Seriously: Pleasure, a pleasure fest
8th – 14th September

Header image which shows an analog collage of various foto printouts and material collages. The background is a muted and textured turquoise sky that shows a big circle which reminds of the moon, with a small waning moon in its center. Overlaying this background on the top right is a cut out picture of clouds in a contrast-rich sky, partially covering a bright sun. In the below corner is a cut out picture of trees in autumn, with orange and red hued foliage, golden, dried grass in the foreground, and in the far back the top of softly rounded mountain ranges. On the left lower half of the collage you see a cut out of a foto showing soft creases and folds of a duvet covered in white-beige colored sheets, a soft play of light and shadow. Above this lies a cut out foto of an analog collage using various papery materials in pink to purple to green-ish colors with various textures, ripped and cut into various shapes; some are glued flat onto a surface, some are more dimensional and play with light and shadow, bringing textures to life. Cut-out paper forms the word 'landscapes of'. Another small cutout shows the word 'pleasure' written on white paper. Together with the other elements one can read 'landscapes of pleasure'.

[ Image description: the visual shows a soft landscape of all the sublime body feelings you remember across time. It depicts the scent of flowers, freshly cut grass, skin kissed by sun. The flavor of social justice and knowing that every body is doing as well as they can. ]

In the beginning of autumn when the nights grow darker we invite you to an extended moment centering on pleasure*: to come together in the garden, to be pleasurous fruiting bodies, to be unproductive, to become useless to the neo-colonial project – to dream, to rest, to resist.

This invitation comes from a moment of euphoria, from bodies experiencing pleasure. It also comes from bodies experiencing chronic pain, exhaustion and pressure. From bodies shaped by and complicit in reproducing urgency and supremacy of producing ‘value’ over ‘wasting time’. The invitation is carried by a desire to divest from this by extending pleasure into everyday life as a baseline from which to act – or not act.

Thinking with pleasure is complex. We are writing this invitation from a place of privilege and safety. Feeling shy/reluctant/troubled in a conflictuous space that acknowledges the asymmetric suffering in the world; acknowledges bodies that are systemically denied access to pleasure; that instead have to negotiate basic survival.** “How can we sleep when the world is burning?” How do we hold space for pleasure within these painful contradicitions?

What do we want?
We want brave pleasure that escapes normative understandings. We want pleasure as an antidote to oppression, as a form of care – not as an individualistic hedonistic project. We want to practice subversive pleasure together.

We want to spend 6.5 days – and 4eva – reminding each other to chill the fuck out. To move with the trouble of wanting to divest and yet being stuck in productivist habits.

We want to ask: Can our pleasure making abilities be in service to ecologies of liberation? Can we extend resources towards each other when facing the consequences of not being able, not pushing through, delivering, being ‘on time’?
What kind of exchanges can we invent to make each others’ lives more pleasurous? Less threatened in sustenance as we unsubscribe from constant production?

We also want to party <3

There will be music, dance, karaoke, practices for cellular landscapes of pleasure, rooms full of pillows, space for grief, rage – and all the feels, embroidering spells, doing nothing, making something, food, cooking, herbs, naps, learning from Dandylion the cat, picking mushrooms, never-ending conversations about pleasure…

What do you want?
The invitation is veeeery open and the program not pre-defined. We have ideas and we want your ideas. Bring practices, time (!!!), unfinished toughts to share – or not. Just come <3

 

Warmly (from the sofa, navigating the turbulences of organising whilst moving with pleasure),
Helinä & Sepideh

*The ideas that we think pleasure with are not associated with sexuality. Nor excluding it. Do not just mean happy faces and fun. We think about pleasure more in opposition to productivity and economies of exploitation.

**When thinking with pleasure as resistance, we learn from Audre Lorde, bell hooks, adrienne maree brown, Minna Salami and other black feminist thinkers. We also learn from and think with the struggles of indigenous folks, people of color, marginalised genders and sexualities, folks with disabilities, and low-income workers. We acknowledge that our experience is not the same, and our struggles don’t compare.

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Location & dates:
MASSIA, Estonia (travel info: www.massia.ee/getting-here)
8th – 14th September, 6.5 days

To create a space together that enables access for all, we wish for people to start the gathering together. You can leave earlier, come earlier and stay longer. And you’re just as welcome if coming on 8th is not possible for you. We imagine the event with max 30 participants.

Cost:
13€/day for accommodation (14€/day if staying less than 5 nights)
7€/day for food
12€ membership (valid for 12 months)
133 EUR for the whole event

We would like to make this event accessible to those who cannot afford to cover the cost listed above. This can be made possible if those who have access to more, pay more. If possible, we ask you to pay anywhere from 133-266€ to help someone else attend. Even if you can pay 10€ more, it will help someone else to attend.

If you would like to come and you don’t have the financial means to do so, please let us know and we will try to make it possible for you.

Accessibility
We care for a space where we collectively negotiate needs for access and safety.
If you need to know about certain conditions of the house or event please contact us.

We would like to make parts of this event accessible for those who cannot physically attend. If you would like to make this happen and take care of possibilities for people to join online, please let us know.

Unfortunately the building is not barrier-free and doesn’t meet accessibility standards. There are no ramps and no elevator. To enter the building one needs to climb 6 steps, followed by 3cm high thresholds on the floor which are part of the door frames. On the ground floor are bedrooms, studios, the theater hall, toilets and a shower. The functional rooms are too small for wheelchairs. The kitchens are located on the upper floor. To get to the 1st floor one needs to climb two flights of stairs.

Self-organisation
This event, and MASSIA as the event space, are based on self-organisation, participation and shared responsibility. Please read more on this here: www.massia.ee/massia-basics

Also as organisers we want to experience pleasure in preparing and living through this event. You are invited to propose, facilitate, and participate in all aspects of this pleasure fest: content, structure, material and emotional maintenance of the space, and the practical labor of cooking, cleaning, being collective.

See you soon?
Register by sending an email to: seriously.pleasure.fest[at]gmail.com
Please share this invitation with everyone you want to know at this event.