A short ANATOMY OF a "COLLABORATION" when one eye looks left, and the other one towards the upper right hand corner

In the Autumn of 2007 I met an artist in a conference in Helsinki and we had some very nice conversations. She was the kind of person you want to stay in touch, and in the spring of 2008 she mentioned that an acquaintance of hers is looking for artists to participate in a collaborative project and do artwork in Czech Republic. I contacted the person and he told me that the project is about bringing art into a culturally deprived ‘satellite city’ of Prague, Neratovice. He was looking for a group as his ‘European partners’, and we would do work that would be perhaps involving people, perhaps ‘immaterial’ in nature, what he called ‘actions’. The only thing required for the EU funding he was applying for was that some people of the group should be under certain age, about 30.

We got together with a couple of friends that were interested in working together, and with people and a place we did not know much about – a very interesting proposition! We wrote our part of the grant proposal, which, upon seeing the actual grant proposal documents, turned out to be not an art grant at all, but European youth action fund. So be it. While our part of the budget was not large (some €2000 out of the total sum) we knew we were supposed to be partners (The project might have involved also other partners, although this was not clear from the grant proposal, which was in Czech, except out part). The money was supposed go towards our travel and production and pr costs for our ‘immaterial’ work. There was discussion of accommodation being covered by the Czech part and everything seemed somewhat negotiable.

We got the news of the funding coming through, and set to work.

We applied for funding from our end – as individual artists from Scottish Arts Council – for which only some of us were currently eligible because and as a full-fletched project from European Cultural funds. ACS does not have ‘group funding’ and our individual applications towards a ‘group project’ were not successful. European Cultural Funds have several categories for funding priorities – zones – and we are in a non-favourable zone. In due time we would learn that both funding applications fell through. In any case, we prepared ourselves to a common artist’s plan b: a smaller part-time long term project that will be partly fuelled by our passions.

We sent our collaborators a text about who we were and what we wanted to do (artists collaborating with other artists), and a rough and flexible timeline on how things might go. In October Maros came to visit us with another member of his group, and during this visit we sent him on an independent alternative audio city tour that involved following a route in the city that took him out of the centre to places that we had a personal story to tell about. This was one of the ideas we thought we might work on for Neratovice – there were many…

It all went reasonably well, and our guests seemed to enjoy the trip and also their independent itinerary, although it proved impossible to complete, and a “getting lost” inserted itself in the middle of it. We did not end up discussing much in what way we might work together as ‘partners’ (travelling can be exhausting, and language barrier is bad for communication, we thought). We did find out though, that there are no ‘visual artists’ in our partner group, but people with background and interests in social studies, psychology, theatre. We would be the ‘artists’ of the project. Fair enough, not “participants in an artists’ collaboration” then, but rather “collaborating artists”. We adjusted the cogs in our heads. We also found out about a possible venue – an old mill “Stary mlyn” as an exhibition/working venue.

In preparation to our visit to Prague there were some cryptic mails about possible project in Rudolfinum and some night tour. There were no details so they were left hanging.

We have our trip from 8-12 February. (Tickets paid by us, to be reimbursed after with receipts. We take this in faith, although have no schedule for this.) We are put up in an empty flat in Zizkov area, it’s very simple and very nice (although only one of 2 promised sleeping bags so one of us sleeps with a scrap of sheet – no big deal.) The exhibition opening is in the entrance foyer of Neratovice culture house. Sara from our group has prepared to continue a project she has been carrying out for a while, and which involves people making small hand drawn buttons of animals and plants and exchanging them with buttons made by others. She has all the materials and buttons from Scotland with her and is wanting to involve the opening crowd in the project.

There is no public at all, only young people from Maros’s group, and we have some nice tea. Maros explains that this is the difficulty with Neratovice, you organize something and people do not come – even to the opening of the exhibition of their own children’s drawings. We feel the depressive influence of the generously described ‘exhibition venue’, but are also intrigued by challenge of coming up with work that could cut through this apathy. Perhaps we could do something different? What could be done? We ask if there are people in the group who could work with us on some ideas in the community but there are no takers.

We do have a very nice evening soiree in Prague with a very friendly group of what turns out to be students and friends of Maros, and seems, mostly from the faculty of theology.

The last day we visit the mill, a derelict and very atmospheric art and music venue that could accommodate a very organic art event. It is an exciting but very idiosyncratic venue, so we adjust our thinking about the project again and think that since it is quite far from Neratovice but still in same region and frequented by all local music/arts minded people, perhaps we can do our exhibition/installation/procession/interactive drawing/film-event mainly in the mill, and devise a specific piece of work for Neratovice. The Mill, we are told, might be sold by the landlord and the venue lost for the region, so perhaps our event with good documentation for its part could help in purchasing or renting the mill and secure it as the great anarchy-spirited venue it is for future. We like this idea very much.
All seem happy.

End of February, Maros sends us the first 1/3 of our grant money. We are massively relieved.

No replies to a couple of our mails asking for info on the mill, dates etc. that we send over the spring. In May we finally ask about the details and also the rest of the money so that we can buy tickets for the event that is supposed to be in a couple of months.
Meanwhile we are planning and making work for the week’s event in the Mill.

In reply we hear that EU has not paid the money yet so therefore Maros is paying from his own pocket and we need to wait. By this time 2 of our group members have already given up on the project as getting enough info is like pulling teeth.
We are puzzled but wait – what to do? The money arrives just after mid-june. We are happy, clear our calendars and buy our tickets. 5 days later we hear from Maros that the mill is sold and cannot be used as a venue. He suggests we just do something in Scotland or send the money back. Working ‘with the people’ seems to be at this point out the window. But, we have our tickets.

Maros sets out to find exhibition venues in Prague. He suggests the ecotechnical museum. We ask questions about access to the space, and accommodation, as we had planned to camp at the mill.
Maros says accommodation is no problem (but no clear details) and does not answer on questions about the access. Instead he says to be in the process of contacting ‘galleries and factories’, and finally comes up with the idea to take us to Lunaria, a 19th century style eco-art commune in north with one electrical socket. While it sounds really intriguing and we are torn between the wish of securing a space where we know we can work with the kind of ideas that we have been incubating for about a year, and the thought of just going north, and it might end up being a stroll in the field with animals – which would be lovely! Having finally reached all the members of the group and discussed our options, the opinion was turning swiftly against the 19th century Lunaria experience with its one electrical socket. We decided to make most of it and stay in Prague, where we would have some control over our part of the project. Our group had no more time to deliberate as we were leaving on various trips and work commitments. We let Maros know that we wished to stay in Prague, and have our event there (this, we understood, would have been the case of the ecotechnology museum in any case) Maros did not think this was a good idea, as he had wanted to work outside Prague, but said he will help us in making it happen. We told him that we still had work we could do in Neratovice for a day if he thought it a good idea (Sara’s button-project and a performance of mine). We also wanted to work our event in Prague around the idea of our interpretation of the relationship between Neratovice and Prague.

He reminded us to bring our receipts from the previous trip. We send him several mails with details of where we will be, what we want to do, asked for assistance if it would be convenient- no response. We arrived in Prague and wondering if anyone would be at the airport (no), contact us by mobile (no) or through the rental agency (no). Meanwhile, we worked, with all the stuff we had brought, and what we found. It was hot, and beautiful, and from our balcony the whole city spread out like a golden mirage. We slept, ate, worked and slept again (The 2 Day Sleep). Feeling slightly like in a plastic bag, we tried to insert ourselves into the city in every way we could, and searched every inch of the apartment. Among all other work we did during the week, on Friday, the day of our planned “event”, we held our exhibition-museum complete with a guided tour, and celebrated by a public performance of our Dance Macabre on the Old Town Square. In place of what was supposed to be a collaboration, or later, an exhibition-presentation, we instead had created an intense and fruitful artists retreat that brought forward a wealth of new material.

On our last day we wanted to see for ourselves that there indeed are artists and art in Prague and visited Karlin studios, where we had a chance meeting with a lovely artist who joined us in our apartment for a glass of champagne and a celebratory singing of the city skyline. We had our audience of one! We could leave the city happy!

Upon our return to UK there was a mail from Maros:

Hi,
i have send your email to group. I have to be on north of country, so I can’t join you in Prague.
I am without internet (once a week i have possibility to be connected for a few moments).
Maybe somebody from group could contact you
Maros

It never happened.

01.01.2011