Making Worlds. Assessing the Events Regarding Mediation

Audio of the session:

About the Approach

The initial proposal was to reflect on a common problem/practice shared by very different people, a so-called “broadened idea of mediation”. To think together something that could address each one of us in our own contexts (social centres, cultural centres, theoretical interest, etc.). Understanding it not as a perfectly framed and limited problem/practice that we already know how to transmit, but as field yet to be explored. Trusting more the resonances than the identity or similarities of our experiences.
How can we evaluate this? Have we really been on the same page or have we just thought that we were? Has this open and undefined approach helped us or has it made it more difficult?
Does the term “mediation” help or confuse us? Is it a common terrain or is does it involve too many assumptions? Can we use it to name such diverse practices as cultural mediation and conflict mediation? Is there a better word? Perhaps we should use different words for each specific practice? During the sessions some participants (Tabacalera, for instance) used the term spontaneously, whereas others used different terms (dinalization or facilitation) that seemed to designate the same “operation” that we were reflecting on.

We chose to celebrate these sessions in the morning, even though we were aware that this was going to prevent many people from coming, with the intention of reinforcing an ambiance for work and conversation, distancing it from the conventional conference/query format. Has it been so? Has it been worth it? What has this morning time frame enabled us to do that would have been impossible with a more accessible schedule?

Has this broad approach (that takes into account so many different experiences) been helpful for the cultural mediators, in particular, to rethink their work?

What views, experiences and topics have been left out (space and mediation, technology and mediation, etc.)?

How can we communicate and share the thoughts that have been taking place during the different sessions?