Practicing Ego: The Making of Wasp's Nest
Practicing Ego: The Making of Wasp's Nest
Self-regard in the face of in-security and the glare of grief. I am that bitch because I decided to be and I see it through.
This is a journal of sorts to archive this event and this concept as a real, materialized piece of history. I thought I would start off this piece of writing by admitting how taxing the 30-day commitment I made to promoting Wasp’s Nest has been. It is even really hard, at this moment, to express my thoughts through a slight headache and feelings of doubt and insecurity. I am doing it nonetheless. This, for me, is what I’ve experienced self-regard being in active form: willing myself into the material future without the tangible evidence or even promise of a particular outcome aside from it being ‘done’.
Wasp’s Nest is an erotic, virtual symposium installation event. The first part will take place on Sunday April 7th, 2024 at 7:30pm EDT.
The Throughs
When I look at how I’ve come to make Wasp’s Nest a few through-lines become clear. And if you’ve been rocking with me for awhile you may recognize them:
BadBitchiki— A (now defunct) discord that I made to house and share in erotic theories, pole dance theories, pole social contructs
Museeum— A idea for still image or live action installation of pole dance performances curated around a conceptual theme
Old Internet Energy— A (now defunct) What’s App community, created to share No cap (no captioned) videos, self-time destructing videos or thirst traps, No pole (bodies on everything else) videos or photos, No Tricks videos.
Most of these are virtual—inna:nets—inner networks in online applications and formats. They never grew the legs that I had hoped for them to, but it would seem they are the blood and water for the body of work that is now Wasp’s Nest.
The Name
Wasp’s Nest as a concept is so complex. It is named for the juke joint, dance club that my mother and father first dated at—and yet, as symbolic as that is, I don’t think I’d want a marriage that’s lost its romance but has kept its legacy. How do you hold those two truths together? Wasp’s Nest is a memorial for the inception of my parents's erotic love that I am a result of. It also is a reminder (for me) that 'erotic love' is not the type of love my parents experience together after almost 37 years of covenantal marriage. It’s my hope to always cultivate my eros love, even as a single being, even by the production of Wasp's Nest.
In another post I’ll talk about how the visuals came together, because that deserves its own archive.
The Unspoken
Wasp’s Nest is also underlined with the “Rhizome” philosophical concept developed by Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari. This theory that consider the behavioral patterns of wasps in nature. Rhizome examples: lateral spreading plants like bamboo, growth perpendicular to gravity, mycelium, wasp and orchid, oral history, the underground railroad, social media, maps, highway systems. Note these quotations for a better understanding1 :
A rhizome works with planar and trans-species connections, while an arborescent model works with vertical and linear connections. Their use of the "orchid and the wasp" is taken from the biological concept of mutualism, in which two different species interact together to form a multiplicity (i.e. a unity that is multiple in itself).
"In this model, culture spreads like the surface of a body of water, spreading towards available spaces or trickling downwards towards new spaces through fissures and gaps, eroding what is in its way. The surface can be interrupted and moved, but these disturbances leave no trace, as the water is charged with pressure and potential to always seek its equilibrium, and thereby establish smooth space."
I had Wasp’s Nest on a short list of names before I came across this information. Once I read it, researched it and grasped it fully, Wasp’s Nest I became fully invested in calling the symposium this. This philosophical concept of lateral spreading and venturing out into new space even in the face of disturbance and interruption is really how I envision Wasp’s Nest being— a new channel.
The Undying Love
In my heart, I still am holding space for the people who I shared the inception of this idea with. Some of them who are present in my life at this current moment and those that decided at some point to exit. The taste is bitter sweet. It is lemonade to revisit text threads, moodboards, screenshots and audio notes that were sounding boards and uplifts to bring the idea to life.
There are many more visual and textual reference points I need to archive but for now, just so you get the picture, these will suffice. Some of them are actually really painful to read or look at, because my doubts were so loud or the people who I was water fountaining my dreams to, are no longer apart of my life. That is life, that is reality— one must move on.
The Life
These are my people. When I say my people, I mean my friends. It was really important for my heart in the form of human beings to be throughout this installation (because there will be many parts to out in place, not just this one).
Each of them are so brilliant and they can walk it like they talk it. If you haven’t gotten a chance to meet those who are keyholding on April 7th, please take the time to get to know their work by listening to their audio episodes in podcast here.
The Invite
If you’re receiving this, it is an invitation to come to this event. This is not a showcase of talent or physical ability. This is not a presentation of performance. This is not what is typically associated with a “pole dance event”.
While there will be interactive opportunities for movement and dance. This is an intersectional channeling of thought, oration, identity, being and activity to really spread, map out and build new space.
Thanks for considering me and Wasp’s Nest.
Cite & Source
“Rhizome is a philosophical concept developed by Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari in their Capitalism and Schizophrenia (1972–1980) project.” “Rhizome, Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari | Are.na.” Are.na, www.are.na/block/9167128.
WBR Union Office Collaborations | Are.na. www.are.na/block/1267860.