Bodies in Dissent

HOME OF PERFORMANCE PRACTICES presents : "Bodies in Dissent - We need to get our own house in order"

Performances and presentations resulting from intensive experiential research with MTP guest artists VestAndPage. January 21th, 17:00 - 19:00, Kortestraat 27, Arnhem. Free admission.

For years we've accepted the function of art was to make us see and feel things that we wouldn't otherwise have seen and felt.

This does not seem to be enough anymore.

It's time to get our own house in order :

to change our ways of thinking about art - and how we do it, to change our ways of experimentation and research, to confront those who claim sole responsibility for deciding what is, and what is not : art.

It's time to question what it means to be an artist, what it means to be an audience : what it means to be human.

Perhaps this initial step can lead us to explore new territories with a more focused gaze, beyond the mere configuration of things, and beyond the apparent realities of the world in which we live.

To take this first step it we must realise that we've brought this world to the edge of an irreversible crisis - not just a crisis of climate, but above all a crisis of ethics.

Patriarchy silences us Capitalism exploits us Globalisation dehumanizes us Racism divides us Othering oppresses, and violates us

Politicians are unreliable, and a rotten class system turns us against each other - does it make any sense to keep dancing on corpses as if nothing has happened?

The world in which we live is a world that we have all contributed to making : we must now face it, and change it. It is our responsibility, in each simple act, to change the ways we look at the bodies we look at, the ways we listen to the voices we listen to. It is our responsibility to work with stimulating, exceptional ideas, to respect everyone's differences, to welcome, to listen, and learn from each other.

Your story is my story and my home is your home.

Otherwise why continue to make art?

Andrea Pagnes, VestAndPage

"We need to get our own house in order", drawing inspiration from the work of Helen Cole https://www.inbetweentime.co.uk/.../we-need-to-get-our.../