Saturday, March 8th at 14.00, Klub SOT-24,5

Discussion / Workshop
Noha Ramadan (Australia / The Netherlands): Body as the Site of Action

Australian performer, fauxlosopher and street activist Noha Ramadan is researching the revolutionary necessity of liberating the body in public. The body is conceptualized as a means and site of activism that disturbs predetermined meanings of public space – and of the body with unexpected, unusual, “improper” movement. The workshop may turn into preparation for an actual body action.

Free of charge. In English. For anybody interested. Let us know you are coming to: rdece.zore@gmail.com (Subject: Body Action).

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I have been researching into the revolutionary necessity of liberating the body in public. I start from an analysis which asserts that the body has been coded and censored from a young age in relation to the social construct of normalized behavior. I am questioning the political viability of consciously creating aberrations of the social norm, in an attempt to undermine the accepted logic and order of the status quo. I wonder, how can engaging in public physical actions which do this contribute both to the liberation of the body and to the destabilization of a central capitalist logic? Because these events can occur within the public realm and on a daily level, I see them as a practice in revolutionary tactics which can contribute to a wider practice and understanding of revolutionary strategy. My idea is to practice a kind of freedom previously unavailable to us, albeit on a small scale, and that through this practice we can begin to not only experience moments of freedom but learn also to recognize them, and to eventually extend these moments towards larger situations. I wonder if we reorient ourselves along these (bent) lines that an accumulation of this continual 'tending towards' a different angle or perspective might contribute to a widening of vision and possibility which I believe is radical. These ideas of 'orientation' are informed by Sara Ahmed's analysis of orientation (sexual, queer) in her book, Queer Phenomenology. In addition to this book, I am supporting my research through the theoretical work of Gerard Raunig (Art and Revolution), Michel Foucault (Discipline and Punish), Coco Fusco and Guillermo Gomez-Pena (Pocha Nostra Dialogues) as well as some Situationist readings.

Some examples in recent art/activist history which I believe align with these ideas include:
- Yomango Tango (Argentina) - Performed public theft
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pmuZYjR7gg
http://www.ngvision.org/mediabase/278

- Tranny Cops (Sydney-based drag king performance troupe posing as cops at protests)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkqACm8TRws
http://moz.net.nz/photo/2006/04/08-rts-rta/

- flash mobs (large scale public nudity actions)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flash_mob

- The Dutch Provos movement
http://www.marijuanalibrary.org/HT_provos_0190.html

- Capitalist Demonstrations (enacted by anti-capitalists in costumes)

Examples of possible actions:
- Crawling in public, or horizontal trajectories whilst engaging in 'normal' activities such as shopping
- Dressing only in large garbage bags and installing ourselves as 'unattended baggage' in public
- Moving through public spaces at unusual speeds - running through the dressing rooms at H&M or walking backwards very very slowly in a large group down a shopping street
- Nude walks
- Fake panic runs en masse through high traffic areas
- Dancing in queues and other orderly lines
- Delivering obscene or beautiful poetry whilst traveling on public transport
- Any form of public humiliation or risk taking

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Noha Ramadan enjoys domestic disturbances, sweating for peace and a good game of football. As a student in Sydney she founded the street theatre collective, RATTS, in an attempt to satisfy her everlasting desire for public humiliation in the service of political confusion. In an attempt to regain some dignity she studied music, politics and performance in Sydney and is currently at the School for New Dance Development in Amsterdam. She has been involved in arts projects and performances inside prisons, theaters, parties and on the streets. Influences include BodyCartography Project (New Zealand), Version 1.0 (Sydney), Bodyweather practices, hardcore techno, love ballads, and the ocean. Her interest lies in the organization of hybrid performance events/parties. In 2004 she co-founded the performance/cabaret/faux-philosophy project Unattended Baggage with Matthew Day, but is still trying to quit smoking.

http://www.bodycartography.org/
http://www.versiononepointzero.com/
http://www.bodyweather.net/