DIY: 2018 – Sorryyoufeeluncomfortable: Black Drift Walking

Black study, being in space and black bodies navigating space

Deadline for applications: 5pm, Mon 2 July
This DIY is supported by National Theatre of Scotland

Project summary

sorryyoufeeluncomfortable have been asking about the movement of black bodies. This workshop will be a collaborative consideration and encounter with black histories, presents and futures in the city. Through a series of ‘time travel’ walks attended to by texts ranging from literature, poetry, theatre, theory, film and sound that critique and reframe the constitution of space in a way that makes visible the way black bodies shape space.

There are a number of exciting terms and theories such as psychogeography, dérive and drift but we want to consider the freedom of bodies that are not white and or or male to ‘wander’ the landscape and the way these urban landscapes are designed to act on black bodies, demanding a certain kind of presence from black bodies, (various forms of state violence, displacements and refusals of certain individuals and communities to even make home). How do we contextualise (using the intersection of sensing and moving through space and texts) and name the movement of black bodies from a Black British, specifically Black Glaswegian perspective using the intersection of ‘texts’ and walking? Our interest in Glasgow being one of the sites in which we engage in this performative conversation has to do with Glasgow’s growing black population, its history as a merchant city and thus its relationship to slavery. We wish to connect with our peers in Glasgow to collectively consider the visibility of black histories, presents and hoped for futures in the city through movement and conversation.

How to apply

Dates, times and location

Dates: 19 – 21 Oct 2018
Location: Glasgow

The artists

Formed in 2014 out of the the Baldwin’s Nigger Reloaded project initiated by Barby Asante and Teresa Cisneros, we are a multi disciplinary group of thinkers and makers committed to creative, nuanced and resistant discussions of how the intersections of race, gender, sexuality and class affect communities. One strand of inquiry – Black Drift as conceptualised by syfu’s Imani Robinson and Ciaran Finlayson during a 2015 residency at Showroom Gallery in collaboration with the Chimurenga Library and accompanying Pan African Space Station(Pass) was expanded upon during a 2017 ICA Learning Associates Public programme ( https://www.ica.art/whats-on/black-drift ). SYFU now want to take these discussions to the pavement. Our methodological approach to this project is influenced by TWRG (The Walking Reading Group) run in London by Lydia Ashman, Ania Bas and Simone Mair who were in turn inspire by IICD (if i can’t dance i do n’t want to be part of your revolution), Amsterdam.

For questions about this DIY, please contact SYFU.