Room Based Writing

At the start of a learning process, when starting to think about a specific topic, for example ‘light’ or ‘water’.

• Derived from Metro Writing, from Paris in the 1950s: Travelling in a metro, write every time the metro stops, stop writing when the metro continues moving.
• Not necessarily in a classroom, but walking, discussing and writing in an environment: outdoors, a bus, or other places.
• Starting from a topic: may be a very open or a very specific one
  • A phenomenon like light, or something concrete like a chair
• The basic task: Free writing
  • Writing continuously, even when stuck, until something new comes up
  • Working spatially: listening, paying attention to oneself and one’s surroundings, describing things that are happening
• Timing the writing is important: about three minutes is a good time to start with
  • Possible to give freedom of choice with timing: for example, when nothing new comes up, start moving again
• Giving some instructions about space:
  • Find a tree to write under
  • Wander around
  • Jump on a bus, write there
  • …
• Action-based instructions, for example: Walking around the space/place, write every time you:
  • Walk past a light  
  • Smell something
  • xxx
  • (When the metro has stopped)
• After the writing portion, looking at one’s notes
  • Highlighting keywords or sentences that feel meaningful
  • Are there any surprises?
  • What things do you notice that talk about the topic under consideration?
• Usually the writing is for personal viewing, not for showing others.
• Possible to continue with the group to work on something.
  • Make drawings based on some of the observations in the writingWrite a storyMake movement
  • Continue with other group tasks
• At the end of the learning process on the topic, doing the same exercise again with the same topic
  • What has happened, what has changed?
• For the author, this reflection often involves making a simple book first, and writing into the book during the exercise.

Purpose:

• Digging into one’s own knowledge
• Connecting mind and body experience
• Allowing surprising things to come up and connect
• Not forcing, taking off the pressure to be smart or skilled
• Giving space for intuition
• Reflective point, not only on a cognitive level

Who with:

• For anyone interested in looking at their own interest or knowledge, to get fresh ideas on something
• May be adjusted for different ages

Variations:

• With school kids, may be done by writing just separate words, the same words may keep repeating until new ones come
• By drawing instead of writing
• With young children: by drawing, keeping the drawing timed

Author:

Gunndis Yr Finnbogadottir, Iceland University of the Arts, Reykjavik.