I've been thinking about collaboration a lot lately. The idea of collaboration and its possibilities. Some of the worlds most exciting art is the result of artists working together. Coops, residencies, artist groups. Often works of art by an individual artist were born from a collaborative environment. Artists living and or/working together, sharing ideas, feeding off each others creative energy.
Music is an inherently collaborative art. And film making is an entirely collaborative process. Impossible to accomplish without working with other creative minds.
I believe I thrive in a collaborative environment. I don't believe I am the funniest man on the planet but even so, early on in my life I realized I was funniest when in an intimate group environment. With people I trusted and with whom I related. Even now, when out catching up with friends at the pub, I am continually aware of how much more creative my ideas are when we are in mid conversation. When we are discussing hypothetical surreal scenes and situations and each person in the circle is adding his/her twist to the story, taking things to a continually funnier and weirder place.
Many nights from my time as teenager to present day, I've sat at my computer or my typewriter or had my notebook in my lap trying to recreate the conversations I'd recently had with friends. Trying to create similar ideas on my own. And its difficult. At least for me. Maybe other more creative people than myself find it easy, and I take my hat off to them. But for myself, it is hard to recapture that collaborative energy. Even in a relaxed situation like sitting in a pub with friends, where no one is consciously trying to create anything. Where everyone is simply relaxing, talking, joking, the creative energy involved can be invigorating.
And it is this fact that has continually left me on my own sat on trains, walking cities, sat in bed, considering the possibilities of true conscious collaboration. If sitting in a pub or in a friends living room can stir up such creativity, what would the possibilities of real collaboration be? Endless. That's the conclusion I've reached.
It sounds stupidly simple when I think about it. And stupidly obvious. I know I'm not reinventing the wheel here, and that collaboration has been an important part of creating throughout the history of civilization. It just hits you a bit harder when you actually stop and think about concepts like that.
Another thing that got my wheel spinning was the internet. Again, it seems obvious. But a few years ago Buck 65 and a girl from Belgium called Joelle Phuong Minh Le who records her own music under the name Greetings From Tuskan, made an album together called More Heart Than Brains. They called their collaboration Bike For Three. But what interested me most about this project, aside from the music, was the fact both artists involved never actually met each other in person. Before or during their collaboration. They met over the internet, and exchanged ideas over the internet. And Joelle would send Rich Terfry(Buck 65) music she produced and he would write lyrics for it and record his vocals. That's how the entire record was made. I think that's pretty incredible. It's a great album too.
So I had that in my mind, then I found myself observing Facebook, particularly threads on Facebook. The way people add comments onto a persons status, and the way those comments sometimes grow. Idea's being exchanged through a few or sometimes many people. I notice this especially in myself. Primarily because, for myself, often the only real satisfaction to be had on Facebook is the possibility of word play, and sarcasm and joking with people. And of course when I say joking with people I mean writing dumb comments on peoples walls, or leaving stupid comments on peoples status's. And just trying to wind people up in general, and have a bit of banter.
This noticeable to an even greater extent on twitter. Watching the way threads grow, and how trends are created and flourish and fade away and grow again.
So yeah, this idea of collaboration has fascinated me for sometime now, and I'm interested in starting some kind of collaborative project of my own. With any of my friends out there whom might be interested. I've been thinking a lot of the possibilities of a writing project being created in this way. Emailing ideas and thoughts amongst friends. Maybe something as simple as someone emailing a piece of writing to another person and that person adding to it and so on. Or combining several mediums like writing, photography, video, etc. I'm excited by the possibilities. And think it could be made better and stronger, by adding strict deadlines for everyone involved to meet. To help add a certain urgency to the project, and encourage that creative spirit. It's imperative for myself especially to learn how to create perimeters, to consistently work within a structure, with a solid deadline.
I know I presently only have five followers and I'm not sure who else or how many consistently or inconsistently read this thing, but if any of you are similarly interested in collaboration and the ideas I have thrown around here, let me know. It could be exciting.
