FFF6 | Rehearsal for a common(s) future
Koki Tanaka
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Rehearsal for a common(s) future: 5-19 May | Athens, Lesbos, Thessaloniki
Interactive Game: Friday 10 May | 18:00 | Language: Greek
Introduction
An unconventional “rehearsal” for a future founded on solidarity and the commons. Activists from Greece and around the world spark the imagination through poetry and play in order to fracture open inaction.
Can solidarity rouse the imagination? And can the imagination defeat the everyday erosion of our dreams?
“Rehearsal for a Common(s) Future” is an intervention by the internationally-renowned Japanese artist Koki Tanaka who collaborated with the Greek researcher Angelos Varvarousis, and was realized in collaboration with Greek and international activists. It forms part of an ongoing Koki Tanaka project on “the future of the commons” that grew out of an Onassis Stegi commission, and is founded upon many months of research into collective initiatives in Athens and Thessaloniki, and on the island of Lesbos.The work rehearses a future founded on the commons, co-operation and solidarity. The many-headed crisis of the last few years generated collective initiatives that seek to solve pressing problems, and to feel out new forms of socialization and coexistence. What would happen if people taking part in such initiatives all came together in order to collaboratively design an ideal world? Might their combined experiences become the source of a creative force for changing the future?
“Rehearsal for a Common(s) Future” seeks to make the above a reality through poetry and play. During the first part of the rehearsal, activists lay out their visions for the future by means of nine-word phrases. During the second part, they are called upon to take part in an interactive game – one in which audiences are also invited to participate – on the theme: “What sort of world do we want?”
Photo: Angelos Varvarousis
- The first part of the rehearsal – titled “Nine-word ‘Minifestos’ for a Commons Future” is a poetry intervention with anonymous phrases written on wall stickers scattered throughout the city’s public spaces. People involved in cooperative and solidarity initiatives were asked to contribute their own nine-word “minifestos” that either encapsulate their points of view or are more abstract wishes for the future. These nine-word phrases form an expressive threshold that allows for an oscillation between specificity and generality, and set the rhythm and tone of the intervention.
- The second part of the rehearsal is an interactive game that seeks to (a)rouse the collective imagination for the creation of better worlds in the near and far future. Through a range of imaginative and creative collective techniques, the game extends an open invitation to anyone and everyone who would like to play, to think, to dream collectively. This activity will be hosted at the KHORA Community Center on May 10, 2019 at 18:00.
- The project is the result of research undertaken in Athens and Thessaloniki, and on the island of Lesbos in the autumn of 2018, with visits to 24 collective enterprises, including collective kitchens, solidarity initiatives, community clinics, cooperative businesses, and migrant solidarity initiatives.
- In his diverse artistic practice spanning video, photography and installations, Koki Tanaka concerns himself with the study of crises and the ephemeral communities these create. Tanaka brings people together in situations they find out of the ordinary, that are latent in the most simple of everyday acts, in order to observe and document their reactions. His works have been presented at renowned arts festivals and exhibitions around the world (including the Hammer Museum / Los Angeles, the ICA / London, the Migros Museum / Zurich, and the 57th Venice Biennale). He was named Deutsche Bank Artist of the Year in 2015.
- Dr Angelos Varvarousis is a researcher living between Athens and Barcelona who investigates topics such as the commons, alternative lifestyles, and degrowth. He has coordinated the largest surveys ever undertaken in Greece concerning the commons and social economies, and has presented and published his work in many countries across Europe and the Americas. His work focuses on the transformative power of cooperative and solidarity approaches at both the personal and societal level. He teaches a class on “The Commons and Social Movements” at the Autonomous University of Barcelona.
