Thursday 25 and Friday 26 May. HOLODECK OF HEAVENLY BODIES.02 Deep Space Worldbuilding. Captain Pro / Promona Sengupta
Workshop: Captain Pro / Promona Sengupta
Title: HOLODECK OF HEAVENLY BODIES.02 Deep Space Worldbuilding
Dates: Thursday May 25 and Friday May 26.
Time: 16:00-20:00
In many many science fiction books, films, and other cultural artifacts, we see many different kinds of spaceships, exploring worlds beyond human comprehension and reach, and carrying cutting edge technologies of the future. Many of these ships house a particular room called “holodeck”, a place where cosmonauts of deep space can imagine and manifest anything that they desire, and experience it while being so far away from their home planets — foods from home, environments of comfort, sexual encounters with partners of choice etc. The holodeck is a way for science fiction writers and filmmakers to insert their own creative process into their final works, referencing the sheer power of imagination to give us the life that we desire and deserve.
In this workshop, we will take our collective experiences of distance, such as homesickness, migration, refugeehood, and co-create a holodeck through creative free writing, body movements and other forms of making and care. Through the creative practice of worldbuilding, we will take a ride to the farthest corners of human imagination and reorient our neural pathways with the fruits of deep space travel.
Holodeck of Heavenly Bodies is an ongoing world building and techbuilding workshop series of the Spaceship Beben (SS Beben), exclusively designed for inhabitants of Earth.
BIO:
Captain Pro / Promona Sengupta is an artist, academic, activist, and curator. She recently completed her PhD at the International Research Center: Interweaving Performance Cultures at the Freie Universität Berlin. Her creative practice engages with decolonial speculative imagination as a means for radical politics. She co-created and co-flies the deeep space exploration vehicle — FLINTAQ+ Spaceship Beben (SS Beben), as its serving Captain and chef. She co-curates Radio Kal, as a part of the transoceanic longform artistic project kal, and was the resident artist at District Berlin in 2020. She has shared her multidisciplinary creative practices at the Maxim Gorki Theater, Berlin, District Berlin, English Theater Berlin and other spaces. She co-founded the Berlin–Delhi based progressive cultural politics pop up Mo’Halla. In her activist work, she fights for dignity alongside her comrades in queer, feminist, antifascist, and BIPOC community spaces. She is committed to centering rest and repair in the activist spaces she inhabits, which is a project in progress. Captain Pro is currently on shore leave in Berlin.
RSVP:
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Event held onsite: Donaustr. 84, 12043 Berlin
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Aurora vol. II. A Platform On Social Recipes, Filmmaking and Mutual Aid is a project of The Institute for Endotic Research (Shoufay Derz and Lorenzo Sandoval) in collaboration with Aouefa Amoussouvi with invited guests. It follows on from Aurora. A Platform on Ecology, Interdependence and Mutual Aid, initiated by Aouefa Amoussouvi, Benjamin T. Busch and Lorenzo Sandoval in June 2022.
“Aurora” is an interdisciplinary project that departs from the idea of mutual aid in order to better understand the connections between ecology and interdependence. Aurora, which stands for dawn, is among the most common symbols of hope. The project goes beyond criticism, proposing actionable strategies for imagining better futures. Aurora vol. II. hones in on the connections between methodologies of food culture, filmmaking and storytelling as much-needed tools for reshaping our present and future. It is a platform for our entangled narratives and the creation of commonalities with others across geographical distances and time.
As we move towards climate collapse at an accelerated rate, the practice of collaborative storytelling is a necessary response. Art historian Claire Bishop speaks about how filmmaking recognises the complexity of collaborative work by naming the various workers contributing to the realization of a project. Mutual aid is activated through the art practice of filmmaking both through its inherent organisational structures of production and through its narratives. In an age where screens are virtually ubiquitous, where devices enslave and entrap us in contemporary alienation, we are at the mercy of constant disinformation, emotional modulation and seduction so that capitalism can continue its metabolic absorption.
In this sense, Aurora Vol. II confronts screen culture through a programme of workshops, reading groups and seminars that seek to engender narratives of commonality, collaboration, interdependent working structures, mutual support and empathic spaces that allow us to develop strategies of solidarity. To find effective and sustainable responses, it is necessary to reimagine existing epistemological frameworks with an intersectional and interdependent approach. Presented from March to June 2023, the program prioritises collaborative production, therefore it facilitates the project’s aims of both understanding and practising mutual aid.
These events are free of charge, but registration is essential as spots are limited
If for any reason you cannot attend the event after registration, please cancel your tickets ASAP so that we can fill your place.
The health and safety of our community is our priority. Please do not attend this event if you are feeling unwell.
For the 2-day workshops: We recommend coming on both days. However, if you are only coming on one day, please indicate in your registration if you are only coming on one day and which one (day 1 or day 2).
Aurora vol. II. A Platform on Social Recipes, Filmmaking and Mutual Aid is supported by
