The Celestial Body Series
The Celestial Body Series is a series of norm-critical non-judgemental creative and experimental performative practices and works of art engaged in critical thinking of form and construct in order to expose what form or construct hide or otherwise make impossible (e.g. curiosity and study prevented by anticipatory passing of judgement).
TOGETHER ALONE
TOGETHER ALONE is an atmosphere, it is an embodied experience. TOGETHER ALONE is a way of paying attention without judging or more mildly, without having an opinion about what “paying attention” looks like. TOGETHER ALONE is about dancing without judging or more mildly, without having an opinion about what “dancing” looks like. TOGETHER ALONE is, in other words, what makes experiencing first possible.
[excerpt]
artists
for the longest time i’ve been calling TOGETHER ALONE “a collective that is not a collective” because i thought TOGETHER ALONE was what organises us. in the summer of 2020, when i was working on “what decides green from blue?” with Alys Longley, i’ve picked up on a feeling i first described with the question, “why does it feel like i’m dancing, even though we (Alys and me) are working online, i’m rocking in a kneeling chair and making a book; transcribing, painting, copying and pasting? why does it feel like i’m dancing?”
in that question, why does it feel like i’m dancing? i recognised a sentimentality, a tone, a muscle tone, i recognised a pace, i recognised a kind of felt-focus. it was the recognition of this focus that jumped at me, that reminded me of TOGETHER ALONE, what TOGETHER ALONE feels like, how it behaves. that’s when i knew i had made a mistake.
for TOGETHER ALONE is not what organises us, even though being organised–one way of another–is a consequence of TOGETHER ALONE.
TOGETHER ALONE is an atmosphere, it is an embodied experience. TOGETHER ALONE is a way of paying attention without judging or more mildly, without having an opinion about what “paying attention” looks like. TOGETHER ALONE is about dancing without judging or more mildly, without having an opinion about what “dancing” looks like. TOGETHER ALONE is, in other words, what makes experiencing first possible.
TOGETHER ALONE is crucial for the exploration of anti-anticipatory aesthetic. for if we become able to experience first, we’ll have something to observe, we’ll have something to study. it is a commitment to being held accountable, to yourself first, and to your community. TOGETHER ALONE is an expression of a desire towards creating the kind of conditions that will make actual research possible. TOGETHER ALONE is about studying subjectivity, and critically reflecting and holding the history of objectivity accountable. TOGETHER ALONE is a practice, it is an investment and a salute to a queer futurity.
TOGETHER ALONE commits to working on a series of self-reflective, norm- critical, non-exclusive, and non-judgemental creative practices and works of art that engage in critical thinking of form and/or construct, in order to expose what form or construct hide or otherwise make non-recognisable.
TOGETHER ALONE is working on a series of self-reflective, norm-critical, non-exclusive, and non-judgemental creative practices and works of art that engage in critical thinking of form and/or construct, in order to expose what form or construct hide or otherwise make non-recognisable.
THE CELESTIAL BODY SERIES currently includes The Sun Practices (est. 2011), The Moon Practice (est. 2013), The Cosmic Dust Practice (est. 2015), The Event Horizon Practice (est. 2017), and The Supergiant Star Practice concerned with the notion of Dance (est. 2021).
pavleheidler for TOGETHER ALONE