(Re)Framing Narratives | Methodologies of Migration

Dear non EU/EEA Self-Employed Artists

• ~ in their orientation year
• ~ about to begin their orientation year
• ~ who have successfully finished their orientation year,

Today I share my story with you. ’What is this Visa-Visa?’ friends ask, since it seems to be the only thing I talk about. I talk about the instructions in the letters from the IND (immigratie en naturalisatiedienst). I talk about it, persistently and consistently, getting even more confused with every phone call I make to them. I keep talking, because every time I want to stop there is always something new and difficult to talk about. So how can we talk, about the volume of information received, while articulating the (mis)information for what it is?

Come join my saga with your stories. Stories that might otherwise cause strain, narrated as whimsical pieces of valuable information that could circulate in our little community of sharing that we create through this (Re)Framing Narratives Workshop.

This workshop is part of a research project titled ‘Methodologies of Migration’, co hosted by Limestone Books and supported by the Creative Industries Fund NL.

(Re)Framing Narratives ~ About the Workshop

How can you write and re-write your woes, struggles, complaints and ideas till they become accessible for everyone? Performative writing opens mediums and methodologies to look into dense narratives and helps reframe them into scripts that speak to a broader public.

The workshop aims to look into framed narratives and turn them into scripts of satire, scripts of parody, scripts of expression and scripts of emotion. While we write and rewrite these narratives with a touch of exaggeration and humour what becomes evident is the statement every individual is trying to make through the enactment of voicing. The medium of writing is to be channeled not only as worded scripts but the initiation of a zine that can be printed with these stories representing themselves through short skits. While spoken and written word create a foundation for the workshop, the parallel contribution to the zine is also seen through collage making and the aspect of a visual archive acting as a comic.

NB. The workshop will see the group writing short scripts together. So if the digital medium is more comfortable, please bring your own laptops.

Methodologies of Migration —- The project is a research initiative into the nuances of immigration in the context of the Netherlands, specifically focused on ‘highly skilled migrant artists/designers’ who opt towards working as self employed individuals.

‘Is It Time For An Extension Yet?’ starts the conversation within this research project in the broadest sense of going through the process of applying, waiting, trying, failing, picking yourself up and then applying again. The outline of the research investigates the central theme of migration, specifically for those who are considered to fall under the category of ‘highly skilled migrant’, but when differentiating those self-employed individuals who are active within the cultural sector, how the scope of acquiring a visa and its subsequent extensions becomes a challenging process. The central theme aims to question the nuances of immigration laws on a global scale that is explained through a parallel research into a collective understanding and practice of these laws in collaboration with institutions and individuals experiencing it, not limited to but including me, on a day to day basis.

The workshop is free of charge but registration through Eventbrite is mandatory.

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About the Artist:

Ishani Chatterjee is a design researcher, architect and performing artist. She uses the medium of spatial negotiation and performance design to create counter-narratives within political activism. Journalistic investigations and the power of communal interventions play a very important role in her practice that starts with the embodiment of triggers while trying to scale up to reach a wider audience outside the realm of design. Words, gestures, vocation and emotion while influencing one another create space for her understanding of what design is and what it can do to break the normative.

Socials: Instagram: @_hash_i_

Facebook and LinkedIn: Ishani Chatterjee

Website: https://foundwork.art/artists/ishanichatterjee

Host or Publisher Ishani Chatterjee and Limestone Books