Chto Delat emergency project room presents:
MAD TEA PARTY
A series of performative discussions at Brunnenstr 43
(Duration: from January till December 2023)
The first circles of invited master of ceremonies include GLUKLYA NATALIA PERSHINA, KREOL CENTER, KONSTANZE SCHMITT, HENRIK MAYER, OXANA TIMOFEEVA, ALEXANDER KOCH, ZIP COLLECTIVE, ALICE CREISCHER, MAKE (ANTON POLSKY) and more.
FIRST CEREMONY “IF NOT NOW, WHEN?” BY MASTER OF CEREMONY ILYICH
WILL TAKE PLACE ON 22.01.2023
Concept and realization: Chto Delat (Tsaplya Olga Egorova and Dmitry Vilensky), Ksenia Jakobson.
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Preamble
Since the pandemic began, we have become more aware that Benjamin’s provocative statement that the state of emergency is not the exception but the rule is not hyperbole, but our everyday reality.
After the escalation of the war in Ukraine in February 2022, we also began to understand more clearly what a catastrophe means: a missed opportunity for an emancipatory politic that could have helped us to solve the urgent problems of our existence and make the world a better and fairer place. Catastrophe is when the most destructive, life-destroying forces violently dictate their politics, taking over the consciousness of people. Instead of practices of emancipation, we are increasingly immersed in various practices of destruction. This is why it can be said that our time is a time of culminating absurdity.
Can art create new meanings, confront the absurdity of reality, cultivate new communities in a situation of disasters, or should we temporarily abandon the practices of artistic (symbolic) production and limit ourselves to the basic tasks of resistance and care?
Against the background of the obvious priorities of supporting the struggle of the peoples of Ukraine against Russian imperialism, to care about new communities of a new and old fugitives from many places, we often tend to morally neglect the importance of cultivation of cultural values. These processes must go hand in hand, as different fronts of the same struggle. Otherwise, WITH WHAT WILL WE BE LEFT IN RUINS?
What is Mad Tea Party?
We got a new inspiration from a classic of absurd literature – the scene of the “Mad Tea Party” from Alice in Wonderland. Each of our meetings together with the specially invited master of ceremonies will be devoted to a situation of emergency, which the guests of the ceremony can work out together according to the suggested protocol. The participants of this recurring ritual, gathered around one table, devote their time to discussing various situations related to their personal stories, different attitudes towards time (historical time, timelessness, personal, resilent time and others) and trying to figure out how to act in a situation of an uncertainty in relation to the (lost) future.
All tea party themes relate to different emergencies. Each event is announced with title and description. Those who wish to participate in the event register online. TEN REGISTRANTS ARE SELECTED BY LOTTERY FOR THE EVENT TO BE INVITED TO THE CEREMONY. They receive additional preparation materials to help them engage in the discussion.
Chto Delat Emergency Project Room is a semi-public project space dedicated to fostering communities in a state of exile. Located in Berlin Mitte.
With support of Chto Delat Mutual Aid Fund and Réjean & Emmanuel who generously providing the space at Brunnen Strasse
