a series of creative experiments
in remote togetherness ︎
virtual
care lab
PROJECTS |
GATHERINGS |
DISCORD COMMUNITY
OUR COLLECTIVE REFLECTIONS * FALL 2021
In Fall 2021, we spent time in collective reflection on the many gatherings, projects, dialogues, Lab Hours, and experiments we’ve created through virtual care lab.
We asked: What have we learned in our experimental collaborations so far? Who are we in relation to each other? What would we like to develop a deeper study into? What do we need in order to do this? As our world continues to transform through 2021, 2022 and beyond, how should virtual care lab persist as a meeting place for what is most resonant and necessary moving forward?
See our reflections working doc and our archive for more documentation - and some of our thoughts in shorter form below.
Kristen Mitchell
“For me, VCL works as a practical space for contribution and community. It seems to offer a receptacle for action and thought that generate their own swing…maybe this is reciprocity?”
“It always takes the form of the people coming, adding, receiving and going and adjusts to their attitudes very elegantly. So much so that I am uncertain of what is holding it together.”
“With the virtual space certain things are flattened and so other things take their place and re-create a 3 dimensionality.”
“Once you start divesting from more dominant systems and the realities they produce, it is a relief to find living alternatives of any size. As adrienne maree brown tee’d up for us, scale doesn’t matter.”
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“For me, VCL works as a practical space for contribution and community. It seems to offer a receptacle for action and thought that generate their own swing…maybe this is reciprocity?”
“It always takes the form of the people coming, adding, receiving and going and adjusts to their attitudes very elegantly. So much so that I am uncertain of what is holding it together.”
“With the virtual space certain things are flattened and so other things take their place and re-create a 3 dimensionality.”
“Once you start divesting from more dominant systems and the realities they produce, it is a relief to find living alternatives of any size. As adrienne maree brown tee’d up for us, scale doesn’t matter.”
Bhavik Singh
“virtual care lab is a warm space I can step into when I feel alone. a circle of care that i can visit when i need it, or when it needs me. a way of being together that is intentional, thoughtful, guided and yet also new, liberating and deeply freeing. it is a home for me - not in a particular place, but in always and everywhere.”
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“virtual care lab is a warm space I can step into when I feel alone. a circle of care that i can visit when i need it, or when it needs me. a way of being together that is intentional, thoughtful, guided and yet also new, liberating and deeply freeing. it is a home for me - not in a particular place, but in always and everywhere.”
Elenie Chung
“VCL goes through constant metamorphosis and experimentation - groups became archived, new groups were formed and I think what really worked for me is this lack of expectation or commitment for both parties—the host and the participant.”
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Illustration by Wandy Cheng
“VCL goes through constant metamorphosis and experimentation - groups became archived, new groups were formed and I think what really worked for me is this lack of expectation or commitment for both parties—the host and the participant.”
Illustration by Wandy Cheng
José Miguel Galán Najarro
“Despite the barriers, we continue to communicate via postal mail, text, and images of written text. A pesar de las barreras, nos continuamos comunicando a traves de correo postal, texts, e imágenes de texto escrito.”
“Y el portal continúa. / And the portal continues.”
(View José Miguel Portal)
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“Despite the barriers, we continue to communicate via postal mail, text, and images of written text. A pesar de las barreras, nos continuamos comunicando a traves de correo postal, texts, e imágenes de texto escrito.”
“Y el portal continúa. / And the portal continues.”
(View José Miguel Portal)
Daniela Hernández Chong Cuy
“Virtual Care Lab is overlapping and continuing ways of communication that occur in space and virtual ether. Virtual Care lab has taught me new, expansive ways of advocating, communicating and caring for those that I represent, and has shown me the immense value of interdisciplinary collaboration, including law and art.”
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“Virtual Care Lab is overlapping and continuing ways of communication that occur in space and virtual ether. Virtual Care lab has taught me new, expansive ways of advocating, communicating and caring for those that I represent, and has shown me the immense value of interdisciplinary collaboration, including law and art.”
Kenny Zhao
“Virtual Care Lab is the sense of care and understanding I've cultivated with real individuals, many of whom I've never met in person. I've filled notebooks with reflections, insights, and ‘vibey turns of phrase’ from this past year, nearly all of them either inspired or encouraged by my experiences with VCL. But the ideas alone would lose their hold if it weren't for the ongoing support, encouragement, and curiosity I feel whenever I connect with the VCL community”
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“Virtual Care Lab is the sense of care and understanding I've cultivated with real individuals, many of whom I've never met in person. I've filled notebooks with reflections, insights, and ‘vibey turns of phrase’ from this past year, nearly all of them either inspired or encouraged by my experiences with VCL. But the ideas alone would lose their hold if it weren't for the ongoing support, encouragement, and curiosity I feel whenever I connect with the VCL community”
Aden Solway
“Like love, this work we have done together asks of us to practice many things: ongoing care, open communication and above all else, a commitment to address and engage the needs of others through reciprocal exchange.”
“I have learned a great deal from all of our community members — be it about the shortcomings and liberties of technology as a tool for social gathering, the persistence of human and nonhuman life during a period of tumult (or even disaster) and the power of collective mobilization.”
Figure 1: Mushroom spores as seen through an electron microscope
“Like love, this work we have done together asks of us to practice many things: ongoing care, open communication and above all else, a commitment to address and engage the needs of others through reciprocal exchange.”
“I have learned a great deal from all of our community members — be it about the shortcomings and liberties of technology as a tool for social gathering, the persistence of human and nonhuman life during a period of tumult (or even disaster) and the power of collective mobilization.”
Figure 1: Mushroom spores as seen through an electron microscope
Ari Simon
“Here I witnessed a community of people who are incredibly intentional and politically responsive with their use of the digital. I loved being part of conversations really grappling with digital ethics, sharing best practices, and seeking healthier relationships to/with the virtual. From this, I recognized another way to conceptualize Virtual Care Lab I hadn’t seen at the beginning. Beyond ‘care’ as the subject that needed to be done ‘virtually’, I realized VCL is most fascinating to me with ‘virtual’ as the subject, and ‘care’ as a deeply necessary and long-omitted quality of the virtual.”
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“Here I witnessed a community of people who are incredibly intentional and politically responsive with their use of the digital. I loved being part of conversations really grappling with digital ethics, sharing best practices, and seeking healthier relationships to/with the virtual. From this, I recognized another way to conceptualize Virtual Care Lab I hadn’t seen at the beginning. Beyond ‘care’ as the subject that needed to be done ‘virtually’, I realized VCL is most fascinating to me with ‘virtual’ as the subject, and ‘care’ as a deeply necessary and long-omitted quality of the virtual.”
Vera Grimmer
“Taking care means paying attention”
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“Taking care means paying attention”
Brendan Thompson
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Email us at virtualcarelab [at] gmail.com if you’d like to contribute thoughts on what we’ve done together!
Email us at virtualcarelab [at] gmail.com if you’d like to contribute thoughts on what we’ve done together!
PROJECTS
virtual care lab supported a series of community-led experimental projects from 2020-22 — cultivating remote empathy beyond geographical bounds, generating collective artworks and performances, and exploring playful forms of civic engagement through many unexpected forms. All VCL projects are remote-friendly, open to the public, and encourage active participation and collaboration.
Examples:
Digital And/As Public Space
Field Trips
Sites of Passage
Vulnerability Companion System
Poetry Soup
Growing Teeth: Reimagining Collective Retirement
Living Marks: Improvisational Performances
Bread: Decentralized Reading Group
Lab Hour: a weekly time for collective imagining.
From 2020-2022, virtual care lab held space weekly in our Discord voice channel, for folks to meet each other, ask questions, exchange perspectives, and discuss ideas in real time. Lab Hour is not currently scheduled, but our Discord is open – you’re welcome to drop in and say hello!
🌐 JOIN DISCORD CHANNEL
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PORTALS IS AN ONGOING PROJECT OF VIRTUAL CARE LAB. THROUGH EACH DOOR, WE EXPLORE ALTERNATIVE FORMATS OF REMOTE PRESENCE, ARCHIVING, AND MEMORY-MAKING. WE’VE HOSTED OCCASIONAL GATHERINGS AND ACTIVITIES HERE AS WELL.
CONTRIBUTE YOUR OWN DOOR! WE TAKE IDEAS AT VIRTUALCARELAB [AT] GMAIL.COM
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PORTALS IS AN ONGOING PROJECT OF VIRTUAL CARE LAB. THROUGH EACH DOOR, WE EXPLORE ALTERNATIVE FORMATS OF REMOTE PRESENCE, ARCHIVING, AND MEMORY-MAKING. WE’VE HOSTED OCCASIONAL GATHERINGS AND ACTIVITIES HERE AS WELL.
CONTRIBUTE YOUR OWN DOOR! WE TAKE IDEAS AT VIRTUALCARELAB [AT] GMAIL.COM
