The Art of Conflict by Vora Kim

co-presented by Water and Power & Fountains & Notebook

1-4pm @ Atelier254

Pay-What-You-Can ticket available. Email us at [email protected]

See the rest of the festival's programming

If a person cannot solve conflict with close neighbors and friends, how can they contribute to larger efforts for peace?

How do we cultivate the embodiment and skills necessary to face conflict without abandoning ourselves or each other? The Art of Conflict is a 3 hour practical, skill based somatic workshop where we practice remaining present with ourselves and one another through discomfort, difficult emotions, and sharing conflict. The project asks what becomes possible when intimacy is understood not as the absence of conflict, but as our capacity to stay in a relationship when conflict arises.

In all arenas of life, our ability to face conflict is our growth edge. The skillset of expressing our emotions and resolving differences is critical for a just, joyful and peaceful future that we claim to all desire for ourselves. Through this workshop we will practice sharing vulnerability, listening from the heart, and creating containers to express our emotions despite fear, trauma and triggers.

Full Course Description:

Intimacy is a sacred art that we all can choose to engage with on a daily basis. It is the practice of opening our hearts, and giving and receiving from a place of honesty and openness. Intimacy is the reward for our courage. In spite of previous pain, and future risks of getting hurt - we choose the possibility of being loved.

For many of us, intimacy is a difficult and confusing subject. Childhood experiences teach us we need to be perfect, strong, and helpful. Craving connection, we hide our negative emotions and people please to be loved. As adults, this damages our ability to have genuine connection and closeness.

This course approaches the emotional skillset of intimacy as an art form. We break it down into key components required for intimacy: embodiment, listening, and conflict resolution. We also dive deep into anger, one of the emotions that is most frequently suppressed in Western culture. Anger turned inwards is depression and loss of life.

This course is an introduction into the fundamental practical skills necessary for deeper relationships and intimate connection.

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was raised in and by the mountains and waters of Los Angeles. Part experimental electronic and part contemporary performance, VORA uses electronic production, cello, and channeled vocals to explore mysticism, ecology, and the intimate connection between body, land and emotion.

Since 2021 VORA has performed nationally and internationally, touring their live A/V work The White Snake across Hong Kong, Taipei, and Singapore, and performing for designers at New York Fashion Week.

VORA is a Rising Artist Grant recipient mentored by Nicolas Jaar, and founder of Water&Power, a music venue and community space in South LA centering queer and BIPOC artists. They curate VISCERA, a hybrid experimental performance night bridging DIY and traditional art.

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We would like to acknowledge funding support from City of Vancouver, BC Arts Council, the Province of British Columbia, and Canada Council for the Arts. 💫 CONSTELLATION FESTIVAL 🌟 is a result of a two year cultural production mentorship program with Chapel Sound.

We acknowledge and are deeply thankful that this programming takes place on is the unceded traditional territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.