Massaging the Asylum System - A Collective Exploration
Photos: Courtesy of Project Art Works
WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION
Together, we want to explore the relationship between our community, people’s needs as they seek asylum and try to rebuild their lives in Denmark, and how different systems, from the state to Danish society, may or may not support these needs. We will also look at Trampoline House, how the house strives to empower displaced people, and what the asylum system should learn from the house.
Through shared time and creative action, we will massage the asylum system – yes, massage, like a real massage – so that it can become softer and more humane. Through spending time together and using some tools like drawing or writing, we will get a really useful picture of the asylum system that comes from everyone’s experiences.
Using this shared knowledge, we will be able to think about ways to understand and stand in the system, to challenge it, to channel anger, to feel less vulnerable and alone, to be heard in it, and eventually, to change it.
The asylum system in Denmark is like a 'chain' that means to be stuck in a legal grey zone, neither detained nor free, and without prospects of pursuing a future life in Denmark or in Europe. The chain is the structurally violent exhaustion strategy.
This system works on creating sad emotions, sad feelings, this is essential to the exercise of power. And the rage is a consequence of that. It separates from the capacity to act. It doesn’t depend on the will or even on personal faculties, we know that. It is linked to the conditions of oppression in society.
Positive feelings coming from relationships, joy, creative work, access to social life, therefore have to do with the possibility of acting. So, what are the creative processes that someone can adopt to face a violent system? We want to be creative towards the system, connecting the bodies to one’s ability to act.
The workshop is an adaptation of 'Cosmologies of Care,' a method that Project Art Works has been working with for some time. Project Art Works and Trampoline House are collaborating partners in documenta fifteen, an international art exhibition that takes place in Kassel, Germany, in the summer of 2022.
We are working together because we think that our communities have things to talk about: because often, the State doesn’t care about the wellbeing of our communities, and people in our communities have a really hard time accessing public spaces in society. We hope that by sharing the stories of our communities and their struggles in the world, we will be able to make an impact.
ABOUT PROJECT ART WORKS
Project Art Works is a collective of neurodiverse artists and activists that works with art and care. They are based in Hastings, UK. Project Art Works collaborates with people with complex support needs, families, and circles of support. Like Trampoline House in Denmark and its work for refugee justice, Project Artworks uses art to provide support and public access for neurodiverse people, raise awareness and change the care system in the UK. Read more: https://projectartworks.org/
TIME & PLACE
The 2-day workshop takes place on Friday, May 20, from 2-5 pm and Sunday, May 22, from 2-4 pm in Weekend Trampoline House, c/o Apostle Church, Saxogade 13, 1662 Copenhagen V.
The workshop is held in English with simultaneous translation to Arabic, Farsi, and Kurdish.
REGISTRATION
This workshop is for people in the Danish asylum system and in the Danish integration program. There is room for 10 participants on Friday, May 20 and 10 participants on Sunday, May 22. If you would like to participate, please call (+45) 20 93 50 86 or email tone@trampolinhuset.dk