Research-Creation Seminar with students from Universidad de Antioquia, Medellín Colombia- Dec 7-11, 2020

As part of cMAS ongoing relationship with the University of Antioquia, Medellín  Colombia we are pleased to announce our seminar on research-creation with graduate students from the Master in Audiovisual Production at UA and cMAS research collaborators Lois Klassen, Sarah Shamash, prOphecy Sun, Carlos Colín and Amanda Gutiérrez.

In the seminar, students will explore the concept of migration as a method and topic for research-creation. Starting from the participatory art project Reading the Migration Library by Lois Klassen, which explores human migration from creative publications produced collaboratively, in different formats, and through different forms of distribution, this seminar invites us to rethink migration from a broader perspective. This approach includes an understanding of migration as a human displacement – forced or voluntary – across geopolitical, national, and local borders, but it also proposes to think of migration as a crossing of physical, philosophical, and disciplinary borders, as well as of formats.

From this perspective, the students of the Master’s Degree in Audiovisual Creation and Studies at the University of Antioquia are invited to reformulate their research project based on the following questions: How are the dominant hierarchies of knowledge recreated or subverted from migration as a research-creation method and topic? What happens to knowledge production when migrating from one format to another? What becomes visible and what is excluded when we reformulate our project in other formats? How is the content of a documentary video transformed when it is proposed as a spoken poem, as an artist’s book or as a sound walk? And above all, how is human migration thought, lived, and suffered in times of COVID-19 in your local context and how is this related to your research project? What are the underlying ethical implications of creative production that involve people in a state of failed migration or migration crisis? Is collaboration a viable method in creative projects that address migration?

Every day students will be invited to question their own project in relation to the work and ideas presented by the special guests and a series of questions posed by the organizers. Students will respond orally and in writing to one or more of these questions. These writings will guide an essay and/or collaboration for the project Reading the Migration Library by Lois Klassen.

During the first day, Dr. Gabriela Aceves Sepúlveda will give a talk about her trajectory, her approaches, and her methodologies when approaching research-creation projects in collaboration with her students and with other artists.

Next, Dr. Lois Klassen will present her project Reading the Migration Library and other participatory projects as well as her approaches to research-creation. To end both, they will give the guidelines and guidelines of the seminar.

During the remaining four days, the special guests will present their approaches to research-creation and the students will develop their written reflections and a group project for Reading the Migration Library.