Critical Correspondence

Moving Dialogue: Meeting Points, Useful Differences

Gina Serbanescu

After a week of Moving Dialogue exchange between American and Romanian artists a clear fact took shape: what, at the beginning, was a tendency towards communication merged into sharing. During the exercises, the improvisations, the moments of creation, we could witness a context in which points of connection were found. But, at the same time, we could also see how each artist preserved his or her creative individuality.

During the first meeting, for instance, everything started with an initial concentration of every artist on what he/she was going to do, to elaborate in order to create a context in which all the present artists could meet, a performative context that could be a starting basis for the exchange. Therefore, points of connection started to appear.

On the first day of meeting in the studio, a methodology of communication was configured during the process of working. The initial isolation of each artist merged into a crescendo of the tendency towards communication. Then, the connections between the artists started to be more and more visible. The construction of the communication context was helped by the use of objects in the studio and especially by the inner tendency of each artist to find a bridge towards the others. Thus, a performative context started to be visible. In this context everybody preserved his/her individuality that acted as a piece in an ongoing puzzle. Each presence could develop itself as a solo and around each presence the whole context could be built. This was possible because the meeting points were effectively combined with the artistic individuality of each artist.

The performative context could be read as a story. But what may this story be about? Obviously about getting together through significant differences that also became visible at the presentations at Judson Church. (We will be back soon with a material about the four performances presented this Monday at Judson Church).

On another day of meeting, after working in the studio at Eden’s, each artist presented a moment about the experience of the initial days of exchange. This was the point in which the communication merged into a sharing. Whether it was about the way in which being in New York feeds or affects creation, whether it was about the way the others play a role in developing strategies of exchange or whether it was about expressing oneself in an artistic context, a tendency towards sharing was visible. This tendency was reflected in a search for a way to convey to the others a personal experience.

Therefore, it became clear that, where there are differences in style and cultural background, there is always a strong possibility of sharing experiences and enriching the others , by elaborating of a methodology of finding meeting points.