A few days ago I posted on an upcoming community building event series called Open-Source Biography. The workshop series is being conducted by artists Tina Dillman and Kyla Kegler.
To better understand the meaning behind the exercise, Kyla offered up some background that led to embarking upon the socially conscious sessions – in particular the evolution and conception of Open-Source Biography, so as to offer “a contextualized take on the project and the community that it engages with.”
From Kyla:
Open Source Biography is interested in generating compassion, understanding and collaboration between cultures and individuals that might not normally find personal common ground.
Although the project was developed in response to an interest in the specific climate that exists in the diversity on Buffalo’s West Side, participation in the workshops is not limited to West Side residents. We will use this neighborhood as a prototype to think about how diversity amongst individuals in any community can either work as an agent for expansion of consciousness or it can produce alienation. We will work with artistic strategies and practices that perpetuate personal inquiry and inter-personal compassion through sharing, overlapping and re-arranging our collective stories.
*The concept for Open-Source Biography grew out of the 2013 and 2014 West Side Circus of Life Parades. Both projects (Parades and Open-Source) operate under the same discursive premises and goals: a community gathering and celebration of this diverse neighborhood.
If you are interested in being a part of this workshop series, click here to see the upcoming schedules, and to learn more about the initiative.