Stupid structures for learning
I am approaching this research with the idea of configurations, which could refer to arrangements of elements in particular forms, or (in computing) to configuration files which create the initial settings for a computer programs, and sometimes provide tools to modify those settings.
How Many Chairs to Build The Future? (2014) by Hamish MacPherson. This work sits somewhere between choreography, sculpture, conversation and play. A simple set of rules turns 50 chairs into an environment for people of all ages to think and talk about big ideas in simple, physical ways. In the first versions of this work, participants would be invited to add, amend or remove rules for the next people to take part.
Ouija Parliament (2016) by Francesca Cavello & Hamish MacPherson is an exercise in compassion, vulnerability and power, sitting somewhere between, workshop, performance and the every day practice of giving and receiving care. Loosely based on the work and life of Caroline Thomas, a woman who has simulated illnesses for over 30 years as a part of her volunteering commitment to the Casualties Union. There she Lies, Motionless is a setting for mutual, physical interaction where the action of caring for, with and about someone becomes choreography and the grammar for the imagination of unforeseen solutions. Shown at Manifesta 11, Zurich (2016).
What Now (2014) was selected by the Centre for Contemporary Art, Derry~Londonderry to be part of URGENCIES a group exhibition that “engaged with the present moment of rapid change and uncertainty”. The looped 1hr 20 minute film shows a split screen with two scenes of wrapping or unwrapping different people in fabric. A series of overlapping performances of passivity and activity, movement and stillness. See how different bodies are negotiated, roles switch and the cycle of dependancy and attention goes on and on, before the viewer arrives and long after they leave. Image: CCA Derry~Londonderry & Simon Mills
Non Existent Activity (2017) Doors open every 30 minutes welcoming each person for an hour long stay, hovering between a hangout, a one-to-one performance, and the last place on earth. Guests becomes hosts, for guests who become hosts, in a three hour chain of holding and caring. Nothing needs to happen. But something certainly will. Developed with Paul Hughes and Mira Kautto. Photo by Joel Porter.
“Down in the basement there’s Hamish McPherson’s Nonexistent Activity Outside The Capitalistic Time in which you can alternately relax and minister to the relaxation of others (if Ulysses was ever becalmed, this is where it happened). MacPherson succinctly underpins all that is going on upstairs by suggesting that if we don’t care for each other the purpose of the arts has lost its way.“
Nicholas Mimms, Swallowsfeet Festival 2017
Alt Prepping (2016) Alt Prepping is feminist, communal prepping. It is a monthly, day-long practice in which participants structure the day in response to the idea of Alt Prepping – thinking about what kind of dance, choreographic, movement or aesthetic practices can we share, learn or devise to prepare for unknown futures. Whether preparing for the end times or for good times let’s just make sure we warm up properly first. It is a way to think about political models, resources and repertoires beyond traditional economic or philosophical paradigms. Perhaps we are survivors assembling after the apocalypse. Perhaps we are an underground movement readying itself. Perhaps we are some privileged dancers. The practice is rooted in dance but is open to anyone.
“Preparedness, readiness, and self-care. When the future is so uncertain, as it surely always is, perhaps the only possible way to prepare for it is to practice improvisation and self-care. Prepare for change, prepare to change. Self-care and the care of others, each other, to prepare not just the individual for the future, but practice support for each other.”
Alice MacKenzie
In Which We Prepare For (2017) In concrete terms there are four three hour sessions and in each one will spend some time following preparations and then we will devise preparations for the next session (except in the last session when we'll prepare for the beginning). We will document all of these as we go in writing and photographs and make a manual. You can come for some or all of the sessions. The more you attend the more interesting it will be I think.
If you come to the first session you'll be invited to bring an exercise of preparation. We'll try and do them all. Preparation for what? Something mundane, something fun, something scary, something unlikely, something impossible. A dance class, a night out, a speech, a meal, a performance, a fight, a retirement, a birth, a metamorphosis, an exam, a death. As long as it's something we can do at Catalyst in half an hour or less, depending on how many we have. Bring any essential materials. Just don't tell us what is for and we won't try to guess either.
Commissioned by Catalyst Arts, Belfast as part of Black Mountain exhibition.
How can we answer future questions with today's answers? How can today's education respond to something other than yesterday's industry? How does contemporary artists' preoccupation with the apocalypse and post-capitalism mirror that of right-wing preppers?
What if we go with this and spend two days preparing for something that is unknown and that never comes? Preparing to prepare to prepare...And obviously something comes but perhaps we don't or can't name it.
