DIY: 2017 – Zoe Czavda Redo, Tuuli Malla, Xavier Velastin: Water Bodies

An open-ended practical symposium, on land and in water, for adapting to life on an inundated planet

APPLICATIONS ARE NOW CLOSED.

Project summary

A lab to develop individual and collective strategies for our next stage as human amphibians. As sea levels rise, some will climb to high elevations or look for boats or other planets. We say let’s embrace life in the water! Let’s prepare for the transition, and discover how to be and interact in an aquatic environment. How will our bodies adapt and move, how will we communicate?

We are inspired by accelerationism, science fiction, afrofuturism, mythology, and sea mammals’ evolution millions of years ago. Together we will discover strategies towards living in and with water, evolving into aquatic life forms – movement practices, underwater acoustics, environmental research. We invite anyone willing to expand their practice (artistic or otherwise) into a new and impending medium, anyone with a water-based practice (swimming, diving etc) interested in bringing new perspectives and possibilities to their presence in the water, people with disabilities or conditions for whom movement and expression is restricted on land, anyone who believes in speculative practices as an active site for collective development. To be held on land near and in various bodies of water in the seaside town of Whitstable.

How to apply

Applications are invited via the link below, and questions include details on your practice, your interest in the project, the ideas you would like to investigate, and your interest in an underwater future. You will also be asked to provide details of your swimming ability, level of spoken English, and access requirements. These questions allow the workshop to be better adapted to your needs, and will not affect the outcome of your application.

We welcome people with one or more of the following: a dislike for gravity, an interest in the ecological environment, accelerationism, costume design, underwater acoustics and/or photography, butoh, collective movement, vocal technique, swimming, bioengineering, rethinking society, choreography. Previous experience with singing, performance, swimming or diving is not required as long as none of these trigger a particular phobia. For safety and consent reasons, this is for over 18s.

APPLICATIONS ARE NOW CLOSED.

Dates, times and location

Dates: Thu 3 to Mon 7 Aug 2017
Location: Whitstable
Wet and dry venues to be confirmed soon.
Participants will be required to take part for the whole duration.

The artists

Zoe, Tuuli and Xavier are recent graduates of the Performance Making and Sonic Arts MA at Goldsmiths, University of London. Recent individual and collaborative projects include Stretchy Dinosaur, which explores cetacean sounds, and Maria Inkoo, a performance band whose interests include animals and ecofeminism.

Tuuli: Performance and installation artist collaborating with people, objects, places and animals. www.tuulimeanswind.com

Xavier: Sound artist from London based in Leeds musicking composition, coding and performance about voice, water and dystopia. Hear: https://soundcloud.com/xvelastin, see: http://vimeo.com/xvelastin

Zoe: Performing artist and participant observer working with colonialism, posthumanism, and the politics of reproduction; associate of un-society R.I.C.E. http://riceonhydra.org/ and research platform Bright Red Tongue https://www.facebook.com/BrightRedTongue/.

If you have questions about this project, please contact the artists.

This DIY is supported by Whitstable Biennale.
Additioanl space has been provided by the Horsebridge Centre.