The School of Infinite Rehearsals 2020/21
During our second year (2020/21) in existence Onassis AiR will concentrate all of its energy and resources on a single format, a format for learning together, a year of collective study and research. During 2020/21 we will convene for the first time The School of Infinite Rehearsals. Inspired by the title of a novel by Wilson Harris, The School of Infinite Rehearsals is conceived as a collective research program focused on two thematic areas we find urgent to explore: identities & ecologies.
The School of Infinite Rehearsals is composed of four Movement Groups, each consisting of six participants who will engage in a collective “rehearsal”, bringing their own “instrument” in the form of their existing practice that clearly engages with one of the research topic areas in a radical way. The participants of each Movement Group were selected by previous participants of Onassis ΑiR through an Open Call addressed to artists, designers, activists, collectives, educators, lawyers, performance and film makers, economists, philosophers, and other practitioners. Τhis year’s curriculum will be co-shaped by 24 selected participants, the conveners of Fall & Spring Movement groups, as well as other collaborators and guests.
In "Fall 2020: Identities annihilated", performance theorist Hypatia Vourloumis will convene Movement I & Il. Following Edouard Glissant, we will seek to attend to the ways in which identities cannot be reduced or made transparent. In "Spring 2021: Everything equally evolved", writer and artist James Bridle will convene Movement III & IV, exploring how the tools we have at hand can be reimagined to bring us down to Earth.
WHO SELECTS AND HOW?
Carrying on with the ethos of an un-disciplined, artist-run community of peers dedicated to artistic process towards a less product-obsessed arts ecosystem, the selection of The School of Infinite Rehearsals 2020/21 was done through a peer-to-peer process by the Onassis ΑiR 2019/20 participants.
We have devised a peer-to-peer selection process, where the participants of the current year go through all the submitted applications in a blind-process – divided into couples, each person reviews all the applications assigned to the couple individually, with only one question & answer for each application, without seeing any other information about the applicant. The applications are then reviewed by the two conveners. All the pre-selected participants that passed the two first selection phases are interviewed by the Onassis ΑiR team.
WHAT IS OFFERED?
- Each participant of the program receives a research stipend of 2,500 EUR
- Travel expenses and accommodation for all participants who do not reside in Αthens
- Access to the Onassis ΑiR space and access to studio space and to shared studio for group activities
- Covered costs of any collective site-visits and all other activities within the framework of each Movement
- Each Movement Group of The School of Infinite Rehearsals will receive a collective budget (5,000 EUR) that can be used for the collective research or for any invited guests, research trips, etc.
- Access to shared audio/visual/lighting equipment
- Free entrance to all performances or events at the Οnassis Cultural Center and other venues of the Οnassis Foundation
- Free access to all programmed workshops, lectures, talks, screenings at Οnassis AiR
- Daily group lunches prepared on a rotating basis by the participants, mentors, guests and the team in the kitchen of Οnassis AiR
