Independent Convergence is a full day of facilitated critical reflection on practice that was presented in collaboration over three consecutive years.
Independent Convergence was first conceived by Bek Berger, Dan Koop and Kieran Swann as a full day devoted to examining what independent artistic practice means today. Our curators had framed the day as a generous space beset by provocations and the desire for disruption. Ten key principles got us thinking: Transparency. Quickness. Rigour. Precision. Living work. Courage. Sustainability. Community. Difference and diversity. Disruption as a strategy towards progress. Soon we were up on our feet locating a position along a continuum between independence and dependence, rapidly exposing the many ways of thinking this through: from working a day job, to craving the ability to say no to new work, to understanding the deeply nurturing role of other artists as collaborators and confidants, and thereby seeing independence as a necessary symbiosis. We thought at length about ecology, system and complexity, ultimately seeing independent practice as a kind of committed determination, a creative resilience.
For this first 2015 event we gathered at Arts House North Melbourne Town Hall and Esther Anatolitis facilitated one session. Esther then facilitated two full-day events in collaboration with multiple artists at Pavilion in 2016 and 2017.
The 2016 event was a set of open discussions and activities, with focused provocations by Adelaide Fisher, Julien Leyre, Thomas Quirk, Kelly Lee Hickey, Izzy Roberts-Orr, Myfanwy Alderson and Mary Harmer. We spoke about identity, practice, physical and mental health, success and failure, networks and gatekeepers, responsibility, ambition, and critical reflection. Kelly Lee wrote the piece Together, Apart in response, and there have been many other responses, some collected on the Facebook event page. Our provocations: Let’s start the year together. Let’s take an entire day’s critical reflection on practice. Let’s examine our personal and our public commitments to the work of being an independent artist. Let’s hear how artists at different stages of their practice are orienting themselves to that practice. And let’s be honest about our ambitions, our challenges, our risks and our desires.
For the 2017 event Esther collaborated with Bek Berger, Julien Leyre and Izzy Roberts-Orr with a focus on responsibility. Our provocations:
In a connected world, what is our responsibility to the local spaces of our daily lives, and the global spaces that influence our lives?
In a complex society, what is our responsibility to the communities that we belong to, and the communities around us?
In a place where many cultures meet, what is our responsibility to the tradition(s) that we’ve inherited, and our responsibility to experiment?
In a fast changing world, what is our responsibility to maintain personal consistency, and what is our responsibility to adapt and respond?
In a world of many voices, what is our responsibility to speak and our responsibility to listen?
