Special Section

 

Clio Art Fair, May 18-21, 2023 presents a special section titled

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What's Your Fight?

 

During our show, we will be gladly hosting a series of performances that urge us to ask ourselves:

Why is the life of most human beings dominated by discontent, by anguish,

by fear of  war, by war?

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With this set of questions, the intellectual Pier Polo Pasolini invites us to reflect on how our daily lives are impacted by conflicts.

 

War has accompanied human beings since the beginning of their existence. From ancient times to the present, men have tried to justify, control, and even codify war in various ways, sacralizing the methods by which it was conducted or the ends for which it was induced. The contemporary era does not escape the permanence of war: conflicts have multiplied and penetrated into every aspect of our lives.

 

When we read the word “war”, the first example we think of is the one between Nations or entire populations. But war can take on various different forms, and happen on several fronts: identitarian, intimate, familiar, sexual, financial, as much as racial, religious, and political. War could be in the intimacy of our bedrooms, our dining rooms, in the workplace, in restaurants, on public transportation, and along the streets. Among neighborhoods, between colleagues, with parents, children, between a couple, and with oneself.

 

But conflicts are not always something negative. As the philosopher and pedagogist John Dewey argued: “Conflict is the gadfly of thought. It stirs us to observation and memory. It instigates invention. It shocks us out of sheep-like passivity, and sets us at noting and contriving… conflict is a sine qua non of reflection and ingenuity.”

 

One can agree or disagree, but it can certainly not be denied that conflict is something we have to deal with. It is our choice whether to do it constructively or destructively.

 

Whether we approach the question in a more critical and alarming way, like Pasolini does, or with a more pragmatical and hopeful perspective, as Dewey suggests, it is inevitable to recognize that:

 

We all face conflicts. We are all unresolved. We are all puzzles under construction looking for the next key piece to be placed.

 

And you? What’s your fight? What are you fighting for? What are you doing today for and/or against your fight?

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Featuring the performances of:​

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THURSDAY, MAY 18th

Verónica Peña, A Matter Of... (7:00-8:00pm)

Katie Cercone & Ronit Levin Delgado, Dear Mama (8:00-9:00pm)

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FRIDAY, MAY 19th

stringdance+media/christy walsh, Schemes Ripening in the Midday Sun (12:00-1:00pm)

John O'Donnell, Triangle Eyes (4:30-5:30pm)

Alice Celeste (Nicole Javorsky), Radically Pure (5:30-6:30pm)

PimComedy, The Spriritual War (6:30-7:30pm)

Annika Rhea, Battle Within (7:30-8:30pm)

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