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The Whitechapel Gallery is committed to making all of our events as accessible as possible for every audience member. Please contact access@whitechapelgallery.org if you would like to discuss a particular request and we will gladly discuss with you the best way to accommodate it.
– Information about access on site at the gallery is available here https://www.whitechapelgallery.org/visit/access/
– This includes information about Lift access; Borrowing wheelchairs & seating; Assistance Animals; Parking; Toilets and baby care facilities; Blind & Partially Sighted Visitors; Subtitles and transcripts; British Sign Language (BSL) and hearing induction loops; Deaf Messaging Service (DMS).
About This Event
– This event takes place in the Study Studio at Whitechapel Gallery, located on the first floor. There is both stairs and lift access to this space.
– For those who are unable to lie down on the floor, we will have beanbags and chairs on hand for you to use
– You must purchase a ticket to attend the event. Concession tickets are available. If you require a Personal Assistant to support your attendance, we can offer them a seat free of charge, but it must be arranged in advance.
– If the ticket price affects your attendance, please email tickets@whitechapelgallery.org to be added to the guest list (no questions asked, but dependent on availability).
– This event is suitable for those over the age of 16
– We are unable to provide British Sign Language interpretation for this event
– We are unable to provide live closed captioning or CART for this event.
– Attendees will remain in contact with the Relational Objects for around 1 hour, after which the Objects are moved and then removed. There will be a moment at the end of the session to share and integrate the experience together.
– This event lasts approximately 2 hours. The event is informally structured, so attendees are welcome to go for breaks as and when they need.
Transport
– To the best of our knowledge, there are no planned disruptions to local transport on the date of the event.
– Our nearest train station – Aldgate East Underground (1 min) is not wheelchair accessible. The closest wheelchair accessible stations are Whitechapel (15 min), Shoreditch High Street (15 min) or Liverpool Street (15 min).
– Free parking for Blue Badge holders is available at the top of Osborn Street in the pay and display booths for an unlimited period. Spaces are available on a first come, first served basis.
Taking root in Lygia Clark’s participatory practice and the ways in which we relate to one another, join artist and cultural worker Ta’wa for some relaxation sessions exploring gentle play, embodied territories, and memory.
Examining the intersection between two of Clark’s late propositions Relaxation and Structuring of the Self, these relaxation sessions invite you to lie on the floor and engage with a number of Relational Objects; using them as vessels to feel through different sensations, memories, and emotions.
From stones, seashells, and cushions filled with sand, to bags of water and air, these Relational Objects are rooted in the natural elements, which we will use as compass points in working through our intimate emotional landscapes together. Attendees will be encouraged to lie with what emerges for them– particularly in relation to memories connected to migration, fugivity, and the different ways that loss can manifest as someone in the diaspora.
This will be a low-stakes, relaxed, and supportive space for participants to gently explore embodied relaxation techniques that they might not have done so before.
There will be time at the end of the relaxation sessions for attendees to sit, share, and collectively work through anything that has emerged for them during the session.
Things to keep in mind
This relaxation session will be repeated twice throughout this day – the first session from 11am-1pm and the second session from 3-5pm.
This session is a continuation of a body of work Ta’wa has been further developing during their time at Gasworks.
Ta’wa is an artist and cultural worker whose practice is deeply rooted in conviviality, radical pedagogies, and reflexive ethics. They work to consolidate alliances based on mutuality to weave collective liberation through methods that challenge the rigid forms and hierarchies established by colonialism and neoliberalism.
Since 2011, they have been researching Lygia Clark’s “Structuring of the Self,” approaching this proposition as a form of social practice, in regards to how it can contribute to re-membering our bodies-territory and to creating abolition geographies.
Collective propositions that unfolded from their practice have been featured in institutional frameworks such as Gasworks in London, Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW) in Berlin, Museu de Arte do Rio (MAR) in Rio de Janeiro, and Instituto Moreira Salles (IMS) in São Paulo.
