Open Crafts

As the structure travels, so the language of the chair is interpreted by different craftspeople. Its not just about gathering different sides of the debate, its about who gets to debate and how. What is and isn’t present to our senses – hearing, seeing, touching, playing. To be able to be truly deliberative, to bring everyone in to the conversation, we need to be open multiple angles, perspectives, modes of expression. This includes the sensory, bringing in new ways of being. Not just about language and communication, but also ‘being, and sensing – how we ARE with each other. Are we literally occupying the same space? We don’t pay enough attention to the sensory aspects of what it means to be equal. That’s the presupposition of democracy, not the goal but the pre-supposition. But do our spaces reinforce that or do they reinforce hierarchies? (Kagri Jain)