Geopolitical Games. Serie "We Need To Talk". Participatory performance. Video Excerpt. 2020
WE NEED TO TALK
Geopolitical Games is a participatory project to enhance diversity and unity in the context of an electoral year, the movements for social justice, and the increasing polarization in The US. This project starts from the thesis that political polarization is a risk for democratic states, in its pernicious extremes debate decreases while hegemony is strengthened. We need to talk aims to incentive the exchange, stimulating inclusion through conversations and playful interactions between different people across the East Coast.
Charlotte Chapter
Charlotte, as a swing state city, occupies a special place in political debate of today, as well as in its geopolitical history as a border state between north and south. We need to talk aims to involve us in the political discussion from the verb and the body, developing this project as a research database and a community-based performance at the same time. The objective is to promote dialogue from a playful experience, recording the different perspectives of a diverse group of people while playing a volleyball game. Our goal is to play these games in public space—transforming the city into a battleground for democracy.
The performance will take place in the open space of a recreational arena in a series of 20-minute conversations developed in pairs.
Dates:
Sunday 10/14
Sunday 10/21
Sunday 10/25
Slots:
3:00 - 3:30 pm
3:30 - 4:00 pm
4:00 - 4:30 pm
Place: Old Mecklenburg County CourtHouse
Next Chapters
For the last months the performance have been developing in several neighborhoods in Baltimore with Maryland Institute College of Arts (MICA). This research would be extending in several states in the East Coast. Such us, District of Columbia, New York, Massachusetts and Main. Right now this project is in developing in Charlotte, with McColl Center for Art + Innovation and University of North Caroline Charlotte (UNCC).
In “Geopolitical Games” we approach a North American imaginary of deflated nationalisms, a national identity built through open play, and political systems sustained in a citizen exchange. This project builds the idea of a nation from the exchange of our own bodies, trying to keep the ball in the air and the game alive.