Nína Hjálmarsdóttir
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WE AND US // WORKSHOP
Cycle Music and Art Festival http://www.cycle.is/
08.09. - 10.09 2017
Project Manager/Creator
Collaborators: Sara Öldudóttir, Andrea Vilhjálmsdóttir, Juan Camilo Roman Estrada, Utopian Union.
The 'We and Us' workshop consisted of a group of young people – artists, professionals, Larpers – came together in Molinn youth house, by Kópavogur Art Museum, as a part of Cycle Music and Art Festival 2017 to participate in the workshop ‘We and Us’. The workshop was funded by the Nordic Culture Point. The three intensive days were filled with presentations, discussions, LARP writing sessions, theatre and identification practices, sharing knowledge, creating ideas and art together. On the last day the ‘2031’ event took place which was a LARP- session open to the public in the form of a conference where the participants embodied the characters they had written in the days before. Afterwards we had a conversation where each and everyone was able to reflect on their experience of the workshop to the group and how they would like this project to develop. The workshop had emotional affect on its participants, giving them space to express their thoughts about national identity and minority issues and to tell their stories. The group became very close fast and participants had to get out of their comfort zone in many of the practices a part of the workshop schedule. According to the survey done for participants and conversations taken place, the content of the workshop has already got some ideas rolling and spread out to society. Participants commented that they had never had the chance to share knowledge and make connections with other people also interested in national identity, but from another angle, whether it be theatre, visual arts, LARP, anthropology or youth work. It’s worth to mention the affect it had on participants from different Nordic countries to hear everyone’s experiences – to hear what is similar and to hear surprising facts for example when it comes to colonialism of the West-Nordic countries. Getting the chance to write your own future utopia for your country, and put yourself in the position of minorities, is one of the things the participants mentioned to be valuable for them.