shy* play
shy* play is a platform co-initiated by aster arribas and antje nestel that operates at the intersection between art-as-process, (un)learning and neurodiversity. Shy is used as a shorthand for shyness, introversion and neurodivergence. The asterisk gestures a refusal to stick to a final form of fixed categories. Shy, introvert, and neurodivergence, in our view, are not fixed identities but rather, relational tendencies that are mobile, in-forming and transformative.
shy* play departs from the urgency to reflect and craft amongst the hindrances that the dominant pedagogical and art contexts and approaches have confronted us with: In our experience, shy, introverted and neurodivergent expressions suffer under the regime of neurotypicality and extraversion, which has become the standard method for institutional pedagogical and artistic experimentation and sociality formation. In response, this project asks: can shyness, introversion, and neurodivergence be a means for creative and experimental sociality formation?
Contrary to neurotypicality and extraversion’s demand for sameness, our experimentation with shyness, introversion and neurodivergence refuses to define it. Rather, we ask: What are neurodivergent tendencies that can serve as springboards to different sociality formations beyond neurotypicality and extraversion? Answers to this question inform the creation of relational techniques which, in turn, perform as a means for pedagogical and artistic experiments in neurodivergent sociality. These techniques are the basis of multiple making-thinking pedagogical workshops and participatory performative events. Through these techniques, we hope to facilitate a spacetime where shyness, introversion and neurodivergence can exist outside the bounds of neurotypical hegemony, while exploring the potential of neurodivergence to create new ways of doing-together-in-difference.
For more information see shy* play's website here.