The Future is a Collective Project : Ray Filar

The Future is a Collective Project is a collaborative research group open to anyone interested in exploring the question ‘Are we carrying the right tools to shape the future we want and need?'

During the pandemic there has been a largely unprecedented, shared experience of isolation, grief and loneliness for the human touch–whether intimate or casual–that we are no longer allowed. But for disabled, queer (and disabled queer) people, the relationships between grief and touch were complicated before this.

This is an online workshop on themes of physical touch, queerness and disability in These Times. We will be responding to writing and performance from queer/disabled people, sharing feelings, and doing some writing of our own together.

The artist particularly invites applications from queer and/or disabled people, but it is open to everyone who’s interested.

Ray Filar is an interdisciplinary performance artist, writer, and debauched trans fag out to recruit children to the hard left. They make alt punk drag as their alter-ego That Ray, using confrontation, humour, noise and violence within spoken word, storytelling, physical theatre and lip sync. They’ve performed at the Tate Britain and Modern, Hayward Gallery, ICA, Glastonbury and Latitude festivals, National Theatre River Stage, Cologne Art Week, with David Hoyle, and anywhere else that will have them. They are writing an experimental novel about work, sex and death as part of their PhD in Creative Writing and Gender Studies at Sussex University.

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The Future is a Collective Project was initiated by Deptford X director, Nathalie Boobis, in 2016 and is re-emerging in the digital realm as part of Deptford X Online 2020. 

The Future is a Collective Project is about creating a learning environment that is non-hierarchical and in which no prior training, education or specific forms of knowledge are required to participate. All experiences are considered to be valid tools for knowledge production and sharing - from emotions, actions, stories and food to texts, films, artworks and music. The hope is that the group can share and learn from knowledge, narratives and ideas that have for too long been excluded from serious attention within the dominant and binary world view of white, western, capitalist patriarchy. 

For Deptford X Online, we have invited 6 individuals whose practices we felt were driven by needs and desires to work beyond binary modes of thinking and doing to each lead a session. Each session coordinator offers their research, practice and work in progress as a starting point for a collective group discussion.

Absolutely no prior knowledge or expertise is necessary to join a session but as this is a collaborative research group, participants may be asked to participate in a group exercise followed by a discussion. More details on each session can be found below.

Due to the nature of online video conferencing, participation numbers are limited to 15 per session.  We ask that you book your space in advance for this reason. 

We will enable a waiting list so that anyone who is unable to participate can free up their space for someone else to join. Anyone participating in the group will be asked to abide by group code of conduct which will be distributed before the group. We can also provide tutorials on how to work Zoom for anyone who has not used this facility before.

Please ask us about what we can do to meet your access needs for signing up and participating. We can offer BSL interpreters.

Drop us an email with a contact telephone number so that we can get back to you and talk through options: admin@deptfordx.org

Image Credit: Jender An0mie1