Chto Delat Emergency Project Room

makes open call for the next masters of Mad Tea Parties

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After inspiring encounters of the first 6 ceremonies – thanks so much to our masters: ILYICH, Gluklya, Henrik Meyer, Alice Creischer, Konstanze Schmitt, Krёlex zentre and all participants we have decided that, in such a city as Berlin, there are definitely more amazing people who might share our obsession with emergencies and absurdity of our time. So, we are looking for an informal proposal from those who are open to such a risky adventure.

Here you can find a general introduction to our vision of Mad Tea Parties:

MAD TEA PARTY A series of performative discussions

What we provide:

1. Modest fee of 250 euros plus basic production costs (like prints, transport, costs of serving table and other things).
2. The intimate and spectacular space in Berlin Mitte with a long table and all facilities for Tea Party.
3. Information and documentation support.
4. Application from outside Berlin are negotiatable if the travel costs are low or covered by third side

What are the limitations of our protocol

1. The Mad Tea Party is strictly limited to 10 participants, who are chosen in a performative lottery (see some examples at our FB group https://www.facebook.com/groups/1644026146025744).
2. Mad Tea Party must be around (and about) any situation of emergency which should be personally related.
3. The narrative of the ceremony must involve participants through the dice.
4. The ceremony could be realized in any language which its master chooses.

The application procedure:

1. You should deliver a short informal idea of your Mad Tea Party (please read the score of Alice in Wonderland from time to time when you do it).
2. You should mention the dates when you are able to perform. At the moment we accept any dates after mid-May.
3. There are no deadlines for the applications – feel free to contact us when you want to discuss your idea.

Please write at emergencyprojectroom@gmail.com

Subject: master of ceremony application

Disclaimer: we are not ready to discuss any applications which we consider that they do not match our protocol and simply not inspire our collective. Sorry.

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.

Please follow us on instagram – https://www.instagram.com/emergencyprojectroom/

And join our newsletter – https://tinyurl.com/55mpyn5d

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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