The Body Politic Social & Ecological Justice, Art, Activism

6 courses for adults, 2004 – 2009with Birkbeck, University of London

www.platformlondon.org

What makes you want to act for justice?

Racism? Climate change? Poverty? the price of food?

Are you looking for new creative ways to make change happen?Do you want to study how to work better together?

Must STAY AWAKE!MUST MAKE ART THAT SAVES THE WORLD

'Oil City' immersive performance, City of London, 2013

about Platform...

'Degrees of Capture', Exhibition, ICIA, University of Bath, 2004

Report, 2011

'Oil Road', 2012

Research supporting 'Liberate Tate' art-activists, 2010

'Battle Bus', Sokari Douglas Camp, for Remember Saro-Wiwa, 2006

'Tate a Tate', alternative audio tour; 3 sound art commissions, 2012

Sai Murai & Aidan Jolly

'C Words: Carbon, Climate, Capital, Culture'Exhibition and season of events, Arnolfini, Bristol, 2009

Become the Bike Bloc

“The educator, generally, produces answers without having been asked anything”

Paulo Freire, 1970:35

'Shake' course, Feb 2013

“Equality is neither given nor claimed, it is practiced, it is verified.”

Jacques Jacotot in Ranciere, 1991:xxii

“I came to theory because I was hurting”

bell hooks (1994)

“theory as liberatory practice”

bell hooks (1994)

“It’s not an ego trip, it’s serious, it’s politics, it’s economics, it’s everything. And art in that instance becomes so meaningful both to the artist and to the consumers of that art”

Nigerian writer and activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, from TV interview 1994; executed 1995

The Body Politic

This course is designed for people who want to study how social justice, the environment, arts and activism work together.

Whether you're concerned about local, national or global issues, we investigate how creative approaches and collaborations combined with research can make your work more compelling, politically effective and also sustainable.

This is also a chance to reflect on your own position and experience, think about where you are, and how you want to proceed...

1. Inner Ear: Introductions to Platform, and each other; political and artistic “epiphanies”. Listening to ourselves as a prerequisite for any act of creation; learning to trust ourselves; under what circumstances do we stop listening?

Hopes for the course...

2. Outer Ear: what’s happening now in the world & who are we listening to? Listening to places and communities, invisibilities, “others”, “othering” and ourselves. Egs. The writings of Arundhati Roy, Ziauddin Sardar, Paulo Freire.

3. Workshop 1

Participants decide content and methods

4a) Tongue: the use of silence and the use of speech; articulation of language as political danger Egs. the documentary films of Claude Lanzmann and Patricio Guzman; writings of Ken Saro-Wiwa and Susan Griffin.b) Workshop 1: participant-led session on issues or activity identified from previous sessions. Plus FEAST (evening)

5a) Frontal Cortex and Solar Plexus: the limitations of using facts alone to effect change; connecting information to experience, and going beyond the rational. Egs. Platform’s project Gog & Magog, Free Market Cafe (Beyond the Free Market).b) Workshop 2: participant-led session on issues or activity identified from previous sessions.

6. Workshop 2

Participants decide content and methods

mid-course review...

7. Heart and Sex: where is the drive to do this work? What is ‘activism’ feeding off? Is there a blinding “ecstacy of protest”? What role does sensuality, pain, love and dysfunction play when working on difficult and distressing issues or in extreme situations? Egs. Women in Black, clown army CIRCA and more. Plus Mid-Course Review

8. Benevolent Viruses: what can collaborative practices bring to this work; cooperation and solidarity; how do we find each other? how do we begin to work together? The importance of networks/good faith: Egs. Climate Camp, MOSOP, Balata Camp (Palestine)

9. Workshop 3

Participants decide content and methods

10a) Eye: witness, bystander, perpetrator? Going and seeing/analysing for yourself; the dangers of empathy; walking the issue. Egs writings of Sven Lindqvist and Rebecca Solnitb) Workshop 3 (1.30 - 4pm): participant-led session on issues or activity identified from previous sessions, building towards whole day workshop tomorrow

11.Lungs: endurance and stamina; how can you keep focused, evolving and working over time without burning out/becoming cynical; resistance; reflective practice. Egs. writers bell hooks and John Berger, artist Joseph Beuys

12. Stomach: Digestion, reflection, actions. Summing up and feeding back. What have we learnt? What might happen next?

And final FEAST.

writings, performances, actions, and drawings...

evaluations...

“Progressive, holistic education, ‘engaged pedagogy’ is more demanding than conventional critical or

feminist pedagogy. For unlike these two teaching practices, it emphasises well-being...

That means that teachers must be actively committed to a process of self-actualisation that promotes their own well-being if they are to teach in a manner that empowers students.”

bell hooks, 1994:15

Paulo Freire on humility

Humility is not something we can speak about with an absence of humility. I cannot make an arrogant speech to teach humility

the need to practice humility, needing courage and stamina

controlling vanity

acting without thinking that by acting I am the best

being wary of loving being loved

understanding oneself in the process of being, with all the abilities and all the faults

neither to deny or emphasise the values we have

not to be afraid to be criticised

not to be full of yourself because someone said you are interesting

resist compliments (From 'Paulo Freire at the Institute', 1995)

Autonomous women-only Body Politic, Nottingham, 2012

2009 Body Politic

1. Inner Ear2. Outer Ear3. Workshop 14. Tongue5. Frontal Cortex and Solar Plexus6. Workshop 27. Heart and Sex8. Benevolent Virus9. Workshop 310. Eye11. Lungs12. Stomach

Other body parts in previous versions:LegsFeetHands and Fingers

Body parts have changed order but always starting with Inner Ear and Outer Ear