The Center for the Advancement of Transmodern Awareness will be an experimental public think-tank used to host performances, lectures, workshops, free-school programming, and as-yet unimagined experiments. The foundation of C.A.T.A. will be the architectural and environmental design elements which will mediate interactions in the space. A heavy emphasis will be placed on cultivating curiosity, uncertainty, and self-awareness.
The C.A.T.A. will include a small research library housing a diverse array of materials. It is of central concern for the C.A.T.A. to abandon frequently useless divisions between social and intellectual strata. On our shelves, one might find a copy of a Foucault tome directly adjacent to a movie such as Robocop. Utilizing popular content as a gateway into comparative studies of formal intellectual work is a deep aspect of our practice.
In addition, the space will include a retail component focusing on hand-made ephemera, providing an outlet for ideas and projects currently without context in Kansas City. Such objects will be acknowledged as artifacts of multi-faceted significance rather than mere consumer goods. As with the library, the arrangement and selection of the objects will work to transcend ‘normal’ consumer perspective. In our goal to understand and create alternate systems of exchange, we intend to focus on creating some form of barter system as an integral aspect to the infrastructure of the project. For example, participants may donate skills or services in exchange for their use of the space. In doing so, we will begin to dismantle the abstraction of financial exchange in favor of a directly participatory economy. Not only should such a system encourage a more responsible and reciprocal relationship between the space and its attendees, it will create an imperative for the C.A.T.A. itself to enact the changes it wishes to encourage in order to survive.
In having public stage wherein to perform these experiments, we anticipate creating a resonating impact for the public by providing the experience of a new set of ideas. The space will also function as a platform for the work of others who wish to express and present their own ideas. Due to the public nature of the space, we intend for a broad community of users to take advantage of the possibilities. Carnal Torpor will assume the role of organizers and managers; coordinating schedules, organizing events, and maintaining the Center.
About the Artists: