Political Cuts

Project 2014-08-13 13:30:38 +1200

A Brand New Barbarian Project!

www.barbarian.co.nz

Season Dates: 1st - 5th September, 2014

This pop-up salon offers cheap coffee and free professional haircuts for young people engaging in political discussion in the lead up to the General Election. A professional barista and hairdresser provoke political thought while providing personal service.

Political Cuts will inhabit a vacant retail space somewhere in Wellington Central.  We will transform the space into a salon in every sense of the word: "a gathering of people under the roof of an inspiring host, held partly to amuse one another and partly to refine the taste and increase the knowledge of the participants through conversation." (Wikipedia definition)

This non-partisan project targets a younger (and potentially disengaged) audience in an attempt to give them a platform for conversation.  Each cut will be shared online with a personal summary of thought by the newly coiffed/caffeinated visitor.   A collaboration between Barbarian Productions (Jo Randerson) and Jason Muir (Cirque and Haight Ashbury). Political Cuts enables young people to engage in political discussion in a fun and theatrical way.

'I have been a hairdresser for over 20 years, and have always loved the human communication side of this job as much as the technical craft itself. I have learnt over the years what an excuse to open up the hairdressers chair can be for people, an endless supply of opinions and confessions about all manner of subjects, both personal and topical. We are taught at hairdressing school to never talk about sex, religion and politics. The idea of setting up a salon, at the time of a general election, to encourage people to interact and share their political thoughts is genius as far as I'm concerned. We aim to debate down these barriers and present a salon space and experience that is designed to incite intense political discussion, whilst receiving a free haircut, all at a time the country is about to vote!’

– Jason Muir

Barbarian Productions see art and theatre as an effective way to draw attention to social issues. Barbarian Productions staged the very popular Brides last year through Urban Dream Brokerage where the public was invited to wear bridal dresses and discuss their views on marriage. This project gained huge national and international media attention.  Political Cuts offers a way to engage young people in the General Election, with a focus on policy and the political process rather than party politics and personalities.

We have secured funding from the Wellington City Council and our generous financial partners for the project include The McGuiness Institute, Ripe Coffee and Haight Ashbury. But, to get our project over the line we need your help!

Your contribution to this FREE public project would help to finance our marketing costs, ensuring the widest possible audience is able to come and participate, and the fit-out costs for our found retail space to make sure it's clean, tidy and comfortable to hang out in.  We want to make it feel as much like a real, glam salon as possible.

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