[-empyre-] Shadows in the Dawn

[Johannes Birringer]

dear all
Simon you mentioned some thoughts about impurity that Alan responded to in an interesting way:

>What I meant was the fabrication by totalitarian orders of an atmosphere where the truth is a consensual lie and the difference between the two is in the (potential) force applied: 
I'll say it is so, as long as it what 'most' people agree, despite knowing, with 'most' people, it is a lie popularised by the regime... and if tomorrow it changes, with 'most' people, with whom I happen to 
agree, I will say yesterday's truth was a lie. But here the force that is applied is a kind of consensus from which has been removed every impurity, in the evidence of force, in the evidence of any evidence, of 
fingerprints or any human contact, of it having been manipulated, or wrongdoing, ... it is as clean as data, clean as an algorithm. 
>>
>
and Alan responded, >I think - that in fact all that is occurring _is_ impurity, and the incompetence of the regime finds this intolerable. 
>

I wondered, Simon, whether you could talk about your MINUS theatre work in New Zealand and how you use different or not-communicable
languages in your work?  I also wondered whether, against convention (populism included), you found a way to make theatre or new conventions
and what that might today or tomorrow, as resistance?

I ask because just as we discuss here, i got two invitations, one by Caridad Svich to contribute to a blog on theatre & resistance,

http://larktheatre.org/blog/resistance-and-change-town-hall/

the other a notice from a theatre group in exile, Iraqi Bodies, www.iraqibodies.com,
who just created a new work called "Rite of Exile part 3" , in Gothenburg, Sweden,
and they are now in rehearsal for part 2 at Riksteatern in Stockholm. They wrote to say that
"after having had an intense first run of the third part of RITE OF EXILE following a family tumble down the abyss on the shores of Inferno. 
The scenic experiemnt will continue as it gives us great pleasure to announce that the second and final part of RITE OF EXILE will begin to take shape at 
Riksteatern Hallunda who has generously granted us a production residency in April 2017!"

I was struck that perhaps this group is performing the exiles in a backwards order,
and it is really great to see that they found a sanctuary there where they moved.

Earlier today i had a discussion with Alessandra Raengo, who led the discussion here on
liquid blackness and critical race studies, and she mentioned how her town (Atlanta, GA) did not become a sanctuary city
though people marched for it.  

This made we wonder if some of you could perhaps speak about what a sanctuary city would be able to do, politically/legally and whom it could protect
and how?

sincerely
Johannes Birringer
dap-lab