Hello everyone,
Bit of a long blog this but it's of the discussion between Patrick, Jyoti, Clare and I about the intervention from the facebook chat. I will do one following this about the make-up/clothing which involved Kim and Clare more heavily as well. Once again apologies for my absence last night- thankfully my housemate kept his finger after hours in A&E.
Patrick is red, Jyoti yellow, Clare green and I'm blue as that's what facebook gave me
Patrick:
But there's ideas on what to do
Just got to make sure we do it
Emile:
That's why I suggested to run a little
conversation which we can film and use- discuss with people about exclusivity
and inclusivity
And we can push limits in that too
Patrick
How about wearing headphones and dancing to our own music? Yeah interviews
are good but still not really an intervention as such
Emile:
yeah it is an intervention- if we run it like a forum theatre
Patrick
We could each dance to our own music and that would relate to the
inclusivity of different subcultures stuff too. What's a forum theatre?
Emile
But if we're not playing our own music out loud what do we get from it?
Forum theatre is traditionally having 4 people in an ongoing chat and when
someone on the periphery has a conflicting opinion they can join in the
conversation and another person leaves. So, we can do it as come and go for other
people and it will include all of us
Patrick
People dancing to a complete different rhythm to everyone else ha-ha. Ah
okay
Jyoti
should we put together a quick dance,
just 4 steps or something then break it out
also, I’ve been thinking of what is acceptable in other venues
Patrick
Yeah
Jyoti
e.g. metal gigs n mosh pits
let’s start one there and see how it goes down
Patrick
Ha-ha does sound fun
Emile
Sorry to go all Bernadette on you but where does the politics rationale
come into that?
Jyoti
Because we're putting the conventions
and codes of behaviours from other subcultures into the wrong event maybe?
from other *
Patrick
Well its testing out where the
boundaries of inclusion and lay
And exclusion*
By seeing what behaviour the people around us will tolerate
Jyoti
especially when it’s a thing that’s
accepted in certain arenas*
we're taking it out of context
Emile
But in terms of politics... she's kept hinting to us to make it more
political
Patrick
That is political? It’s the politics
of everyday life
Finding out the social codes that constrain your behaviour 24/7
Jyoti
that is political though right
because we are challenging the covert codes of behaviour that how people should
act in their leisure time
even though it should seem apolitical
Patrick
Yeah, the whole point is to look at the kind of politics that isn't
obviously political
Jyoti
dictate how people should act* oops
Emile
But, why is it? We need a rationale behind everything we do. I'm not
sure it is as much political as the whole event is about inclusion. We aren't
forced to go, if we were it would be a dictation. This isn't a mainstream
event, we aren't exploring disabled access, race, gender etc. in big clubs. I
don't think the politics here is about us; there are people who need a night
out which they can feel accepted and this is meant to be one for them. I just
feel a better way of making this productive is by talking to the people this
night is designed for, exploring their own feelings of discrimination and the
politics behind that. Influences of religion, politics and culture and how
people were led to a night centred on inclusion
Jyoti
I thought the rationale was looking at the codes of behaviour that dictate
self-expression in nightlife/leisure time, within different subcultures, and
how that relates to inclusion/exclusion
Patrick
I don't think that, although important and helpful in supporting the
rationale, is an intervention in the sense of the interventions Bernadette’s
been showing us which usually involve people breaking norm to find out what the
rules are rather than just asking people
Jyoti
inclusion is political
she even suggested to us to go
dressed as the KKK
so, I feel like we must do something big
Patrick
Also, I think it is supposed to be about us, we're the ones going into
an alien environment, not to try and just fit in which is a bit pointless but
to find out what happens if we don't fit in
Jyoti
yeah for sure, we can still talk to people and film conversations but we must do some big actions as well that try to alienate us
SAT 16:26
Emile:
The reason she suggested the KKK is because it's political overtly;
moshing is a bit different. It personally doesn't sit easy with me causing
discomfort to people on their night out. See Patrick I really don't think it
should be about us; we are going to a place where people seek to be included.
We have literally a pool of people that have experience of what we are
interested in; they know boundaries from first-hand experience. Why are we
looking to provoke people? On nights, so much is about image and not substance-
you identify people from clothing and make up. To stage and intervention and
ask people about their identity is actually shaking the status quo of the night
more
Patrick
If you're breaking any rules people are going to feel uncomfortable,
that's what makes them social rules. I don't think the point of this module is
to pick a topic and then just research it, we're supposed to get involved in a
way that is disruptive to highlight the codes that dictate everyday life. We
don't want to just provoke people but to intervene does literally mean to get
involved directly in events, not just to document them
Patrick
Yes, the people there might have
experiences of social boundaries but I think the point of this whole module is
about us highlighting our own experience of them
Emile:
Yeah which we are! How many time have you come across a conversational
forum a night club event? I just don't see any justification for provoking
people in this situation. This is different to a posh bar in Chelsea, it's
people who seek an open-minded audience. We can highlight our own experiences
too. Let's be honest too, the event will involve drugs and alcohol, Jyoti said
that perhaps people will be naked etc. is staging a mosh or listening to our
own music that 'odd'???
Patrick
I get what you're saying about the mosh idea, I think doing anything
physically to people who aren't involved is where the line is drawn. I don’t
know if people are going to think much of a bunch of students asking questions.
I think dancing in complete isolation or stuff like that would be quite
jarring, and if not then it just serves to highlight how inclusive the night
is. For me it kind of hinges on whether we're going to do the posh bar thing,
if we do then we can afford to mostly ask questions and stuff tonight as we'll
be doing something to highlight us being excluded but if not I think we need to
do more tonight if we want a good mark
Patrick
Asking questions is that weird*
Emile: So, your suggestion is?
Patrick
I've said a few like the picnic thing and I think Jyoti’s ideas are
good. Don't get me wrong I'm not criticising the conversational forum idea, we
should do that, I was just wondering if that will be enough if we also don't do
the posh bar thing
Emile: I just have ethical reservations of causing discomfort to people who are
there to express themselves. Picnic idea I liked and I thought we could
integrate it with the forum, we invite other people into it- I put that in the
blog
SAT 18:34
Jyoti
We don't have to mosh with other
people outside of the group maybe
Whatever we do here we must do at the
posh place
So, if we think what would disrupt
things there we should do the same tonight
Even if the reaction isn't as shocking tonight we can talk and compare
to the other night
Emile: My issue here is that we are demonstrating rather than
experimenting. If we start a mosh in a posh bar in Chelsea we will get kicked
out- us doing it doesn't show anything new
Jyoti
the only reason I said mosh pit was
because it takes a convention of the metal subculture and we are applying it
elsewhere
but there’s other things we can do
if people aren’t comfortable
or we could film EVERY IDEA we have
then just in editing I can cut shit out
Clare
Can I just throw something out there?
Emile
Always
Clare
What if everyone is just f*cked and
doesn't want to speak to us or be part of our intervention
The music is too loud
Nobody gives a shit about what we're
doing
We can't speak to anyone
Do you know what I mean?
Jyoti
I think they're decent considerations
to be fair, we can feel out the vibe when we get there
what do you suggest otherwise?
I did think that- but smoking areas and people taking stimulants I think
we can do something
Jyoti
I think we should do that but not the
ONLY thing we do
let’s just at least get footage of some of the more off the walls ideas
too