The Inner Playground. An audio journey by Tim Holland

Written by Beate Absalon

All these workshops, sessions, and play areas are places we visit because we want to experience ourselves differently, encounter others, and become someone else. Transformation, change, becoming a stranger, becoming close, metamorphoses, turning the inner out, the outer in, being turned inside out, being lifted elsewhere, going through the ceiling and deep into the earth, letting oneself be amazed, astonished, surprised, and moved by the unimagined and the unknown, letting it all out, everything out, inventing the unheard, sensing, approaching, circling, trying, temptation. But all the workshops and sessions and games are currently off-limits to us—pause, lockdown, retreat, distance. I therefore recommend, for everyone who still wants to experience physical sensations with “Huiuiuiuiuiui!” feelings, this wonderful guide to “becoming an alien” by my dear and talented friend Tim, which transforms you completely…

To do this, find a quiet place, put on your headphones, press play, and follow the instructions…

 

After completing an apprenticeship as a bookseller, Tim Holland studied at the German Literature Institute in Leipzig. He reads, writes, translates, edits, hosts events, leads writing workshops, and publishes texts—both online and offline. In the spring of 2016, his poetry collection *vom wuchern* was published by Gutleut Verlag in Frankfurt am Main. *vom wuchern* was honored by the Literaturhaus Berlin as one of the “Poetry Collections of the Year 2016.” In 2017, he founded hochroth Verlag in Munich together with Tristan Marquardt. Tim Holland is currently working on a science fiction verse epic.

 
Beate Absalon

As a cultural studies scholar, Beate Absalon explores “other states,” such as childbirth, the grieving process, hysteria, sleep, radical happiness & collective (kill-)joy, and sadomasochistic practices. After initially investigating how ropes can induce active passivity—through bondage, but also in puppetry or political activism— she is currently writing her dissertation on inventive forms of sex education. Her theoretical interest is fueled by practice, as she enjoys putting herself and others into ecstatic states—preferably in an undogmatic way: flogging with a leather whip or a bundle of dew-fresh mint, holding with rope or an embrace, playing with aggressive cuddling or loving humiliation, letting words or spit flow. Doing what falls outside the norm and the everyday can be frightening and, at the same time, immensely pleasurable. Beata designs workshops and sessions as spaces for exploring boundaries, where limits are crossed and discovered, vague and daring fantasies are explored together, and a personal style is allowed to emerge.

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Video interview by the Goethe-Institut China with Beata on “Pornography & Society”
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