. the Online Parliament of Practices

four online sessions of dialogue and exchange between artists and embodied practitioners

Dear artists, somatic practitioners, scholars and other interested peers!

As the seasons shift in this crazy year of 2020, it’s clear that the globe is not yet free of the COVID-crisis, and our artistic, performative and embodied practices are still under a lot of stress because of this. Some practices seem to have almost disappeared or shrunk to the confines of our living rooms, others are struggling to survive in the hybrid digital world, or in the small pockets of proximal possibility that are left.

At the beginning of this year, the members of artistic platform Cross Pollination and theatre makers Marije Nie and Adriana La Selva established a platform called The Parliament of Practices (PoP), where they gathered artists, somatic practitioners and scholars in the field of performance. PoP met for the first time at the NTL Festival 2020 at Odin Teatret in Denmark, and then continued to meet regularly online during the first semester of this year. PoP was born out of the need to connect our artistic practices with a broader eco-socio-political context, from our position of practitioners who can ‘speak from and with our practices’. The online PoP sessions became a place for connection, exchange and the creation of knowledge, but also for support and sharing in a precarious time.

After a break in our sessions throughout the summer, we are calling for three online sessions in the coming months to reconnect with colleagues, old and new. We are eager to understand together what kinds of mobilizations, actions and presences are possible. We strongly feel the need to keep our practices alive and bring nourishment to our practices and research through interdisciplinary dialogue and exchange. There are three proposed themes to start with, that can set a course for further Parliament research in 2021.

We hope to meet you online in the coming sessions!

Warm greetings, Marije Nie and Adriana La Selva

Co-founders of the Parliament of Practices

. Schedule

Four Tuesdays from October 27th – December 8th
Time: 7:00 – 9:00pm UK Time
Cost: donation based (From £2)

20 Oktober 2020 – Speaking from Practice

⁃ Checking in with each other / Caring and support
⁃ What have you been up to in the past months? What’s the state of your practice
⁃ Sharing from PoP working groups: 1001 Fires / Embracing the Unknown
⁃ How to move in and with the current trouble?

27 Oktober 2020 – Generations

⁃ Personal genealogies and the general her/history – a shift in perspective?
⁃ Digital (work) practices and the notion of craft
⁃ Technologies and techniques – human and non-human

17 November 2020 – Activism

⁃ Practices that go against the system / disrupt the system
⁃ Practices and trouble
⁃ Disruptions of our own practices

8 December 2020 – Ethics and practice

⁃ Praxis / values and thinking wrapped inside the practices
⁃ How do our practices shape our being in the world?
⁃ Contemporary (work) practices, what do they bring into our lives, including current crisis-related ‘health’ practices?

The Online Parliament of Practices is conceived as horizontal research sessions for artists, somatic practitioners and scholars in the field of performance, but it is also open to interested individuals from other disciplines. There are max 30 spaces available. In order to facilitate and build a supportive group dynamic we respectfully request you sign up for all three sessions, and commit to attending them all – or at least as many of them as you can – we understand that these are uncertain times for us all!

Designed as a powerful peer connector for exchange and research, the Parliament of Practices offers a space to find colleagues across disciplines, transcending the restrictions imposed by the crisis, whilst nurturing and growing your thoughts.

Connect with your practice and peers through embodied dialogues on three different topics: generations, activism and ethics

Suitable for adults / all mobilities