Join Joaquín Pereira, Hanna Hoff and Alina Gispert from Chaga Collective for a taster lab bridging anti-capitalist economic theory with collaborative performance practice. Come for the full day or just for a half-day session in the morning!
This workshop offers an introduction to degrowth economics and shares Chaga Collective’s recent process of making a Degrowth Cabaret. If you are a performer interested in economics, an economist interested in performance or simply curious in how these seemingly distinct languages can be bridged: then this session is for you! But don’t worry, you won’t need prior knowledge of economics or the arts!
WHAT TO EXPECT
Led by economist and dancer Joaquín Pereira the day is about meeting, moving, making and sharing together. Theories surrounding ‘limits to growth’ become tangible as we explore ways in which degrowth theory can be understood, practiced, and transformed through collaboration, artistic expression and performance. The day will be split in two sessions: What is Degrowth/Improvisation and Movement exercises (morning) and Ferment your own cabaret and perform (afternoon) !
You can come for the full day or book the morning session only.
Morning Session 10.30am-1.30pm: What is Degrowth/Improvisation and Movement exercises
Degrowth is a social and academic movement that critiques the capitalist pursuit of economic growth above all else. “It proposes a radical (re)distribution of power, wealth and resources, a reduction in the material size of the global economy, and a shift in common values towards care, solidarity and autonomy.”
Yet Degrowth is not about providing the definitive answer to the climate crisis or pushing people in a certain direction, but rather about building conversations about how we can make alternative futures possible!
For the Chaga Collective, that conversation gained momentum in June 2025 when they held the very first Degrowth Cabaret in Oslo as part of the International Degrowth Conference and, more recently, the second Degrowth Cabaret that took place in Barcelona in October during the general strike for Palestine.
In the process of making the cabarets, Joaquin and the Chaga collective have created a number of exercises to bring together artists and academics to live Degrowth, which you will try during the morning session lab in solos, duos and in groups. This will be an embodied exploration of key degrowth ideas, using movement, creativity and group dynamics to sense how limits, resources and relationships shape our collective experience.
Lunch break 1.30-2:30pm
Afternoon 2.30-4.30pm: Ferment your own cabaret and perform!
A chance to think about your own Degrowth Cabaret act! Experiment and share your ideas with others in the workshop through our lo-fi, joyful, improvised cabaret. This session invites everyone to revisit the movement ideas, images and questions they embodied earlier, and to shape them into short performative fragments.
Blurring the perceived boundaries between academia, activism, and art, the Degrowth Cabaret looks to create a space to vividly imagine post-growth futures and explore pressing questions of socio-ecological transformation through performance.
Don’t worry if you have never performed before, that’s how it was for half of the Cabaret artists! And that’s the spirit we would like to share with you! The performances are our way of coming together with other participants of the workshop and you can do as little or as much as you like.
In the Research Studio
Tickets
Pay what you choose
£20 / £25 / £30 – Full day
£10 / £12 / £15 – Morning session
What’s in it for artists/ Dancers?
Artists are often in a precarious position themselves; artistic practice often feeds into ideas around what is valuable. Art is often in contradiction with consumerism, productivity and pollution. Which is why many artists know intimately what it means to navigate and resist systems that measure value through profit, speed or productivity; degrowth speaks directly to those tensions. Artistic practice often grapples with ideas/themes around fostering care and solidarity, coming together, empowering communities and groups to reflect and decide for themselves; so does degrowth.
Here, you’ll find a space where artistic practice is not decorative but deeply political. Through the workshop and practical exercises, you will gain invaluable insight into how to make socially engaged political art. You will have a chance to experiment and work with researchers and academics not as distant theorists, but as co-creators in weaving a new language, to stretch your practice, and to explore how concepts and theories can inform and be informed by dance and movement, while forging new alliances in the fight against capitalism.
What’s in it for economists/academics?
Contrary to growth, Degrowth interrogates what do we place value on? Could placing value on things such as art have a positive influence on research? This workshop is part of Degrowth Cabaret’s efforts in making economists value art and artists and viewing these connections as fundamental to the Degrowth movement.
For economists and academics, this workshop offers a rare chance to step outside familiar patterns and experiment with new forms of meaning-making. It is especially valuable for heterodox thinkers committed to unlearning, to finding fresh ways of speaking to a broader audience, and to testing a translation device that has already proven powerful in bridging academia and the arts. Here, you’ll not only explore ideas through embodied and creative methods: you’ll also work closely with artists, mingling with people who approach knowledge through movement, intuition, play and affect.
This encounter matters: if we struggle to understand one another within our own academic circles, how can we hope to reach those who never set foot in a conference room or who have never heard of degrowth? The cabaret process shows that when academics and artists trust each other, we can build a common language that allows our ideas to travel further, hit deeper, and gain the force needed to challenge capitalism not only intellectually, but culturally and vividly as well.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Chaga Collective
Chaga Collective are an ever expanding collective currently comprised of Joaquín, Anna, Ida, Hanna and Alina… They work across geographic and disciplinary thresholds to foster radical collaboration, dialogue and an inclusive practice of “doing knowledge”.
Chaga Collective was born from the premise that creativity is a collective process. Like mycelium, it grows through networks, connecting ideas and actions. The collective creates spaces where art, activism, and critical thinking merge, cultivating joy, care, and collaboration as seeds for change. They think about the cabaret as an outreach device, a translation exercise, and a celebration of other forms of knowledge. They want degrowth to resonate beyond papers and panels, to spark dialogue with those already living, dancing, and creating transitions in other ways.
Our approach is inspired by interdisciplinary centres like Siobhan Davies Studios, where dance and movement are seen as social, investigative and collaborative tools for inquiry. Similarly, we prioritise care, decentralisation and community participation throughout the process: this is not just about performing, but about enacting degrowth values through the way we work together.
ACCESS AND AMENITIES AT SDS
Siobhan Davies Studios is mostly accessible, with lifts to all floors. There are two accessible parking spaces available on site which can be booked in advance. Blue Badge parking is also available nearby on West Square and Garden Row (for a full map visit the Southwark Council website). Our main door is power assisted.
Amenities include:
- Changing facilities*
- Communal showers*
- Toilets / wheelchair accessible toilets
- Kitchen: tea and coffee making, fridge, and microwave
- Snack Bar: We have a small selection of bars, drinks and food available to buy from the front desk.
- Shops: The closest shop is Superway Supermarket on Garden Row (4 min walk), the closest supermarket is Sainsbury’s on New Kent Road (7 min walk). We also recommend the Art Cafe which serves sandwiches, jacket potatoes and meals (3 min walk).
* Our changing facilities and showers are not fully accessible. Our closest publicly available and fully accessible changing facility is at The Castle Centre, a leisure centre 0.3 miles away from the studios. You can find full details of their features here.