Tag: conversation

Issue #81

A. Spaice

This week’s issue is ready to share.

It’s called S P C | Sài Gòn • ‘Start with Something Simple’.

#81

About ‘SwSS’…

Trang Le’s story, ‘A Discovery of… Myself,’ is the lead story. It is in Vietnamese. One of the most sharply observing young people DK has met in a long time, it is a chronicling of the author’s experience slowly passing time in Đà Lạt, away from home. Two of her photographs showcasing the natural beauty in and around Đà Lạt are included, too. You’ll also find some quirky terrariums created by Dinh Ngô, who shared these images with DK for this issue after we happened to find them in real lfe. He, too, like Le, had found new ways to discover—in this case, a new creative pursuit—over the period of lockdown. Experimenting with making… terrariums led to a new outcrop of beginnings, it seems. The cover photograph and inside images give you an idea of the vibe.

Special thanks to Bích Ngọc, who translated into Vietnamese Dipika Kohli’s  short dialogue, ‘Phoneless,’ about a true encounter in real life in Ho Chi Minh City with someone who, like Kohli, professed he, too, does not have a phone.

How to order..

S P C | Sài Gòn • ‘Start with Something Simple’ is ready to order.

Here’s a link.

http://gum.co/space-saigon-swss

Thanks!

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Dear I

Dipika Kohli

That was cool, getting in touch and sharing, and hearing from you. Thanks! Been fun, conversing as we do, now and then, all this time.

When we met, I was in one of my many, many borrowed rooms assembling this issue of S P C, (left), which was the first of the series from Latvia, Poland, and Slovakia.

So many cool people, and connexions, and conversations happened on those roads, and I was grateful for the opportunity to get there, HT AM!, and to enjoy them. A different world now, right? Difficult to move about so freely. Guess I got lucky, going when I did.

Something told me… why not just go now ? Some timing though, really. Those were places that sort of left quite the impression. I was a little surprised with myself to prepone my trip by like a year (the writers’ residency I’ve been invited to be part of in Ventspils at the International Writers’ and Translators’ House was due to happen in November 2020). Not sure when I can get back for that, or if, so yeah. Glad to have gone and met you and others ! Lucky timing. (HT, another friend whose first initial is I…)

Who knew we would all be dealing with lockdowns in various spots around the world and a pandemic, at this time ?

I’m in Vietnam.

Currently in Vietnam..

Well, here I am, doing exactly the same work as I was when we had met. Good people are around me, here, too, and I’m lucky as heck to get to assemble new writings from their points of view, and images, too, which some have shared (like this cover!), and this time, some cool stuff: spatial organic design. I’ll put together all the credits, for sure, on the day we launch, and share more about each of our contributors, then. ;)

That’ll come out on 30 June, with the issue, ‘Start with Something Simple.’

Always happy to reconnect with you, I.

[Moving the rest of this to a protected-page.. I’ll post it tomorrow. Will send passcode then!]

 

On Deck

A. Spaice

Be a part of an international conversation in the cloud

About this Event

Since 2017, Design Kompany, or ‘DK’, has been publishing a weekly e-magazine called S P A C E.

The idea is to discover, and share, the stories of us… the people we meet, where we go, and what we find out together. In conversations that last sometimes hours in a stretch, or spill over through multiple days, we get to know our guests at Atelier S P A C E meetups, which are almost always by invitation, only.

The way it works is then we find a theme. Write our feelings, our ideas, our stories. Then, share and discuss them. Together.

When you join us in July, you’ll have a chance to sample this experience. You’ll have a chance to interact with us in this way… only, in the cloud, not in person.

 

Maybe you’ll see your own writing featured in our magazine, one day !

This is a chance to develop your work, explore with others also doing the same, and get the ace advice of our seasoned team of editors, designers, and professional writers over at Design Kompany, too.

Experience it…

Application required.

Apply here. [If it’s a fit, you’ll hear more from us by email…]

Thanks!

A. Spaice

Wine, pistachios, my balcony and Zoom

Dipika KohliLeave a comment

I’m just gonna tell you what it was like. Being out here, where I am. Over… lockdown.

Being known to someone and seeing that person or set of people regularly: that’s been absent, these last four months. It’s a curious and intriguing opportunity, though. To find out things, totally solo, with no agenda, no history with anyone, and even kind of forgetting about the old histories. Which is liberating, too.

 

Up

My balcony hotel room on the fifth floor was a gift, for three solid months. I am lucky. I think my favorite part was the amazing wifi. I also had a view of the sky, and some stars, on the days before rainy season got going in full swing. Part of why I left there, finally. Also, you were allowed to move around again. And so, me being me, I got in a taxi, then a bus, then another bus. [deleted]

The only things missing are the balcony, wine and the pistachios. Also my Zoom kind of broke. A bit of a story, but… I prefer it this way. [deleted] I’m happy writing. And, a lot. And zining, of course. Setting things up for 23 June and 30 June‘s issues. They’re called ‘Continuous Partial’ and ‘Start with Something Simple.’

 

Also, I was playing new music, while talking to old, old friends on Zoom and asking after them, also just snacking away on pistachios, because these are good. And it felt quite cozy, too, because this reminded me of a different moment, in another hemisphere, and another decade. Seattle. And with pistachios, that time, too. Also, water. I didn’t have wine, then. I was just so happy, that day. Played some of my favorite music, enjoying the simplicity of it. Knowing what feels good, and setting things up. (HT… well, you know who you are… it’s been more than a decade since we met, wow. I suppose that’s how it goes sometimes.)

It was good, then, and it is good, now.

The next things are coming up now. Wineless, pistachio-less, and balcony-less and even kind of zoomlessly… but what that does is… it…

Makes…

S P A C E.

HT Guests of ‘Papers‘. Thanks for being there and sharing so, so much. I appreciate it! <3

 

An update on ‘Papers’

A. Spaice

Papers is a *thing* now, as in, it’s going.

Quite beautifully, too.

Good conversations, with depth and substance, are taking place behind the scenes here at DK’s blog. Wanted to share a little of the backstory of how this whole ‘Papers’ idea got invented. Working on that, this month. Thinking, sharing quietly, 1:1 on email with the people I feel most ‘get’ it.

S P C | ‘There Is No Next Time’, an exclusive for guests of ‘Papers’

 

Late registration opportunity for June Papers..

Here’s what it is.

For the very curious.

A conversation in the cloud with new and different others. Guests are from DK’s 2006-2020 network of friends, collaborators, past clients, and newcomers. Make a space and discover your stories. As usual with DK’s spaces, *anything can happen*. But, given who has already registered, it looksl ike writing and poetry mostly, for June. 

Try it? More information here.

Issue #75

A. Spaice

Today, we share the newest issue of our weekly zine, S P C. It is Issue #75, S P C | Bangkok, ‘The Last Copy is for Reading Here.’

Our feature artist this time is Napisa Leelasuphapong.

Her photography is on the cover, and inside pages, too.

#75

Photography, cultural identity and S P C

About the photography: ‘It talks about the way Thai elites in the period of colonisation borrowed the Western coloniser perspective,’ explains Leelasuphapong, ‘in looking at native villagers as ‘the others’; identifying them as barbarians to negatively identify themselves as civilised persons.’

She is referring to an academic article, ‘The Other Within,’ by Thongchai Winichakul. Getting more and more curious, we reached out to the author, who helped us learn more about the idea of place vis-a-vis a nation’s identity. You can find a Q&A with Winichakul about his 1993 article ‘The Other Within’ inside this issue,

The lead story is by DK Director Dipika Kohli, and is a first-person account of the experience going to Bangkok and discovering, on the spot, ‘In the Margins.’ Ahead of the publication, the conversations on email were very interesting and fun and also made us really get focused on what S P C is, and aims to be ‘So far, S P C has been about discovery–going to the field, seeing what we find, whom we meet, and finding ways to “create aesthetic moments, together”… which just means, did something cool happen.

‘Conversations with depth, exchanges of value… it doesn’t always turn into anything—occasionally places feel uncomfortable, or unsafe, or unwelcoming!–but we can take what we feel from discovering, deeply, not trivially, and investigating in one spot for a time and turn those feelings into issues of our zine. A few favorites for me are  S P C | Brooklyn, ‘Art for Art’s Sake’, which was a great co-creation, and S P C | Aarhus, ‘Janteloven’–one of the early ones. It’s still figuring itself out, of course, but more and more, it’s designed to invite and include *new* and *different* others to connect, and interconnect us, in remarkable moments.’

To be really honest, not that many people read our zine, or subscribe… we had a big idea about ‘meet the world’ in our crowdfunding campaign a few years ago, but I think… we were idealistic. That’s okay. Still managed to continue making it, and publishing every week, too. Made an instagram, some people seem to like that, instagram.com/dkompany... More to say if you want to hear more. Ask us.

S P C | Bangkok, ‘The Last Copy is for Reading Here’

You can find the zine in our store.

Here’s a link.

http://gum.co/space-bkk-lastcopy

Thanks ;)

 

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