Work in Progress: S.H.A.R.E.

Welcome to the work-in-progress sharing of Manny Manster's project S.H.A.R.E. on Thursday August 27th!

Manny Manster is currently at a pivotal turning point in his artistic career, where writing now forms the foundation of a new creative methodology. During his two-week residency at workspacebrussels, he is developing a framework for artistic creation that incorporates targeted feedback from specific communities: queer, trans, racialised, migrant, and those living with HIV. This approach ensures writing translates stories into art constructively, avoiding extractivism.

Cortés researches how a visual artist can explore performance through a mix of fiction and real life anecdotes. Adopting an autoethnographic approach, he documents emerging forms where performance becomes an investigative method rather than mere expression. Key areas of focus include the role of movement in shared spaces, the transformation of visual "objects" into performance "scores," and how non-performers can reveal the politics of stage access.

This work centers on his S.H.A.R.E. project (a fiction novel) combining storytelling with community-based critique. Artistic expressions derived from this text, including performances and short plays, will serve as tools for transformative dialogue. These exchanges aim to analyse central themes such as homophobia, serophobia, racism, and agency, drawing on his experience in community action to define new frameworks for collective creation. The residency offers a glimpse into this iterative process, where storytelling and stagecraft merge to challenge traditional boundaries of performance.