Tensegrity is a relational structure held together, and shaped by, the continuous tension between the parts.
Imagine a web. Or even, perhaps, imagine yourself as a spider. If you, or a fly, tug at any part of the web, everything else shakes. The parts that are closer relate more vibrantly than the parts further away but with any internal or external impulse, everything is affected.
At the atelier, people come and go. Some come for a few hours, to an exhibition opening or the length of an afternoon, sharing time with the Women to Women collective, in a time slot reserved only for women to explore their creativity and momentarily suspend their everyday roles. Or they come to a Wandering Art Tea Academy gathering: Once a week, for years now, Monday evenings at the atelier is the slot dedicated to tea – diverse people gather to taste, hopefully enjoy, Chinese tea, directly and exclusively brought from China by one of our working members. Some people pop by occasionally, when their busy lives allow. Some come regularly with longer or shorter hiatuses while a few are regulars. All that’s ok.
Anecdote:
Two theology students appeared one Monday at the door of our Atelier as they heard about our tea gatherings. French mixed with English and Croatian language. White tea from Yunnan province, was chased by oolong from Phoenix mountain in Guangdong province and capped with some strong black fermented puerh. Conversations revealed that they are from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. As coordinator of Vera’s collection was also there, he slipped away into the storage to dig out an artwork. Surprise and joy appeared on our guests’ faces as they saw a portrait of a man Vera had sculpted as part of a tender for a monument in their country: Patrice Lumumba, an historic anticolonial independence leader who served as prime minister before being assassinated by Belgian mercenaries.
Our guests returned to our WATA gatherings until they were finally ordained and given their respective parishes to take care of back in DRC. We are certain that Vera’s art and the gong fu tea are now part of the occasional conversation just as they are part of ours. And now we are more inspired to discover and try green tea from their region. Who knows what butterfly effect awaits the right conditions to whirl up a creative storm that was cocooned in that first encounter?
Social tensegrity is relational and connects all beings, human and non-human alike, through time and space. A field of gravity of sorts. Invisible yet undeniable in artistic processes and community building.