In 2010, just the two of us marched in the San Francisco Dyke March with signs that had ecosexual hand-painted on them. Two years later, in 2012, we marched in the SF Dyke March holding signs saying ecosexual on one side and Earth is our lover on the other. Our dear friends, professor/writer Kim TallBear and theater director Bonnie Cullum happened to be visiting us that day, so the four of us spontaneously formed a mini-contingent. Our signs got a lot of attention, and a lot of people asked about them. We ran into many friends who appear in these photos; Sybil Holiday, Jude Glaubman and her daughter Rosa, Zvonimir Dobrovic who had produced our Wedding the Earth in Croatia, and others.
Dykes who resonated with our sign gave us big smiles and knowing thumbs-ups. Or bared their breasts. Our little contingents would grow into some big ones in the years to follow.
Join us for Playing with Fire: a Hot Symposium Exploring the pleasures, perils & politics of fire through art, theory, practice, and activism. October 7, 8th and 9th. DARC 108. Stay tuned for more information.
Confirmed speakers and participants include:
Beth Stephens and Annie Sprinkle: Keynote
Roxi Power: Fire Poems
Becca Fenwick: Director, CITRIS Initiative for Drone Education and Research: Presenting UCNRS Fire Data
Karin Bolender: Artist and Director of the Rural Alchemy Workshop (RAW)
Justin Hoover, Artist and Director of the Chinese Historical Society of America
Brandon Smith, Director of the Forestry and Fire Recruitment Program (FFRC)
Benny Fillmore, Washoe Elder and Hotshot Firefighter
Laura Smith-Fillmore, Artist and Translator
Helen Fillmore, Environmentalist, Hotshot Firefighter
Julie Weitz, Artist: Golem: A Call to Action + Prayer for Burnt Forests
Heather and Michael Llewellyn: Artists and Curators of FOREST⇌FIRE Exhibition
More to come!
Everyone is welcome. Symposium is free.
WHERE: All events are at UCSC in DARC #108 (Digital Arts Research Center), except where noted.
| Time | Event |
|---|---|
|
6-7:30 |
Meet & Mingle
with the speakers and attendees. |
At UCSC in DARC #108 (Digital Arts Research Center)
| Time | Event |
|---|---|
|
10-11:00 |
Meet & Greet
Coffee, tea and breakfast nibbles. |
|
11:00 |
Welcome & Introduction
“Playing with Fire” Beth Stephens (artist and UCSC professor) and “The Pleasures of Fire” Annie Sprinkle (Ecosexual artist) |
|
12-1:30 |
What are we Facing?
Kali Rubaii, Burn Pits, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Purdue University |
|
12:30-2 |
Lunch BreakAmbient performance. (TBA) |
|
2-4 |
Flaming Pasts and Flaming Futures
Heather and Michael Llewellyn: Artists and Curators of FOREST⇌FIRE Exhibition |
|
4-4:30 |
Break
|
|
4:30-6:30 |
Flaming Desires
Nicole Rudolph-Vallerga |
|
6:30-8 |
Dinner Break |
|
8-10 |
Artists on Fire – An Evening of Performance and FilmCourtney Desiree Morris– Film Screening: Sopera de Yemaya |
At UCSC in DARC #108 (Digital Arts Research Center)
| Time | Event |
|---|---|
|
10-11 |
BreakfastCoffee, tea and breakfast nibbles. |
|
11-1PM |
Firefighter StoriesBrandon Smith, Forestry and Fire Recruitment Program, FFRP |
|
1:30-2:00 |
Lunch Break
|
|
2-4 |
Community Open MikeHosted by (TBA). Any and all attendees that want to can speak, perform, announce, comment, etc., for five minutes. |
Food available for purchase around campus, or feel free to bring your own.
There is a fee to park in the UCSC parking lot. Our beloved parking enforcement team is extremely vigilant. Please follow the link here to avoid an expensive ticket.
We want you to be warm, comfortable, and cozy. Here are some places to stay:
Camping: The Redwood Resort has free camping for symposium participants and their close guests. This includes shower and restroom facilities. They’re great friends of Annie and Beth, and are co-sponsoring this event! Please keep in mind that they’re a 40 minute drive from UCSC. The map link is here. If you want to use this option, please contact Beth Stephens bethstephens@me.com
You may also like Henry Cowell State Park. They don’t have a website, but the map link and phone number is here.
Hostels: There are lots of options here.
Hotels: A list of all hotels in Santa Cruz can be found here.
We love staying at The Ocean Pacific Lodge. They’re offering a 10% discount for our symposium, just mention that you’re going to UCSC when you book. We’ve had a great time there in the past, and it’s a nice mid-priced hotel. A google map is here. For a high end experience, we recommend the Dream Inn. Their location is right next to the ocean, with incredible views.
Thank you to the Ocean Pacific Lodge, UCSC catering, and India Joez. Thanks also to the incredible technical team of the Digital Arts Research Center.
Special thanks to our generous, amazing hosts: Donna Haraway, Shelly Errington, Nada Miljkovic, Kyle McKinley & Jennifer Gonzalez.
Our dear friends who gave their time to help us with this event: Scott Brandt, Dean Solt, ARI, Center for Science and Justice, Center for Arts and Science, Redwood Resort, Feminist Studies, Jennifer Gonzalez, Jordan Phillibert, Lindsay Moffat, Rachel Smith, Cowell College–Alex, Kristin Grace Erickson, Julie Rogge, Dr. Gary Greenberg.
Thanks also to the amazing UCSC staff.
Thank you everyone who gave their time and resources to help us with this event:
ARI, Center for Science and Justice, Center for Arts and
Science, Redwood Resort,
The amazing UCSC staff.
Thanks UCSC catering,
Thanks again to Nada Miljkovic’s KSQID.
Extra special kudos to Rogge Design for the poster designs.
Thank you all for coming!
Our good friend, curator Paul B. Preciado invited us come to Athens, Greece to give a visiting artist lecture and do a water ritual performance prior to the opening of documenta 14. Paul explained that he was curating a series of public programs called The Parliament of Bodies which would take place at the Athens Municipality Arts Center at Parko Eleftherias. Of course we said yes.
We had just 3 weeks’ notice. Quickly we wrote up a call for collaborators to join us in creating a performance ritual which documenta 14 posted on their website. We were fairly confident we could give a great talk, but the water ritual was something we had never done before, and such short notice made for some serious performance anxiety. To gather enough collaborators so quickly seemed virtually impossible.
When we arrived at the Municipality Arts Center in Parko Eleftherias, (Freedom Park), we were intrigued to learn that the 19th century building where the Arts Center was housed had been the police station for the Greek Military Junta of 1967–74. Behind the police station resistance fighters were jailed and severely tortured in that building during the Junta. Clearly this place had a very heavy history, and we wanted to honor the history.
On the day of the ritual, September 23, 2016, we met our performers, as they met each other, for the first time. We discussed what we hoped to do that night and then held a short two- hour rehearsal. Our performers hailed from Greece, England, Canada, Brazil, Turkey, the USA and one performer was from Planet Queer. Our intention was to show water our love, address issues of the day, and to respectfully bathe the performance space, where horrendous torture during the fascist dictatorship in Greece took place.
The printed program listed activities for the audience members during the ritual, some using props we had handed out: rub a balloon with your wet fingers to make sounds, shake a water rattle, shed some tears, dribble some spit, sprinkle water from wet leaves, move your body like water, tell water what you love about it, blow bubbles, drink some water, clean the floor, or some other activity as long as it’s being respectful of the history of the space we were in.
The time had come to begin. The space was packed full of all kinds of people. After forming a circle, one by one, each of us walked to the center of the circle and poured water from the places that we had come from into a big container. After that everyone broke into simultaneously doing a water-based activity of their choice accompanied by a mesmerizing soundscape by Andrew McKenzie of the Hafler Trio. The whole thing was chaotic, weird and also visually quite beautiful. Our group of freedom loving, weird aquaphiliacs were working together to wash away the horrible order imposed by the former dictators who would never allow the kind of freedom with which we performed. After closing the ritual with a moment of silence and three claps of our hands, we opened the circle, and most of us ran outside into the grass. Right on cue, the janitor turned on the lawn sprinklers. We played and celebrated in our makeshift public fountain as the audience members trickled out and enjoyed watching us enjoy getting soaked.
Click here to view the PDF of the Wet Dreamers program with more details and the credits.
