Crip Affinity Group is looking for artists

Crip Earth (Re)Generation is an artistic research project at KASK & Conservatorium in Ghent. The project wants to nurture and explore relations of repair at the crossroads of artistic practice, disability and our connection to the land. For the first part of our project, we are looking to assemble a ‘crip’ affinity group of art workers and soil workers (people with experience of working the land) with a lived experience of disability.

Disability

The project positions the experience of disability not as a deviation from the norm or as an individual medical problem that needsto be ‘fixed’. In line with contemporary understandings within crip theory and disability activism, we understand disability and sickness through a socio-political lens. More specifically, we position disability as a portal towards alternative, ‘crip’ imaginings of community, resistance and systemic repair.

A ‘crip’ affinity group?

Crip Earth (Re)Generation wants to delve into what the disabled/sick body can teach us about systemic and collective repair. We want to do this in relation to the body we allshare: the soil. Within the container of a group of max. 15 people with a ‘crip’ affinity, oursessions will consist of somatic practice, spoken dialogue, collective reading and eating and simple, accessible and seasonal farming practices.During the sessions, we’ll also work towards a collective textile shelter design. Over the course of four seasons, our goal is to grow a Crip Earth Generation: a collective crip body of knowledge aboutsystemic repair. Towards the end of the process, the container of the ‘crip’ affinity group will work towards the articulation of a shareable practice.

More info about the project

Crip Earth (Re)Generation is an artistic research project that consists of three parts. In the first part (Autumn 2024- Autumn 2025) we will hold ten ‘crip’ affinity group sessions. These sessions will be held by Tumba Kiambi, Tineke De Meyer, Louis Vanhaverbeke and Bauke Lievens, who share an affinity with sickness and/or disability. Towards the end, the ‘crip’ affinity group will work on the articulation of a shareable practice in collaboration with Peter Aers, who will be joining the three last sessions. In a second phase (Autumn 2025 – Spring 2026), the research team will independently work on a performative audio installation. The embodied knowledge about (and practices of) repair that our Crip Earth Generation has built, will be shared with a live audience in a fictitious form through this audio work. Bauke Lievens, Tineke De Meyer, Khadija El Kharraz Alami, Janes Zeghers and a textile artist (tbc) will be involved in this second phase. In a third phase (Winter 2025 – Spring 2026), the research team will work towards a pedagogical translation of the shared knowledge about (and practices of) repair into the Drama training program at KASK & Conservatorium.

For whom?

Crip Earth (Re)Generation is looking for a diverse group of professional art and soil workers with a lived experience of disability and/or chronic enduring pain or fatigue, and/or neurodivergence. We want to assemble a fixed ‘crip’ affinity group that is balanced in terms of gender, ethnicity, (dis)ability, class and age. Please only apply if you are able to participate on a monthly basis in live meetings. While this process may have therapeutic effects, please be aware that Crip Earth (Re)Generation does not replace therapy. This space wants to offer community, slow research, collective inquiry and the potential of transformation.

Accessibility

‘Crip’ affinity group sessions will take place on weekdays. Lunch and dinner will be provided. English will be the working language. The sessions will take place inside and outside on the field of weder (near Ghent) and in the courtyard of Korenbeek (Brussels). All locations are wheelchair accessible. There is a wheelchair accessible toilet in both locations. If needed, we can provide car transport between Brussels Midi – Korenbeek and Gent Sint Pieters – Weder.

When and where?

We will hold ten ‘crip’ affinity group sessions between October 2024 to July 2025, alternating between weder and Korenbeek (click links for Google Maps). We aim for a monthly session, exact dates are to be confirmed. We will work within a fixed, regular group as much as possible. The group will consist of max. 15 people (incl. team). Schedule:

11:30 – arrivals
11:30 – 12:30 – lunch
12:45 – 15:15 – part 1 (with 15 min walk-in + 15 min walk-out)
15:15 – 16:00 – break
16:15 – 18:00 – part 2 (with 15 min walk-in + 15 min walk-out)
18:30 – 20:00 – dinner

Costs

There is a participant fee for the ‘crip’ affinity group of 100€/session. This fee includes transport costs. A total sum of 1000€ will be paid through a volunteer’s contract at the end of the sessions. Lunch, dinner, tea & coffee will be provided.

How to apply & application process

Please fill in this FORM (written, audio and visual input possible) before 4th of July 2024. You can contact us at bauke.lievens@hogent.be with questions about or problems with the application itself. Bauke Lievens, Tineke De Meyer & Tumba Kiambi will discuss the applications. Criteria for selection are group diversity in terms of how your soil practice and/or your artistic practice touch(es) upon disability. Also group diversity in terms of gender, age, (dis)ability, ethnicity and class will be taken into account. We will contact you through email with news about your application on 15th of July 2024. If you are not able to participate after all, please let us know before 20th of July 2024.

Consent

Participants of the ‘crip’ affinity group will only be part of the first phase of the project. By participating, you consent to the translation of the shared, accumulated knowledge of the affinity group into an performative audio installation and into pedagogical tools for the Drama training program (BA & MA) at KASK & Conservatorium. All information will be anonymized. Please check the consent box in the application form. Crip Earth (Re)Generation is an initiative of The Circus Dialogues (continued), a two-to-four-year artistic research project at KASK & Conservatorium (Ghent, BE). The Circus Dialogues (continued) is financed by the Arts Research Fund of University College Ghent. Crip Earth
(Re)Generation takes shape in collaboration with Korenbeek, weder and Back2SoilBasics.

The team

Crip Earth (Re)Generation is coordinated by Bauke Lievens, the artistic research team consists of Tineke De Meyer, Tumba Kiambi, Kopano Maroga, Peter Aers, and Khadija El Kharraz Alami. In collaboration with Louis Vanhaverbeke and Janes Zeghers.