First step into mental safe(r) spaces on stage and beyond it: recognizing danger and speaking up ! by Miradonna Sirkka and Amanda Homa

Venue: AP University of Applied Sciences (Noorderplaats 2, 2000 Antwerp)

Content & format

Circus artists share the experience of being physically held by others. They are trained to trust their bases, to collaborate physically, and to always catch if someone falls. How can we implement the feeling of being physically held also to mental safety? Safer space (or braver space?) or ___(invent a new word here)___space begins with the understanding that there are as many realities present in the space as there are combinations of people. What are the concrete small or big actions to ensure safety without compromising artistic expression? This workshop stimulates thoughts on the complex interplay of physical and psychological elements and shines a light on power structures and hierarchies. For creating a sustainable base we need to talk about gender issues, white supremacy, and power hierarchies. The workshop includes a short introduction to queer art theory, a game to recognise privilege, group exercises and discussion and resources to dig deeper after the workshop.

Learning outcomes

- The workshop gives tools for creating action and feeling of mental safety among art practitioners and presenters.

- We are learning through discussions to recognize either the oppression we might be suffering or the oppression we might be delivering.

Resources

This is a non-exhaustive list. These references have been used to build the workshop given by Amanda Homa and Miradonna Sirkka at the conference 'Circus- a safe (r) space for danger' in 2024.

Example ____ space policy

This is an example copied from Recover Laboratory’s Space policy. This can be copied and edited for each space needs. These guidelines are designed to make space and events feel like a meaningful place to work and be together. The guidelines will be adapted together as necessary. The responsibility for maintaining the space rests with each space user and event participant.

Download the example and get started.

Books and texts

  • "Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity" by Judith Butler

  • “Sad Girl Theory” by Audrey Wollen https://www.researchgate.net/publication/364658275_Social_Media_Sadness_Sad_Girl_Culture_and_Radical_Ways_of_Feeling_Bad

  • “Love as political resistance” by Adrienne Maree brown

  • "Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches" by Audre Lorde

  • "Butch Queens Up in Pumps: Gender, Performance, and Ballroom Culture in Detroit" by Marlon M. Bailey

  • “Perform, Repeat, Record: Live Art in History" by Amelia Jones

  • “We Will Not Cancel Us And Other Dreams of Transformative Justice” by Adrienne Maree Brown

  • “White Fragility” by Robin DiAngelo

  • “Ain’t I a woman?” by bell hooks

  • “The racial contract” by Charles W. Mills

  • “l’Opposé de la blancheur” by Léonora Miano (FR)

  • “Place of Speech” by Djamila Ribeiro

  • “Se défendre, une philosophie de la violence” by Elsa Dorlin (FR)

  • “Conflict is not abuse. Overstating Harm, Community responsibility and the Duty of Repair” by Sarah Schulman

  • “Restituer le patrimoine africain” by Felwine Sarr and Bénédicte Savoy (FR)

  • “À qui appartient la beauté ?” by Bénédicte Savoy (FR)

  • “A Tale of Monstrous Extravagance: Imagining Multilingualism” by Tomson Highway

  • “Postcolonial Love Poem” by Natalie Diaz

Podcasts/videos

Dig deeper

Xenofeminism https://laboriacuboniks.net/manifesto/xenofeminism-a-politics-for-alienation/

About the speakers

Miradonna

Miradonna Sirkka (she/her) is a master of contemporary art with a strong circus background. She is an artist, director and the founder of multidisciplinary art company Recover Laboratory. Recover Laboratory is a pioneer of Finnish immersive art experiences founded in 2015 and based in Helsinki. Her artworks have been seen both internationally and Finland on and off stages and exhibition spaces.

Being a queer art activist is a full-time job. In my artworks, I am suggesting an alternative way of being, living and seeing. I believe that too narrow realities prevent us from living our lives as fully as we could. In my art practice anything is possible, just like in an ordinary day.

www.miradonnasirkka.com / www.recoverlaboratory.com

Amanda

Amanda Homa is a japanese-brazilian artist, based in France since 2014. She trained at CEFAC (br), FLIC (it) and Le Lido (fr). After she graduated, she collaborated as a performer with different companies in outdoor and indoor shows (Ockham’s Razor, SCOM, Rhizome/Chloé Moglia). In 2021, she co-founded her own company, Diagonale du Vide to create their first show “C’est l’Hiver, le Ciel est Bleu”.
In parallel to her performances, she works as a translator in Le Lido with the first-year students during the auditions and BodyMindCentering® workshop to create a more equal access to knowledge and therefore, to better professional opportunities afterwards.
She has taken part in different group-discussions and panels about inequality of opportunities and lack of representativity in the art field (La Grainerie, Festival Circolo, PepperMint workshop).
Her main focus is intersectional feminism and how to imagine repairing historic oppression in the working-structures of the cultural field.