Survival Manual – screening and discussion

Thursday 30 September 2021 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM

PLATO Ostrava | Janáčkova 22 (bývalý Bauhaus) | Ostrava | www.plato-ostrava.cz

Concept: Alma Lily Rayner
Participants: Andrea Tobolová, Mirka Slívová, Jakub Černý (reading John Donne), Magdalena Šipka, Elena Gorolová, Martin Novák (reading Donnard White), Alex Sihelská, Radek Šabacký (reading Bell Hooks), Ladislav Fabian, Tess (reading Václav Hrabě), Bára Vidomská (reading Anastázie Klemensová), Zuzana Fialová, Alex Vonsík and Alma Lily Rayner (reading Audre Lorde)

Camera: Michal Blecha, Ivan Svoboda
Sound: Jakub Černý
Translation in Czech: Martin Novák, Olga Pek
Translation in English: Františka Schormová, Veronika Pehe

Video recording of a performance for the project by Alma Lily Rayner that deals with community models of mutual support, followed by a discussion with performers.

"Survival Manual is a participative platform designed for people with diverse experiences but a shared interest: to be able to find support in difficult life situations and to create autonomous support networks for their communities.
It is a space of encounters between survivors of sexualised violence, psychiatric survivors, Roma women, people with an addiction experience, LGBTQ+ activists and other activists, dealing with various forms of oppression. 
Over the course of several months, the group met to discuss the functions and limitations of state institutions in providing emotional and social care. Through the exchange of needs, frustrations and work methods, participants explored alternative models of mutual support, led by experts by experience.
The first public output of the project took place in the form of a collective reading. In the performance, each participant offers a piece of themselves. Each came to read a text meaningful for their existence. Some wrote their own words and some borrowed from the words of others. All are here to transform silence into collective action.
The screening will be followed by a public discussion with the performance participants."

Alma Lily Rayner