Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Needle No. 2: Share This Soapbox

Share This Soapbox is a participatory event designed to challenge the conventional mechanics of lecturing and public speaking. It is driven by the joint beliefs that first) one does not need to be an expert on a topic to have something interesting and worthy to say about it; second) that the transmission of knowledge and ideas can and should be fun; and third) that learning happens through dialogue, not monologue.

Share This Soapbox consists of a series of short lectures delivered spontaneously and without preparation, on any topic the lecturer desires, to anyone who wants to listen. The only requirement for participation is the desire to participate – no credentials necessary. This event provides a space conducive to the honest and accessible expression of one’s enthusiasms – a response to the slick impermeability that is characteristic of many academic lectures. Participants will speak candidly about things that interest and inspire them, sparking conversation and communication.

This event will be held at the first day of Inquiry @ Queen’s. To participate, come to the Learning Commons in Stauffer Library at 1:00 PM on Thursday, March 5. Look for the soapbox.

Please contact qtopiaohnine@gmail.com for more information. You can find us on Facebook, as well (search qtopia).

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Article in the Queen's Journal

A huge thank you to everyone who participated in The Talking Creature @ Queen's. As far as we're concerned, it was a huge success. Check out this write-up on the event that was published in the Queen's Journal.

Information on our next event is coming soon!

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Facebook group!

Check us out on Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/cozhhs

Needle No. 1: The Talking Creature @ Queen's

“The Talking Creature is a participatory event examining the art of conversing with strangers in public. The Talking Creature examines this anxious dynamic in an ordered but random fashion, with the conviction that unfettered and fearless conversation between strangers is fundamental to freedom.” (Darren O'Donnell, 2004)

"The Talking Creature @ Queen's" is a recreation of Mammalian Diving Reflex's "The Talking Creature," a performance piece that occurred several times over the summer of 2003 in Toronto and Peterborough.

This event's aim is simple: to create a space for free communication between members of the Queen's community, one that exists outside the arena of consumption. All too often are our interactions with strangers limited to over-the-counter transactions, or brief, awkward encounters in scenes requiring alcohol and the transfer of funds. Our hope is that "The Talking Creature @ Queen's" will provide a location and an occasion for the opening of fresh avenues of communication.

Participating is simple. If you're interested, come to the John Orr Room next Tuesday, February 10 at 2:45 PM. We'll chat, we'll hang out, we'll leave whenever we feel like.

Please contact us at qtopiaohnine@gmail.com for more information.

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

What is qtopia?

qtopia is an on-campus group devoted to the creation of relational performance pieces that are as much social work and group therapy as they are art. Through our work, we aim to generate encounters between the atomized parts of society (that’s us – all of us) and tap into the power of the social sphere.

Our practice is based on Darren O’Donnell and Mammalian Diving Reflex’s work with social acupuncture. Social acupuncture is a style of theatre/performance art that “blurs the line between art and life,” impelling people to come together in unusual ways and make brief-but-meaningful connections. Social acupuncture represents O’Donnell’s and MDR’s movement to create an aesthetic of civic engagement: an avenue through which social edifices like public space, schools, and the media can be used as the armature for the mounting of work that “takes modest glances at simple power dynamics and, for a moment, provides a glimpse of other possibilities.”

qtopia intends to follow in their footsteps, while laying down some tracks of our own.

Why?

Traditional acupuncture theory posits that one’s health is contingent on a natural, uninterrupted flow of energy throughout the body. A blockage or obstruction in the flow can result in painful ailments – from headaches, to constipation, to plantar fasciitis. The goal of acupuncture is to regulate the flow. And while the practice can cause initial discomfort (needles are scary, right?), it ultimately has an ameliorating effect.

Social acupuncture is grounded in the application of acupunctural techniques to the social, rather than the physical, body. The social sphere has energy of its own, and when its flow is disrupted or dammed up, the consequence is a world imbalanced. This can mean poverty. It can mean racism, classism, heterosexism – a whole bouquet of iniquity causing painful disparity, disenfranchisement, and disconnection.

The goal of social acupuncture is to identify blockages in the civic body and, through encounters that are always atypical, initially uncomfortable, and eventually FUN, break them down and re-evaluate them. These positive, fruitful intersections between art and civil society are designed to make the spaces we inhabit feel safer, friendlier, and more joyful.

The society of which we are a part is ill. But it can be healed. It can get better. This might be a start.




(All quotations from Social Acupuncture: A guide to suicide, performance, and utopia by Darren O'Donnell [Coach House, 2006])