28 September 2024, 6 pm
at dance studio Cîrqu’enflex (Warteck) Burgweg 15, 4058 Basel
The Blasphemic Reading Soirées started 8 years ago in Basel. We started reading, we started small, we started in private spaces, we went through stages, we tried out things, we went public, we made mistakes, we met a lot of people and a lot of weird places, we struggled, we shared, we had beautiful surprises, we learned a lot, we were exhausted, we were amazed – and most of all we were trying to always head towards transformation. And now, after realizing that today’s team doesn’t have enough resources to continue the same way, we embrace another type of transformation: we are saying goodbye to the BRS in its actual shape.
As you can imagine, this is not an easy decision. To end this chapter, we want to have one last and very special soirée with all of you – and then let the BRS take a rest and see if the model comes back in a different shape one day!
What does it mean to celebrate the end of a project after 8 years? Are we sad, are we grieving? We are. But we also remember what Malkia Devich-Cyril wrote about grieving and social movements and take this as an orientation. Maybe you were with us last year when we read her text on a boat under the stars, reminding us of the strength we can find in endings: „On either side of change is loss. To reimagine and reshape the world, grief is a skill we need.“
We therefore want to spend a long final celebration with you doing what we love to do: coming together with texts and bodies and some quirky experimentations – and this time with the addition of cooking, eating, raving, looking back and dreaming forward!
We will start at 18h by reading together a chapter from „Let this radicalize you“ – a buzzing collection of thoughts and experiences on how to build and keep a community against the paralysation of a racist-sexist-capitalist system. The authors, long-time organizers and abolitionists Mariame Kaba and Kelly Hayes, take the term „radical“ from the Latin word for „root“. We too take this as a possibility to go back to the roots: to the roots of the BRS, but also roots of thoughts and ideas, and hopefully learn about what you connect with roots. For all of that, we want to have a „Radical Roots Dinner“ around the text with you: We all bring root vegetables like carrots, beet root, celery, yuca, ginger and all their siblings – and turn them together into something delicious. (If you have an amazing ginger drink recipe, let us know in advance!)
Around 22h, we will start a session to get our bodies and minds into different vibes. We will read a chapter from „Raving“ by McKenzie Wark. What is an art of life for what feels like the end of a world? The text is taking off in New York’s thriving underground queer and trans rave scene where the writer is dancing into ecstasy whilst contemplating possibilities for this era of diminishing futures. Raving to techno is an art and a technique at which queer and trans bodies might be particularly adept but which is for anyone who lets the beat seduce them.
After the reading we enter ‘Technosomatics’ – a movement practice developed by dancer, choreographer, raver, and educator Frédéric Gies who has given BRS the permission to share it with you. After an introduction of the endocrine glands (the major chemical system of our body) and the chakras (energy centers) we enter club dancing to techno music. The practice connects to both the field of somatics (the experience of one’s body from within) and to techno club/rave dance cultures. As a form of meditation in movement, it explores trancelike states of consciousness and acknowledges the healing potential of the act of dancing. It also approaches club dance as a tool for self-discovery and for expanding the range of our perceptions. There are infinite ways to dance to techno, yet repetitive movements like stepping or swaying from side to side can evoke and enhance transcendent experiences. With this said, all bodies and pre-experiences can partake.
For all of this, we meet at 18h in the dance studio Cîrqu’enflex at Warteck, Burgweg 15, 4058 Basel. A place where bodies are welcome in all their ways of moving or resting, a place where we can gather and transform. Important accessibility note: there are 4 steps at the entrance of the studio and toilet is not on the same floor.
We strongly hope to have our old and new friends with us on this final fiest!