The beginning of an artistic practice is one of the key interests of the artistic research project MINA (In~common Artistic Matter). Challenging the idea of an isolated "zero point", MINA is grounded in the conviction that moments of sharing within the creative process — dialogues, debates, critiques, and influences — have a transformative impact, even when their consequences are not immediately visible. Informal conversations, critiques, and exchanges of ideas are seen as fundamental to the renewal and evolution of artistic practice, fostering a multitude of strategies developed within MINA to offer experimental methodological approaches. 

A central question driving these encounters is how to bring individual narratives and experiences into the discussion, ensuring that the shared space is created collectively, taking into account the various differences. This question is at the heart of the workshop ‘Ongoing Beginnings’, which will be designed to facilitate sharing and reflection on the origins of artistic practices. By creating a participatory environment, the workshop encourages individuals to explore how their own beginnings resonate within a broader, collective context. Through a game and diagrams, we aim to articulate a horizontal approach, identifying common patterns and challenges while celebrating the diversity of influences, struggles, and opportunities that shape the start of artistic journeys.

These exercises will not only invite individual and collective reflection but also serve as a framework for unpacking the different layers of experience that influence the beginning of artistic practice. The activities will also highlight how these diverse beginnings can contribute to a shared understanding of artistic practice, enriching the collective dialogue and providing insights into the collaborative process that emerges in these encounters.

A game will initiate the ‘Ongoing Beginnings’ workshop, setting a tone of openness and receptivity. Designed to stimulate unexpected associations and interconnections between ideas and images, the game challenges participants to draw upon their own experiences and intuitions while negotiating meanings collectively. This playful strategy becomes an exercise in methodological experimentation, where rules provide a structuring framework, yet interpretations remain open and flexible. The reflection deepens with the creation of diagrams, which serve as visual tools to map different dimensions of the act of beginning. Participants are invited to develop graphic representations that articulate concepts, sensations, and experiences related to their artistic beginnings. The exchange and interpretation of these maps in pairs introduce new perspectives, revealing both recurring patterns and individual nuances in how each person understands and experiences beginnings. These activities create an environment where individuals' inceptions are interwoven, revealing how they overlap and diverge. The workshop concludes with a moment of synthesis and collective sharing, revisiting the key traces that emerged throughout the activities and reflecting on how these individual experiences can contribute to a collective narrative of artistic practice.

The materials produced are regarded as potential tools for generating new dialogues and inquiries, reinforcing the idea that beginnings are not fixed points, but rather fields of possibility in continuous transformation. This continuous unfolding is not only an individual process but also a collective one, shaped by the exchanges, reflections, and encounters that emerge along the way. The workshop highlights how artistic practice is nourished by shared experiences, revealing that the act of making is intrinsically relational. At the same time, artistic research emerges from these interactions, as new questions and perspectives arise through dialogue and experimentation. The dynamics reinforce the notion that neither practice nor research develops in isolation, rather they flourish in spaces where dialogue and reciprocity are cultivated. Ultimately, this process reaffirms that the politics of care is not separate from artistic practice but embedded within it. The ability to create together, to hold space for each other’s questions and uncertainties, and to remain open to transformation is, in itself, a fundamental gesture of artistic and educational commitment.

Arlander, Annette (2016). Investigação em Arte e/como Interdisciplinaridade. Porto: Instituto de Investigação em Arte, Design e Sociedade. Fortnum, Rebecca (2009). Creative Accounting. Not Knowing in Talking and Making. In Fisher, Elizabeth; Fortnum, Rebeca [Eds.], On Not Knowing How Artists Think. Londres: Black Dog Publishing, 70-87. Lancri, Jean(2002). Modestas Proposições sobre as Condições de uma Pesquisa em Artes Plásticas na Universidade. In Brites, Blanca; Tessler, Elida [Eds.], O meio como ponto zero. Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, 15-35. Perec, Georges (1997). Notes Concerning the Objects that are on my Work-table (J. Sturrock, Trans.). In G. Perec, Species of Spaces and Other Pieces (pp. 140-143). London: Penguin Books. (Original published 1976) Sutherland, Ian; Acord, Sophia (2007). Thinking with art: from situated knowledge to experiential knowing. Journal of Visual Art Practice, 6 (2), 125-140.