The Bonobo Garden – Saskia Mieszkalski
The T&P Spectrum for this workshop is: Blue, Green, Purple
Around 10,000 Bonobos are found only south of the Congo in the humid forests of the Democratic Republic of Congo of Central Africa. They are an endangered species, due both to habitat loss and hunting for bush meat. Along with the Common Chimpanzee, the Bonobo is the closest extant relative to humans.
Physical contact and sexual intercourse play a major role in Bonobo society, being used as what some scientists perceive as a greeting, a means of conflict resolution, and post-conflict reconciliation. Bonobos are the only non-human animal to have been observed engaging in all of the following sexual activities: face-to-face, genital sex, tongue kissing and oral sex.
Bonobos do not form permanent relationships with individual partners. They also do not seem to discriminate in their sexual behaviour by sex or age, with the possible exception of abstaining from sexual intercourse between mothers and their adult sons; some observers believe these pairings are taboo within Bonobo society.
When Bonobos come upon a new food source or feeding ground, the increased excitement will usually lead to communal sexual activity, presumably decreasing tension and allowing for peaceful feeding.
The Bonobo Garden is an experimental lab where you can explore yourself by playing. Survey your impulses and behavioural patterns in an open but safe space of encounters!
Saskia will go into aspects of apish as well as human communications. During the process we will activate our senses and look at the resulting emotions. We will primarily focuses on these four interrelated factors:
Smelling – explore the human chemistry bond
Seeing – activate your heart through eye contact
Onomatopoetics – free your self by using your voice
Actions – gestures, food sharing and sexuality – Get what your inner ape wants!
With an introductive learning experience, we will amplify our sensory perception. After that you will accompany to a journey back into your inner native being and the space will be opened for all forms of apish interaction. Ambient jungle sounds and a selection of typical Bonobo food will be provided. The rest will be left to the participants’ imagination. You should have a good mind for playing and exploring and have no problem with nudity and contact. Clothing as well as the use of tools are optional, communication is reduced to onomatopoetics.
Read Saskia Mieszalski’s Biography
Around 10,000 Bonobos are found only south of the Congo River and north of the Kasai River (a tributary of the Congo), in the humid forests of the Democratic Republic of Congo of Central Africa. They are an endangered species, due both to habitat loss and hunting for bush meat. Today, there are at most several thousand Bonobos remaining.
Sexual intercourse plays a major role in Bonobo society, being used as what some scientists perceive as a greeting, a means of conflict resolution, and post-conflict reconciliation. Bonobos are the only non-human animal to have been observed engaging in all of the following sexual activities: face-to-face, genital sex, tongue kissing and oral sex.
The sexual activity happens within the immediate family as well as outside it. Bonobos do not form permanent relationships with individual partners. They also do not seem to discriminate in their sexual behavior by sex or age, with the possible exception of abstaining from sexual intercourse between mothers and their adult sons; some observers believe these pairings are taboo within Bonobo society.
When Bonobos come upon a new food source or feeding ground, the increased excitement will usually lead to communal sexual activity, presumably decreasing tension and allowing for peaceful feeding.
Saskia will go into aspects of apish (and human) communications. During the process we will activate our senses and look at the resulting emotions. We will primarily focuses on these four interrelated factors:
· Smelling – explore the human chemistry bond
· Seeing – activate your heart through eye contact
· Onomatopoetics – free your self by using your voice
· Actions – gestures, food sharing and sexuality – Get what your inner ape wants!
After this introductive learning experience, the space will be opened for all forms of apish interaction. Ambient jungle sounds and a selection of typical Bonobo food will be provided. The rest will be left to the participants’ imagination. Clothing as well as the use of tools are optional, communication is reduced to onomatopoetics.