Hello!

My name is Rosana Cade, and I am an artist who lives in Glasgow. I have created a project called ‘Walking:Holding’, which I take to different towns and cities across the world, and work with local people there to make it happen. In February 2020 I will be doing it in Brussels through Beursschouwburg and I am looking for people to participate.

The project involves one person at a time going on a walk through the city on a carefully planned route and holding hands with a series of different local strangers along the way.

I started this project because as a queer person I found that I was sometimes uncomfortable holding hands with my partner in public. I spoke to other queer people about this, and they said that they had all experienced the same feeling at least once in their lives. Some people said that they never felt comfortable enough to hold hands with their partners in public. This is something that makes me feel very sad, and something I wish to challenge.

I began a series of experiments in Glasgow where I walked holding hands with lots of different people in public, and I became interested in how different I felt with each person, and also the differences in the way other people on the street reacted towards me. I held hands with people of different genders, religions, ethnicities, social backgrounds, and with different disabilities.

It was a privilege to share this intimate action with all these different people, and hear their different relationships to hand holding and stories about their experiences in the city. I became fascinated by the fact that every day in cities we share our public spaces with hundreds of people, and we might all be encountering the same spaces very differently, depending on who we are and our past experiences.

So I decided to create this project called ‘Walking:Holding’, where one audience member at a time gets to go on a walk and hold hands with a range of different people. I did it first in Glasgow in 2011, and have since worked with people from many different countries to make it happen.

I’m looking for people to be a part of this walk in Brussels. As a participant you get to meet a new group of people and take part in a workshop exploring the themes within the project in order to prepare for the performance. During the performance you would be positioned at a certain point along the route, and walk holding hands with each audience member one at a time for about 5 minutes. This is a unique process that can offer a chance for a new perspective on your city, and an opportunity to share your own experiences with others.

If what I have described above resonates with you, and you think you would find it interesting to walk holding hands with lots of different people or if you have questions then please do get in touch with Eric Cyuzuzo under eric@beursschouwburg.be. You would need to be available on:

- Monday, 17 February, 6-10 pm (Workshop)
- Thursday, 20 February, 6-10 pm (Rehearsal)
- Friday, 21 February, 4.30-10 pm (Performances including Warm-up, break and aftertalk)
- Saturday, 22 February, 1-9 pm (Performances including Warm-up, break and aftertalk)
- Sunday, 23 February, 1-9 pm (Performances including Warm-up, break and aftertalk)

In order to make it an interesting experience for each audience member I would like to work with people who are as different to each other as possible, e.g. a range of ages, backgrounds, genders, sexualities, appearances and identities.

I’m open to anyone who is interested getting involved, and you don’t need to have any special experience. Please feel free to pass this on to anyone else who you think might be interested.

I look forward to hearing from you!

Love Rosana x