Hi all,
I was recently approached by a man from Frankfurt named Steven Valk, a dramaturge, choreographer, and artist who has worked throughout Europe and the United States. Lately his work has been to create what he calls "New Meaningful Public Spaces," which, he admits, is almost synonymous with "The Arts Institution of the Future." He has been bringing together people from all sectors, from the most renowned philosophers in Europe to the most marginalized, in specially designed spaces with events created to defy our preconceptions and open the door for us to engage in radical "Social Dreaming."
A space in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, called the Invisible Dog Arts Center, http://theinvisibledog.org/, has opened its doors to this project for 10 days or so in January. It is a beautiful space. One event that will for sure be happening over that period is a performance Steven calls "Choreography for Blackboards" (its interesting, see the links below). But other than that, he is insistent that OWS plays a role in planning the kinds of events and open conversations, teach-ins, social events, etc. that occur in that space during that time.
I had a meeting with him last Saturday that was truly inspiring - he's a very interesting man, well connected with Occupy Frankfurt, and invested in the work we are doing at OWS.
THE FIRST MEETING WILL TAKE PLACE at the Invisible Dog on Tuesday (the 20th) from 7:30 until 9:30pm at The Invisible Dog. It begins with a lecture from Valk called "Social Choreography" and will open into a discussion.
It is a great opportunity and I hope we at A+C can take advantage of it.
Email me directly if you are planning on coming: talbeery@gmail.com
Links are here (all pdfs):
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/37450772/Social%20Dreaming_.pdf
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/37450772/TAB%203%20Reflection%202011_.pdf
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/37450772/zodiak_project_book.pdf
Love,
Tal