The large group as a transformational space

Abstract

This paper explores the process of a large group- from my experience as both a participant and conductor; and using my artwork as a way to facilitate my understanding. I attempt to articulate what is implicit to large groups and is difficult for the individually-focused mind to comprehend. I have approached my paper from the inside out. I have thought about the process of the large group from inside of me: what I sense, feel, and experience in a large group. Then, through images that I have made and through Māori mythology, I have explored some ways of attempting to make sense, to understand and make meaning.

Large groups can be a means to better understand and learn to engage in the conscious and unconscious processes that affect us and control us all in large group settings. Inside the large group many or all of the elements of an organisation, or even a culture, already exist that offer us the potential means to begin to engage in more of the whole picture of human life. Large groups can help us to think about interdisciplinary issues, bi-cultural and multicultural issues, political issues, power issues, and all areas where splitting occurs in connection with difference. It is also possible to experience in the large group space a transformation of separate individual consciousness, into a feeling of belonging and community where people can dialogue across their differences.