Lunchtime Talk
Fri 9 Oct 2020 13:00-14:00 at YouTube Live
Dr Duckie's Homemade Mutant Hope Machines
For this lunchtime talk we are joined by Ben Walters aka Dr Duckie. Ben will be discussing what makes a homemade mutant hope machine tick & his years of research spent with legendary queer performance collective, Duckie.
Zed @ They Them Studio
Speaker
Ben Walters
Dr Duckie – aka Ben Walters – is Duckie's in-house bent boffin. He's written a big thesis and turned it into a talk. And he might give you a few ideas too if you fancy. From 2014-2018, Ben did a PhD about Duckie’s work and coined the concept Homemade Mutant Hope Machines – a way of describing how people without much clout can start to build better worlds on their own terms. For two years, he took notes at Duckie’s community-centric projects like The Posh Club, The Slaughterhouse Club, D.H.S.S, Duckie Family and the Vintage Clubbing Sessions. Ben has also produced cabaret events including Queer Fun: An Ivory-Tower Vaudeville, The Prime of Ms David Hoyle and BURN: Moving Images by Cabaret Artists. His documentary films about queer performance include This Is Not a Dream (co-dir. Gavin Butt), Vinegar to Jam (co-dir. Edward Lawrenson) and Cut To.This Lunchtime Talk will be broadcast live on Watershed's YouTube channel
As the world we knew cracks apart, it’s easy to despair. But Dr Duckie is here to make the case for hope as a pragmatic technology of civic change. Better worlds are possible, even for those at the sharp end of injustice and inequality. And we can all make them together – one deed, one day, one dance at a time. It’s about collective care and support, the value of mutation and the power of fun.
Following years of doctoral research with legendary queer performance collective Duckie, and first-hand immersion in their unique community projects, Ben Walters – aka Dr Duckie – had a brainwave. It's all about homemade mutant hope machines.
Emergent, autonomous and adaptive forms and processes that routinely generate hope in the possibility of better worlds for people on the margins. They start at home and adapt to changing conditions.They work toward their own goals on their own terms. And they prove that, when you routinely behave as if better worlds are possible, those worlds start to appear.
In this talk, Dr Duckie outlines what makes a homemade mutant hope machine tick. His examples are Duckie community projects made with and for older people, homeless people and young queer artists. But it’s not just about Duckie. Hope machines are everywhere. They're what the future's made of. What’s yours?
Duckie are a group of veteran LGBTQ club runners that emerged out of the wasteland of south London’s Vauxhall a quarter of a century ago. Renowned for its mix of progressive pub rock by DJs Readers Wifes with arty, provocative short stage shows introduced by its indefatigable toastess Amy Lamé, and socially flanked by notorious doorwhores The Cloths, it has run every Saturday night at Royal Vauxhall Tavern for the past 25 years.
Join us on Fri 9th October, 13:00-14:00 for the talk and to take part in the discussion afterwards.
