“This piece was primarily a trust exercise, in which she told viewers she would not move for six hours no matter what they did to her. She placed 72 objects one could use in pleasing or destructive ways, ranging from flowers and a feather boa to a knife and a loaded pistol, on a table near her and invited the viewers to use them on her however they wanted.
Initially, Abramović said, viewers were peaceful and timid, but it escalated to violence quickly. “The experience I learned was that … if you leave decision to the public, you can be killed… I felt really violated: they cut my clothes, stuck rose thorns in my stomach, one person aimed the gun at my head, and another took it away. It created an aggressive atmosphere. After exactly 6 hours, as planned, I stood up and started walking toward the public. Everyone ran away, escaping an actual confrontation.”
This piece revealed something terrible about humanity, similar to what Philip Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment or Stanley Milgram’s Obedience Experiment, both of which also proved how readily people will harm one another under unusual circumstances.”
This performance showed just how easy it is to dehumanize a person who doesn’t fight back, and is particularly powerful because it defies what we think we know about ourselves. I’m certain the no one reading this believes the people around him/her capable of doing such things to another human being, but this performance proves otherwise.”
this is why performance art is important
So every single person who told me ‘ignore them they’ll go away’ and ‘you can’t let them know they bothered you’ and ‘They’ll stop if they don’t see you react’ and all that bull shit, my entire school career, I want you to look good and hard at this.
I want you to think about what you said.
What you keep saying.
What you are telling your children.
You are making them powerless.
Shout out to Las Krudas, Cuba’s finest emcees.
They are so badass. Check out their video for la gorda and swoon for days.
Hi everyone,
I’m getting over my shame and internalized ableism and asking for help. I’m a chronically ill unemployed trans gurl who just left sex work (as in, yesterday) because I finally lost my shit. I’m also moving out of my abusive household in June, around the 15th or so. I don’t have a place to stay yet so the more money I have saved up, the more likely someone is going to trust me to move in with them.
Thanks to sex work and friends donating, I’ve saved up $2,000 for deposits, first/last month’s rent, housing applications, etc. I’m trying to raise another $2,000 to get me through the summer. Starting September/October, I should be receiving financial aid from my university, so that will help.
To give you an idea of where the money is going:
- Rent for a shared room is $500-$550/month
- Utilities are anywhere between $20-$60/month
- I’m limiting myself to $100-$125/month for food
- Gas is $40 a full tank, so about a $80/month if I do this rightI’ll also be looking for a job at this time. I have an open interview tomorrow so hopefully I’ll get called for a second interview!
Important to note! My memoir, Trauma Queen, is aiming to be published on May 31st, 2013. It’s going to cost $20, so if you want to hold off donating to buy the book, that’s totally understandable. I have a collection of writing and art here (x) that you can read/watch, and a zine here (x). I’ll also be selling various articles of clothing, shoes, collector’s items, etc. in the next week or so.
Signal boosting would be appreciated, and any donations would be very helpful. <3
¡Gracias! / Thank you!,
Lovemme/Sirena-
P.S. (if the link doesn’t work, there’s a donate button on my page.)
Reverse racism is like when an antelope tramples down a lion in order to escape, and all the other lions around it call out “Reverse carnivorism! REVERSE CARNIVORISM! JUST AS BAD AS THE LIONS EATING YOU!”
Capitalism would have us believe that we only deserve to be here because of what we produce, and even in our counter- cultures, even in our movements we reproduce the same idea. We only deserve to be here because of what we can produce that other people will buy with their money, time or attention. Our experience of our own lives is secondary, it is only the means of production, it is the products that matter, and unless we make ourselves into both factories and widgets we are not valuable.
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| — | Alexis Pauline Gumbs (via satyacake) |
Sokari Ekine: Why she kicks ass
- She is a Nigerian social justice activist and blogger, who writes an award winning blog, Black Looks, which she setup over four years ago, writing on a range of topics such as LGBTI Rights in Africa, gender issues, human rights, the Niger Delta and Land Rights.
- She has a multidisciplinary background in technology, education and human rights, has as a postgraduate degree in human rights and education and has worked in adult education and several online publications including Pambazuka News.
- She is the author of SMS Uprising: Mobile Activism in Africa (Pambazuka Press, 2010) and Blood and Oil: Testimonies of Violence from Women of the Niger Delta (Sokari Ekine, 2009).
YES!
