories and creativity within a contemporary context through a D.I.Y. approach.

As for the results well there have been developments.
For example groups of children play together who usually would not, they continued to make things after we left..in dublin there is a year program grown from the initial six week workshop led by local artists within the school; in rome a local theatre group kept the objects we made and will work on an animation based on them, the phase in amsterdam is underway.

Which affects are you hoping your project will have in the future?
It is no longer my project.that is great.it is already alive between people.
In the future i hope it has inspired some of the participants to develop it how they see fit, for myself i will continue to work on the relation between body/imagination/technolodgy/environment/lifestyle in flux.