RASL and Social Partners – Code of Conduct
‘about WHY and HOW we would like to collaborate, create and learn with you, AND the other way around; a fluid, reciprocal starting point for your ideas/input/suggestions/’
RASL
RASL (Rotterdam Arts and Sciences Lab) is a unique collaboration between Erasmus University Rotterdam,Willem de Kooning Academy (fine arts and design) and Codarts (performing arts). We promote societal transformation through the arts and sciences, in the form of education, research and experiment. To be able to respond to complex societal concerns, RASL brings together knowledge, method, skill and experience from different disciplines, aiming to explore multiple ways of knowing, doing, sensing, imagining and creating.
YOU, THE SOCIAL PARTNER
With education, research and practice, we work with artistic, scientific and situated voices and perspectives. Therefore, we not only connect scientists, artists and creative thinkers in the process, but also collaborate with Social Partners who have experience, knowledge and interest in the relevant topics and concerns. In this document you find what it means for you, our social partner, to collaborate with RASL: what to expect from the process, the players and the outcome, why and how we would like to collaborate, create and learn with you, but also the other way around. This document should initiate a two way, continuous conversation on short and long term expectations and work ethics.
WHAT’S IN IT FOR YOU?
You can expect new projects, tools, methods, arts and knowledge(s) concerning the topic the Social Partner, you, bring in. This is the result of teamwork, in the form of various manners of research, workshops and work forms, design and creative sessions, tests and feedback.
Involved are students, teachers and you. The students have a broad, multidisciplinary interest. With their different backgrounds, they are trained to address current complex and multidimensional challenges with progressiveness and are happy to direct these lenses on your topic. Teachers guide the students with method, knowledge, skill and experience. They are equally part of the process: by give and take, everyone involved learns from each other.
YOUR CONTRIBUTION
Kick Off-presentation
As a start of the project we ask you to share information with us about your mission, concerns and strategies in your work. Your topic initiates the rest of the project. This can be in the form of a presentation, excursion, performance, conversation, etcetera. Expect critical, creative responses from several disciplines, ranging from abstract to concrete.
Research -, concept design- , tests, production/creation
In this phase, the students, together with the teachers, bundle their ideas and skills to work towards an output. They choose what their approach and research is, and with what scientific and/or artistic medium they will express this.We ask you (where possible) to commit to brainstorms, experiments, excursions and feedback-sessions. During the phase, we hope you can make available extra information and/or research-material when needed.
Presentation, reflection
At the end of the process the students show their outcomes. This can be a project, tool, method, art, knowledge or a combination of the before mentioned. It can be a dialogue, installation, pitch, product, game, a question. It can be practical, abstract, poetic, technical, sketchy, detailed and/or critical. How they present this is up to them, focussing on adding something valuable. We ask you to join in and engage with reflection on the outcome.
Evaluation
In the final phase, all together we evaluate the process, the key moments, possible future plans and (commercial and legal) agreements. Besides, together we can look at how we can establish a long term collaboration.
(Some) Propositions and Play-rules
In our education, research and projects, RASL works according to several propositions that enable transdisciplinary work to blossom. We hope they work inspiringly.
- Welcome to the table! The seats at the table are of equal size. There is no customer provider relationship and no hierarchy across different perspectives and knowledges. Equality is key.
- [6] At this table, we tend to talk about matters of concern instead of problems, to give it a more longitudinal approach and not direct to temporary problem solving. Some “problems” namely cannot be fixed, or ask for continuous work to reach improvements.
- The table is big. So, make the unheard, the seatless, heard: don’t talk over others, but interact with them. Try to provide them a seat at the table. If the unheard cannot stand up for themselves (climate, water, animals, technologies, infrastructures, etc.), search for facts or representation/representors that could speak for them.
- To table or not to table. Besides analysing and asking ‘What is?’, we research and practice the question ‘What if?’, creating imaginations and simulations to explore possible futures.
With this document, RASL offers a starting point for the way we could collaborate. This should not be taken as a fixed body of work, but needs your input, your response, so that together we create a reciprocal understanding of the terms we work together. Besides, the content and its understanding can change over time. We would like to ask you: what is your reaction to this document, any suggestions? Do you maybe maintain a similar pre-written source/report/instrument with which we could merge ours?