Transmission #9 - Clareese Hill, Elly Clarke - Occupying the In-Between
Clareese Hill, Elly Clarke
Occupying the In-Between
Transmission #9 - 29 May 2020
Occupying the In-Between was a daylong disruption of the framework of an academic research conference. The In-Between is the suggestion of a space that acts as the convergence of praxis and survival for creating collaborative restorative moments. [...] The worlding and context of this space is directly related to the possibility of experiencing a sense of purposeful unraveling of the self in the now moments and the moments that follow. This conference considers these spaces as collaborative, unauthored, innovative, restorative, and unprescribed. The discourse is centered around the topics of the labor that is required to occupy exhaustive identities and roles, alongside thinking about the tools and methods that can be used to create spaces of rest, and how disruptions can be healing. This space is an interstitial space, a loophole of retreat in the spirit of Harriet Jacobson and Simone Leigh. [...]
In preparation for our event, we shared the Syllabus from the In-Between [...]
Clareese: Hello everyone and Welcome to Occupying the In Between! I hope you didn’t have any trouble finding the place. Thank you for coming. We are delighted to see you here this morning / this afternoon. I’m Clareese Hill
Elly: And I’m Elly Clarke.
Clareese: We are the organising assemblers of this not conference.
Elly: Clareese and I are both on the same PhD Programme in Art at Goldsmiths, University of London, and this event came out of recurring conversations we had about the body and technology, performance, identity, and drag. [...] This Not Conference was originally intended to take place in a physical space in London, gathering fleshy bodies in close proximity. [...]
Clareese: The concept for Occupying the In Between is about creating generative liminal space in opposition to the normative structure of othering, as well as the ego. We see this as a way of disrupting academic traditions of knowledge production and dissemination. The Not Papers was central in this. By offering up a space for proposals to be presented by a fellow contributor unknown to the author, those papers cannot be read in reference to the body that is presenting it. At the same time, for the person presenting the paper, they have to stand by the text, and be with it, and give it the space it needs, even when the content may have very little to do with their own embodied experiences. The Not Papers is about moving beyond the language of allyship, and being able to stand in the same space at the same time. - together, separately
Elly: whilst all the while still successfully socially distancing. We are delighted to welcome a truly amazing cohort of speakers, artists, performers, presenters who have all put in a huge amount of work into creating this day. We have the people we invited - Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Marta Di Francesco, Julia Bell, Niya B, Cassie Thornton and Galina Shevchenko - plus those who responded to our Open Call for Not Papers. The Assemblers here, alongside us, are Chris and Rob - who, in collaboration with the platforms we are occupying, are helping keep the show on the road. [...]
Clareese: [...] In order to maintain the ephemeral nature of the conference this stream will not be available after the conference ends. [...]
Elly: The livestream is an unlisted link, and we ask you not to share it on social media to keep a semblance of intimacy in the room. We believe it would feel very strange for a physical conference to have a camera live streaming to YouTube, so we didn’t want to do this now. [...]
Clareese: [...] There’s also more info on receiving techhelp in the schedule.
Elly: Thank you to everyone who responded to our Open Call for Not Papers. We had a really amazing response, of which 14 Not Papers will be presented here today. As explained, each of these Not Papers is presented by someone other than the person who contributed it. Thanks to everyone for being up for sharing your work, and having your work and ideas presented in this experimental way.
Computer: This event is supported by Goldsmiths College, University of London, CHASE Doctoral Training Programme and Mountain of Art Research and -
Clareese: - this brings us to the end of our housekeeping [...] And now, as a welcoming ceremony we need you to have a glass of water at hand. ….
[...]
Elly: We would like you to take a sip. And as you do, focus on the feel of the liquid going into your mouth, and the swallow. Feel the liquid making its way down. Remember how it is to drink water when you’re lying down. How it is to drink water when you're really thirsty. Or when you feel you should drink it as you haven't for ages and your pee is too dark.
Clareese: Smell the water.
Elly: put your finger in the water.
Clareese: listen to the water.
Elly: run your finger around the top of the glass or bottle the water is in.
Clareese: think about the processes it has been through.
Elly: look at the room you're in through the glass.
Clareese: see how it's distorted
Elly: remember how this looks, as though you were to make a drawing of it later.
Clareese: put the water in your mouth.
Elly: hold it there until it becomes warm.
Clareese: swallow it.
Elly: remember the last time you were submerged in water.
Clareese: the last time you swam.
Elly: or had your feet in water outdoors.
PAUSE
Intro to Alexis.
Between Breaths: A Ceremony by Alexis Pauline Gumbs
Between Breaths: A Ceremony by Alexis Pauline Gumbs
#NP1: Deviant mothering by Melissandre Varin (Image series)
Presented by Bridget Kennedy
Performance Lecture by Marta Di Francesco
Stay Alert: Slogans Kill: A Workshop by Julia Bell
#NP6: Trans* Exhaustion: A Monstrous Reclamation by Chloe Turner (Video & text)
Presented by Jacek Smolicki
#NP7: You are spikey but I still like you by Bridget Kennedy (text, sound).
Presented by Ariel Rene Jackson
Hollow Spaces: Performance by Niya B
The Hologram: Collective Health as a ‘Beautiful Art Work’: Presentation by Cassie Thornton
#NP13: Queerantined by Andrés León (sound, image, text).
Presented by Rowena Harris
Clareese: Thank you everybody for being part of Occupying the In Between today! Thank you so much for coming - and for staying, for participating, for sharing ideas, for your attention and your time. [...]
Elly: As outlined at the start, The concept for Occupying the In Between was about creating generative liminal space in opposition to the normative structure of othering, as well as the ego. We see this as a way of disrupting academic traditions of knowledge production and dissemination. The Not Papers was central in this. By offering up a space for proposals to be presented by a fellow contributor unknown to the author, those papers cannot be read in reference to the body that is presenting it. [...]
Clareese: Thank you to all our presenters:
To Alexis Pauline Gumbs for the moving oracle,
Marta Di Francesco for the lecture performance,
Julia Bell for the extremely generative writing workshop
Niya B for your beautiful and poetic performance
Cassie Thornton for offering up alternative means of looking after each other in these dark times - and Galina Shevchenko, who will perform after this.
Elly: And to all the Not Papers Presenters, who were, in order of their paper being presented:
Melissandre Varin (Deviant Mothering - image series) presented by Bridget Kennedy;
Morag Colquhoun (Amantes (Lovers) - video) presented by Chloe Turner;
Beck Haberstroh (Welcome to the Queerfake Drag Show - text) presented by Morag Colquhoun;
Patricia RAIN Gianneschi ("Empty & Willin' - sound) presented by Kate Pickering;
Sonja Blum (HOLDING HANDS AT THE EDGE OF THE WORLD, THE CUT - text, image) presented by Bridget Kennedy;
Chloe Turner (Trans* Exhaustion: A Monstrous Reclamation - video then text) presented by Jacek Smolicki;
Bridget Kennedy (You are spikey but I still like you - text, sound) presented by Ariel Rene Jackson;
Ariel René Jackson (Taking temperature - text) presented by Lee Triming;
Kate Pickering (There is a Miracle In Your Mouth - text) presented by Melissandre Varin;
Rowena Harris (Soundscape journey in lockdown - sound);
Lee Triming (Roman Classic Surprise - text) - individually edited and collaboratively performed by Inbal Strauss, Patricia RAIN Gianneschi, Kelechi Agwuncha, Andrés León;
Inbal Strauss (Pirate Artefact for Managing Fear of Missing Out (or The Parade Marches Within) - image series) presented by Bridget Kennedy;
Jacek Smolicki (Para-Archives of the Intertidal - text, sound) presented by Beck Haberstroh;
Andrés León (Queerantined - sound, image, text) presented by Rowena Harris;
Kelechi Agwuncha (Synonyms of Orange - video) presented by Chloe Turner.
This event is supported by Goldsmiths College, University of London, CHASE doctoral training programme and Mountain of Art Research.
Clareese: We want once again express our thanks to Kristen Kreider, Director of the Phd programme at Goldsmiths College, University of London. As well as to Robert Hall and Christopher Chung for their help in tech stuff - not quite sure how we would have managed without!. And to Helen Pritchard and Goldsmiths Dept of Computing to let us livestream onto your channel when ours didn’t work.
Elly: And now, as a closing ceremony we need you to pick up your glass of water again…
Clareese: We would like you to take a sip...
[...]
Shared Escape - Live Audiovisual After Party Performance by Galina Shevchenko
LINKS
Occupying the In Between Weebly
Occupying the In Between Instagram