When: March 2015
Where: Cambridge, MA, USA
Institution: Materials Lab, and Harvard Art Museums (Public Arts Creation and Education Exchange Program)
Text: Excerpt of Jorge Luis Borges’s short story The Two Kings and the Two Labyrinths
On March 17th and 19th, the Cultural Agents Initiative organized a Pre-Texts workshop for members of the PACEE (Public Arts Creation and Education Exchange Program) which includes students from the Harvard Graduate School of Design and other interested potential collaborators in the Materials Lab of the Harvard Art Museums.
Using an excerpt of Jorge Luis Borges’s short story The Two Kings and the Two Labyrinths, participants interpreted the text through music, creative writing, theater-based activities, and the visual arts.
The PACEE team facilitated an activity in which participants were asked to use two or more pieces of crumpled paper and the room to represent the relationship/s between two or more characters. Participants used scale, light, and the room’s architectural features to express their interpretations.
In general, participants marveled at how each activity allowed for a greater understanding of the various dimensions of the text. One participant commented on the music activity: “Music is the language of the universe. Pre-Texts is a good method because music can bring similar feelings of understanding between different people, regardless of culture.”