Chiara Basile, Angela Maria Osorio Méndez, Maria Francesca De Tullio

Thought and practices, co-creations of alternative structures and perspectives on systemic change, have been elaborated in a collective way in academies, political groups and societal spaces. Still, feminisms have urged to broaden the focus, from just macro-politics to micro-politics as well: the collective study of unjust power structures in everyday interactions and cooperative creation of imaginaries, practices and tools to tackle patriarchal and capitalist materializations and social constructions.

Questioning the conventional approach to social relations, which considers them “private matters” on a pre-determined ladder, this workshop aims to: debunk the narratives of such relations we are all embedded in; identify the likely re-production of capitalist and patriarchal forms; nurture forms of collective knowledge sharing.

By experimenting with mutualistic ways to discuss the power in/balance they hold, the aim will be to generate better spaces of enabling understanding, sharing and at last, change.

Methodology:

Different types of personal and more-than-human relations will be scrutinised – romantic, professional, political, environmental. We use three games to explore power dynamics in these relationships, concerning care, networks, social expectations, public/private spaces and spheres.

– ‘Deal breakers’ (and ‘deal makers’) – a playful collective moment to emancipate our desires and fantasies by playing with heteronormative labels on relationships.

– The ‘bottle game’: we experiment with different dialogue formats to discuss relationships and learn how to build safe collective spaces of mutual learning and empowerment.

– ‘Decorate your city’ – we observe power dynamics in how relationships are made visible (or not) in public and semi-public spaces.