Crip Coalition Constellations

“Crip Coalition Constellation” considers what might be different if we gazed up at the sky and called the constellations “the reparations constellation”, “the crip constellation”, “the kinship constellation”, or “the zine constellation”. These names would articulate a politics of disability justice, trans*kinship making, community scale and practices of repair. What figurations of connection can we cast space for that re-center our community’s struggles and successes? How can we hold close our past community successes to continue to remember that collective transformation is always possible? In this evening simo_tier, SchwarzRund and Ren Loren Britton will come together to share stories around when coalitions have happened in hir-his-her-storical disabled, anti-racist and trans-queer organizing groups. Focusing on the crip movement in 1980s Germany, we will narrate stories from its history. In the first part of the evening we will tell stories like when Roma, Sinti, Jewish, Gay & Disabled groups worked together to shift reparations laws post WW2 in Germany; when disabled activists resisted and chronicled the ableist “Frankfurter Urteil“ court case in 1979; when crips from the Krüppel Zeitung criticized mobility aids like “the senatorin” infused with misogyny; and when wheelchair users -then and now- navigate daily life like grocery shopping and have remarked on ableist cityscapes and architectures. In each of these stories we will focus on the activists’ successes and strifes that have been chronicled.

After the input, in the second part of the evening, stargazers and constellation namers will be invited to feel and gaze at the stars in Innsbruck and nearby their homes with tactile star maps, mailed to online registrants and available in Innsbruck at Büchsenhausen. Starnamers in all places are invited to re-name constellations with a story connected to their own political organizing – focusing on when multiple groups have worked well together, as the occasion for re-naming. This asynchronous constellation naming will invite us to tie our political successes to starry planetary guides – guiding us toward ever more collectively possible presents.

Text: Ren Loren Britton

Access Info:

Online:

The call will be enabled with automatic closed captions in English. The event is hybrid and will be held in English. You can either attend in person at Künstler*innenhaus Büchsenhausen or follow the event online via Zoom. The Zoom link will be provided after registration via Eventbrite.

If you are joining the event online, you also have the option to register for a tactile star map. To do so, please open the form linked on the Eventbrite page, or click here and enter your address.

Please note that if you provide your address after March 18, we cannot guarantee that the map will arrive in time for the event.

Onsite:

Unfortunately, the space in Innsbruck is not wheelchair accessible. The bathrooms are used as gender neutral. Chairs with backs, arms and floor seating is all available. We have plenty of space to store mobility devices of all kinds. There is a low sensory space available.

Bio:

simo_tier (it/them) is a mixed-media, audio, and fiber artist* and activist*, influenced by their lived reality as a disabled, fat, indigenous, agender, white, gay, AuDHD femme. It is deeply passionate about lifting up and supporting QTBIPoC voices and projects, as well as breaking down barriers to create communities based on Disability Justice and reformative change. They live, work, and currently study for a MA in Art in Context at the UdK in Berlin.
http://simo-tier.de

SchwarzRund (she/they/@) moved to Bremen as a Black German Dominican* at the age of three and has been living in Berlin for over a decade. On schwarzrund.de and in various magazines, she writes about multidimensional life realities within and beyond communities. She also addresses these topics on stage as a speaker* and poet*. She did her BA and MA in Cultural Studies and Gender Studies. Her research focuses on Queer Black interventions and Afrx-Latinx identities. Currently, she is pursuing a PhD in the Contested Democracy research group at the University of Erfurt, examining concepts of democracy in the work of Audre Lorde.