Things we will never answer:
- Open-mindedness
We're not afraid of meeting new artists, we're not afraid of working with people we don't know, who come from a different country, who have a different cultural and ideological background, who speak a different artistic language. We take care of that! The more different you are, the more we like you! Get in touch with us! - Trust
We don't just pretend to be "risk-takers", we are! Even if we don't know each other, let's call, let's meet! - Curiosity
Looking for out-of-the-box aesthetics, original ideas, marginal art forms and non-conventional proposals is not just a way of speaking, it is not just about marketing. We are really looking for anti-canonical proposals, alternative and critical thinkers who challenge mainstream contemporary trends and aesthetics. Do you have an unusual project in mind? Do you want to create something that challenges artistic conventions and traditional canons, that confronts norms and standards of beauty? Do you want to go against the rules and systems you have been socialised into? Take the path of the unknown, the non-conformist, the "other", the unfamiliar, the uncanny? Contact us, we want to hear about it!
Things we can never imagine:
- Respect
Making art, creating, imagining, thinking is a job, and artists need to be paid. No discussion.
A suggestion for artists: unpaid offers are not "opportunities". Making people work for free is called abuse and exploitation. Doing it in the name of art is shameful. A suggestion for structures that have great ideas but no budget to pay artists: don't do the project, get the money first. - Equality, parity
Regardless of gender, age, experience or education, whether you are a dancer, musician, technician, choreographer or cleaner, Gray Box pays everyone equally. Every team member receives the same hourly rate.
This is how we will never work:
- Personal development
The working process is framed by the choreographer, but dancers and performers are encouraged to participate in some way in the creative process. The role of the choreographer is both to ensure that the framework is respected and to provide a safe, non-judgmental space in which the artists can express themselves most honestly, while receiving support, knowledge and tools to build confidence, highlight uniqueness, develop originality and out-of-the-box thinking. - Assertion
The creatives, choreographers, makers, performers, dancers, visual artists, musicians, designers we work with are asked not to look for what looks good, what's nice, what the audience will like, how the professionals will react, what the others will think, but to do what they personally feel is coherent, justified and meaningful. They are constantly encouraged to look for the risky, the unusual, the unknown, the strange, the "uncanny". Do not discard their "strange" ideas, but try them out one by one. To break barriers, to break rules. - Care
Let's care about each other. Let's keep in touch. Let's answer emails. Let's interact and communicate, let's share knowledge, tools, experiences and diverse co-creation and collaboration practices. Let's meet, let's gather, let's learn and teach each other, let's debate, let's dream. Let's be human.
How we will never speak:
- Generosity
Get rid of your class, your position, your social status! Be humble, simple and generous. Speak so that everyone can understand. Stop trying to prove yourself to the art world, to be validated by an institution, stop using bullshit terminology, stop saying empty words, stop using references just because it is "required". Avoid the elite, provide an inclusive experience for all of us. - Courage
Stop being manipulated by the market, stop creating for open calls, stop adapting your art, stop reacting to trends. Instead, challenge the traditional hierarchy of genres and techniques, question normative curatorial discourses, defy dominant cultural values and ideologies. Be critical of the academy and of those cultural actors and institutions that hold themselves out as the opinion leaders of our aesthetic values and the standard-bearers of our collective cultural heritage. Resist, unlearn, revolt!
Cool List:
Authentic, sincere, generous, committed and original initiatives to hear about. Meaningful and unconventional structures to check out:
- The Artivist LAB (space)
- FREIRAUM - TANZPAKT (space)
- Journal for Social Vision (online magazine)
- KEM SCHOOL (collective)
- Les Cousines (collective)
- mais uno +1 (collective)
- School of Disobedience (community project)
- Somme Sensible collective (collective)