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The Fantastic Institution
"I have decided to leave my luggage unattended" are the words ending the short essay by Francis McKee, one of the key speakers at the symposium. His lecture was titled "How to know what's really happening?”, which is, indeed, a really good question. When we started talking about the Fantastic Institution in Berlin in the frame of "How we work it" in 2014, it was out of the realization that the imaginaries of artists tend to be colonized by institutions. In this way, it becomes difficult for us to go beyond our negative critique of the institution. But even when it's not easy to think about what we'd really like, we need to practice dreaming about what we'd want and we need to start speculating about a future institution. It seemed to be generally understood and agreed that, for now, small and self- organized venues are the model for future institutions. As they are much more in touch with specific segments of society, they can be much more reactive and listen to the immediate needs of their local communities. Larger venues, on the other hand, have to plan their program earlier, deal with more rigid rules and are tied to their obligations. Their staff are faced with a great deal of inertia. In these days of the migration crisis, the “Me too” hashtag and queer trends, the issues of minorities, of integration, of openness and of true generosity are often discussed. Why are mostly small and non-funded places taking it upon themselves to open their doors, to be generous and inventive, while large venues let people sleep in tents in front of their buildings (while they display subversive, avant-guard and political art), or conduct themselves unethically towards the artists of their cities? It seems that larger venues can't handle change easily, but as change is coming their way they should take inspiration from the way smaller initiatives are organising themselves. A model is needed that could reassure them in making changes: the Fantastic Institution. On the other hand, there are still doubts, as those institutions might simply disappear, there might be no way in which to keep these old venues alive. And so we might have to invent the fantastic institution outside of these theatres. Is there anything that could enter their walls and give them a new soul? Because what is missing in those places, is a soul. Not ideas of directors, intendants and dramaturges, but a soul that inhabits the place: a soul you enter, you go through, a soul you come to visit, you are in touch with, you are regenerated by and create with.
The fantastic institution was the subject of meetings between a group of Berlin-based choreographers, as part of “How we work it” from 2014 to 2017. In 2017 I received a small scholarship from BUDA to write about the topic, and BUDA later organized two more symposiums with many guests. This text was written on the train on the way back from the last symposium and is freely based on the ideas we covered and the “How we work it” meetings.
Clément Layes
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