6+ is back on the webcam

It is hard to believe that it has been a YEAR since we had a rowdy 6+ webcam!  Its not that we haven’t been working, (the Biennale in South Korea, preparing for the next project in the Dheisheh Refugee Camp), we just simply never got around to scheduling one.

After the second Dheisheh project was completed we needed a big, fat break.  2 years of non-stop projects, publications, performances, trips,  and just learning how to work alongside one another was exhausting.  It is no wonder collectives don’t have a high survival rate.  2 of our core members decided to rotate off the group and the other 4 of us took a healthy period of recovery.   I loved my recovery.  I pursued some other endeavors and re-taught myself how to strike a balance between my day job, teaching, art-making, administering the outcomes of my art-making, and enjoying my friends and family.

Since there are only 4 “active” members at this moment, we were excited to get rid of the cumbersome IVisit and tap into the quad-webcamming powers of iChat.  Our first try last week was a bust of course.  For many reasons, google handles can’t connect with .mac handles, the firewalls barricading academic institutions, etc.

So Tuesday Wendy, myself, and one of her IT folks collaborated to crack the firewalls and get 4 computers going at once.  And there you have it.  Visually it isn’t as pretty as IVisit.  I don’t get why iChat feels the need to distort people’s images and put them on a stage, but you can’t beat everyone getting to talk at once instead of waiting for your turn to press the “talk” button.

More to come!  We’re planning the next workshop in Dheisheh and I’ve been doing some work updating the website.  In about a couple weeks we’ll have a page dedicated to the “Walking Bethlehem” performance we did at the Bronx museum.  I’m also researching some areas and opportunities Down South (which is my home).  Specifically the Black Belt or New Orleans.  These ideas are centered around collaboration, which is what the “+” is all about.  If you or anyone you know is on the same page with this, please get in touch!  I miss the 2 who left beyond words, but I know everything works in cycles, that is life, and our friendships have survived it.  They’re probably better for it.  Exciting things on the horizon.