HUG: a three week intensive in the art of holding
Week I: practical seminar
Introductions, course survey, icebreaker.
Discussions of purpose, intention, action.
Form groups for exercise #1:
“Imagine Richard Brautigan
holding an apple,
his soft palm upturned,
letting the light catch
the shine of the skin,
as pure as drinking a website.”
More discussion, reflection,
personal anecdotes. Motivations? (time permitting)
Brief run through The Elements of Style.
Love Actually screens on Thursday.
Week II: theory intensive
New breakthroughs, foundational texts.
Butler, Kristeva, Bachelard.
Cameron Crowe. Mulan.
Sixpence None the Richer.
Conflict, complexity, resolution;
the postmodern turn, Winnicott.
Readings from my own research, quote:
“it is very dark inside a body,
so we press them together
to make a new darkness
between. (As when we know
a darkness in particular,
the abstract must recede).”
Friday: private study.
Week III: advanced applications
Guest lecturer, interdisciplinary
discussions, extension material.
Field, object, subject. Performativity.
Holding as concept, art, praxis,
the supraphysical. Phenomenology.
Finally, performance & presentations.
Submit concepts. Last year’s highlights:
“JFK lovingly feeling the
weight of the red telephone,
knowing it will ring.” Another:
“You come home late
from the Blink 182 rock show, and
he’s left you roses by the stairs.”
Assessment. Then down the pub.