An interview with the Czech-based collective on the satellite creations

Mish Rais from the Czech-based collective looks back at their satellite creation, on the creative process and its impact on her own artistic work. 

Satellite creations are the first coherent and public outcome of the research residencies. How did the residencies imprint themselves on this work and what did you learn from putting into practice the knowledge and methodologies you developed?

That is a very broad and complex question. Simply, the experience from residencies made me more aware of the possibility of „letting things develop in their own tempo and time“. I gave the process more trust and the group more responsibility for the process and result. I let my colleague Tomáš bring a topic of his choice and worked with that – trusted the process.

What was the starting point for your creative process? What themes or tools did you choose?

The starting point was to ask Tomáš what he would like to do with the students. He brought the topic of „touch“. He brought some exercises and the work inspired some material and we further developed that. The students worked in pairs and created movement and text material and one scene they were asked to create on their own as a group. From their feedback, this felt radical for them – to be given time and work on something independently.

What location (or environment, context) did you choose for your presentation, and why?

The topic of the semester was „site-specific“ performances. Therefore, we adapted the material for presentation outside. We worked in a specific environment of a meditation garden at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague – open to the public but quite hidden. The garden is quite big and there are spots that rhythmicize the movement of the viewers. We worked with that and created a walk through the space – the viewers were following the performers.

What do you take away from the residencies and satellite creation for your future work?

Quite a lot. I developed more sense for understanding when the situation needs to be held more firm and when it might be better to give it space and not intervene much. Not doing much also creates something and when there is too much pressure it might be contraproductive.