SD⁴Arts

A practice for system change

We invite peace workers, community builders, activists, group facilitators and researchers of inner and outer system change to a 12-day course in the Art of Self Transformation. We invite you to a creative and experimental space, where we will use artistic tools to explore inner transformations and their relationship to Global System Change. We want to recognize how our daily struggles are intimately connected to one another and to the world situation, and become empowered through art, stepping toward conscious collective liberation. We will consciously use the Art of expression, play, Gestalting and performance to confront the exciting systems within and outside of us to step out of daily normality, to experience the trust building power of community and to awaken the consciousness of a global SELF.

What is SD​​⁴Arts?

SD​​⁴Arts is the Art of Self Transformation as a political practice toward system change. It stands for – Self Discovering, Self Dismantling, Self Developing and Self De-identification.
SD​​⁴Arts empowers people to consciously liberate and transform suppressed life energies through artistic, creative and vital forms of expression. SD​​⁴Arts is a practice of Sacred Activism that proactively aims to reveal and dismantle deep rooted systemic conditioning and bring humans closer to the unfolding and integration of life energies that live within them.

SD​​⁴Arts moves with research questions like:

• How can we be with collapse, uncertainty and impermanence in ways that increase connection and vitality, rather than fear and powerlessness?
• How can the conscious expression of suppressed life energies through Art, Play and “Gestalting” be a contribution to the necessary Global System Change?
• How can we discover a self that has access to the inherent intelligence of life and that lies beyond our social conditioning and human centeredness?
• What are the principles of community that empower us to face the individual and collective crisis?

Stepping out of Normality

Collectively, we want to step out of our usual thinking patterns and habitual ways of speaking and acting. This venture requires the willingness of each participant to step beyond their “personal identity” and “comfort zone” and step into a conscious space of observation and chaos to allow new insights to enter. The intention is to embody these insights, to allow them to transform our minds and hearts – as individuals and as a group. We will face varying forms of resistance stemming from our isolated fearful ego and our “body armor” (Wilhelm Reich). We will open training spaces that will help us to express ourselves beyond our body armor and the limitations of polite conversation that we’re usually confined by. For this we will use humor, exaggeration, distortion and overplaying to observe serious human issues that need transformation and healing.

The Power of Community

SD​​⁴Arts work does not center individual healing. It addresses different aspects of humanity that need attention and are represented through individuals. By revealing them in a communitarian setting we create the potential and possibility of a collective transformation process (which fundamentally also includes the individual). The foundation for this collective transformation process is to actively create a communitarian body that aims to be free of judgment and is based on transparency and trust. This becomes especially important when we look at human issues like love and sexuality, the use of power and practicing spirituality. For this we will train mainly SD-Forum.

The Global SELF

Extreme individualism, disconnectedness and separation of the SELF is one key conditioning of modernity and patriarchy. This internalized limitation of our SELF gives capitalism and other interlocking systems of oppression, including the oppression of Eros as a life force, the possibility that patterns of competition, destruction and violence become a “normal” part of ourselves and of society. We want to open spaces where we experience a wider sense of the SELF. We will practice forms of bioenergetic liberation of our bodies, minds and hearts in order to experience universal forms of existence that brings us in touch with our senses, our potential and touches a SELF that deeply cares for the well-being of all life forms on earth.

This program will include

• Speeches and conversations
• Theater exercises (background in “Theater of the Oppressed” and “physical theater”)
• Experiential spaces for perception beyond the verbal and visual
• Experiential spaces to step out of usual habits and to step into conscious “chaos”
• SD-Forum training

Criteria for participation

Before applying, please read the following basic criteria for participation. These criteria are an orientation for your application process and will create a foundation for the group. If you match these criteria please feel free to write us:

• Openness to enter an experimental space, to transform yourself and the group through playful, artistic expression
• Willingness to step out of your comfort zone, confront inner resistances and hold discomfort
• Allowing the purpose and the principles of this course to be your guide
• Readiness to open for the challenges of our world situation and be touched by it
• Openness for dialogue and letting yourself be changed by the dialogue
• Being accountable to self-responsible participation before, during and after the course
• Willingness to be an active co-creator of the space and to send some trust ahead towards the group

Teachers & facilitators

Rico Portilho (he/him) is a theater educator with emphasis on physical theater. He joined Tamera in 1999 and loves to work with children and adults alike. His main passion is to approach the visionary, intellectual thoughts of Tamera through theater and make them an integrated part of everyday life. Over time he developed a form of theater with the focus on SD as a transformative healing power. His main motivation to work with adults is to heal societal conditioning in them in order to not pass it on to the next generations. He’s the father of an 11-year old son.

Jessica Bomball (she/her) studied theater in Leipzig and worked as a professional actress for many years. She loves to act, perform and improvise, and in these artistic expressions finds a powerful channel for her creative energies. She joined Tamera in 2017, where she finds a place to perform and live these life energies not only “on stage” but in real life. She’s a community builder and socially supports adults, youth and children.

Vera Kleinhammes (she/her) was born and raised in this artistic, radical and creative project when it was still located in Germany. Since she took the decision at 14, to consciously explore what the project stands for she fell in love with it and then decided to live in Tamera . Since then she’s taken different roles within the community with a passion for creating global alliances with other radical and inspiring projects, especially in the Global South. She’s a mother of three kids. Art and SD have always been a passion of hers.

Andy Wolfrum (he/him) is a researcher in peace work. One of his main motivations is to find out what it means to be a true pacifist, getting to know and liberate all life energies within him and bring them into contact with his surroundings. Creating community is an essential political task for him to create a power that faces the challenges of our times. He joined Tamera in 2012; he is the father of a 12-year old son and is engaged in Tamera’s education center. He’s educated in communication and media and joined various non-professional theater projects throughout his life.