​REMIX residency sprung up in 2018 after reflecting on the pitfalls and successes of Con|VERGE

How to design a frame that gives both structure and freedom? 

 

Artists were invited to a new collaborative experiment at Betonest, an art residency space adjacent to Ponderosa Dance by a short bike along the canal, on the industrial site of a disused concrete factory. REMIX was facilitated by Yoav Admoni, Kata Kovács and Mary Pearson.

 

Format:

​

REMIX began with a weekend of sharing art. All artists in residence had the opportunity to show, experience, and get inspired by each other’s work and then join in collaboration with other resident artists of their choosing.

 

Take your work(s) apart. Make a prequel. Or the sequel. Re-construct it. End with the beginning. Start over. Dance the re-write. Make the film. Drift into the landscape. Turn it into a theme park. Choose your own adventure.

 

The final weekend was the REMIX: all new works by all new collaborations.

 

To build a collective experience, we asked artists to think beyond their individual desires ‘who do I want to work with?’ and consider each other's work with these provocations:

​

Did you experience something you wanted to steal? What moments came closest to you? Did any fantasies spring from the works? As a matchmaker, who would you put together? What mash-ups would you make? What happens next? Is there a skill you saw that you want? What do you insist on doing while you’re here?

​

We drew up a complex and multi-faceted schedule:

a blank wall filled with as many or as few commitments as the artists wanted. This illuminated a diversity of appetites for work and play, and ways to contribute. There was an exclusive duo; some engaged in 4-5 different collaborations; one coordinated an entire group project.

 

We reflected on collaboration and ownership, making invitations, resistances to opening up our work to others, process, decision making, and the roles we take.