Workshop: The knowledge of
bodies in learning processes & clowning

In this workshop instructed by Hilary Ramsden, we dealt with questions about how the body is involved in learning processes. The aim was to reflect on how bodies (can) move in a school context and how the participants of KontextSchule could actively involve them in their collaboration.

Hilary Ramsden is a Senior Lecturer at the University of South Wales, where she teaches Applied Drama, Performance and Activism. Introducing the workshop, Hilary Ramsden explained the links between clowning and activism and discussed the development of rebel clowning into an anti-globalization movement whose activities caused a stir at the 2005 G8 Summit. In the discussion following the presentation, it became appearant that, depending on the people involved and the respective contexts, rebel clowning actions (can) reach their limits and that they should be perceived critically. Among other things it was criticized that it had not been adequately taken into account that since 2005 the situation of black activists and actvists of colour had been changed significantly - as the the Black Lives Matter movement in the USA and beyond made clear. In the Rebel Clowning approaches presented, there is a lack of awareness of these changes and of the different risks to which bodies of different people are exposed in public space. For people affected by racial profiling, for example, it means a completely different - and possibly life-threatening - danger when they take part in such acts of resistance. In the subsequent part of the workshop, Hilary Ramsden worked with practical methods of clowning. Together with us, she examined how motion sequences can become comprehensible through small exercices involving observation and the transfer of the newly acquired knowledge. She also showed us how disrupting these motion sequences can be an playful tool.

The workshop focused on the following questions:

Finally, the experiences and knowledge gained were discussed and reflected upon by the whole group.

Guest: Hilary Ramsden

Date: Friday, 23 February 2018, 10.00am-6.00pm

Literatur zum Treffen