Upcoming Highlights

We cordially invite you to the vernissage of Shantel Liao’s exhibition On/Under the Skin + Berlin Premiere of SPELLBOUND + shibari performance Mayfly by Gestalta & Shantel Liao.

Exhibition Shantel Liao

Shantel Liao started with photography and later mixed-media calligraphy. She is fascinated by the power of identity nowadays, how it shaped us in various ways, physically and mentally. From gender to culture, how we connected with our own history and the greater environment. Solo and group exhibitions were hold in Taipei, Tokyo, L.A., Athens and Paris since 2010.

Film Screening SPELLBOUND

The vernissage evening will also include the Berlin premiere of Uli Kaffei’s short film SPELLBOUND, featuring Gestalta + Marika (Gorgone). There will be a Q&A after the screening with the director and the protagonists.

Shibari performance Mayfly

‘Mayfly’ is an ongoing collaboration between calligraphy artist Shantel Liao and shibari artist Gestalta. It takes its name from a text in the oldest existing collection of Chinese poetry (‘Classic of Poetry’ – c. 11th – 7th century BC), which grieves the short yet beautiful life of a mayfly, and is used as a repeating motif throughout. It explores the tensions between nature and development, as we learn how to inhabit the space in-between our heritage, and an increasingly uncertain future.

The Gestalta masterclass will give participants the chance to familiarise themselves with Gestalta’s own approach to shibari.

As a rigger who also has extensive experience on the other side of the ropes, Gestalta aims to teach rope with a focus on the body of the tied partner in all areas of shibari practice.

Topics covered will include:

• Body mechanics, both in and out of rope, on the floor and in the air.
• The body within the takatekote.
• The third rope – and varying it according to your situation.
• Understanding the body in basic suspension positions such as yokozuri, hikyaku-zuri, aomuke-zuri, gyaku-ebi-zuri.
• Rope handling and „unstructured“ suspension.

Depending on the level of the participants, other topics could include:

• Alternative harnesses: Hands free chest harness, hands in front harness, strappado, hip or leg harness.
• Kata-ashi-zuri (with transitions)
• Working with torsions Bamboo harnesses
• Floorwork and partials for play and/or torture

Requirements:

You must be of intermediate level to participate.  That means that you must be able to confidently demonstrate a suspension worthy chest harness (any style), and the knowledge of working with suspension lines.

You must also have a partner to work with and a set of minimum 8 ropes. Switching is allowed when a new exercise starts but not within one exercise.

If you need help finding a partner or if you want to purchase rope, please contact us at info@karada-house.de.

This event is intended for individuals who self-identify as queer and/or womxn.

Ticket price:

The ticket price is 300 Euros per pair.

About Gestalta:

“My approach to shibari has evolved as the result of over a decade of practice on both sides of the ropes and a broad range of influences which I appropriate, mix and develop in my own practice. This has shaped my teaching style into one that seeks to reflect the experience of both tying partners on a deep level. I have a strong belief that shibari should not be prescriptive and encourage students to explore it as a flexible set of tools; adapting each tie to the body of the tied partner, and to their needs and desires within each individual situation. My teaching process aims to enable this by giving students a framework of the fundamental principles behind shibari; including safety efficiency and fluency, but also body awareness, communication, and conscious consideration of their own experiences and motivations.

I absorbed most of my technical rigging style a natural process of observation and experience from inside the ropes of the people I was tied by as a model. In this respect I have been lucky to have had a broad range of influences from both Japan and the west.”

More info:

Gestalta will also do a performance on November 22nd at our vernissage event together with the calligraphy artist Shantel Liao. She is furthermore protagonist of the film SPELLBOUND that will also be showing that night.

There is a special thrill that comes when you allow someone to bring you to your edge. It is quite a luxury to be the recipient of a carefully crafted scenario in which you can fully let go and explore your fears and taboos.

Feeling the power placed in your hands to explore someone’s outermost limits also provides a particular rush. It is both a privilege and a responsibility to create a space in which someone feels they can surrender to you.

Trust is essential when playing on the edge and only possible when all involved agree to slow down, listen to the other’s body language and agree to share the responsibility of communication. We give up control in many situations every day, our boundaries are approached and overstepped, often without our consent. Doing so in a safer space, giving someone permission to do so can be an empowering experience and can inform us of ways to set boundaries in other parts of our life.

Together with Anna Natt we will slowly explore this territory, allowing ourselves to reach the edge.

If play fights and rough body play are your thing but you want to go deeper than usual play fights allow then this workshop is for you. Primal Rough Body Play goes deeper into the primal and/or D/s dynamics, allowing for a slow build up of confidence, trust and primal energies throughout the day.

René & Mamana will slowly guide you into the deeper end of rough body play. In order to get there safely and with lots of fun they will teach the following:

• do’s & don’ts of RBP

• techniques such as: beating, slapping, kicking & holds

• consent, safety, negotiations

• D/s and primal dynamics, how to build them up and navigate them

• allowing your primal/animalistic nature to emerge and play with it

• dominating/conquering vs. submitting/letting go

• loads space & time to experiment hands-on training (literally)

In order to participate:

Please assess your body abilities and health situation thoroughly. RBP can be an intense experience, both physically and mentally and only you can estimate if this is right for you. While we cover safety aspects everything at the event happens at your own risk. Ideally you are open to experience both sides of RBP as well as interact with others as this is not mainly a couples event.

What to bring:

sports wear or other flexible/comfortable clothes, ideally covering elbows and knees to avoid „mat burn“. Keep in mind that sometimes clothes get destroyed by accident. A change of clothes as well as a towel or two are also needed.

Further information:

• You do not need prior experience to participate.

• You do not need to bring a partner to participate but you can, if you like.

• You should be comfortable with interacting with other people for exercises.

Your own shame

Everyone knows shame, even little children.
Shame is, much like anger, an emotional state that most of us try to avoid at all cost.
Some of us love it in play – and use shame and embarrassment consciously for erotic stimulation and role play.

It can be both very uncomfortable and very lusty – but it is always obviously palpable.
Shame is sumptuous.
It protects our innermost core, our dignity and our integrity.

To celebrate shame, to bathe in it, can be highly erotic. And, it can be very satisfying to do this to someone who craves it, and truly lose yourself in the pleasure of it all.

In the first part of the workshop, we will examine our own experiences with shame and embarrassment through conversations and body and breath exercises.

Negotiation, Safety and Aftercare

In the second part, we focus on Negotiation, Safety and Aftercare.

Whoever shames or humiliates others in the play, will sooner or later come up against their own inner beast… What does it take to be a real asshole, while still caring for oneself and the bottom? What does proper aftercare entail?

Shaming others, and allowing oneself to be shamed: Play and exercises dealing with humiliation

Whoever wishes to be humiliated, needs intention.
This is not meant as intellectual bullshitting or exaggerated psychoanalysis, rather as a heartfelt desire behind the request of ‚interrogate and rough me up‘ or ‚make me blush‘. Maybe it’s actually ‚I want an intense orgasm‘ or ‚I want to be rid of my ego for a while‘, or ‚I want to know what it’s like to feel shame on my own terms, rather than being exposed to it unexpectedly‘.

Various scenarios and role play options will be suggested and discussed, and if desired, can be tried in short play scenarios . Who does not wish to participate, may use this time instead for planning of humiliation scenarios.

In order to create a trusting atmosphere where tops, bottoms and switches can have exchange on their own terms there is often the possibility to divide up into smaller groups. Sensitivity around all kinds of differences and positionings on all levels is expected of participants.

Remember the days where you could spend hours rubbing against someone else with all of your clothes on? Teetering on the edge of orgasm, slippery with desire…

In this workshop, we will hump ourselves into a sweaty frenzy. With the awkward enthusiasm of a horny teenager, we will dive into the art of humping and explore different techniques from the obvious to more nuanced and subtle executions. We will return to the romantic days of being a teenager, revisit the nervousness of asking someone out and relive the times we could spend whole evenings on the couch dry humping with our crush.

Our aim is to create a space that is safe for you to conjure your inner teenager and play. We might go to second base, maybe third, but we will never go “all the way”!