8/8/2019 How to Reside: On Temporary Presence and States of Coexistence

1/2

How to Reside On Temporary Presence and States of Coexistenceby Dmitry Paranyushkin

September 2010, Berlin

This text was written in response to SI residency in Gent with Les Ballets C de la B and during TAMTAMTAM

residency at Direktorenhaus in Berlin.

To reside is to be present temporarily.

When we reside we leave our space and time behind, opening up to the constraints andpropositions that the residency proposes.

These constraints are there to produce friction that makes movement possible. You need to pushagainst something when you walk.

I like the notion of walking as controlled falling. [...] It conveys the sense that freedom, orthe ability to move forward and to transit through life, isnt necessarily about escaping fromconstraints. There are always constraints. [...] You move forward by playing with theconstraints, not avoiding them. [1]

During my time at SI the only constraints were the time and space. The only propositions wereto continue working on your project and to meet other practitioners. After a few days it felt likedancing.

When the movement is determined solely by economical, political, and personal objectives itbecomes about fulfilling a certain task. This can be useful, however it doesn't produce theknowledge, but results. The movement solidifies and stops there. Which is not a bad thing, butthat's not what I'm looking for right now.

During our time at Direktorenhaus we constantly had to negotiate and look for some sort ofbalance between the gallerys desire to produce results and our own desire to explore. After afew weeks it felt like being stuck. But we let our guests move freely, as if nothing happened.

What kind of constraints and propositions do we need to maintain the movement, to avoidfulfilling tasks but to generate them instead?

"True creativity is all about finding a business model that makes intelligent contentsustainable." [2]I found this quote while I was thinking about residencies today. Coincidence. They also talkabout performance and possibility. The notion of "true" is a bit suspicious, but let's say it's theecho of economical, political, and personal.

Maybe what I'm looking for has something to do with the constraints and propositions theresidency offers. The question of where is solved with misplacement, the question of when issolved with temporariness. So the circumstances, the relations become more prominent thananything else.

Now back to the intelligent content and sustainability. Intelligence is about knowing that youhave multiple choices, sustainability is about leaving the knowledge behind and starting to movein a certain direction.

8/8/2019 How to Reside: On Temporary Presence and States of Coexistence

2/2

Perhaps intelligence is related to propositions and sustainability is related to constraints.

Making intelligent propositions that are sustainable produces the movement. The friction comesfrom constraints and makes it possible. The time and space are eliminated. Possibility ofperformance.

So what could the propositions be? Let's start from the beginning. Multiple choices are alreadythere from the beginning when the people arrive, within their intelligence. So to proposesomething is just to acknowledge this fact. Just go on. Continue. Do whatever you feel like. Dowhatever you don't feel like. This is not enough.

What are the constraints? They are already there from the beginning. The place has its borders,the time has its limits, there is only this much people. The objects, the space, the time, theconditions, the people produce relationships. A multitude of differences, tension, friction.Choices. The movement starts.

Another quote. " They all did their own thing, but yet it happened in the same space. And thereis the possibility that certain encounters happen. " And then "For me, it is very important towork on these things as if it were long distance running, over many years. Little by little, newramifications happen. So, the answer to your question of how one can bring these thingstogether is by, first of all, not rushing them, and, secondly, not jumping from one project to thenext, but instead having sustained projects that evolve over a long time, through differentchapters. " [3]

Sustained projects and sustainable content. Residency as the time and space that produces thepossibility for encounters to happen or the possibility of performance. Propositions that produce

multiplicity within this possibility. Constraints that point to the right choices.

The time is over and I have to leave, but let's maybe talk about it when we meet again.

Bibliography

[1] Brian Massumi (interview by Mary Zournazi)[2] 032c Magazine, Berlin - http://www.032c.com/2010/performance-p/[3] Hans Ulrich Obrist - http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/obrist08/obrist08_index.html

SI residency in Gent was produced by Les Ballets C de la B (August 2010), initiated byChristine De Smedt and co-curated by Myriam Van Imschoot http://www.lesballetscdela.be/#/en/projects/productions/si/introduction/

Direktorenhaus residency in Berlin (September-October 2010) was initiated by IllustrativeEV / TAMTAMTAM http://www.direktorenhaus.com/?id=1464

Dmitry Paranyushkin is a researcher and artist from Moscow based in Berlin. Hes the founderof This Is Like the online network exploration and research community and PLAYBerlin aBerlin-based periodical for intelligent content. Dmitry can be contacted via his websitewww.deemeetree.com or e-mail d@deemeetree.com

http://www.direktorenhaus.com/?id=1464http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/obrist08/obrist08_index.htmlmailto:d@deemeetree.commailto:d@deemeetree.comhttp://www.deemeetree.com/http://www.deemeetree.com/http://www.direktorenhaus.com/?id=1464http://www.direktorenhaus.com/?id=1464http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/obrist08/obrist08_index.htmlhttp://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/obrist08/obrist08_index.htmlhttp://www.032c.com/2010/performance-p/http://www.032c.com/2010/performance-p/