Working with visual artists at an Open Space

[Birgitt Williams]

Thank you for your input dear Reinhard,
I am having a few thoughts about this. The first vision that came to
mind and caused me to smile, was to have a well planned OST meeting, to
have no OST facilitator, and to have a visual facilitator present to
offer a reflection back to the people of their process. I then decided I
liked that image. The people would self organize and at the same time
would have an ongoing reflection tool so that the tool could assist them
in reaching into themselves and getting clearer on their thoughts and
developing new competencies including greater consciousness. 
 
Yesterday I read that a key role for leaders today is to assist the
organization in becoming conscious of itself. And Reinhard, this made me
think of  you and your work. It is a way to assist the organization, or
the organization in an OST meeting, become more conscious of itself.
What a great gift!  On this note, I am imagining the visual artist at
the OST meeting. The OST facilitator opens the meeting and introduces
the visual artist as someone who is going to capture in pictures, what
is happening through the day so that the client gets the benefit of the
content from the OST meeting plus the opportunity of a great tool for
the organization to become more conscious of itself in the meeting
itself. I don’t think it is a requirement of the visual facilitator to
make a presentation. Unless I am mistaken, the visual facilitator posts
his/her pictures on the reflection wall and people come up to this wall
all day long and look and use this as a form of their reflection, and
getting more impulses to their ideas, specifically right hemisphere
directed ideas. And they can engage in a discussion with the visual
facilitator if they wish. That sounds pretty good. Value added. 
 
I personally love the work of visual artists. I use words a lot and when
I am working with an artist, the artist reflects back to me what he/she
heard me say and then I know if my communication was what I meant it to
be. This is a great gift to me when it happens. When the communication
was not captured in the way that I thought I was communicating, I work
at it again until the reflection back to me is what I was intending. I
love this as a way to have better communication.
 
Blessings,
Birgitt
 
Birgitt Williams

 
-----Original Message-----
From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of
Visuelle Protokolle
Sent: Thursday, August 24, 2006 7:15 AM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: AW: Working with visual artists at an Open Space
 
Hi Birgitt,
 
you are challenging me! So I jump into the ring, as an outsider. 
 
When Harrison Owen used the fourfold way of Angeles Arrien to form the
method of Open Space, he did an ingenious job, as the world wide
distribution of the method shows every day. But ...
 
Now Open Space seems to me to be both, a method and a movement. The
movement organizes OSonOssses etc. and spreads also with amazing speed. 
 
I am not part of the movement, but I admire the method, use it
sometimes, and took part as a visual facilitator (I prefer that
expression to visual artist)  several times, so also together with you.
And since years I am a member of this list serve and follow the
discussions.
 
So if I am asking for a dialogue, what have I to say, and what do I
expect?
 
A dialogue for me is different from a discussion. In a discussion
everybody tries to be right and convince the others, in a dialogue
everybody listens and is ready to learn. So I tell my story, and am
curious what will happen.
 
Michael Hermann writes:
 
" is the artist's work beautiful, interesting, magical, and more? yes,
of course. but what if i am a great story teller? would i ever get up
and attempt to 'keynote' the closing circle with my own summation?"
 
 Of course Michael expects everybody to cry out "of course not!" But I
say: WHY NOT??????  
For me the method of OS is brilliant at its beginning, excellent in the
middle, and only slightly average at the end. I see no value in boaring
texts, written by the obediant ones. I am no friend of spoken reports of
group results. Words, words, words. I am missing the fire that was alive
in the groups! Alive, not online, not typed, to feel it with your
senses! And I know, that images can help a lot here.
 Right now I take part in a project (not OS), where the client organized
200 interviews of storytelling, done in pairs, and the listening partner
did write the story down. Then it was revised and typed, then revised
again, and now all the stories are dead and boaring! A true storyteller
would have used the content and would have given it a form to reach
people, to bring the message to the public. For me that is beautiful!
You also could build a scene play, dance the messages, sing them, draw
them (what I did).
Birgitt, you wrote:" when you gave us your gifts as a visual artist,
people’s learning ended up going much deeper through the art as a
wonderful reflection tool. "
 
Since for me you are the one, who really added value to Harrisons
method, by taking into account the givens, as  framework for the
openness, by adding the 'Purpose' in the middle of the medicine wheel,
and above all by daring to offer OS as an ongoing method within
organizations, and to teach organizations to use it this way, may be you
understand what I am asking for. It is not only a better way of
documentation (what images of course can offer), it is the wonderful
opportunity, no, the necessity, to transport the spirit of all what
happens in Open Space first to all the senses of the participants and
then to whom it may concern.
 
All this for me is true in every Open Space session, and I know that
people can be trained as 'transporters of spirit'. wether by drawing or
any other way. In the meantime it is a good solution to have someone
from the outside, as witness, as reciever, container, and that is what I
can offer to be.
 
If artists use Open Space for their themes, if they explode dancing,
singing, drawing, beautiful. But that is not what I am talking about,
unless all of us are keen enough to detect the artist insides
themselves.
 
 
Blessings
 
Reinhard
 
VISUELLE PROTOKOLLE
Kuchenmüller & Stifel
 
tel +39-0566-88 929
www.visuelle-protokolle.de
 
 
   _____  

Von: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] Im Auftrag von
Birgitt Williams
Gesendet: Mittwoch, 23. August 2006 14:19
An: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Betreff: Re: Working with visual artists at an Open Space
Hi Reinhard,
You know that I admire your work very much and have appreciated your
help in our workshops, and when you gave us your gifts as a visual
artist, people’s learning ended up going much deeper through the art as
a wonderful reflection tool. 
 
What interested me in your mail to this list was your comment “I was
hoping that your question would open a dialog I was seeking since
years.” If you have the energy for it, I would very much like to hear
from you regarding what you were hoping the dialogue would be. I have an
idea that you, who know OST very well, have some insights that we all
could benefit from.
 
Blessings,
Birgitt
 
 
Birgitt Williams

 
-----Original Message-----
From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of
Visuelle Protokolle
Sent: Monday, August 21, 2006 2:34 AM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: AW: Working with visual artists at an Open Space
 
Hi Chris, and all you others,
 
I was hoping that your question would open a dialog I was seeking since
years. Since years I am on this OS list, feeling that you and me are
seeking for the same treasure in and on similar ways.
 
But then I get Harrison's "One caution about visual artists and other
such addendum" and ask me, and ask you: Are you, like me, an addendum to
the process of self organizing people, helping them a bit as we can with
our tools, or are you the high priests and I am the addendum?
 
 
Mit freundlichen Grüßen
best regards
 
Reinhard
 
VISUELLE PROTOKOLLE
Kuchenmüller & Stifel
 
tel +39-0566-88 929
www.visuelle-protokolle.de
 
 
   _____  

Von: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] Im Auftrag von Chris
Corrigan
Gesendet: Mittwoch, 9. August 2006 18:51
An: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Betreff: Working with visual artists at an Open Space
Hi mates:

I have an opportunity coming up in the fall to work with a visual artist
for an Open Space I am doing.  The clients wants us to work together and
I'm excited by the possibility, but haven't ever done that before.  

So what kind of good stories do you have of working with visual artists
(and visual art as a modality) in Open Space.

Daniel?  Reinhardt?  Is Nancy Margulis around?  Others?

Chris

-- 
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Consultation - Facilitation
Open Space Technology

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