Flow chart frenzy! 1week decision feedback

Here is our formatted feedback - double click to view.
Taccers please do a close reading because there are some (mostly minor) discrepancies in understanding between members and it would be good to arrive at an overall consensus.
Can we please also feedback further to the suggestions to resolve how best to use "1-Week Decisions".
p.s. Hope you like your designated colours!

Meeting minutes 17.9.07, #1 New Members

New Beginnings: re-Membering TAC

It's been 7 months since we were all together in one room. Remember convincing ourselves that our experimentation of collaborative processes could continue long distance? Well, it's official, blog friend just doesn't bring the cheese to the meeting.
We have been discussing new members for tac for AGES, and before we all wither up and die under the greying light of our PC screens, action needs to make it happen.
Welli has plans afoot and has already found ourselves stumbling into uncharted collaborative territory. We need a collective plan for negotiating the borders between autonomy and unity without the need for an international diplomacy manual.
In the absence of any experts, tac once again turns to its members for their sage and silly contributions towards a renewal of localised collaborative projects.
How do we allow new tac regional groups to make their own decisions without loosing the sense of what brought us together in the first place? What components of our current processes should continue and what should change to allow for new beginnings?

Banking

hey all

some feedback from chch where it has suddenly become like antartica, though no snow in the city which i find quite dissapointing.

... [have moved Toms thoughts on new members to the meeting minutes comments section for comprehension -L]

in other news, am having a bit of a dilemma in the banking department. we can't open an account where everyone can withdraw money unless we are registered as a society or charitable trust. after investigation i found out that this costs about $150 to become one. so, i thought that next best option would be to open an account under my name, and someone in Wellington could sign up as a joint-account person so as to have more transparency in banking (hehehe, i accidentally wrote baking before that) matters. i have opened an account with Kiwibank, so if someone would like to volunteer as a Wellington joint treasurer then I can get in communication with them about the details.

another problem is that the cheques we have received have been made out to 'The Association of Collaboration', this means that I am not able to deposit them at all because of course I am T. Sleigh, no The Association of Collaboration which doesn't exist in a legal sense. so, I think I need to get in contact with the Museums Trust and New Plymouth City Council, to see if they can make the cheques out to an individual member of TAC and then they can be deposited in the account.

does all this make sense? and should be have one account now for all splinter groups of TAC?
whew. money matters make me tired.

1 week decisions: How-to guide

What is 1 week decisions for?

1 week decisions is a process that allows for members to not participate in administrative decisions, this means admin decisions can be made by those who do participate without needing to get others approval.
Administrative (or 'operational') decisions are ones which don't affect the structure or direction of tac. 1wds can be about things which haven't been discussion prior to posting them.

How do we use it?

Blog: Always write up the thing that needs to be decided about and post it on the blog. Include the words "1 week decision" in title and attach the same as a subject label.
Email: U decide! this is up to the person who makes the post. Some decisions might not warrant an email, or the post-er might not be into it, so it will always be useful to visit 1 week decision subject label on the side of the blog - as we have all been doing.

This process was established through a testing, review and discussion process. Below are links to the background and lead up discussions:
initial intro of 1wd
Tac flow-charted reviews of 1wd

Trolley storage

Hi guys,

We couldn't cover everything in the meeting and I forgot that we need to discuss storage of the trolley. All great ideas about reusing it but all still involve it being stored in Tyree's space until next Feb! She is doing lots of work at home and really needs the space. It's urgent and I am getting hassled!! Any ideas??

Banking & 1 week decisions, summary

Admin hats on, buckle your seat belts ...

1 week decisions
summary: We all seem to be in agreement over trialing this process out, so trial starts now and ends on the 4th September. This means checking the blog once a week if you want to keep up with and participate in all small admin decisions.
When you make a posting for a 1 week decision then please enter "1 week decisions " in the subject labels for this post field (at the bottom of window). By doing this we can keep up to date easily by clicking on the 1 week decisions subject label on the side bar.
To keep the discussion coherent all contributions need to be made in the comments section of the posting - not in a seperate posting.

banking/money matters
summary: everyone is in agreement with two people (some combination of Paula, Sian, Tom) opening a Kiwi Bank account under TAC's name, and that Tom will be the treasurer! fantastic! can you Tom, be in charge of working out the details?

If any of the above is unclear or you had a different understanding of it, please comment!!!

Banking Scenario

Liz and Paula
new post
subject: Banking
(this post is a parody based on well-established patterns)

Hi every one how’s it going?
We’ve got a couple of cheque payments made out to TAC for the pencils; one from the Govett Brewster for $149.62, and one from City Gallery for $134.00. We also need to send in another invoice to City Gallery for the last 27 pencils that were sold and pay Alex and the rest of us back for outstanding trolley resource purchases.
So we need an account to deposit these cheques into. What shall we do? Shall we set up a joint account with all 6 of us as signatories. who want to do that? or should one of us set up an account under TAC name and deal with all transactions in a transparent manner?

2 DAYS LATER…
Andie writes
I support that, sounds like a great idea!

3 DAYS AFTER THAT…
Sian writes
its awesome that were going to have money in hte bank! Rolling init!!
Htet joint account sounds good if u want somoene to come to that bank I can, as one of hte remaining wellington cru

2 WEEKS AFTER ORIGINAL POST...
No further replies

4 WEEKS AFTER ORIGINAL POST...
Liz writes
Ok, well we seem to be a little slow responding on this one, do i need to do another text around? Maybe you need personal email correspondence?
We do need consensus to move forward!!!

8 WEEKS AFTER ORIGINAL POST...
Paula writes
I want to get this money in the bank so that we can pay our bills etc.
I am happy to set up an account and have all the statements mailed to tac offices.
I am with kiwibank so the accounts are free and statments are online (emailable)
So it doesn’t matter if the money just sits there, as there is no cost. Transparent.
So anyway.....
The lack of communication with Tac is really frustrating.
This kind follows on from my last post, entitled ‘where is the association at?’
To which there was only one reply. (thanks andie!)
Who is in this collaboration anyway?

george paton gallery who ?what? yes let's!

Hey me again

I've been invited to participate in a group show of curated by a fellow curatorship student who back in the 90s (I think) was involved in a group of VCA (Victorian College of the Arts) who started up an ARI called 'Talk'. It was quite a good one I think, anyway the curator was invited by fellow 'Talk' artist/writer/curator and George Paton gallery co-ordinator Sandra Bridie to propose a show. So far the show is looking at curatorship students who are also practising artists. However the curator is adamant she doesnt want the show to just be an opportunity to show their work, but rather set it up as a place for issues regarding contemporary curatorship to be discussed. I was hesitant at first to participate because I don't really think of myself as an artist. I've met the curator and told her about TAC and wondered about the possibility of exhibiting documentation of our work as part of the show.

Of course it is very early days and I havent met any of the other artists yet and don't know how their work will shape the show but I just wanted to post this now to get some feedback from the group. I don't want to stand for TAC but i thought maybe documentation of our work could serve to introduce topics for discussion as part of the exhibition?

look forward to hearing your thoughts

xA

What to do with written feedback - catalogue?

"People write so much crap -including me- but on the wall it is beautiful art..." Anon
True indeed! Among the notes I think there are some real pearls. I am really keen to resolve what wil happen with our paper & post-it responses, we have got loads! I think that we should put them in the back of the catalog as i proposed 22 Feb - see below, but what do TAC think?
I think that using them to write a real alternative to the curatorial voice would be a great thing to do with them, as Liz proposed (see below) I think that would change the work up a bit and develop our critcality - sharpen our tool if you like...If we can combine these comments into blurbs that imitate the institutional frame then there is a real presence in the show for those critical or bored voices. Once thus combined and recorded I reckon why not give the original postits away in the catalog? How cool that each catalog would be different thanks to TAC!
This would also solve one of our major issues 'wasted paper' and mean we do not need any more reseourse to contribute something great to the catalog. As i recall the ewall was looking good after the show had been open for one week, and toatally full after 2 weeks so there is not too much risk that it would stay empty for long. We should leave a few up for interest and to get visitors started.


Liz said last week in her 'converstaional ramble' Post:
________
I had an idea that we could start drafting up a more formal 'alternative curatorial voice' by sorting through and surveying/paraphrasing the responses. I rekon it could be tongue in cheek - " popcorn mountain ellicits a strong public desire to get naked and disturb in its pyrimidal perfection, to kick it, eat it, and ultimately sweat out the viewing restraint required to comply with the institutional directive - DONT TOUCH!!!"
or something to that effect - whaddya rekon? Then we could pop them in the same place as Heathers A4 info sheets..."
-------
During a meeting on the 22 february we discussed what to do with postits and other paper feedback. See below for those notes by Sian.
------
* Catalogue
-Possibility of adding some material into the catalogue.
There are approx 500 to be printed (actually 1500). Paula suggested that we put approx 3 (actually one) original response into the each catalogue. This would mean that they were one offs and that we are spreading and not owning the responses.
Personally I like the distribution aspect of this, and also it is material generated from the public not from us which is nice. I will check when they need this material, as we will need to see how many responses we have by then.
There was also a suggestion of putting some of our own material in there. I will check whether we are to be given any budget for reproducing material ie photocopying-
--------

So we keep talking about it and now we really need to resolve what we will actually do. The small Wellington group are meeting at the trolley Sat morning and it would be great to get some thoughts, esp from out of towners about what you think.
If you're keen on the idea of A4 write ups we could snail mail you comments and you (MEL and ANDIE and soon TOM) could assemple individual blurbs from the sorted responses? I reckon it could be a fun challenge! xx p

Pub drawing session to improve outposts?

Hi guys,

Just wondering when we want to have the next meeting and thought I would mention that Tyree has a new open mike night starting this Thurs at 8.30pm at Our Bar. Perhaps we could have another pub drawing session to improve the outposts and catch up on the artists talk? The gallery preference is that we alter the outposts themselves rather than attach anything to the wall. So perhaps wires attached is the way to go? Also a seat is fine beside them.

Also talking of pub sessions we will be receiving a voucher for our talk for a cafe I think probably Nikau so we can celebrate somewhat!

The scrap book is great by the way, people have been using it and it's really interestng to see what gets put in there. I wrote my rule in the book along with my arrangement so people couls see how I had arranged them. Good idea?

I should have some more time after this weekend cos T is going away and I will be bored on Sundays. I would like to get in and play with all the responses which are in the tray and arrange them in the scrap book so that people can see them and engage with them that way. Just feel a little hidden away.

Comments at the talk about us not all being there made me very glad that we had put our names on the wall!!

Chartwell Website Homepage??

Hi All ... following up from our discussion last night, and FYI for Andie and Mel ...
We have been invited to post some of our CAMRU resources up on a page on the Chartwell Trusts Website called "Thinking about Contemporary Art". Copy this link to their site to check out the existing format;
http://www.chartwell.org.nz/startthinking/thconart.asp
The suggestion is that we could use the "Thinking about" page like an artists page, our resources would add to the existing ideas about appreciating contemporary art that the Trust is interested in fostering.
The Chartwell Trust are philanthropic proponents for the cause and reception of contemporary art, have been collecting (mostly) NZ and Aussie work for about 30 years and are also interested in the practices and process' of c.art.
Seems like a good context to me, have a look around the website for more info.
Any ideas as to how it would work best? Alot of their info is text base so it would be great to contribute something more visually stimulating, and perhaps even drawing on some choice comments from CAMRU collaborators . . .
Check out the tone of the writing too - we might be able to ah, orange it up a bit :-)
Have a great weekend everyone!
I really enjoyed the meeting last night, it totally cleared my stress about the project - yay T.A.C!!!!!

ohmygodwhaddamigunnaweartotheopening???

this is it guys, the serious conversations can begin . . .

Vote for images from TAC's Enjoy show

Hey all, here are 4 images 1 - 4 from the top. I think we'll be able to publish 2 or 3 at the most so please list your fave two, with an optional third if you like. (e.g. #3,4 and optional 1) FYI for #2 when the image is bigger you can see wall writing.

We need to know what we all want to have published with Andie's discussion transcript for 'Hue and Cry'
We have lots of shots, but pretty much all the same at mo. Do we need another action shot? During construction perhaps? Can Mel supply? Or is this going to do for this publication? We can always use different images for the prospect catalogue.

Entitling the trolley

Here's the post for our pre-meeting title ideas . . .

Documentation of Every Now, And Then

Paula or Mel could you please email me some pics taken from Every Now, And Then? Do we have any images of the chairs in a circle like in Mark Amery's article and/or of the wall brainstorm? Would everyone be happy for the possible inclusion of these images alongside an edited discussion transcript to be included in Hue and Cry? (discussion transcript soon to be posted!)
Andie

Prospect Blog?

Hi just some ideas my partner and I were discussing...

thinking about blogs as alternative collaborative spaces for visitors to post comments during the exhibition-maybe we could ask to have a computer in the gallery foyer? I know there's not much space but we could set up ANOTHER blog, specifically for visitors to place comments on the works in the exhibition-to run only for the duration of the show-kinda like a Prospect ArtBash, except, cool?!

If the gallery doesn't let us have a computer we could always set up the second blog if we wanted to, and hand out business cards to visitors inviting them to post comments. The only reason I'm suggesting a second blogsite is because if we invite the public to post on this one it could get really full, and it would be specific to Prospect. Just a thought- as it'd be an easy way to test and document the success of our project.

p.s. If any of us did end up doing time at the gallery we could record our encounters on the blog- because of course the focus should be on face-to-face interactions

but maybe this is all a bit naughty-naughty?

Consensus: A definition

Hi all,

Here is that description of the process of consensus decision making that I have been referring to in our meetings...

Consensus

"…It does not mean that everyone agrees on a particular outcome. It does mean that everyone has been involved in the process, and that every one agrees to test a particular outcome for its workability.
Most descision making situations do not have as an inherent component only one best solution. If such were the case there would be no need to decide anything. Consensus involves the complete exploration of a particular situation with the recognition that there are going to be conflicting points of view, and that it is important that these come into the open during this process. These differences are not resolved just because a decision is reached.

Individuals who are not in agreement with the “majority” perspective do not just give up their differences and comply with the majority. They sit back and wait for some way to sabotage the outcome, or to say, “ I told you that wouldn’t work.” These outcomes are likely because a competitive process is established where the goal is to ‘win’ rather to arrive at a workable outcome. Since winning is the predominant goal, all of the dynamics described earlier emerge in a miniture form during this process.

Stereotypes of both paries influence what they hear the other party saying, and power gaining, rather than power generation is the outcome. A nonconsensus descision making process results in the dominant coalition in the process or larger organisational context retaining their power base, and the lesser coalition looking for ways to regain their percieved loss of influence. Immediately they begin to develop strategies to regain their lost “clout” and prestige, or at least to minimise their overall losses by gaining ground in other parts of the organisation or in future descision making situations.

Consensus is a critical value for organisations, not because it is good in and of itself (although that is true), but rather because it leads to better quality decisions, with more investment in implementation. There is less focus on decision making to protect organisational boundries and authority distribution, and more focus on decision making to solve diffulcities facing the organization".

P 138-139. William A Kraus, Collaboration in Organisations, Alternatives to Hierarchy. Human Sciences Press, 1980, New York.

Also, I was chatting with Sue Shone, an advocate for ihc who has had lots of experience working for collectives such as rape crisis and womens refuge and she has promised to send through some relevant resources on collective structures to our email address.
She had some interesting things to say about the importance of the place for individuality in collective bodies, that at their best they worked against a culture of individualism, but for a culture of diversity. Sue also suggested that a succinct one page charter that outlined some goals (a re-occuring suggestion in our blog) and guidelines for process might be helpfull for ongoing functioning (and perhaps a good alternative to an artists statement about ourselves).

Anyway, Merry Xmas and congrats to Mel who has just been made the new assistant curator for the Govett Brewster Art Gallery!!!!