The Juicy Lab
is a queerfeminist contact-, body-
and artpositive Space
wednesday 25.08.24 - sunday 01.09.24
Exploring layers of intimacy
Juicy – as a living, flowing, perceptive being.
Sensing the beauty – the juicyness – of life and being in the body
Tender, somatic, diverse.
Attention please: The Juicy Lab is also a „sex-positive“ festival. We understand this to mean allowing our otherwise often excluded sexual existence to be included and celebrating all forms of consensual sexuality as well as all body shapes, characteristics and preferences. We want to place the DIVERSITY of contact and intimacy at the centre and allow sexuality to take its own momentary place and expression. There will be programme points within recognisable frameworks for possible sexual interaction within the group or with oneself. Nudity and sexuality are invited on a voluntary basis, never as a „must“. It is neither guaranteed nor required that participants engage in sexual activity.
Why only this one page in English when the Juicy Lab will be in held in English language this year? We are working on a plug in that translates the whole website with one click! Until then, this is a temporary solution.
an Invitation
Here & Now: Would you like to not only read this invitation on a screen, but also perceive yourself as a sensual being? Your feet, your belly, your breathing, perhaps listening to your body with fascination for a moment – what does this invitation evoke in you?
The Juicy Lab 2024 focuses on intimacy.
This year, we will explore, discover, create, reflect and criticise what intimacy (does not) mean to us.
Layer by layer.
The self-determined expression of physical, emotional and mental intimacy is a central basic human need. Physical intimacy can include touch and sexual activity. Emotional intimacy refers to the sharing of feelings and experiences. Mental intimacy addresses mutual support and encouragement. In the (patriarchal) power system, intimate (self-) expression is discriminated and tabooed. Violence and border crossings occur on a daily basis and power and discrimination relationships also have an effect on intimate contact. One consequence is alienation from one’s own body and emotions. This culture individualises, both in the way we view problems and in the search for solutions.
From touch to pain, hold and emotional flow, witnessing and strengthening ourselves, enjoying each other in community.
We want to explore what intimacy means for us individually and collectively.
Do you also want to reclaim intimacy, beauty and creativity as a superpower in a capitalist - patriarchal society?
We believe in a necessary cultural revolution in which our body (perception) is an essential source of transformation, activism and social justice.
This requires courage. Courage to fail, to question, to be uncomfortable. We no longer want to preserve assumed safety and simplicity at the expense of suppressing our liveliness, of white-cis-binary-hetero-mono-normative, anti-body ideas and concepts. We also believe that no one is NOT suffering from the resulting separation. Patriarchal, (post)colonial, capitalist power structures have a concrete, tangible impact on our bodies, language, relationships, our living expression and possibilities for action.
Brave Space
Dear everyone in between and outside, ladies and gentlemen: a respectful, appreciative and caring interaction with each other is our baseline. At the same time, we are entering a research space and we cannot guarantee a 100% safe space. We believe that conflicts, challenges and uncertainties can also lead to valuable experiences.
Answering these response-able and finding a way to deal with them is therefore a great individual and collective learning opportunity.
Perhaps we can find in this very thing a new form of stability and security.
A ground from which it is possible to explore and play. A place where we become brave enough to allow ourselves to be absurd and fluid, and to become reliable in this. In order to continue to move this as a community, we will look more closely at consensus and develop a common language. In addition, an awareness team will help with emotional processes, discrimination incidents and clarifications. In terms of space, there are some nature-based, low-stimulus areas to withdraw to.
And yet, a learning field also needs boundaries. Repeated discriminatory, inconsiderate behaviour or lack of understanding will not be tolerated and can lead to exclusion from the event.
For further details, read the awareness concept.
Programm
The programme will be a good mix of learning and exploration spaces, relaxation, somatic movement, lectures and exchanges, art space, nature and free community time.
We will keep you informed about the programme!
Do you make art, music, poetry, performance or something else that could be interesting for the Juicy Lab? Workshop leaders and artists are welcome to get in touch via mail.
It is also important to us to think about intersectional discrimination and to empower people who are often underrepresented in society and at such events to take a stage at the Juicy Lab.
Workshops, art and other input from people who identify as queer, TINFLA* and/or BiPOC/ Body of Culture will therefore be prioritisedt(with similar qualifications).
We want to create more visibility for diverse identities and perspectives, find role models, opportunities for identification and inspiration and offer people a self-determined creative space.
Tickets & Location
To keep it personal, intimate and manageable, we are limiting the event to around 120 people including the team.
Your contribution to this event is
1) for accommodation & food for the 5 days 299€. This includes all costs for the premises, camping and full vegan catering and goes directly to the location and our chefs. There are 21 beds in 1-5 bed rooms. For this comfort we ask you to register when you register (first comes & special needs prioritised) and to bring 10-15€ per night in CASH upon confirmation.
2) the festival ticket of 250 – 140€ (sliding scale depending on income and possibilities, see * ) which will be used for material, compensation for the organisational work of the core team, compensation for expenses of facilitators and the extended team, as well as operating costs of the company through which we run the event.
There will be approx. 20 helper tickets, which can be purchased at a significantly reduced price in return for on-site support. *
If this is also a financial obstacle, please contact us for a solidarity ticket.*
*You can apply for a helper ticket in the registration. You can voluntarily disclose your position in order to prioritise your access to a discounted ticket, e.g. on the basis of discrimination through racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, transophobia, lookism (pretty privilages), classism and low income. For the last one, please consider your access to income and wealth and how easily you could get more income by your own decision compared to other people in Germany and in the world. These criteria also serve as a guide in deciding your self-determined ticket price within the Slidingscale.
We will also redistribute and donate part of the proceeds.
STORNO
If, for whatever reason, you are unable to take part in the Juicy Lab, we will try to pass on your place to people on the waiting list. If your place is able to be filled, we will keep a cancellation fee of 50,-EUR and refund the remaining amount. If it is no longer possible to fill your place, we will retain the full amount. Latest cancellation 7 days in Advance, after that we won’t be able to refund. Please understand the work that takes in the middle of an build up.
Please be aware:
The site is not wheelchair accessible – workshop rooms and indoor accommodation are only accessible via stairs.
The event will be held in English & German spoken language.
The event is not family friendly, children and pets must stay at home.
25.08. – Sunday, 01.09.2024
Our Event will take place close to Berlin. The Farm is a picturesque, historic 4-sided farm in the south of Berlin (easily accessible by S-Bahn) with a large garden where you can lounge naked or dance, a huge culture barn, various developed, atmospheric seminar rooms and a sauna with chill-out spaces.
There will be an outdoor kitchen where we’ll have beutiful vegan food cooked for us.
Guidelines
The Juicy Lab is a consent-The Juicy Lab is a consensus-based event. We want to sensitise people to the fact that consensus is complex and involves more than just (not) agreeing to an interaction. Some things can only be discovered through trial and error. It is a constant process of getting to know each other, feeling things out and exploring new boundaries. The first day will deal specifically with consensus for the entire group in order to create a common basis of understanding and communication for the event. Among other things, the RBDSM discussion guide and other tools will be taught at the event to make it easier to act in accordance with personal, situational, interpersonal and already agreed relationship boundaries. Among other things, we will also address the topic of power and privilege in order to incorporate this into taking responsibility for interaction.
There will be awareness structures at Juicy Lab to support you with triggers, emotionally challenging situations, lostness/lonelyness, etc. The awareness team will consist of qualified people.
By this we mean trying to make the Juicy Lab (socially) sustainable in all the places we can and are aware of. We want to use our privileges of being able to open this space to create together and work for more justic in the world.
Please be responsible with your bodily fluids and those of other people. Learn about STIs (Sexually Transmitted Infections) and get tested before the event. (Note that some STIs can only be detected a few weeks or up to 3 months after unprotected sex).
We are NOT writing this because we want to facilitate unprotected sex among tested people on the Lab! We want to reduce risks and take responsibility and clearly recommend safer sex on the Juicy Lab. This includes getting tested beforehand.
Intimacy and physical contact stimulate our oxytocin levels, as well as the release of various other hormones. This alone is likely to bring us to a state of consciousness at such an event that is different from our everyday lives: more open, more sensitive, more sociable.
You don’t need intoxicants/drugs to experience or enable anything specific on the spot. If drug use is essential and important for you in the context of such events, the Juicy Lab is not the right address for you.
Therefore, the Juicy Lab is basically a sober event.
If a certain substance (like nicotine, caffeine, etc.) or medication is part of your bio-chemical baseline in everyday life, then you do not need to break with it at the Juicy Lab and start a detox there. In any case, please do not consume more than usual on site!