Tag: interesting people

Issue #39: S P C | Hà Nội, ‘Paper Funnel’

Dipika Kohli

Every Tuesday since December’s start last year I’ve been sharing a new issue of our online magazine, S P A C E.

Today’s is S P A C E | Hà Nội, ‘Paper Funnel’.

Collected bits from the road, including wisdom from people I run into, like this 80-year-old man who wanted to talk about life and give me advice, on a tour last year in Melakka…

 

‘Don’t hurry through things, don’t disappear on people. Wait for the miracle. That’s a Grateful Dead song, “Looking for the Miracle”, but I edited it. Anyway, life advice? Be honest. With yourself, and with other people.’
–80 year-old guest of a guesthouse in Melaka, Malaysia, in response to DK’s question, ‘Do you have any life advice?’

 

For those who like travel writing, this is the issue to get.

I worked super hard on the lead story, a longform one called ‘Paper Funnel’.

Order here

 

Writing the story as I find it

As always, it’s still creative nonfiction, but it’s getting tighter, thanks to editorial input and proofreading and copywriting and just general advice from those who know my writing, and me, pretty damn well, by now.

The story inside will be published in October’s issue of Saathee Magazine, which is in Charlotte NC, and for whom I’ve been writing a monthly column about where I am, at the moment, on the spot.

Get everything in this edition of the printer-friendly S P A C E.

Download it, fold it, and sew it to make your own at home.

Order this issue of S P A C E

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S P C | Rovaniemi, ‘Arctic Circle’

Dipika Kohli

‘… published books…’

‘…’

‘Wait. Have you published a book, DK?’

‘Yeah.’

‘Well, is it on Amazon?’

‘No! I don’t like that company ! The way they treat people and–‘

‘Listen. Amazon’s not going to change and people are still going to use it, whether or not you have qualms with the way they treat people. So why not just use it? Why not make money on the side while you’re doing these other things?’

‘Nobody buys my books ! Hardly.’

‘Well somebody does, right? Somewhere, sometime.’

‘Usually if I meet them, then yeah, it’s so… interesting… it’s like this one-click thing and…’

‘Well, yeah. And why not let yourself benefit from that, instead of just keeping everything on some obscure website in a hard-to-use way, because you disagree on principle with Amazon?’

 

‘The man’ vs the individualist

‘I see your point.’

‘You do?’

‘Yeah, yeah. Selling isn’t bad. But I just don’t wanna use Amazon. I don’t like how they put me next to the other titles and I totally don’t want to be in those pigeonholed categories. So I’ll just make S P A C E. Every week, and see what happens and get to know more about it and see, you know? See.’

‘But, what you really need to be doing is writing another book.’

‘Oh.’

‘…’

*beat*

‘What?’

‘I feel like just making more zines though.’

‘…’

‘A book is a commitment. And no one reads my books.’

‘You don’t know that.’

‘That’s, um. That’s true.’

‘…’

‘So what are you going to do?’

‘Write. And let it happen. Whatever it is, it is.’

*winging it*

Order this issue.

Get our weekly zine S P A C E, sent directly to your inbox every Tuesday at 7AM USEST. Subscribe here.

S P A C E | ‘Strange Geometries’

LET’S TALK ABOUT learning. How we discover, find, and make new connections. Ideas, shapes of thinking and the input that comes from places that might not be the ‘usual’ ones. No more boring meetings: What are the containers that make great conversations *happen*? Cnversations that lead to better collaboration and better work? Those are important. Let’s not waste time. Let’s make things better, together.

Better and more enjoyable: that’s the key. How do we design the S P A C E that lets fresh thinking flow?

Let’s consider. Let’s discuss.

‘Strange Geometries’ is our first invite-only salon on this topic. Min 4. Max 7.

WHAT YOU’LL GET. DK will share:

  • Grice’s ‘Maxims of Conversation’, as introduced to us by Eric Chuk, who studied narrative ontology
  • Six Thinking Hats, a method of opening dialogue.
  • The Open Space Technologies how-to.
  • Free eBook, ‘SELF’, by DK’s Dipika Kohli (a USD $95 value).

Application required. Apply below.

This workshop will be hosted by DK’s Dipika Kohli. She has delivered seminars at University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill on the topic of Design Thinking, a series caled SELF as a 9-week experiential program at Stanford University, and for an architects circle in Seattle DK was invited to present, ‘Just Be You.’

LEARN MORE

DipikaKohli.com | Processed Identity | GOOD | TEDx | Ignite Raleigh | NPR | UNC-Chapel Hill | ThisBigCity

#innovation #design #designthinking

APPLY. To request an invite, first apply here:

Zine launch: S P A C E || Helsinki

A zine. Printed, limited edition. Ready to share these with members of S P A C E who pre-order by 29 Sept. Don’t miss the chance to get a printed zine in the mail that tells the story ‘Julia Set’.

JOIN DK and friends at the launch of the zine, ‘S P A C E || Helsinki,’ a creative nonfiction short piece that will be distributed in very limited editions on the day. Your ticket comes with one copy of the zine, whose pages are filled with words and collages DK gathered in real life in Helsinki in June and August, 2018. The zine’s lead story is ‘Julia Set,’ based on a conversation with a mathemetician about possibilites and multiple dimensions, but there is also a more low-key dialogue in ‘Exit Vantaa.’ Find out more when you check out the related blog posts, liket ‘Exit Vantaa,’ DK’s music ‘mix’, at this page, and more is also online about DK’s zines in S P A C E.

Pre-order S P A C E || Helsinki here.

Salon: Origin

ORIGIN: ‘What is fromness?’ is inspired by ‘Ask me where I’m local’ by Taiye Selasi: ‘When someone asks you where you’re from … do you sometimes not know how to answer?’ Selasi speaks for “multi-local” people. In other words, people who feel at home in the town where they grew up, the city they live now and maybe another place or two. How can I come from a country?, she asks. How can a human being come from a concept?’

Origin: What is ‘fromness?’ Join Design Kompany in an informal setting for a conversation salon, ‘Origin.’

We’ll be talking about questions that help us all reflect on self-identity, whereness, and the notion of ‘where I am from.’ The program is light, and a slight redesign of our 2014 Origin conversation salon in Phnom Penh, in which 16 people gathered for an unusual experience of talking with complete strangers about close-to-the-heart questions. Since then the event has also been seen in Bangkok and Hanoi.

Come meet people from a wide mix of backgrounds. People whose paths you might not have crossed. Who are interested in taking a good, honest look at questions like: Who am I? Where am I ‘from?’ Who is my family? Where is my home? Questions that, we learned in 2014, truly open the heart. And help us learn more about one another, as well as ourselves.

  • ‘I never imagined I’d meet so many different people.’
  • ‘I wish we’d had more time! Thank you.’
  • ‘Weird and interesting!’
  • ‘Refreshingly honest.’

This event is for members of S P A C E and their guests. Learn more about how to become a member of S P A C E here.

S P A C E || Finland

Printed set of limited-edition zines from the new collection, S P A C E || Finland. For members of S P A C E.

Join S P A C E here.

‘N’ Helsinki: NEUROSIS

Tickets for ‘N’ Helsinki: NEUROSIS. ‘Let’s talk about it.’

HELLO.

WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME you struck up conversation with a total stranger, and found out something really cool about them and, in the process, about yourself, too? When did you last go out of your comfort zone to get lost in the sea of real-life conversation that wasn’t set up digitally first?

You are not a robot.

You are not your schedule.

You are a human being.

When did we all become option-seekers?

Can we go back to when it was different, when we used to just commit? Don’t wait to see if something better might come up – be a bold human being and just pick a date and show up!) And when was the last time you looked at another person, a stranger, like, really? Eye to eye, face to face. ‘You’re here, like me, in this world. Let’s converse?’

Introducing ‘N’

16N. ‘N’ gathers 16 people in 16 cities. Cities with an ‘N’ in them. Designing a way for people whose paths have never crossed to meet together, in one framed moment. Each city’s ‘N’ is themed. The topic starts with an ‘N.’ The big idea? Ever notice how people collect each other, as though we’re numbers? In each city’s big blind date, ’16N’ become 16 people. Phones and devices go into a box at registration. No recordings. Just real life. But briefly. And once. So far, DK have hosted: ‘N’ Phnom Penh: NORMALITY (‘What’s normal? Who gets to decide?’); ‘N’ Bangkok: NOW (‘What is ‘Now?’); ‘N’ London: NOTEWORTHINESS (‘What makes something remarkable?’); and ‘N’ Hanoi: NARRATIVE (‘What are the stories we tell to the world? Which ones do we tell to ourselves?’). DK are actively working on gathering participants now for a collage of new and different others in Helsinki for ‘N’ Helsinki: NEUROSIS (‘Let’s talk about it.’).

Are you up for the ‘N’ challenge?

#whynot #sayyes #play16n

Hei Kesä @ Cafe Onni

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Celebrating International Zine Day

PIENOISLEHTIEN TEKEMINEN on Suomessa vielä harvinainen harrastus. Työpajassa tutustut lehtien tekemisen mahdollisuuksiin ja opit taittelemaan ja tekemään uniikkeja tai monistettavia vihkosia. Sisältö voi olla kuvia, tekstiä tai ehkäpä pieni tarina. Millaisen lehden sinä voisit tehdä? Pajaan osallistuminen ei vaadi aiempaa kokemusta tai valmista ideaa. Ohjaajana taiteilija Dipika Kohli, Design Kompany (US). Ohjaus suomeksi ja englanniksi.  €10 (hinta sisältää materiaalit, sekä kahvin ja leivonnaisen)

Mukana voi tuoda myös omia aikakausi- ja sanomalehtiä sekä askartelutarvikkeita kuten sakset.

Online conversation salon S P A C E || ‘Slow Moment’

When we slow down to look, what might we see? How do we make time to discover the new and different?

SLOW MOMENT. SLOWING DOWN SEEMS to be a theme coming up a lot in our S P A C E conversations in breakout spaces. So let’s talk more about that. Let’s set the stage for our ideal place and time to relax into ONE moment. Not a million, not five, but ONE. Says host of this programme, DK’s A. Spaice, ‘To commit to it, I feel, you need it to be just one thing. I think part of slowing down for me is eliminating the excess. That way I don’t get so overwhelmed. How does it work for you though, I’m curious? Slowing, I mean. Let’s talk ‘Slow Moment’ this summer in S P A C E… How do you find it? Where does it start? When does it end? What are the qualities of it that make it great? Can you set it up to *make it happen*?’

For this programme, DK will weave in real life conversations happening in Finland through June, July and August with these online forums; we’ll discover through the medium of photography how slowing into a moment can happen when we look for the quiet spaces through the viewfinder. Slowing. Stilling. For the awareness and the art to seep into the frames. Just 8 spots. Questions? Send us an email.

Participation in ‘Slow Moment’ begins with an application. Apply here.

Atelier S P A C E || Bangkok

Atelier S P A C E is DK’s popup, zinemaking on-the-spot workshop. The idea is to gather a handful of people to meet and cocreate a short publication. A zine.

So far, DK has hosted Atelier S P A C E in: Battambang, Singapore, Penang, KL, and a few smaller cities in Malaysia.  Zines from Atelier S P A C E have appeared at writers festivals in Singapore and Georgetown Penang, so far, and more appearances are set for a Finland tour in the summer.

Be a part of the international conversation.

  • For the full five-day programme in Bangkok, it is THB 8000.
  • Register by 5 March to confirm your spot. Get tickets here. ✨

S P A C E || In mixed company

DK hosts ‘In Mixed Company,’ a sequel to ’16N’ which happened in Bangkok in October, 2015. Meet new people in remarkable ways. Prompt-led, guided conversation in a way that opens you up to try new personas, play a little with identity, and brush up your imrovisation skills. Be prepared for anything, expect the unexpected.

‘Weird and intriguing’ —Guest at ‘Hello August’

Zines will be on display to peruse, enjoy, and to take home. Make sure to RSVP to book, as we have very limited seats. Max 6. Use this form to RSVP:

Readings from S P A C E

A POPUP CONVERSATION salon, with snippets from our 2014-2017 highlights from the ezine, S P A C E. We will be hosting this in real life at a venue in Bangkok to be shared with registered guests only. Free with RSVP. To RSVP, contact DK through the form here.

Readings from S P A C E

A POPUP CONVERSATION salon, with snippets from our 2014-2017 highlights from the ezine, S P A C E. We will be hosting this in real life at a venue in Penang to be shared with registered guests only. Free with RSVP. To RSVP, contact DK through the form here.

S P A C E || New things

MEET DK in Kuala Lumpur to talk about things related to creativity, learning, play, travel, journaling, and the journeys. It’s an open-space format conversation salon. If you’re curious about new and different others, and are interested in a chance to connect I ways that don’t involve hand phones, Google, CVs, or bars, this could be a good fit, for you. Ideas. Personalities. Really talking, and about things in depth, not trivially: that’s S P A C E. This is part of the Atelier S P A C E || Kuala Lumpur (17-30 January) programme. Location details to be shared with those who indicate interest in attending. Let us know you’re interested thorugh this form? Agenda, meetpoint to follow from there.

 

Atelier S P A C E || Kuala Lumpur

MAKE A ZINE with just a handful of others, in this international atelier series, Atelier S P A C E.

ATELIERS. These pop up from real life when we converse offline with new and different others. It brings storyfinding back to person to person contact, while ‘journalism’ becomes increasingly less human-centered. Who will we tell our real selves to? Each other, in real life, offline, away from package-making for others and towards more listening for common threads and similar experiences. In so doing, we feel more connected, DK have found, and inspired to improve, too.

Starting in Battambang in Cambodia in Sept. 2017, we are moving in Asia to discover people who are curious, creative, and ready for something new. Our cocreated Battambang issue was on the topic, Ennui. In Singapore (10-12 Nov) our zine was on the theme The Third Place. In Penang (6-11 Dec) we took a different focus, Growth. Each theme is based on what conversations emerged when we meet new people in real life in those places, and simply take time to talk. Then we work to make a zine that is cohesive, and is hyperlocal to the place and the contemporary narratives. What will happen, whom we’ll meet, who will join, and what zine we will then together produce is an open question. Let’s consider the possibilities. Let’s make a space.

Meet us there?

Order tickets for Atelier S P A C E || Kuala Lumpur here: https://atelier-space-kualalumpur.eventbrite.com

Questions? Contact us through the form at this page.