Here we are, currently closing out week two of a three-week intensive writing storm. Justin and I spent last week filling sheets of paper with what we call "fleshy skeletons," essentially long outlines that dip into narrative prose when inspiration strikes. This week he and I have shunted off to our own corners to put some meat on those skeletons. We're a bit behind schedule, but the week ahead will be a good one as the cases come into focus. Once we've drafted the bits we each committed to the files will go onto Google Docs and that's when the authorship-bending, polyvocal, swarm editing begins. Between writing stints we've had calls with the various parties being profiled in the cases as well as a good bit of research to fill in some of the gaps.
Marco has been steadily knocking things off the to-do list. Mostly in the section having to do with logistics and participants. We added two more confirmations to the Ageing studio, which is now almost full, as well as continued lining up speakers for all three studios. Jaana dropped by at the very end of the day on Friday with some special all-white, embossed Sitra stationery that none of us had ever seen before. Apparently it's reserved for diplomatic communiques.
I spent Friday interviewing Aalto students for the role of studio assistant. We're going to be brining on about three people to help with each of the studios, so that's a total of somewhere in the neighborhood of nine people to bring up to speed. Not to mention nine more seats that will be needed. Our new location in the Sitra building is bigger, but not that big.
Thus the studio. The biggest news is no news at all: we're still trying to confirm the HDL studio space. A couple very exciting options and we're very close, but the whole HDL team is quite ready to sign a lease and put this arduous task behind us. Who would have thought the real estate market in Helsinki to be so convoluted?
Week 053 feels like an extension of 052, one of the longest weeks of the project yet.
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