Pt 2: A Workshop Dystopian Realities & Performance Rituals

Description:

We are living in dystopian realities. No longer the work of speculative fiction (aka fantasy and science fiction) — our contemporary realities are essentially dystopian works of fiction. Octavia Butler’s Parables, have in many ways materialized. In these times, we are called to bring our magic and tools to the table. To reimagine ways to nurture our connections with one another and our connections with the world around us. To fight for something different, alongside visioning and creating that different world. Celebrating the everyday of our dystopian realities as source material, in this workshop we will play with objects and our bodies to explore performance rituals. And to ask, as performers, wtf do we do at the end of the world?

This workshop is a part of research currently underway at G.A.S. Station residency with ZU-UK for a new project by lee williams boudakian, entitled “The Return.”

What We Will Explore:

  • Our Relationships to Ritual
  • Ritual and offerings as moments of exchange
  • Building performances around rituals and offerings

When:

Thursday March 29, 2018 (1pm-4:30pm)

Where:

G.A.S. Station, 1 Hamilton Rd, London E15 3AE

This workshop is a part of research currently underway at G.A.S. Station residency with ZU-UK for a new project by lee williams boudakian, entitled “The Return.”

Pt 1: Dystopian Realities & Performance Rituals

Brainstorming & Experimenting

Two weeks ago, I began DRIFT and G.A.S. Stationresidencies with ZU-UK. These residencies landed in the time just following the death of my grandfather. This has added a potency to my days here. And truly, it has been a moving and transformative time to immerse myself in a period of creation, experimentation and connecting with incredible folks in London, UK.

I am here working on and brainstorming a new piece, currently titled “The Return.” The piece lives in the same universe as A World of Q. Set in a dystopian reality (also known as a slight augmentation of our current reality), this work investigates performance (as) rituals and public offerings.

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Questions & Ideas

  • Playing in the space between fiction and reality
  • Coming together in the face of overwhelming political pressure to stay apart
  • What is a reasonable risk we are willing to take together?
    • Risking being seen by a “public”
    • Risking being seen by one another
    • Risking sharing a meaningful moment inside of a performance inside of a game
  • Interrupting the everyday, public spaces (ex: a park) as sites for performance
  • Performance as ritual; Performing ritual as performance
  • Leaving a mark & making an offering