Foundation We Are

  • Workshop and presentation: How can we rehearse change and not just think of it? 

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    Foundation We Are: Lecture #01


    In 2021, Baltan Laboratories launched Make Economy Yours Again (MEYA). This online learning community gathered weekly for eight weeks (for two editions, May-June 2021 and January-March 2022) to create a new knowledge base for rehearsing economic change. Participants collectively learnt and locally developed actions for their specific context.

    How can we go beyond capitalism in re-thinking today’s economy? Are western value systems sufficient when exploring a new relationship with nature? Can feelings enable us to develop agency towards the economy? How can we make the economy our economy?
    These are a few questions around which the learning community was initiated.

    The theme of the evening will be the notion of rehearsing change, which is central to the format of the learning community. Marlou van der Cruijsen and Lorenzo Gerbi, leading learners of MEYA, will guide you in a workshop focusing on how changing the language of the economy could change the economy too. Participants will build an intersubjective glossary of economic terms and their desirable definitions as a base to develop their alternatives economies. Through the image theatre technique developed by Augusto Boal in the 1960s, the new definitions will be embodied by their creators both as a way to feel them and as a medium for a non-verbal exchange with the observers. Participants will create a static body image for each definition. This method is based on the multiple interpretations of the observer, which sees an image and expresses the feelings and representations aroused by it. The observers could also intervene in the body image without talking by “sculpting” the body image, directly moving the body of one creator/actor. The authors of the image can thus grasp hidden meanings and decide to include them in their definition, which is then shared with everybody.

    The workshop will be followed by a short presentation about the indisciplinary approach behind the project. Workshop participants will receive a free copy of the MEYA zine, a publication collecting the constellation of starting points, notions and concepts developed by and with the learning community.

    Marlou van der Cruijsen has a strong interest in the transformative power of arts and culture. She holds a master’s degree in Cultural Studies from Radboud University in Nijmegen (NL). In her role as program leader, she has led Baltan participation in several European projects and the organization cultural program.

    Lorenzo Gerbi is a freelance designer, art director, curator and educator based in Eindhoven (NL). He translates his strong interest in conceptual and speculative design into new scenarios and concepts for products and systems, services, strategies for companies, formats, and, occasionally, for artistic projects. He is currently curator at Baltan Laboratories, education project leader at V2_ and board member of Foundation We Are.

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