Provoke to think

The book that won’t be written

Más Arte Más Acción (MAMA) has been reflecting on its past and future.  We intended to write a book about it, but instead came up with a card game using some of the words, phrases and questions harvested from our many conversations. It seemed like a good way to open up our reflections to others, to move away from an introspective process towards sharing in a more open space. 

‘More’ from More Art More Action had been troubling us. More Art? More Action? Why More? Why not Less or No More? We still passionately believe in art that activates change for good, but we needed to revise our purpose. The world, our contexts and we had changed in the fifteen years since founding MAMA.

Every word, phrase and question led us to more questions that needed to be explored. We went round and round in circles and never reached a conclusion about these questions. Should we focus our attention on nature and science? And words like ‘fear’ kept surfacing. The fear of letting go, of endings, of killing possibilities. The fear of not acting for nature, for others and ourselves, of losing our sense of embeddedness in the network of relations we are part of. On the other hand, if we changed direction would MAMA’s existence come into question? We had to overcome the fear of endings to arrive at No More – and with it the possibility of freedom!

No rules

Players are free to use the cards and provoke each other in whatever way they choose. We imagine an interaction of pairs that can react without the pressure of performing in a group. A card is dealt from each of the four categories; More, Less, Less More, No More? The players read their cards aloud and respond in whatever way they choose – sharing reflections, more questions, challenges or silence. 

Everyone who plays this game contributes to the book that won’t be written.