As part of the Come Together artist residency, Ant Lightfoot led workshops with young people at KWMC’s Jump Studios exploring different forms of online, offline, introverted and non-verbal communication, looking specifically at introverted and non-verbal ways of engaging.

Using cardboard boxes as a way to replicate the experience of being in a Zoom call, the young people experimented with non-verbal communication. They could rotate their box between different needs they deemed to be important to them: from a cut-out window showing their full faces when ready to engage verbally and be seen, to a side of the box reading ‘Mute’, ‘Video Off’ or ‘Please listen to me’.

Alongside exercises and discussions around agency, our needs and how to ask for them, Ant facilitated conversations around what it means to be introverted, providing an understanding of neurodiversity and how we can express ourselves in different, accessible ways including gestural, non-verbal communication and what lessons we can learn from interacting in online spaces.

Ant ran the workshops in a ‘hybrid’ manner, where some of the young people joined online and others in person.

Ant quickly learned that, “adding a laptop isn’t hybrid!”, and multiple facilitators are needed to monitor each space, ensuring everyone’s inputs are respected and listened to. Ant found that attention would naturally go to the participants who were in same space as the facilitator, whether that was online or in person. They were glad to be co-facilitating with Jump Studios to ensure both spaces were fully engaged.

Ant’s final workshop took place on Gather Town, an online social space reminiscent of early 2000s pixelated games such as Habbo Hotel or Runescape.

In Gather Town, you can build yourself an avatar, much like a video game character. When your avatar comes close to another person’s, your video/microphones are turned on for face-to-face communication. This enables an experience similar to that of real life, where you can approach others and have spontaneous chats or remove yourself and enjoy a public space without social interaction. This can provide a more playful, spatial and dynamic video calling experience that focusses on the agency of the participant to decide on how they wish to engage.

During their session in Gather Town, Ant facilitated the young people in discussing and creating their own ‘safe spaces’ online; a space to retreat to when their physical world feels overwhelming.

This enabled some rethinking around what makes a safe space and how people can use online tools to provide a calm, meditative dream space, uninhibited by the restrictions of reality.

Ant’s Hybrid Tips

“A laptop with zoom on it stuck in a room is not hybrid. From the base level you need someone whose job it is to be with the online people – make sure they are heard and listened to – some people will want to do this through the chat more – how can you share the chat content in the real space? Approach it from a place of not making verbal sharing the priority”

“If online you should get a super special experience. Those in person might think if they had engaged online they would have got something better – the equivalent of an Easter egg extra for those online.”

“Umbrella above all is transparency: always make it clear we care and are trying things – it isn’t yet at the best, but we are trying. In terms of access, a useful framing is: we are doing this to make the best experience possible – we are thinking critically, it is our duty to be honest and there will be bumps along the way”.

Ant shares their experience of staying connected during the pandemic…