workshop series: disrupting genius
Disrupting genius is a series of workshops taught solo or collaboratively with Bree McMahon from the University of Arkansas. The initial concept for the workshop series came from a masters-level course titled Design as a Cultural Artifact at North Carolina State University. I developed “rules of play” where participants would make selfishly and refine through collaboration.
The initial “rules of play” from the masters-level course at NC State University which influenced the creation of this workshop series.
This progressed into a weekend workshop with high school Juniors and Seniors at the NCSU Design Lab. Students sat in groups of four and created work as individuals towards a prompt. Without warning, the workshop was disrupted, and students had to pass their compositions to the student at their left. Thus, forced collaboration ensued.
Students were surprised by the disruption. Many, who had attended previous workshops with the Design Lab, were initially resistant to sharing work. Cell phones came out so they could document their original progression. At each step of the workshop, short mini-lectures prepared students for the next stage, emphasizing the importance of collaboration. We discussed questions of design authorship and the difference between art and design.
Based on these previous experiences, Bree McMahon and I devised a workshop for first-year Foundations BFA students at the University of Arkansas. First, students designed a 4-panel polyptych based on the legacy of Fay Jones, a local architect, while also examining the theme of art vs. design. After an initial critique, students “stole” panels from one another, which they used to design a poster or broadsheet. The workshop was disrupted a final time when students used scissors to physically cut bits and pieces from each other’s in-progress work to incorporate into their own final deliverable.
While students worked with stolen bits from one another, they simultaneously carried one “solo” piece through until the end of the workshop using only two of their original panels. Having students work with both the collaborative elements and their original work allowed for comparison between final pieces.
When the process began, students were highly uncomfortable with this idea of forced collaboration. They were fearful of not meeting the intended outcomes of classmates and apprehensive about having their own work confiscated and torn apart.
But what we found: Overall, students favored the work they created through the collaborative process compared to their solo compositions. They reported stepping outside of their comfort zone, seeing things with fresh eyes and new perspectives. Students experimented with unfamiliar ways of making, both analog and digital, to create work that surprised all of us.
student responses
“I really enjoyed the fact that I was forced to let go of a composition I created. It put me in a very vulnerable position.”
“I’ve really enjoyed the process - I like the idea of art (or, in this case, design) existing on a continuum with the ever-present potential for change.”
“Sometimes I look at it too long and limit its potential. I loved working collaboratively with other elements.”
“I’ve made so many different drafts and tried a lot of different layouts. Overall, this project has taught me how to be flexible and to think ahead.”