Jean-Baptiste Veyret-Logerias about “Embassy of”
Where do they meet?
I guess they meet according to chance or to their activities whenever these activities match in time and space. But I also imagine they don't gather very often all together (if ever there is a determined number of people for this group). Because I think their group is based more on the relationships that exist within the group than on making the group itself exist. I would say then that they must meet a lot virtually, through the internet, skype meetings, emailing, facebook …
Who is the leader and does everyone share his/her vision?
There is no leader in this group, and no single artistic vision. I think their closeness comes from the common experience they had when they met all together during one month in one space, and from their wish to gather thereafter and form a group. I think they share their differences as much as their similarities, be they political or artistic, probably because they just want to learn from one another. Their practices must thus be part of the amount of information they share when they meet or get in contact.
Where does their money come from?
The group itself doesn't have any money. Each individual receives the money he can get from residencies in his own country or abroad. Since the group doesn't exist to the eyes of institutions it doesn't exist financially either for them. The money of the group has to be the money each one of the group puts in it.
Do they do what they say that they do?
I don't know what they say, but these people seem to be committed artists. I cannot imagine them not doing what they say. They are individually engaged and cautious in respecting the principles or ethics they stand for. The group would reflect the same engagement I guess.
How do they differ from a group therapy?
I don't think they wish to share their personal metaphysical problems of living in this world. I guess they gather to find a strength in the group that they could not reach on their own: a level of political and artistical investigation, a level of sharing practices, sharing ideas, finding new impulses for their own work. I think they want to get the feeling they can individually be part of a group that doesn't suck up the individuals but allows them to grow and develop.
Space to answer an unasked question.
What do you think the group looks like?
I think it exists more like a network, a group that is created to open for the individuals a possibility of sharing. An open door to some new experience that can bring each one of the participants to some other place he or she couldn't have discovered on his/her own. Not a group that is active on a daily basis, but a possibility open for whatever occasion to share.
The name of the emerging artists' initiative you were talking about?
“Embassy of”.
And the one you are part of?
Sweet & Tender collaborations.
