William Woolf

….has been a poet, a prophet, a prostitute, a priest, a janitor, a baggage handler, a kitchen hand, a chef…..

….a sculptor of bodies of sound and silence, motion and stillness, touch and taste, composition and decomposition…..

…..a convenor, a conductor of immersive ritual theatrics, socially sculpted choreographies, alchemically potentised soups of transformation….

….has recently been flirting with the prospect of decolonising his  binaried identity tags…..in favour of hishe and weus…..

…has also recently been flirting with the prospect of persuading the powers that be in the U.S. to ditch Independence Day…..in favour of the more heartening charms of  Interdependence Day…. 

DIE / ONE TIME EXPERIENCES

BURNT OFFERINGS

Keimkasten 2, 13.00-14.30 Fri, Sat & Sun
All prospective Players wishing to participate in this offering please read these following words of guidance and instruction before deciding to join the queue each day.
No verbal instructions will be given during these rituals.
The Guardian of the threshold will seek verbal confirmation that you’ve read, understood and are consenting as specified, before either inviting you across the threshold, or instructing you to go to the other end of the queue/come back another day if you haven’t and/or aren’t.

UPLOAD 1 OF 3 / 09.07.2023 (scroll down for Uploads 2 & 3)

….some sort of immersive ritual….some kind of seance….some form of devotional service……
…..devoted to bridging the gap….the chasm….the schism….that typecasts death as life’s enemy….in the death phobic culture of modernity……..devoted to bridging the gap….by softening…..by dissolving….the death phobic delusion….the death phobic dividing wall…alive one side….dead the other…..
….with regard to guidance for prospective Players….the following poem sets a profoundly trustworthy frame….
….please read it aloud….to yourself…to your loved ones….both alive ones and dead….then let it’s flavours percolate…..and settle….
….if those flavours leave you feeling drawn to play a part in Burnt Offerings you will need to study the instructions for prospective Players….which will be uploaded here in two more installments….Upload 2 on the 17th….Upload 3 on the 24th…..

“From The Republic Of Conscience” by Seamus Heaney

I

When I landed in the republic of conscience

It was so noiseless when the engines stopped.

I could hear a curlew high above the runway.

At immigration, the clerk was an old man

who produced a wallet from his homespun coat

and showed me a photograph of my grandfather.

The woman in customs asked me to declare

the words of our traditional cures and charms

to heal dumbness and avert the evil eye.

No porters. No interpreter. No taxi.

You carried your own burden and very soon

your symptoms of creeping privilege disappeared.

II

Fog is a dreaded omen there, but lightning

spells universal good and parents hang

swaddled infants in trees during thunder storms.

Salt is their precious mineral. And seashells

are held to the ear during births and funerals.

The base of all inks and pigments is seawater.

Their sacred symbol is a stylized boat

The sail is an ear, the mast a sloping pen,

The hull a mouth-shape, the keel an open eye.

At their inauguration, public leaders

must swear to uphold unwritten law and weepto atone for their presumption to hold office

and to affirm their faith that all life sprang

from salt in tears which the sky-god wept

after he dreamt his solitude was endless.

III

I came back from that frugal republic

with my two arms the one length, the customs woman

having insisted my allowance was myself

The old man rose and gazed into my face

and said that was official recognition

that I was now a dual citizen.

He therefore desired me when I got home

to consider myself a representative

and to speak on their behalf in my own tongue.

Their embassies, he said, were everywhere

but operated independently

and no ambassador would ever be relieved.

UPLOAD 2 OF 3 / 17.07.2023

So it’s not a workshop and I won’t be teaching.
It’s an experiment.
Devoted to softening and dissolving the death phobic wall that’s kept life and death confined to segregated ghettos ever since more gracious ways of human life on earth fell foul to the principle and practice of dividing and ruling.
Maybe that was the first cut.
The first and deepest cut issued by the principle and practice of dividing and ruling.
Before that cut it’s pretty clear this planet was populated by people for whom everything was alive.
Then that cut sliced everything in to two portions.
One called Dead.
The other called Alive.
Then the Dead Or Alive binary went viral.
And so now we’re here, obliged to navigate our ways through the death phobic fetishes that’ve been fermented by The Dominant Culture through the past few thousand years.
As evidenced by recent developments in the death phobic fetish industries.
Along with a few thousand years worth of unrested ghosts.

What makes a ghost unrested?
Lack of access to more restful lodgings.
Imagine it.
You’ve been shoved in to the death phobic ghetto called Dead and Gone.
But you’re not.
You’ve shuffled off your mortal coil, so in that sense you’re dead.
But you’re far from gone.
Because you can’t be gone.
Because you’ve got a few things you need to say to the living.
But no one’s listening.
Try as you might you just can’t get anyone to pick up your call.
Because almost everybody’s been taught to be scared of ghosts.
Because ghosts are supposed to be in the death phobic ghetto called Dead and Gone.

So what to do?

What to do for them?
Get a bunch of deep space cadets to have a go at helping a few of them out a bit.
How?
Build a field hospital for them.
Some sort of respite care facility.
Somewhere they can rest a little easier for a while.
Relax a bit.
Unwind a bit.
Let off a little steam from time to time.
Where?
Keimkasten 2, 13.00 – 14.30 Friday, Saturday and Sunday the 28th, 29th and 30th of this month.
Dress code?
Dress and other access codes, along with instructions for prospective players and the choreography of the ritual will be revealed here next weekend in Upload 3.

UPLOAD 3 OF 3 / 24.07.2023

So…..scene shifting….frame changing….choreography and content now sufficiently clarified to write this…..
Instructions For Players

Queueing

Join queue for access from 12.45 each day, carrying a bag that’s big enough to hold all your belongings. Switch off your phones. Remove your footwear. Remove any other clothing you do not want to wear during the ritual. You’re welcome to remain fully clothed or fully naked or anything in between, as long as your feet are naked. Place all of your belongings including your shoes in your bag. Except your phone.

The Threshold

Switch your phone off and show it to The Guardian of The Threshold. Then put it in your bag. The Guardian will speak with you and then either give you a blindfold or tell you to go to the back of the queue or come back another day.
If you’re given a blindfold put it on and wait until a hand arrives to lead you across The Threshold.

The Ritual

Your seeing eyes will be blindfolded throughout the ritual until towards it’s completion.
Your other senses and sense abilities will be correspondingly enhanced.
On some occasions your passage through the ritual will be guided by helpful hands.
Sometimes those helpful hands will hand over their guidance to The Death Phobic Wall, by placing your right hand on the wall. Whenever that happens you’ll be left to walk alone, with your right hand touching the wall. Until you feel moved to stop and face the wall. Whenever you do that you’re welcome to listen to and through the wall….to whisper to and through the wall….to commune with (y)our dead….with (y)our dying….with (y)our ghosts….and with your own death. And then when enough’s been heard and felt and met and offered there….maybe leave that piece of the wall with a tender kiss….before continuing your journey along the wall.
Sometimes those helpful hands will lead you away from the wall and place you somewhere else, sculpting your form in to a particular shape. When that happens you’re invited to hold that shape until you’re released from it and lead to another place. Whenever you’re lead and placed anywhere during the ritual you must stay there until you’re lead away. If you start wandering around injurious collisions are guaranteed. If you’re unable to hold the shape you’re placed in at any time you’re welcome to sit down and rest in the same place.
On some occasions your passage through the ritual will be guided by helpful hands along with whisperings.
Sometimes those whisperings may ask you to open your mouth to receive a piece of medicine placed on your tongue. All such medicines will be composed of bio vegan ingredients. One may be a nut. Definitely not a peanut. Beyond that distinction allergies cannot be catered for. So don’t open your mouth when you’re asked to if you’re concerned about that.
On some occasions various substances of variable textures and temperatures will be applied to your skin.
On others, other stimuli will sculpt your passage through the ritual.
Much of the time you will be in the dark, alone and static. So much of your passage through the ritual will take the form of material moving through your inner landscape of perceptions, sensations and reactivities. Remember to breathe. Remain curious. Particularly in relation to boredom.
Whispering and other wordless sounds are welcome to move if they need to. Stay awake to sonic spaciousness….less is more….silence tends to invite depth of feeling, sensing, wondering…..
Beyond that, only time and how it moves through you will tell…

Consent, Safe Gesture and Opt Out Clause

By showing up at The Threshold you are consenting to all of the above.
You are also consenting to photographic and video footage of the ritual being recorded (we may be able to specify one or two of the sessions when that will not occur, if it’s an issue for you check the relevant noticeboard at Xplore to confirm).
If you need to call on our team for help at any point raise both your arms vertically to signal.
If you want or need to leave the ritual at any point remove your blindfold then slowly open your eyes, giving yourself time to adjust before making your way carefully back to and through The Threshold.
If you speak to others about your experience of the ritual please do your best to do just that, so that people who are intending to participate on Saturday or Sunday are as much in the dark about it as you were.