For my first lecture, I want to reflect on, I chose the one from Astrid Kury, a cultural scientist, and a director of the Akademie Graz. I found her lecture very interesting and inspirative, because she was trying her best to encourage young people to collaborate. Talking from years of experience in working with other creatives, she says she believes in benefits of the collaboration and interdisciplinarity as a proven method for developing projects with broader aspects and points of view.
From her passionate explanation about the power of collaboration, we can all learn some important things.
As she mentioned, the question if we want to work together with other experts, is also a question about what kind of world do we want to live in? Rather egoistic, competitive world or the one, where sharing of ideas, success but also problems and possible failures is an option?
I also strongly believe that collaboration can be a fast track to unique ideas, because you have a bigger picture when working in a team, and a wider perspective. It is certainly hard in the beginning, to work in such an environment, where it is hard to understand each other, because of the different areas you come from, but I also believe that it is worth it.
I was intrigued by the projects she mentioned, but also convinced by the outcomes of the same, and my favorite is the project about linguistic landscapes. Regarding this project, I find the approach of Danica Dakic innovative and original, to consider the language as the connecting aspect of the society, rather than the one who separates it. A method where you collect samples of languages and then think about visual means of expression sounds abstract, but yet is so logical and convincing.
In my opinion, most of the projects she mentioned would not be possible and manageable, if just one person was standing behind it. It would take a lot more time, to even shape the idea, and a lot more to start ist implementation. But when you are working in a team, it is easier because you have a lot of new insights coming in, daily. I think Astrid explained nicely as well, why is it meaningful to collaborate, when it comes to stakeholders. The reason is that they are already engaged in making decisions, everyone who has an interest is already on board, so no one faces criticism and failure alone. None is the genius at the end, and the success belongs to the whole group!
