And so we find ourselves poised at the edge of the pool — ready to dive into the in-between spaces of our future endeavours, at the cusp of change, committed to taking the plunge and striking out for a horizon we cannot yet quite envision. Read more...

In order to support your efforts in the current global situation we have designed a program of monthly translocal intensive sessions. These are intended to: prepare you to dive in despite current turbulence; support your first bold strokes; help you find a pace that aligns with your unique process of creating; allow you to swim the distance sustainably; and find your rhythm and flow.

You will undertake your personal intensive sessions, in both live and virtual realms and will attend the sessions the same way you would a retreat or onsite residency, i.e., maintaining singular focus, without the drag and lure of other distractions and responsibilities, on your praxis. It is important you give yourself these weekends free from all other obligations and responsibilities to find your pace, and a wider space for your practice, so that we can collectively kickstart your ambitious three-year project.

Foundationally, you will first establish how you will work, which paths you will follow, what voices you will raise and what resources you will gather for the independent months which follow. Next, you will determine strategies for completing the initial academic milestones, so that you can focus fully on your thesis projects and have research to present by the time we meet in person.

In order to get our feet wet, the initial weekend will commence with an introduction to the program, an e-library orientation and a pecha kucha session at which you will share your research interests and goals with your peers. This will lead to research modules, peppered with topical workshops, seminars, panels, films, screenings, projects, discussions, exercises, and talks.

The current embodied, experimental ethos of research writing, concepts of reflection, diffraction, and reflexivity in relation to practice-based research and the engagement of the voicing body will be explored in the first two sessions. Short exercises or responses to assignments in your chosen media, presentations and class discussions have been designed to help you apply these concepts and tools to your own research.

Your independent, peer-lead research groups will meet for the first time during this period and commence each monthly session. You will lead at least one of these sessions and determine for the group, a month in advance, what the topic or aim will be for that session (an oral or written critique, a reading, a reading assignment and discussion, etc. whatever you think will be useful for your research). You will decide the initial parameters and direction of your group in the first session.

In addition to the sessions, you will hold monthly meetings with your advisors commencing with refining your proposals and mapping out your trajectory. Goals to strive for in these opening meetings include: clarifying roles and responsibilities; scheduling of future meetings; and initial discussion and planning of the research project.

And finally, in order for sessions to be as fruitful as possible in their condensed form, you will update your process blog each month, in advance, so peers, advisors and instructors have time to review and reflect on your work. For the first session, simply upload your proposals and make your first reading diary entries for your workshops and you're set to go.