Political Therapy
Activities: Visceral Blue
Valentina Desideri: Political Therapy
Dates: 2, 3, 4, 5 at 4pm, 5.30pm or 7pm and 6 March at 11.30am or 1pm
Place: La Capella
Valentina Desideri: Political Therapy, individual therapy sessions
Bookings: La Capella – lacapella@bcn.cat (one person per session) (only in English or Italian language)
In collaboration with Bar Project
Language: English or Italian
Political Therapy, explained by the artist:
What is Political Therapy?
* An individual session of approximately one hour (or more if we enjoy the conversation).
* A set-up for discussing politics that tricks the usual dialectic dynamics by placing a moment of fake healing in the middle of it.
* A therapy for those who do not need fixing but rather consider “problems” as generative of thoughts and forms of life.
How does a session go?
You come to the session with a “political problem” to be discussed.
A “political problem” is any problem, thought or issue that has a political dimension and that you experience directly. It may be something that bothers or preoccupies you, regardless of whether it is primarily lived out on a practical, personal, ideological, conceptual or existential level.
The session is very simple.
At first we briefly discuss the problem in order to find a clear and concise formulation of it as a political problem in the form of a question.
You are then asked to embody the problem – to keep it in mind – as you lie down for the “healing” part of the therapy. The healing is what I call fake therapy, a very simple practice of healing that is not based on any belief or knowledge and that can be practiced by anyone.
Afterwards we discuss the problem again, this time starting from the sensations and thoughts that have emerged during the healing. As we speak we construct together a conceptual map of the problem by connecting it with the sensations, words and images mentioned.
Apart from the map, which remains anonymous, the session is not recorded in any way and it takes approximately one hour.
Valentina Desideri is an Amsterdam-based artist. She trained in contemporary dance at the Trinity Laban Centre in London (2003-2006) and subsequently completed her Master’s degree in Fine Arts at the Sandberg Institute in Amsterdam (2011-2013). She does Fake Therapy and Political Therapy, co-organises the Performing Arts Forum in France, speculates in writing with Prof. Stefano Harney, and writes biographies by reading people’s hands. She also engages in poetical readings with Prof. Denise Ferreira da Silva.
Links
Colaborators
