Switch Elements
Inqueery - We let our work be guided by questions rather than assertions and assumptions. We pose questions that are complex, nuanced and consider the myriad sides of a thing. We will ask strange questions queerly. Our inqueeries will employ abundant artful skills & visioning required for these urgent times. We may ask questions that cannot currently be answered.
Care - We practice care above all else. Care & harm reduction for ourselves and our collaborators, for the territories we are working with, for our neighbors, strangers & the Wilds we encounter. Care for our audiences, our art forms and the stories entrusted to us. We center care that supports regenerative reciprocity, fumbling, failure, crip time, accessibility, and decolonial love. We know a process that builds at the pace of trust produces deep, adaptive & complex performative collaborations. Politicality - We root all of our work within intentional & upfront politics of decolonialism, abolition & the resilience of marginalized lives. This guides our inqueery and care. This informs the histories and stories we uplift. We are committed to a discipline of hope, art making that encourages presence (not absence) & the daily practice of life affirming world making. Place & partnership - Place is our first great partner. We will honour the historical and contemporary indigenous stewards of the territories we work with. We will let landscapes, architectures, liminal & highly public spaces, as well as geo politics guide our movements. We will seek out recalcitrance in cracked concrete, we will highlight art on the walls, make theaters out of parking lots & encourage collaboration with the wilds. Interdisciplinarity – We will not be confined by artistic traditions or norms. We will leverage and blend mediums freely and with rigour. We will create innovative ways to make our art mobile, wearable, solar powered, interactive and time bending. We will uplift as many Queer, Trans & Two spirit artists as we can along the way. Performance and movement through space will bring it all together. Switching – We will embody switchiness in all of our processes for creating. Sexy, intuitive, empowered, queer, adaptive fluidity. This means considering power & our use of it at all stages. This looks like collaboration rooted in deep consent & consensus, listening & skillful communication together and our surroundings. Switchy improv means Yes/No/Maybe AND offerings that keep us flowing. |
Switch Processes
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Some Switchy Theory
Queer Art of Failure – Jack Halberstam Building at the pace of trust – adrienne marie brown Regenerative Reciprocity – Robin Wall Kimmerer Asking strange questions queerly – Sara Ahmed Crip time – Alison Kafer Decolonial love – Leanne Betasamosake Simpson Discipline of hope – Mariame Kaba Abolition is about presence, not absence – Ruth Wilson Gilmore |