invisible material

info

considers collective practices and the workings of collectivity amidst current economies of individualism.

We wonder, how does collectivity arise in the acts of:

unfolding in the fold

meandering and mess-making

coordinating in the in-between

The collective is often uplifted as an ideal, glorified potential model. But what are the operatives, and with this, the problematics of “collective:” collective thought, the collective unconscious, performance collectives, art collectives, and collective political organizing?

What is it that we are needing right now that makes us want to be together, work together? What do we gain from working collectively, and what do we risk?

entanglements for a future visioning

falling outside forever

a will to be together plus to undo capitalocenic* (or) anthropocenic structures structures

We resist any assumptions of collectivism — its presence among us and its meaning. Who is disappeared, forgotten, silenced, unthanked in an image of a “new” collectivity? Can we resist “the Resistance”? We want to call out the fallacies of the post-45, all-American, sanitized, branded with a “capital-R” “Resistance”: “Resistance” that has been over-utilized, thrown around, dangerously capitalized on. How is a mainstream notion of collectivity being crafted from the work of those unthanked, and altered by and accredited to “the Resistance”?

In light of this, we are curious about what collectivity really is, and really needs to be — in this contemporary moment.

a fine mist that spreads infinitely

intersections as interventions

something that is (curiously) without form:

an invisible material

Can the collective be a collision? What is memory in this space of multiples — who is storying and who is listening? And can the listening be a story in and of itself? To claim the communal — how does sustainability come to the conversation when sustenance is understood as capital? Is lateral working a landscape of abundance?

felt, non-productive resonance

We ask: Can a performance festival challenge the capitalist, Western, and culturally white individualist structures in the performing arts that sees the artist as solo genius, and values “choreographer” over dancer? Can we make visible the ecosystem of labourers and resources that makes all our work possible? And can we highlight those who are already making invisible labour visible?

multi-various, illegible, and unnameable forces of equanimity

We aim, as artist-curators, to connect, reflect, co-create, name, side-eye the fallacies, witness the magical, shine light on resilience, break solo-silos, and whisper back to our lineages, traceable and untraceable. To trust in our invisible material.

- Jonathan Gonzalez // Zavé Gayatri Martohardjono // EmmaGrace Skove-Epes

*Capitalocene is noted as an epoch in which the humos, or human, becomes the individual proponent, or center, with unsustainable patterns of production and consumption on the planetary scale.

Artist-curators Jonathan Gonzalez, Zavé Martohardjono, and EmmaGrace Skove-Epes approach Movement Research’s Fall Festival by considering collective practices and the workings of collectivity amidst economies of individualism in this current moment. Comprised of performances, workshops, and gatherings led by collectives, invisible material ponders interventions of unfolding in the fold, meandering and mess-making, and coordinating in the in-between.