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The following interview took place on August 21st, 2009, between Fergus Byrne (2009 Genesis Project Artist-in-Residence) and Arturo Vidich and Aki Sasamoto (Culture Push co-directors). We conducted the interview via Skype chat, which we found to be an interesting medium, somewhere between a recording and email correspondence. We sat at the same table.

Aki Sasamoto: What are you working on right now in the residency?

Fergus Byrne: I’m working on various collaborative projects with Saul [Melman] and Meghan [Flanigan]. They can be related to work I have been doing recently back in Ireland. Embroidery with Saul. Dance work and drawing with Meghan.

Arturo Vidich: How has the work you came with to this residency been influenced or added to by the other artists? I’m thinking in particular about the skipping. What strikes me is that you decided not to skip after the first 2 weeks of the residency because it was a hold-over from the work you were doing before you came to Philly. How does, or does it play in to what you’re doing now with drawing, in the last few days?
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The following interview took place on August 21st, 2009, between Meghan Flanigan (2009 Genesis Project Artist-in-Residence) and Arturo Vidich and Aki Sasamoto (Culture Push co-directors). We conducted the interview via Skype chat, which we found to be an interesting medium, somewhere between a recording and email correspondence. We sat at the same table.

Aki Sasamoto: What are you working on right now in the residency?

Meghan Flanigan: I’m working on a number of projects that don’t really have names yet. Two are collaborations with Fergus: a drawing that we do together and the other so far is a movement work. I’m also working on a video exploration.

AS: Can you tell us about how you started your involvement in drawing and video? Here I’m assuming you are someone who has worked primarily in the dance field.

MF: The drawing came a bit from the experience at the drawing marathon and then further when Fergus gave a workshop based on contact drawing. I helped out with contact warm-up exercises and then we drew. I mostly have a dance background but I’ve been itching to work more in other media recently and this is a good way to get started.

AV: How do you see this residency shaping or not shaping your new direction with media-based performance?

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The following interview took place on August 21st, 2009, between Saul Melman (2009 Genesis Project Artist-in-Residence) and Arturo Vidich and Aki Sasamoto (Culture Push co-directors). We conducted the interview via Skype chat, which we found to be an interesting medium, somewhere between a recording and email correspondence. We sat at the same table.

Aki Sasamoto: Saul, what are you working on right now in the residency?

Saul Melman: At the moment, I’m working on three projects, two of the projects are with Fergus [Byrne] and the third is an independent project. A fourth project with Carlos [Monroy] is in its infancy. We’ll see what happens with that work. A common idea that I’m investigating in these projects is memory.

Arturo Vidich: Like the tree rings, and the story you told about your grandfather. Could you talk more about how memory plays in?

SM: In the last several years, I have become progressively interested in making work, primarily sculptures and installations, that function as mnesic events– works that feel like an event has occurred.

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The following interview took place on August 20th, 2009, between Carlos Monroy (2009 Genesis Project Artist-in-Residence) and Arturo Vidich and Aki Sasamoto (Culture Push co-directors). We conducted the interview via Skype chat, which we found to be an interesting medium between a transcribed recording and email correspondence. We sat at the same table.

Aki Sasamoto: Ok, the first question:  What are you working on right now in the residency?

Carlos Monroy: I am doing some sculpture exercises and installations working with the other artists’ residues in the main studio. I am also doing a lot of photography and stop motion things… But actually I think  the best thing here is talking; having conversations with the guys and trying to figure out how we can work together, or just watching them work with each other. I find it amazing and I feel like it’s part of the work too.

Arturo Vidich: So a lot of the “work” is stuff that can float away– conversations, sculptures that get taken down in an hour. And stop motion is condensed time, a relic of an activity that is not the activity itself. The residue… Figuring out how to
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