< v y d a v y s i n d i k a t > B r o o k l y n - B r o n x (1995-2005) Brooklyn based group experiment vydavy sindikat is a Brooklyn based group experiment. It’s goal is to engage people in a dialog with each other and the outside in order to encourage a creative process which would lead to a communication of a different sort than existing. Up to this point, vydavy had existed in a printed format of 18” X 24” newsprint page as well as site specific performance peaces. vydavy constantly works on socio-architectural concepts aiming at invention of ‘utopian’ solutions in Zizek’s scense of a word, for the problems of surveillance and authoritarian structures. The history of sindikat goes back to 1995, when it existed in the same content but in a different format of 8.5” X 14” printed page, and was distributed by mail. The prints combine words and images; sometimes a performance would supplement the issues. The printed format (18”X24or36”) combines all efforts into a single, basic, portable, easily accessible format of printed-paper. It was decided by the members of sindikat to choose this format to explore its boundaries and also due to convenience and availability of materials. The workshop’s process extends into other areas -- performance, public space installations/interactive projects, video and sound. In those instances different formats might be used, but a printed format still remains the main element. The printed format always accompanies other projects, as format of documentation. sindikat is a workshop that unifies people creating a parallel community. sindikat has unity as its goal, which means that the participants do not take authorship of the individual peaces, but, rather, everybody takes credit for the collective end-result. This way, vydavy is a single unit that undertakes projects. sindikat has as its goal the development of new communication skills that will allow for the dialog between diverse ethnic and cultural spheres. Ideally, it would allow participants to find a new way to express themselves, reveal their identity and have a dialog with another who might not necessarily speak the same language or have the same cultural or psychological background. Members of vydavy sindikat have different occupations, and do not necessarily have formal art education. sindikat’s goal is to develop analytical skills together with a representational language that will allow combining the concepts coming out of the surrounding environment, with the understanding of it, as well as with helping to figure out strategies for a particular intellectual process. As a regular learning process, it is an exercise that supplies a record of collective behavior of a particular group, both it’s internal and external differences and/or similarities, and its interactions with the surrounding cultural (not necessarily native) landscape. The success of sindikat, or its usefulness, derives from its ability to exist as a group.