UrbanApa TOOLBOX is a workshop /lab that aims at bringing artists of different backgrounds together. TOOLBOX offers a low-fi and easy access platform where artistic practices can be shared and questions asked collectively. The week consists of a series of sessions that have been curated under a frame.
The first TOOLBOX of this fall deals with questions around leaks.
The co-curator of the fall TOOBOX Suvi Kemppainen writes the following on the thematic:
leaks in the moment of dizziness let’s turn to each other with finding joy and value in the collective. sharing and practicing strategies for support, grounding, resilience, non-linear and fantasy. could care be an act of belonging not limited to a certain aesthetic or volume, but a communal kinship towards solidarity and togetherness expanding from an idea of self to collective care? addressing the current conditions as a potent change: renaming, taking new directions and stirring the static.
We will share practices for both art and life, research, discuss, play and spend time together. TOOLBOX is aimed at professional artists BUT does not require a background in dance or performance. Some of the exercises might involve movement, speech, rhythmical or written practices.
Facilitators are among others: Suvi Kemppainen, Elsa Heikkilä, Anni Puuperä, Satu Rinnetmäki, Sonya Lindfors
The workshop days are from 10:00 to 15:00 in dance studio DCA:s spaces in Mannerheimintie or if necessary because of corona online via Zoom.
The platforms ethical guidelines can be found HERE.
DCA’s rehearsal spaces are accessible and there is gender-neutral toilet. Unfortunately the toilet is not accessible.
Do you have questions or needs? Send us a message (sonya@urbanapa.fi) and let’s make it work 🙂
Suvi Kemppainen: facing the unknown (consent is care)
in this workshop day we could dance gestures of poetry, melt bones and shake with ghosts. shifting perspective from the center of the limelight to the peripheries we look for practices of anchoring in and with the unknown. what a consensual relationship to (art) institutions can look like? we will practice saying no and look for tools to feel more supported in the contexts we operate in. through movement, writing and talking facing the unknown proposes different gestures of holding space for accountability, dance and companionship. please bring your notebook or laptop with you.
Soft Practice collective ( Satu Rinnetmäki, Elsa Heikkilä, Anni Puuperä): Sharing, caring, daring
The aim of the collective is to research and develop artistic work on the basis of the principles of softer practices and interactions, dialogic philosophy and safer spaces. The collective dreams of shaking, dismantling, and changing conventions related to the work of a dance artist. SOFT PRACTICE asks: Could the starting point of the artistic process be encouraging, respectful and well-being-supporting activities? What physical and artistic potential would be unlocked if the focus was on creating a safer work atmosphere? The collective dreams of emancipatory dance in a utopian work environment. These same principles and starting points are at the heart of the workshop.
Saara Hannus: Tools for compersion and collegial love
What can ethical non monogamy teach us about shaping relationships? How could we use this information in collegial relationships and artistic practices?
Good and direct communication; openness; recognizing and articulating one’s desires, needs and boundaries; valuing the freedom of the other, etc. are central skills when practicing ethical nonmonogamy. In polyamory, one key concept is compersion: participating in the happiness or joy of others. How could one enjoy their partner’s sexual relationship or a colleague’s success? Recognizing jealousy and the complexity of relationships brings us closer to the practice of compersion.
In the workshop we drink tea and coffee and talk about relationships, we will have writing exercises and spend time mapping out values that guide our behavior in relationships.
Milka Luhtaniemi: The poetics of slogan
This workshop is focusing on the poetic power and nuance of slogans and how to write them. We will examine how the poetics of arguments and oppositional sentences work and on the other hand how affirmative and encouraging sentences make meaning. Some of the starting points are classic slogans such it gets better and this too will pass, but the workshop attendees are encouraged to develop their own. For me, slogan is related to poetic fragment and aphorism, and it includes the possibility for feminist resistance. I became interested in slogans after reading ”Poetics of protest” by British poet Verity Spott: ”Acts of protest can be carried out all the time. Mere passing of messages, acts of insurrection.” I’ve examined slogans and short sentences in my performances and assembled them into performative speech. Slogans have been an empowering and agency reinforcing medium for me, same way as poetry has.
We will read and write slogans, existing ones and our own, and compose them into formations and clusters. If participants wish, we can think about how to perform and apply them in to our specific contexts.
Would you like to inspire and be inspired? Try out new tools of working ? TOOLBOX is looking for artists from different practices and backgrounds to share, inspire, learn and to study.
Please send a SHORT MAX A HALF PAGE LONG letter of motivation ( why would you want to take part, what kind of tools would you need) and your cv to sonya@urbanapa.fi by Fri 11.9.
NB! The whole lab costs 20€ and we wish that the participants would commit for the whole week. It is not possible to attend single workshops.
Cant afford the 20€ cost? Let us know. Let’s figure it out together 🙂
Come come, come one come all!
#sharing #shaking #art #life #utopias #possiblefutures #dreaming #dramaturgicaltools #emancipation #empowerment #joy #goodthingsingoodcompany