STUDIO DISORDER

Introducing a new project of the Studio Disorder audio podcast: About the lives of people with “otherness” in a “normal” world, in which we break down the themes of “otherness” and “normality”.

Although a large part of us have our own experience of otherness or disability, or of it transmitted through our loved ones, the people we love, live with and near – so-called disability remains an otherness that makes society uneasy, frightening, and perhaps even repulsive.

Why do most of us think that people with disabilities would still prefer to be “normal,” healthy, symmetrical, would still rather not be autistic, live with chronic pain, have HIV, or have their child live with Down syndrome? Why do most of us think that when people need medication, medical care, or personal assistance, it means their life is sad, limited, tragic, in short, one we would certainly never want to live? Why are we moved by movies that explain over and over again, like the blockbusters Million Dollar Baby, The Voice of the Sea, or Before I Met You, that it is better not to live than to live in a body that doesn’t move, that needs the care of others?

There are a number of terms in the podcast that we try to explain directly in the episodes, but we use a glossary that we have created for our work togethery to help explain many of them. It is equally important for us to make available to you the sources from which we have drawny. You can open the sources and the glossary using the PDF at the end of the text. The content of the episode can also be accessed using the transcript, which can be found in the PDF at the end of this text.

COOPERATIONS:

Dramaturgy and mdoing: Kateřina Kolářová
Graphic design: Bára Růžičková Music and sound postproduction: Jonáš Richter
Guests*: Matěji Čipera, Karolína Chovancová, Zuzana Kašparová, Pavla Kovaříková, Anna řičář libánská, Elian Poslední and Jitka Rudolfová
Production by Ida Tausch Voiceover by Anita Krausová

Have a nice listening and/or reading!

WHAT IS STUDIO DISORDER ABOUT?
The podcast is not just about capturing the specific experiences of how dominant cultural narratives, imagery, and creativity fail to account for the breadth of human experience, and leave out the experience of people with disabilities, sensory difference, anxiety, depression, psychiatric illness, and generally a specifically different experience of the world. Above all, we would like to collect an archive of the ways in which people who are disenfranchised and disadvantaged find ways of resistance. What pathways they choose to ‘rewrite* cultural narratives and imaginaries, to ‘appropriate* them, and to createnew, more plastic and inclusive imaginaries of the real and unreal world in and among the everyday. In our collective and individual conversations, we would also liketo touch on language and how language co-creates our ability to relate to the world, to ourselves, and to create “communities”.

Thanks to Kateřina Kolářová (dramaturgy), Jonáš Richter (music and sound), Bára Růžičková (graphic visuals) and our guests: Matěj Čiper, Karolína Chovancová, Zuzana Kašparová, Pavla Kovaříková, Anna Řičář Lebánská, Elian Posledný and Jitka Rudolfová.

And here you can find more about those who contributed to the podcast:

Karolína Chovancová uses an electric wheelchair, but this does not stop her from living a full life. She says that sometimes a barrier, such as stairs or a narrow door, gets in her way. She then has to find other ways. She has a wonderful husband and a young son. She lives in a village where she is building a permaculture estate. She wants to live sustainably. She creates her own work. She does coaching and helps people be stronger and happier. More about her at: www.permaraj.cz

Zuzana Kašparová is the co-founder of the feminist project Chasing the Devil and a lecturer. Recently, together with Jakub Strouhal, they released a podcast series about young and sick characters. She co-coordinates the youth activist project Akumulator, teaches a course on Intercultural Competence at the UK, lectures SexEd for Konsent, trains dance and occasionally publishes an article somewhere. She enjoys cuddling with her partner, making friends and reading on the train. She and a few other people have recently been working on creating a crip club, where people who have had enough of ableism come together. They think the future is feminist or no future.

Pavla Kovaříková is a counsellor, lecturer on life issues and mother of Marta and Míša. She was born with congenital glaucoma, had residual vision in childhood and has been completely blind since the age of 15. She studied translation and interpreting at Charles University and psychological counselling in the USA. You may know her for her success in the Paralympics in the medium distance running and cross-country skiing events, or for her artwork. For about twenty years, Pavla has been involved in running experiential and educational programmes for various target groups of sighted people – once as part of the former Institute of Basic Rehabilitation of the Visually Impaired at the UK and the Okamžik Association, now under the banner of Rozhledna. It cooperates with the Association of Parents and Friends of Blind and Partially Sighted Children, SONS Social and Legal Counselling Centre and Tyfloservis, o.p.s.

anna řičář libánská (she/her) is an anarcho-neurodivergent feminist and activist who is currently doing her PhD at the Faculty of Arts of Charles University in Ibero-American Studies – specifically on the topic of the representation of indigenous peoples of the so-called Americas in Czech popular culture and imagination between 1948 and 1989. She also enjoys gender theory, reflections on colonialism and exploring different types of social otherness. Apart from writing her dissertation, she is also engaged in other academic activities that take up most of her time. She also reads a lot in her spare time, so much so that she organises regular collective readings with Elia Plíhal called Circle of Intersection. She is involved in Mad Pride and also tries to spread awareness about sex work on social media. She enjoys surrounding herself with plants, going to galleries and nature, and trying (in vain) to learn to play synthesizers. She spends a large part of her day daydreaming in addition to reading.

The project is realized with the financial support of the City of Prague and the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic.