The Great Arousal
During summer 2018, the project The Great Arousal was presented to the
people of Athens in a first meeting called “Reclaiming Pleasure”, which took
place in the Centre for the Arts Beton 7. Later, two series of experimental
workshops took place on diverse rooftops. The first series was called “Collective
Sensory Awareness”, and the second, “Holotope”.
Workshops––––––
Collective Sensory Awareness & Holotope
During summer 2018, the project The Great Arousal was presented to the
people of Athens in a first meeting called “Reclaiming Pleasure”, which took
place in the Centre for the Arts Beton 7. Later, two series of experimental
workshops took place on diverse rooftops. The first series was called “Collective
Sensory Awareness”, and the second, “Holotope”.
The series of workshops emphasised exploring the relationship between
architecture, desire and music. Through activation and sensorial stimulation of
the body, participants would hopefully reconnect with pleasure and joy. Groups
of ten participated in meetings with discussions, physical exercises and guided
mediations. In order to preserve the authentic experience of the participants,
there was no visual documentation, only written testimonies.
For the second series, Holotope, a post-human form of desire and
affectivity was explored. The name Holotopos comes from the Greek
“holos”, meaning whole or wholeness, and “topos” meaning place. It
is a meta construction that does not have physical
limits, walls, and structure, where human exceptionalism and dualism cannot
operate. These workshops were an invitation to imagine erotic interaction
between humans and non-human beings.
Holotope’s Participants Testimonies:
“Spa for
the nervous system.”
“I feel
in peace with the world. Not afraid of it.”
“…feeling
and touching the ground. It was mind blowing. With the help of music, I became
a totality.”
“Totality.”
“Architecture
will remain sexy for me now.”
“Music
made me trip.”
“Self-opening.
Pleasant.”
“I
thought a lot of my sexuality (so more about the inside than the outside) and a
lot of important thoughts came up.”
“You
experience your body in a different way, so “being together” is experienced in
a different way.”
“Affection
and tenderness were present on so many occasions.”
“Late night. Shortly before dawn. People embraced. Unknown familiars.
Life. Quantum of solace. Far all. Those in the sunny offices. Those in the dark
small flats. Those who came rightfully illegally. Those who stayed rightfully
unwillingly. All. One. Architecture of affection. Architecture of bodies.
Architecture of unity. In Patission Avenue. The dark core of Athens. An urban
landscape of provocative innocence. And flesh. From everywhere. The rooftops of
Athens. A floating vacuum in an urban ocean. A pot for desire. Or atonement
from life. Urban travelers all around. Common destination? Unknown. Dwellers, flaneurs.
Open to the visual sign. Units of an unknown hidden sum. Cheap posters as holy
Icons. Against our sensual orthodoxy. In vain. An unknown inherited disease. A
need. Love in small bites. Addiction’s dose. Anonymously. Unwillingly.
Falsified desire. Faceless. In love with a role? Your own? Default. DEFAULT.”
P.K.
Collaborators:
Noff Weezy, Maja Chiara Faber, Daniela Sobarzo, Lindsay Parkhowell, Julia Shirley-Quirk and Ben Pothecary.
Producer: James
Simbouras
This session was kindly supported by Cannibal Radio, Contemporary Art Showcase Athens and Scrap Coop.
Copyright © 2020 Raúl Hott, All rights reserved
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