Monika Lipšic

When one is traveling it seems like everybody around is traveling, nibbling, riding, diving the roads. Like orcas – black and white.
They are all migrating, the animals. M.L.

1. During the trip Berlin-Vilnius, participants of the project Migrating Art Academies were introduced to Villem Flusser, which was supposed to be kind of an ideologist for the project. In one of his texts “Exile and Creativity”, 1984, V. Flusser is not talking about traveling or migrating as such, but one can compare the traveler or the migrant here to the expelled. The difference is that the latter ones are in the “ocean of chaotic information” by their own will or simply following natural laws (to survive). In other words they are not forced by others.

2. The difference between the traveler and the migrant is slight. Migration refers to directed, regular, or systematic movement, while traveling – vice versa.
Even though the project is called Migrating Art Academies, we, students (the key part of the academy as such), are not only migrating with our campers, we are also traveling. The Academies are migrating, the students – migrating and traveling. In general one could say that the process itself is traveling within directed, regular and systematic movement.

3. Coming back to the ocean of information, Flusser also says that the expelled must be creative if he does not want to go to the dogs (or orcas; if a traveler, a migrant or an expelled does not deal with the ocean of information, he sinks in that ocean and revives as an orca ). To be creative for him means to transform the information. Data transformation is a synonym for creation, according to Flusser. If a traveler or a migrant, or expelled is dealing with the information in a very broad sense, the participants, the students, are dealing with it in an artistic way mostly, which is still the transformation of data.

4. First thing that appears in a creative contact with the new informational surroundings are habits. On the other hand, the appearance of new habits is a dual case. “Habit is like cotton blanket. It covers up all the sharp edges, and it dampens all noises. Habit makes everything nice and quiet”. So, it might prevent the information from being perceived.
It is hard to avoid habits while migrating, and it is hard to gain them while traveling. It is easier for migrant or expelled than to traveler to gain habits.

Conclusion: The traveler, migrant and expelled meet each other in the frame of this text. They are all one in Migrating Art Academies.

2010.04.24. Greece

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