Workshops:
ANONYMOUS:
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As long as our society does not accept forms of consensual sexuality between adult human (and by that we mean well in the family, among friends and colleagues, as well as at work or job search, etc.) this drastic step for the protection of oneself is sometimes unfortunately necessary.
Within BDSM culture, it is very hard not to see that the re-appearance of certain archaic patriarchal power structures: the male master with his several female slaves; the submission of the men to one dominant father figure, who has sexual access to most—if not all—the attractive young women. Certainly, there are other directions and tendencies: role reversal, sex/gender confusion and diversity, homosexuality, etc. But one can still ask to what extent the fantasies that sustain these archaic patriarchal structures still speak out, in hidden ways, through these different directions and tendencies. And even if this were not the case, it seems that until now they have not been powerful enough to overcome the patriarchal power structures, or to make them disappear or irrelevant.
In 1913, Sigmund Freud published a work called Totem and Taboo, where he argued that morality, culture and religion have their mythic origin in the killing and devouring of a primal father, who had jealously kept all the females for himself, while driving away the sons as they grew up. The sons united to kill the father. By then devouring him in the totem meal, they repeated the original murder, while at the same time internalizing the father and identifying with him: the role model who they had both envied and feared. The power and durability of this structure is that ambivalence—opposing feelings of love and hate towards the father—lie at its very core.
In this workshop we will take Freud’s myth of the primal horde as way to xplore patriarchal sexual and power relations. Rather than try to overturn them, reject them, or be indifferent to them, as an experiment we will try to give into them as much as possible, to better situate ourselves. It may not be possible simply to escape patriarchal fantasies and structures.
In polite culture, it is often considered to be a taboo to talk about money. However, for many of us money is more intimate than sex.
It might be easier and more socially acceptable to challenge ourselves erotically than it is to question the conditions under which we make our living—or fail to make our living.
If the purpose of xplore is to cultivate expansion beyond traditional relationships, then the question of money must at some point also be raised. What relation does my intimate life have to the material conditions of my existence? Within Western culture, these two domains are often considered to be separate from one another. Can they be brought together? And if so, under what conditions?
In this workshop, I will discuss some of the ethico-political considerations related to the financial aspects of producing the inaugural xplore festival in Sydney, Australia in April this year. I will also propose some exercises adapted from BDSM, whose purpose is to provide a frame to experience unconscious emotions around money, hierarchy and the social/sexual order.