ABOUT THIS SITE >>> This site is a blog as well as an archive: It gives visibility to the continues working of radical_hope & radical_house and holds documentation of the research projects Distraction As Discipline and OTÇOE - works for passers-by.
radical_hope (since 2010) creates and holds frameworks for artistic research/es & co-creation/s.
radical_house (since 2020), next to being a long term project on notions of ownership, privacy and privilege, provides a physical place in Brussels: here people can tempralrily cohabit with the permanent users of the house in order to work, rest or find shelter.
Distraction As Discipline (2015 - 2019) is
an investigation into enactivist principles in art and education
(research trajectory at KASK School
of Arts Ghent 2016-19). It considers the potential of performance art and
pedagogy in general, in resisting the current and massive
desubjectivation, by critically reclaiming both, attention for the moment and participation in a process.
OTÇOE - works for passers-by (2012 - 2014) was the development of radical_hope's artistic practice in the city and questioned how and by whom this practice (and its bodily, social and economical aspects) is perceived. The title refers to the public of a city and to how we encounter and register most things on our way through the city: Out of The Corner of Our Eyes. OTÇOE.
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CO-CONSTRUCTED CONVERSATIONS
research test Bags & Barbaras
They will appear for 60 minutes and may draw attention from others – witnessing them from close by or a distance.
Where can a body linger? Who can feel safe – where? When does a body rise or recoil, and why?
••••
They are equipped with fabrics, which can completely enclose them.
Optionally, they can reveal personal characteristics by partially or fully unveiling themselves, depending on how they resonate with their surroundings.
What is seen, thought, felt? A body simply lying there, an alien appearance, a moving mountain, a landscape unfolding…?
••••
An appearance (+/_ 60 min) of Bags & Barbaras is considered complete in the instant the bodies shed their disguise and face their surroundings.
But activations could also be left unfinished if the situation makes it so…
What are we in? Can we address each other, and what do we testify about?
14:30 (one body)
>>> 18:30 sharing of testimonies by performers and their witnesses in the foyer of the 2nd floor at BSB. (accessible for wheelchair users via elevator)
••••
The proposal "Bags & Barbaras" is currently being explored in terms of its capacity to function as a series of workshops and performances. The question is how both —workshop and performance — make it possible, together (as a group) to explore somatic and psychological negotiation possibilities of bodies in public space on the one hand, and the monstrous presence of inequality on the other. In this context, our very bodies and personalities form the basis for investigation and experimentation:
What happens to us—to our person/ identity—when we inscribe ourselves in a space, while negotiating our possibilities, preferences, and
choices to appear “there”?
Concept: Heike Langsdorf / radical_hope *
Curation in the context of OpenField gathering: Simone Basani
Thanks to: Anthony Chang, Delphine Mertens, Lilia Mestre
Current research phase supported by: a:pass, Monty Antwerpen, Workspace Ricerca X