DIY: 2019 – Edythe Woolley: SWEAT: the sky leaks I leak

Un-straightening, leaking and oozing towards queer entanglement, through an embodied practice of sweating.

Deadline for applications: 2pm, Thursday 20 June
This DIY is supported by Scottish Sculptre Workshop

Project summary

Honing in on sweating as a bodily function and as a process found in nature, this DIY will cultivate an embodied practice of dyke/queer resistance through observing and experiencing the act of sweating.

Over 3 days, we will consider collective sweat. Through sauna sittings, impulse writings, long walks, nature observations, deep thinking, and working with our hands to build ceramic vessels, we will get closer to thinking about the how liquids transform, intermingle and are exchanged in the natural world and how we might embody this process.

SWEAT is responsive to the dramatic changes we have been seeing in our global weather systems. Like disrupted weather patterns, dykes and queers are misdirected, shut down and experience an attempted ‘straightening out’ by pervasive heteronormative culture. Through these workshops, sweat stained armpits and leaking groins, damp arse cracks and clammy palms are eruptions of resistance to and healings from the straight channels of influence.

This DIY offers the opportunity to detox, sweat and breath each others’ bodily fluids in a moment of calm and queer healing.

How to apply

This DIY is open to folk who are dykes, queer or bi; this includes cis, trans, gender non-conforming and intersex folk who have dyke sentiments. Proposed participants would share the notion that it is important for dykes and queers to have space to leak, sweat and engage in environmental conversations. We intend for this DIY to find healing and growth between our queer bodies and the landscape, to take the experience into our own practices and future collaborations.

We welcome applications from artists at any level of experience and from all practices and disciplines. Artists do not have to have a practice focused on ecology, or water systems, but they should have a keen interest in environmental issues and finding new avenues to engage with our ecosystems

To apply for this DIY please fill out the form via the link below

Dates, times and location

Dates: 17 – 21 October 2019 – arrival on Thursday 17 October by 3pm, leaving Monday 21 October, morning

Location: Scottish Sculpture Workshop

This DIY is free and travel costs up to a total value of £75 will be covered. Simple, shared accommodation on site at SSW will be provided for the DIY dates of Thursday 17 – Sunday 21 October.

We will also provide daily evening meals, which participants will prepare and eat together.

Food for lunches, snacks and breakfasts will not be included.

Scottish Sculpture Workshop are committed to providing an inclusive and welcoming workspace, free from physical and social barriers. The site has a good degree of level access for wheelchair users, with wide doorways and site lines throughout the main building. With the exception of one building, all the resources on site are fully wheelchair accessible. Please note there are a number of changes in levels and ground surfaces, which may make movement around the site challenging for some, including those who are visually impaired.

The accommodation is not currently wheelchair accessible, but we will find alternative accommodations if needed. Please note this in your application. In our wood, metal and casting workshops we have a variety of different workstations at differing heights. Visitors with access requirements will work closely with our team to ensure they are set up in a comfortable and safe working environment for their specific needs. The site can be noisy on weekdays, with machinery operating at a loud volume. We understand this could be distressing for some and have safe, quiet spaces available if any visitor finds this overwhelming.

Our toilets have a good level of access and are wheelchair accessible. If you have any suggestions, questions or requirements relating to access, please get in touch with [email protected] and we will make every effort to support you to visit. We are also listed on Euan’s Guide.

The artist

Edythe is a live artist with an interdisciplinary practice which draws on visual art, film and theatre. Described as “Surreal and sassy as fuck” (Great SEXpectations) Edythe’s work confuses the glamorous and the grotesque. Edythe uses physical endurance and the body as sculpture to create dreamlike, visceral and playfully political performances that foreground queer feminist narratives. Edythe has two full-length solo shows Did You Get That From Your Mother?(SPILL Festival, Buzzcut, Camden People’s Theatre, The Marlborough) and FISHY (NEXT Festival, Steakhouse Live, LAB, The Cube) and also performs on the queer club scene as drag king, Manly Stanley.

For questions about this DIY, please contact the artist.