We’re about to live tweet a class visit from @taniaelk to a collection of @NYUAbuDhabi first year writing classes. One advantage of online learning is that we can bring even more classes together with our visiting artists.

Prof Sam Anderson opens with a question about artistic process - how to move from inspiration to production to adapting a work to a new medium

Tania El Khoury begins by acknowledging the importance of site. She’s zooming in from the hills in the north of Lebanon because of the explosion in Beirut. The location of the work is important - there are ethical implications.

She tries to move away from an idea of (mostly male) genius to an idea of collaboration between artists and between artists and audience.

Her collaboration with As Far As Isolation Goes with co-author and performer Basel Zaraa started with a piece about refuge and migration, As Far As My Fingertips Take Me. He was born a refugee (as opposed to being displaced later in life )

The in-person piece is tactile and intimate, with a lot of trust between strangers. Basel Zaraa created a rap song about his sisters - this experience is specifically connected to him as an individual.

Discussion of Agency. This is not a call for pity. And in “Fingertips” the audience is in the spotlight, not him as the performer. Creating a more horizontal relationship where both artist and audience share a feeling of vulnerability.

After Fingertips, they were commissioned to create a follow-up piece exploring mental health after resettlement. Issues of isolation, well-being - things not often taken into consideration. It was scheduled to be performed in Ireland, and then COVID brought a lockdown

They were approached to move the piece online and originally resisted. Didn’t want to lose the tactile aspect. But then they started thinking about interrelationships to themes of isolated refugees and the isolation related to COVID lockdowns.

Prof Anderson’s class is called “The Politics of Spectacle”. He frames @taniaelk’s work as a sort of anti-spectacle. Focusing on intimacy, sound, participation.

Tania El Khoury “I’ve Kaswara been interested since intimacy because of the political potential of it. “

Allowing the audience to feel agency that they can shift the work...this leads to deeper engagement. People get involved through their bodies and the act of radical listening >>> leads to embodied knowledge.

The work is not about audience “hiding in a crowd, unseen.”

Question from Prof Sabyn Javeri Jillani about impact of gender dynamics on the work. @taniaelk talks about the role of empathy, radical care, and what that does politically.

She goes back to the idea that male artists are much more likely to be referred to as genius, disparate pay rates, risk of being dismissed as a “diva” if she demands what she needs.

Student question about the balance of audience participation and the control in the scripted aspect. @taniaelk : interactivity is always about the balance between control and randomness.

Even in Gardens Speak (which we showed previously), they needed to cede control. Not everyone wanted to stand on the theatrical cemetery space. As artists they need to accept that they are making a proposition to the audience who then decide how to respond.

One technique @taniaelk uses is through audience guides. They are trained like performers to create a space where “everything is an invitation.” As Far As Isolation doesn’t use audience guides, but Basel Zaraa offers small cues to audience how they might get involved.

Student q: how do audience reactions depend on their own background and circumstances. Not all of our experiences in isolation are the same.

By looking at what we share in ko ways implies we share the same privileges, replies @taniaelk. In Gardens Speak, everyone can relate to the sense of loss and mortality, but their relationship with war, Syria, etc, will shape it very differently.

Prof Najwa asks further about balance between embracing differences and similarities in audience. @taniaelk talks about empathy to step into other people’s shoes through a multi-sensory experience.

El Khoury is interested in exploring the role of the audience as a core element to the work from the very start. Audience as performer, co-creator, author.

Student Qs: is there ever any audience resistance to the intimacy and participation, and how do you transform someone who is resistant to participant. @taniaelk dodges the question to preserve her secrets ;)

People sometimes have participation fatigue. They feel anxious that they have to do x or y. There are ways to engage audiences that is about shocking them out of their comfort zones. Other artists thinking about interactivity as a relational experience.

Her work isn’t about shocking the audience out of their comfort zone. “I don’t think about everyone being too comfortable. Everyone has their struggle.”

Question about the temporality of the piece: the short duration vs how long the drawing lasts on your arm. When does the piece end? When you leave? When the drawing fades? When you stop thinking about it?

When does it start?

Tania El Khoury talks about how the original idea for the structure of the in-person piece “Fingertips” literally began in a dream.

One audience member remarked to @activecultures about the community that’s created as people travel around @NYUAbuDhabi and spot other people who are similarly marked by the piece.

Question about accessibility. Complexity of the ideas are still presented with quite simple premises. Everyone can understand the actions they are being invited / instructed to do. The proposition itself isn’t too complex. Instructions are carefully communicated.

She also thinks about priority of language - translations of the piece into local languages so that it’s not limited to linguistic elite.

Question about translation and what’s different when Isolation is experienced in Arabic vs English. @taniaelk first inclination is to engage in the language in which it was created, if possible.

In the case of Isolation, Basel Zaraa chose his own text in Arabic, but the translated English wasn’t his own words in the same go.

Q re the symbolism in the drawing. In “As Far As My Fingertips Take Me” images of long trail of people crawling up your arm. How does it change for the online piece of “Isolation”. Through squares, circles and dispersal of images, themes are reinforced, but open to interpretation

“I don’t need to spoonfeed every single element...then it’s not allowing people to get their own creativity going. “

Question re ethical challenges of the piece: for example, the ongoing burden on Basel Zaraa to continue to perform his experience. The co-authorship and shared authority is key in the piece.

“I care about him more than I care about the piece.”

For example, Basel Zaraa doesn’t want to speak publicly about the piece in press etc. it’s important that Tania El Khoury respects that preference and his authority as co-author.

Question re seeking importation and overcoming writers block. For @taniaelk - she has the opposite problem, having to limit ideas, focus on a single project. Importance about learning your own process in a way that doesn’t break you, and that brings you enjoyment.

If you want to continue the conversation, @taniaelk and @JoannaSettle will be at @NYUADInstitute on Tuesday Sept 29 at 630pm UAE time. Register here https://nyuadi.secure.force.com/Events/NYUEventRegistration?event=dnCNrGymnV0Nvd4KRYCvxQ_3D_3D