We are glad to share news about printing our handbook, “How We Stay Together,” and also share the book itself, which you can get for free!
“How We Stay Together” is a guide to working with participatory practices, which collects the knowledge and approaches of artists who participated in the residency “How We Stay Together”, as well as the experience of experts from various fields: theater, literature, performance, visual art, body-oriented and art therapy, psychotherapy, sociology, history, oral history, curatorship.
This book will be useful for artists, curators, cultural managers, and anyone who wants to work with communities besides traditional artistic practices.
THE GOALS OF THE HANDBOOK
The handbook offers an overview of the approaches and practices of four artists who participated in the How We Stay Together residency at the Jam Factory Art Center in Lviv. It recounts their observations and illuminates small discoveries and big revelations. This publication aims to provide insight into how one can be sensitive to own conditions and reach out to diverse audiences and different age groups, expanding the understanding of inclusiveness.
The distinctive feature of the How We Stay Together project was the sincerity with which the artists and the participants shared their experiences, emotions, and states. During the interviews, the residents and curators similarly earnestly talked about their doubts, fears, discoveries, and achievements. The materials collected in this publication illustrate the project development and numerous collaborations that occurred along the way. This collection will be useful for artists, curators, and cultural managers who would like to work with communities in addition to traditional artistic practices. The publication is a guide to methodologies of participatory practices, which gathers expertise from various fields: theater, literature, performance, visual arts, body-oriented and art therapies, psychotherapy, sociology, history, oral history, and curatorship. It archives the knowledge on the work with communities produced within the How We Stay Together project and annotates the essential aspects to be considered in community-oriented activities.
Artists who wish to learn more about interaction with communities through artistic and non-artistic practices will find the interviews with the How We Stay Together residency participants instrumental. The residents share their understandings of the co-creation process, internal tasks, transformations of their states, and revisions that occur as a response to the group’s “climate” and external circumstances.
The curators and organizers of similar projects can consult this publication: it contains structured materials about the How We Stay Together actions sequence, goals, and general course. The handbook describes possibilities of combining different kinds of practices, namely, artistic, art therapy, and body-oriented. It will facilitate the creation of a multidisciplinary project with varied applications of different approaches that work effectively in synergy and assist in transferring the experiences into other contexts. This publication also offers materials in the format of conversations, ensuring a broader understanding of the subtleties and an elucidation of practices directly by the artists.
The Jam Factory Art Center has been working in the direction of sharing art with communities for over four years. Hence, for us, collecting knowledge in the form of publication is also the formation of institutional memory. This is a documentation of an institutional journey: how the organization learns, develops, and adapts the mentioned approaches to different projects and agents.
In addition, this methodological collection contributes to the MagiC Carpets platform knowledge framework bringing together 20 countries and 20 organizations, respectively, that work with local communities through art residencies. The experiences and approaches recorded in this publication will become available to international curators, artists, and communities. On a global scale, the task of this publication is to inform those who have not yet experienced community-focused practices and are interested in learning more about them.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- The Goals of the Handbook
- The How We Stay Together Art Residency
Jam Factory Art Center and MagiС Carpets Platform
General Framework
Tasks of the Residency
Community
The How We Stay Together Project Team
- Research
On the Research Stage
History. Iryna Sklokina
Oral History Recording. Andrii Usach
Psychotherapy. Solomiia Bura
Literature. Halyna Kruk
Sociology. Nataliia Otrishchenko
Nataliia Otrishchenko’s Conversation with Yurii Kruchak and Yuliia Kosterieva
- Methodology and Practices
Development of the Project Methodology. The Road Map of the Residency
On the Practices and Process
The How We Stay Together Residency Exercises
- Interviews and Conversations between the Artists and the Team
Nina Khyzhna Conversing with Yurii Kruchak
Nina Khyzhna Conversing with Mariia Shvets
Iryna Harets Conversing with Yurii Kruchak
Iryna Harets Conversing with Mariia Shvets
Yurii Kruchak Conversing with Mariia Shvets
Rostyslav Kuzyk Conversing with Yurii Kruchak
Liuba Ilnytska Conversing with Yurii Kruchak
Liuba Ilnytska Conversing with Mariia Shvets
Violetta Pedorych Conversing with Yurii Kruchak
Sofiia Korotkevych: A Comment for Anna Gaidai
Yuliia Kosterieva, Anna Gaidai, and Yurii Kruchak: A Discussion
Community Feedback
- Results: Tangible, Intangible, and the Process as a Result
Tangible Results
The Poem Сreated Together
The Process
Word Associations
- The How We Stay Together Project Summary
- Oleksandra Kushchenko, How We Are (Getting Tired and Recovering) Together? Analytical Article
- Afterword
- References and Useful Links
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Publication Curatorial Group
Yuliia Kosterieva, Yurii Kruchak, Anna Haidai
Art Residency Curatorial Team
Liuba Ilnytska, Anna Haidai, Bozhena Pelenska
Authors
Anna Haidai, Liuba Ilnytska, Yuliia Kosterieva, Yurii Kruchak
Narrators
Yuliia Kosterieva, Yurii Kruchak, Nina Khyzhna, Iryna Harets, Rostyslav Kuzyk, Liuba Ilnytska, Anna Gaidai, Violetta Pedorych, Sofiia Korotkevych, Viktoriia, Liudmyla, Kostiantyn, Mykola, Marharyta
Residency Art Review
Oleksandra Kushchenko
Hosts of Documented Practices
Yuliia Kosterieva, Yurii Kruchak, Nina Khyzhna, Iryna Harets, Rostyslav Kuzyk
Editor
Anna Haidai
Program Executive Director
Bozhena Pelenska
Financial Executive Director
Tetiana Fedoruk
Management
Sofiia Korotkevych
Communication Management
Mariia Shvets
Financial Support
Liliia Bei
Transcription
Maryna Khalymon, Valentyna Korol, Violetta Pedorych, Yuliia Kosterieva, Anna Gaidai
Proofreading
Iryna Shutka
Polina Baitsym
Reviewing
Nataliia Otrishchenko
Translation
Polina Baitsym
Illustrations and Visual Identity
Andriana Chunis
Photos
Olha Klymuk, Bohdan Yemets
Design and Layout
Maksym Zakrevskyi
Printed
“Kolo Print” Printing House
The How We Stay Together residency project and this handbook became possible thanks to the comprehensive support of the MagiC Carpets platform, the Creative Europe program and the Center for Urban History of East Central Europe, Dr. Harald Binder Private Foundation, the unparalleled endurance, strength, and professionalism of the Jam Factory Art Center colleagues; ideas, openness, interaction, and exchanges between the team of the residents and curators; and, of course, the trust of the Ukrainian families who embarked with us on this “journey.
PRESENTATION AND CONTEXT
The idea to document the methodology of working with participatory practices during the residency “How We Stay Together” came from the artist Yurii Kruchak and the artist Yuliia Kosterieva in the summer of 2022. To work with communities through art, it was necessary to rethink previous approaches and develop new methods based on the experience of living in a wartime society and on today’s needs. This idea was implemented as a printed handbook, “How We Stay Together”, which the Jam Factory published in August 2023 in a small edition in Ukrainian with an English translation. The handbook was presented at the “How We Stay Together” workshop on August 17, 2023.
