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Thresholds And Lust
Peter Banki
SUN 14:30-17:00
The proximity to death is not necessarily negative, it can be that which gives us the feeling of being most alive. Death touches us not simply as “a fact of life”, but also as a fantasmatic object of desire. Many people, consciously or unconsciously, search for limit-experiences for the intensity and thrill of being on the threshold of something that gives them the feeling of being close to death.
In this workshop, we’ll explore how certain erotic practices encroach the fantasmatic thresholds of death and dying. You’ll be given the opportunity to try them. All activity will be safe, consensual, and risk aware.
This workshop is held in English
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What happens in the workshop?
In this workshop we will explore different erotic practices that bring us into proximity with the idea of death. These include sensory deprivation, passivity, restraint, body bags, breath play, knife play, electro play, etc. At stake in this workshop is death as an idea or fantasy, not a reality. None of the practices in this workshop will actually put anyone’s life in danger. All activity will be consent-based and risk aware.
Time permitting we will attempt a group role play scenario: the Kinky Funeral Parlour.
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For whom is the workshop?
The curious and the brave of all genders and orientations. It is possible to just watch and not participate.
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Will I need to bring something, is there a dress code, how do I prepare?
Please bring any objects or materials you may like to use in the play part of the workshop, such as rope, hoods, violet wands, gags, knives. You might also like to come dressed as a character, such as undertaker, corpse, hangman, executioner, grieving widow, religious leader, priest, etc.
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Is there nudity in the workshop?
No, unless we decide to wash the bodies before burial. It’s possible.
Peter Kimberly Banki, Ph.D founded the School of Really Good Sex in 2015. Prior to that he curated Xplore - Festival of the Art of Lust in Sydney from 2011-2013. He says: “when you are intimate with someone, you see who they are. And that’s when it’s really exciting. Much more than their competence or whatever, it’s their being. Sex opens up and shows you a being at their most open and vulnerable, whatever their role.”
Peter has an extensive background in Iyengar yoga, dance and the martial arts (Capoeira Angola). His somatic and movement practice forms the basis of his work in the sex-positive field.
Peter has also been a scholar and teacher of European philosophy and literature for much of his adult life. Philosophers such as Friedrich Nietzsche and Georges Bataille, Anne Dufourmantelle, Avital Ronell and Jean-Luc Nancy have most inspired him in his thinking about sexuality and eroticism. He holds a Ph.D in German studies from New York University (September, 2009). His book The Forgiveness To Come: the Holocaust and the Hyper-Ethical came out recently with Fordham University Press. He is currently affiliated with the Philosophy Research Initiative at Western Sydney University. Articles about Peter's work on The Festival of Really Good Sex have been featured in many news outlets, including The Guardian, Archer Magazine, ABC Radio National and news.com. He has also been interviewed about the Festival of Death and Dying, which he also founded and directs, on ABC Radio and the Sydney Morning Herald. His work on apology and forgiveness has been featured on 2SER and on the philosophers’ zone on ABC Radio National.
A selection of Peter's academic publications can be found at www.peterbanki.com
