Resting Stories and Creative Writing Workshop Call Out: A Crash Course in Cloudspotting
Image: Raquel Meseguer Zafe
Do you need to rest throughout the day? Do you have a story to share about resting in public? Commissioned by WDR, we are gathering stories from German speakers based in Europe, to feature in a radio play which will be broadcast in Autumn 2024.
Friend of MAYK and long-term artist collaborator, Raquel Meseguer Zafe, is adapting her performance piece A Crash Course in Cloudspotting for radio with West German Broadcasting. A Crash Course in Cloudspotting is an intimate audio journey and installation, produced by MAYK, that shares stories from people with chronic illnesses that require them to rest in public. The piece was featured as part of Mayfest 2022 and Horizon Showcase at Edinburgh Fringe 2023. It explores these everyday stories and acts of bravery, told with honesty and frankness.
Raquel has been living with chronic pain for over a decade, which means she needs to lie down – a lot – often in public spaces. In 2015, she began to lie down in public so she could travel or take in an art exhibition without triggering a flare up. She would lay down on trains, benches, in galleries. Sometimes she got kick-back and sometimes she was asked to move on. In 2016 she triggered a security alert by lying down on the 6th floor of the Southbank Centre.
A Crash Course in Cloudspotting is a collective response to this: it’s not just Raquel’s experience, but many of ours as well. Through this call out, we hope to find Europe-based German speakers to amplify and add to the unheard stories and experiences of chronically ill and disabled people.
Ways to share your story with us:
You can share your story via this link. Sign up here to an online introductory workshop led by Raquel. In the workshop you will be guided through creative writing exercises to help pen your story.
Workshops will take place on:
Friday 1st March, 1pm-2.30pm CET
Thursday 14th March, 1pm-2.30pm CET
Thursday 28th March, 1pm-2.30pm CET
All submitted stories will become part of an archive of Resting Stories. To find out more about Raquel and her work visit: www.uncharteredcollective.com
FAQs
What happens next?
The call out closes on Friday 29th March at 6pm. Every story will be uploaded to the archive, Raquel may suggest some small edits and will contact you directly to seek your permission. Roughly 6 stories will then be selected to feature in the radio play. You will be contacted via email by 15th April to talk through how we might record your story for the radio play.
Can you tell me more about the workshop?
The online workshop will be led by Raquel Meseguer Zafe in English with dramaturg Noa Winters. Noa will translate during the workshop, they are not a translator by trade but as an access consultant and advocate they are able to bridge the language between the UK and German disability communities. The workshop is a creative writing workshop, leading you through exercises to help pen your resting story. Workshops will be for 12-14 participants and will last around 1 hour. Workshops are for those that identify as living with a chronic illness or disability and who need to rest throughout their day.
Will the workshops be accessible?
All workshops will be held online via zoom. Participants are welcome to attend as they need to. We welcome people joining with camera on or off, joining from your bed or sofa, or joining for just part of the workshop. We will be using German closed captions. Please do contact us with any access requirements you have.
I live outside of Germany; can I submit my story?
Yes. We are looking for stories from German speaking people with lived experience of chronic illness and disability who live in Europe.
This project is a WDR commission produced by MAYK, with associate producer Hattie Gregory.