Can we still talk to each other?
Workshop series for young people for understanding and accepting opposing perspectives.
In the four-workshop series, we invited young people (18-40) to explore how we can live more peacefully together within the same community, family, workplace and country, putting up with the fact that we may not always agree. Using the methodology of sociodrama - introduced by J.L. Moreno - a democratic method, to expose problems and think systematically in a safe environment, where group members can investigate different perspectives and try out a number of strategies and scenarios. Tested in laboratory conditions, what it would be like if we started handling things a bit differently. What if we listened to each other, what if we went for a walk in someone else's shoes?
You can probably picture the situation: You are sitting at a table with your friends or at your workplace or during lunch on a Sunday and all of a sudden a political issue comes up and the air freezes. Should I say something? Should I keep quiet? Is it worth it? Will the others listen? Will I listen? Do I even care what they say?
It is extremely difficult to talk politics in Hungary today, especially if those we are with, do not share our views. The tension is palpable and people stick to their truth. No one wants to hear what the other person has to say. But does it have to be like this? Do politics have to ruin families, friendships and relationships? Is it impossible for a right-winger to go hiking with a left-winger?
Now that the elections are coming up, the tension is becoming even more intense. As worldviews clash, we are becoming aware how the same piece of news or the same person can be seen in radically different ways by the two sides.
In the course of our workshop, we tried to break the ice. We tried to prove that it is in fact possible to talk to each other, to have lunch with each other, to go to the theatre together and to play football together, even if we do not agree on everything.
To our four-workshop series, we invited young people (18-40) to explore how we can live more peacefully together within the same community, family, workplace and country, putting up with the fact that we may not always agree.
We used sociodrama, an excellent, democratic method, to expose problems and think systematically in a safe environment, where group members can investigate different perspectives and try out a number of strategies and scenarios. We have tested in laboratory conditions what it would be like if we started handling things a bit differently: What if we listened to each other, what if we went for a walk in someone else's shoes?
With the help of film professionals, we made a short film about the process so that we can share with the public how far we get and show others what we gained by willing to talk to each other. Our primary aim was to try and find a way to understand one another without giving up our principles and integrity.
Dates:
March 18th, 6pm-9pm,
March 19th, 10am-6pm
March 28th, 6pm-9pm,
April 9th, 10am-6pm
Location:
Space of Opportunity, 1083 Budapest, Práter u 63.
Project idea, organisation: Dóra Hegyi / tranzit.hu, Space of Opportunity
Communication: Zsuzsanna Bódi
Leaders of the workshop: Krisztina Galgóczi and Ágnes Blaskó, sociodrama group leaders
The film is going to be maid by Sári Haragonics and her team
Graphics: Andrea Görcz
The main partner of tranzit is ERSTE Alapítvány.
Krisztina Galgóczy PhD, theatre critic, psycho- and sociodrama leader, restorative facilitator. She applies sociodrama in various fields: at university, in theatre, in educational institutes and youth detention centres, and in individual and group sessions. Currently, she is the leader of the Sociodrama section of the Hungarian Psychodrama Association, author and editor of two recently released books about sociodrama.
Ágnes Blaskó, sociodrama group leader. She works with a wide range of groups in order for the participants to make sense of their situation so that they can change it. She works in and out of institutions, both with disadvantaged and with privileged people, because unless we have a mutual understanding of how democracy works, power dynamics can be at work anywhere.
Sári Haragonics MA in Documentary Filmmaking at the University of Theatre and Film Arts in Budapest in 2015. After her diploma film Confrontation, her first feature-length documentary, The Story of My Mothers (Anyáim története) (co-directed with Asia Dér) premiered in 2020 at the Hot Docs Festival in Canada. She is currently working on her second feature film, Hi Sári!, and is also conducting participatory filmmaking workshops for children and adolescents, on which topic she is writing her PhD thesis.
Dóra Hegyi, art historian, curator, head of tranzit.hu and one of the founding members of Space of Opportunity. She considers open forms of contemporary art one of the best tools to practice critical thinking. Contemporary art often addresses familiar issues by questioning established modes of operation and boldly pressing taboo subjects.
