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The workshop of thinking
World Social Forum, Mumbai, 01.2004
Malinowe, Beskidy Mountains, 06,07.2003
idea:R. Dziadkiewicz, project: R.Dziadkiewicz, Jan Sowa, Zorka Wollny, Magda Zawodny, Beata Seweryn and others.
  
The workshop of thinking is based on the concept of self-informed, theme-oriented meetings of artists, activists, students and youth. Every edition of the program is dedicated to a single contemporary socio-political or cultural problem. The project realized in Mumbai included a presentation of the fundacja36,6's activities, our selected art and critical projects as well as a presentation on our local socio-political landscape, and lastly the discussion meeting. Confronting, developing, examining, and expand our local viewpoint to meet other perspectives was the main goals of the project. In the World Social Forum we were the only organization present from Poland.
 The presentation and discussion lasted over 2 hours and over 30 people from India, Nepal, Canada, the USA and Brazil attended. The first part of the project was a presentation of Zorka Wollny film 'Hi Daddy... I'm going to the WSF' a research project in the artist's family on how social activism in Polish and other Post-communist communities is perceived. Next - we presented many examples of a 'manufacturing of concern', and the Polish art and intellectual elite's political silence and disinvolvement and its consequent manifestation in current crises and problems in East-Central Europe such as neo-liberalism, neo-colonial politics, the war and occupation of Iraq by Poland. The support for this part of presentation was text by Jan Sowa and Roman Dziadkiewicz, published in a flyer for our project, distributed at the meeting.
   
Our group reflection for the workshop (inspired by the provocative 'non doing manifesto') addressed the problem of limited activity in the context of the forum, as well as generating strategies, forms of involvement and cooperation with mainstream art institutions and their role in the development of local, critical, cultural discourses (i.e. problem of censorship). In over 2 hours of discussion and re-interpretation of the non-doing manifesto, and comparing how social activism is perceived in different regions, we generated notions on art identification (between reflection and expression), and the role of art and artist in social life.
We have also included a short presentation on the Camel Workshop as a metaphor of difficulty in cross-cultural relationships. A taste-test of hot Polish vodka in Indian, traditional, ceramic cups were served at the table where documentation on our other project and the piece 'Church Makes by money' was shown. This component was a visual and interactive part of the project, too.
 
After the participation in the World Social Forum, f36,6 realized a documentary movie entitled 'The World Social Forum As Carrier Of Warmth' (this art/activism piece is a reflection on the WSF and also a critical link to the J. Beuys ideas on activism as art.
(read the text by Sowa nad Dziadkiewicz>>)
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