DESIRE X SACRED: A Zine Co-Launch

(with guided sound meditation & contact dance performance)

Time: 4-6pm,

Date: Saturday, 31 May 2025

Location: El Faro Gallery, 79 King Street, Newtown, Sydney, NSW, 2042

“Eros is in between.” - Anne Carson

Join us to launch two new zines: one by Dharug-based artist and researcher Wendy Qi Zhang about the search for sacred spaces, and one by Narrm-based writer and critic Xiaoran Shi about desire, its edges and interstices.

WHAT TO EXPECT
There will be readings, a guided meditation led by the zinemakers, a contact improvisation dance performance by CiPRE, and deejaying by Heads.

CiPRE will offer a live movement inquiry into desire, connection, and relational presence.

WHAT TO BRING
We invite you to bring a yoga mat, pillow, cushion and blanket for the guided meditation. Being physically comfortable will allow you to sink more deeply into the search for your sacred space and the edges of your desire.

Tickets by donation. Suggested $10. RSVP your spot in the limited space!

Zines will be available on the night to purchase.

After covering our modest costs, contributions will be donated to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for Palestinian Refugees.

ABOUT THE COLLABORATORS

Wendy Qi Zhang is an artist & researcher focusing on inner and collective healing through interactive and digital media. Her work explores ritual, embodiment, and speculative futures through a Buddhist, Daoist & cyberfeminist lens.

@wendyqizhang

Xiaoran Shi is a writer and critic living on the unceded Land of the Wurundjeri People.

Heads is an emerging DJ in the techno scene, known for exploring sounds that are deep, hypnotic and synaesthetic. Heads’ selections are immersive and novel, straddling the space between dance and storytelling. Heads has shown great potential since their selection into the FBi radio dance class: having covered Sunsets on Thursdays at FBi radio, sharing a monthly residency at Lazy Thinking and curating an all transgender DJ showcase, named Hormone, at Chinese Laundry where they are a resident.

@jordan__heads

CiPRE (Contact Improvisation Performance and Research Ensemble) is rooted in the practice of Contact Improvisation, our work explores how bodies sense, respond, and co-create meaning through shared touch, weight, and attentive presence.

ABOUT THE ZINES

Manque is a zine about the untraceable line of desire.

Finding Sacred Spaces: Wendy explores Joseph Campbell's idea of sacred spaces where you find yourself again and again. With contributions from creatives and wanderers during her time in India, a 10 day silent meditation retreat in the English countryside and other journeys. She asks where do you find your sacred space?

We acknowledge that this event takes place on the Land of the Gadigal People of the Eora Nation, and pay respect to their Elders past and present. Their sovereignty as the Traditional Owners of this Land was never ceded. This always was and always will be Aboriginal Land.