Do you think that things easily grow too big; that different phenomena in your life consume too much time, energy and resources; that constant expansion and acceleration are uncomfortable concepts?
Then you are most welcome to a practical exercise in shrinking, at Skogen in Gothenburg. As a participant, you will be guided through a small-scale ritual that does not require any prior knowledge.
The drive to constantly expand seem to be deeply embedded in our culture, as a form of fundamental edict that a positive movement forward always goes hand in hand with an increase in size. Not only economies need to grow, but cities and municipalities have to become constantly bigger, reach and impact must increase, working hours and years must increase. And while these larger movements are in play, we are also expected to grow as individuals.
Maybe we should therefore practice shrinking?
The event is in Swedish, free of charge, about 45 minutes long, and afterward soup is served.
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RITE is a research platform that, in practice and theory, is dedicated to transition and sustainable social cultivation.
RITE is trying to respond to the societal transformation we are all now experiencing and the great transformation we have ahead of us, based on our conviction that this process involves very profound changes in our cultural fabric, our beliefs and social institutions.
RITE therefore approaches – in practice and theory – the underlying thought systems and invisible ritual behaviors that have governed our institutions and our social fabric through modernity: Thought models and practices that are also often the very root of the problems we are now asking the same institutions to solve.
This happens in interaction with what we call the ritual spaces of society: the space of learning, of law, urban planning, economics, politics, etc. Ritual spaces that are all interconnected, but at the same time also carry their own rites and stories. In our work, we seek out these different social spaces in order – together with those who work there – to uncover and make visible the underlying operating systems of these spaces and explore how these can be changed, opened up or put into play.
The Rite Development Group is part of RITE and focuses on the ability of rites and rituals to affect us and create tangibility. We also test how new rites can be introduced in different contexts in society, in ways that can open up other realms of thought, interruptions, ways out and possibilities for action.
The group is Lars Noväng, Johan Forsman, Sara Granér, Ludvig Lindelöf and John Huntington.
More info at: www.rite.agency