Possible dramaturgies for different PIMDI ´module´

 

The learning movements described above are the foundation of the PIMDI curriculum. The movements can be structured differently in time and space, which will lead to different dramaturgies. They can be structured as a six-month elective module of 5 ECTS, a one-day lab day, a five-day intensive week, or a blended programme. And certainly in many more ways.

As examples, below you can find the outlines  of 4 PIMDI modules, namely:

  • An elective course at Minerva Art Academy, worth 5 ECTS credits, for bachelor’s students in art, education, and care. Because this elective course takes place every week during a semester (2.5 hours per week), more attention can be given to transferring the experiments conducted in mixed subgroups to a proposed case from the field.
  • The foundation for a so-called “lab day” (a one-day workshop) that can take place within the module “Artistic Signature & Imaginative Dialogues” of the master’s program in Groningen (15 ECTS). Due to the need to work quickly, proper preparation and clear instructions from the teacher are necessary.
  • An intensive week, such as the PIMDI intensive weeks, involving five days of living and working together. The compact and intensive nature of this PIMDI curriculum requires an understanding that this week itself can be seen as a grand imaginative dialogue within a specific dialogue space. Therefore, explicit attention is required when  establishing shared rules and creating a safe and brave space.
  • A curriculum for a blended programme of 3-5 ECTS. This is a PIMDI curriculum for students from different universities, national or international. The learning movements happen in different modalities, online, individual at home and during a 3-day live encounter.

Outline of the half years PIMDI elective of 16 sessions of 3 hours

At Minerva Art Academy in Groningen students from the field of the arts, education, care, and social work can choose an elective of 5 ECTS.

Study programme

During the OFF course, students work in small mixed groups.

The study program consists of three learning movements: Explore, Invite, Engage.

During the first 6 sessions, the ideas behind a ‘pedagogy of imaginative dialogues’ will be discussed and explored based on provided sources and current experiences.

Various visual, performative, and narrative dialogue forms will be experimented with.

During the second learning movement (4 sessions), students will design a dialogue space and invite colleagues to engage in a less verbal, imaginative, and embodied dialogue. Together they reflect on the value of artistic forms for a polyphonic dialogue.

Current social issues – either externally brought up or self-articulated – form the basis for a dialogue design during the final learning movement. Depending on the specific social issue being addressed, the dialogue partners and the context for the dialogue can vary.

Planning

EXPLORING

1-Encounter: Getting to know each other and the “pedagogy of imaginative dialogues.” Dialogue as a form of interruption: Disrupting – suspending – exploring differences. Small dialogic etudes.

2-Question: The art of asking questions. What kind of questions stimulate imagination and concrete sensory experiences? What kind of questions create space for others to be seen and heard? We create questions and propositions to experiment with.

3-Listen: Taking time, listening, and postponing judgement are essential conditions for an open and imaginative dialogue. There are different levels and ways of listening. Through “radical listening,” we train our perception and sense of wonder.

4-Initiate: Based on each student’s own artistic or educational signature, each student designs a dialogue focused on getting to know each other better without relying too much on words. This dialogue is initiated among the group and its further potential will be discussed.

5-Facilitate: How do artists facilitate dialogue spaces? What dramaturgy is used in performative dialogues? Using examples from Building Conversations (Lotte van den Berg) and others, the importance of clear frameworks for dialogue spaces is introduced and explored.

6-Land: Reflection and documentation of the first learning movement. INVITE

INVITING

7. + 8. Design and make: Subgroups are formed, depending on chosen theme and context. Each group designs a dialogue space and a possible dialogue.

9. + 10. Invite: Subgroups invite each other to test the dialogue. Students facilitate the dialogue. They create space for disrupting – suspending – exploring differences. In the reflection of the experiences, forms of embodied reflection will be used.

ENGAGING

11. + 12. Design and make: In a subgroup that shares a societal issue and context, an imaginative dialogue is designed that explores the (controversial) theme based on personal experiences. For this purpose, students go out and question the people they hope to engage in dialogue.

13. + 14. Engage and connect: Students initiate and facilitate the developed imaginative dialogue.  They also ensure the documentation and evaluation of the experiences of the dialogue partners.

15. Preparation of the Show-Off focusing on reflective documentation.

16. Show-Off: Presentation and documentation of artistic-educational dialogic processes.

Learning Outcomes

  • The student is able to utilise various existing dialogue forms, including non-verbal and artistic methods, to explore and make cultural, social, and personal differences visible, audible, and shareable.
  • The student designs dialogue spaces and facilitates imaginative dialogues for different contexts and target groups, with attention to societal and social issues.
  • The student is familiar with embodied reflection practices and applies them in different stages of the dialogue, for the participants and themselves.
  • The student documents dialogic processes and shares reflections and experiences in a creative and imaginative manner.

Assessment

During this module, the student keeps a logbook in which reflections and findings are documented in an imaginative way. The student creatively presents the designed dialogue and shares the acquired knowledge and experience.

 

 

Frame for a 1-day PIMDI-workshop

If the PIMDI curriculum has a duration of one single day, for example as a hands-on ‘lab day’ for students within an existing study program in which they already know each other, the first learning movement of Exploring may be accelerated. However, if the group is unfamiliar with each other, it is important to allow ample time for exploring and understanding one another’s differences. The structure may need to be more teacher-driven and tightly organized compared to a PIMDI curriculum spanning multiple days or even half a year. 

For a one-day PIMDI curriculum, we propose the following structure:

Beginning:

Prepare the arts-pedagogical dialogical space beforehand as a space with its own rules and rituals, in which learning can take place. Choose a theme-of-the-day (such as ‘safety and transgression’). Give homework to the students that will be participating: bring some food that is connected to your own background (culture, family) or environment (landscape). Make the structure of the day visible.

EXPLORING:                                                                                                                                

  • Opening of the day: introducing the PIMDI philosophy.
  • Ask each participant to bring an object or image that symbolizes a personal experience related to the chosen theme. The personal stories will be shared in the subgroups.
  • Divide the participants into small, heterogeneous subgroups. Aim for diversity in terms of backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences.
  • To kickstart the process, ask students to choose from one set of examples of existing dialogues, to explore their own urgent issues regarding the theme and the differences between them, both personally and artistically. Based on this, each subgroup formulates their subject of interest.
  • Let students do a short presentation of their subject of interest and give them the opportunity to change to another group.

Lunch break: ask students to share the food they brought and to tell each other about the cultural, emotional stories connected to their choice.

INVITING:

  • Students in subgroups get an envelope with the proposition to work in subgroups on establishing a dialogical space that offers conditions for working in a group. They are asked to define the rules and the rituals for ending and leaving and to make these visible.
  • Students in subgroups work on exploring the subject of interest further in artistic, embodied, sensuous, spatial ways and then design an imaginative dialogue. They experiment and test their dialogues in an act-reflect-modify cycle.  To this end, they actively invite the others to participate in (the reflection of) their imaginative dialogue and to give formative feedback.
  • After each round there is a moment of reflective documentation

ENGAGING: 

  • Presentations
  • Reflection and evaluation.
  • Writing a short note on how to bring this dialogue into the world.

Ending

In a 1-day workshop the ending consists of being aware of where and how this workshop can and continue regarding the further study and professional practice.

 

A 5-day intensive PIMDI week

It is recommended to organize an intensive week with participants from diverse backgrounds, including differences in culture, nationality, gender, and age. By spending five days together intensively, preferably sharing meals and accommodation, differences can quickly become visible and fruitful. Being aware that the entire week is essentially one large dialogue highlights the importance of frames, rules, or agreements within this dialogue space.

Experiencing the mud. Intensive week Groningen. Photo: Martijn Boven

EXPLORING

After a joint start – with the introduction of the PIMDI philosophy and the theme of the week – it is recommended to quickly divide into small subgroups of 4 to 6 participants. The focus is on encountering differences within one’s own subgroup. This is achieved by actively listening and observing each other, challenged by given or self-designed exercises that trigger various perspectives and bring out different stories. Postponing judgments and allowing time for give and take are essential in this phase. Through individual reflection on what is happening in an embodied way, personal needs and boundaries are explored and a safe and brave space is created.

INVITING

In the Exploring learning movement, mutual differences and urgent issues, or the given theme, were explored through PIMDI-related approaches. Dialogue spaces and rules were experimented with, paying attention to different modalities and artistic disciplines. This is the knowledge and experience that you will utilize as a subgroup while designing a dialogue space and imaginative dialogue for others. If needed, a meeting with the intended dialogue partners can take place to explore the potential of non-linguistic, imaginative methods. 

The third day is focused on designing, and the fourth day on practicing the imaginative dialogue.

At the same time, ways of documenting the dialogue in a multi-sensory way are explored. Be alert to the vulnerability of the participants and the needs for privacy concerning documentation.

ENGAGING

The last day is dedicated to Engaging. Engaging has a broad meaning here: from reaching out to the world around you and other participants, to connecting the acquired experiences with your own professional practice.

 

 

Outline of a blended PIMDI curriculum

Erasmus offers the possibility to collaborate with one or more partners in a blended program that includes – next to online working sessions – a physical encounter. This blended PIMDI curriculum is based on this idea. It can be part of a master-module/programme or a separate programme. The amount of ECTS depends on the length and intensity of the programme. It is between 3-5 ECTS.

EXPLORING

Online: Understanding the framework of PIMDI by having small imaginative dialogues within a small international group of students. Exploring the language of PIMDI. Perhaps viewing online lectures by the teachers of PIMDI. Exploring differences that arise from the dialogue.

INVITING

individual at home: students design an imaginative  dialogue for their own professional practice independently or with a colleague from the local master’s program.

Implementation and evaluation. If necessary, improvement and implementation again or elsewhere.

ENGAGE

The students come together for a 3-day period. They have already explored a kind of common PIMDI language and they have experimented with different imaginative dialogues. Based on this, they further develop their dialogical pedagogical skills by designing and testing new imaginative dialogues. They create a dialogic space to share and deepen their experiences, working methods and artistic signature. They create new possibilities to apply the PIMDI framework in new and other domains.