No School!

Situationist Table Tennis Tournament

with commentary from local table tennis legends Susie Fowler-Watt & Julie Reiner

Saturday 9 February 2019
7—9.30pm

Announcement of the rules, 7.30pm
Tournament proceedings, 7.45pm—8.45pm
Closing ceremony and after party, 8.45pm—9.30pm

To celebrate the launch of No School!, a learning programme inspired by desperate measures, Rhubaba will host a Situationist Table Tennis tournament using rules especially devised by Timothea Armour, and inspired by situationist Asger Jorn’s invention, Three Sided Football. Jorn formulated the game as an analogy for his theory of triolectics, an elaboration of Marxist dialectics that suggest, simply put, that history is forged by opposing forces. It was first played in 1993 – after Jorn’s death – on Glasgow Green as part of the Glasgow Anarchist Summer School. ‘Situationist football’ has been used more recently as a metaphor for shifting allegiances and balance of power in party politics as collaborations between teams are built and betrayed throughout the course of a game. The rules of Rhubaba’s forthcoming Situationist Table Tennis are currently a secret and will be revealed during the tournament’s opening ceremony.

The tournament will be commentated by Edinburgh’s own UK table tennis heavyweights, Susie Fowler-Watt and Julie Reiner. Both hold notable triumphs, including reaching semi and quarter finals in the 2014 World University Games in Warsaw. Once fierce rivals, they decided to put their differences aside to create a doubles team the likes of which has only been seen once or twice before. The pair have since gone on to win doubles titles in Welsh, Belgian and Mumbai Opens, gaining worldwide acclaim and generating only mild international scandal.

Though the pair do not shy away from the challenges that celebrity brings, they both decided to take early retirement in 2018. Since then they have been using their free time to create a daily table tennis podcast as well as being advocates for the banning of salt in sports centres. Susie has recently moved to Perthshire to run a hotel with her son whilst Julie works part time as a locksmith. They are both delighted to have been invited to the launch of No School! and look forward to seeing you there.

The tournament will be played on newly commissioned studio furniture designed and built by Oisín Gallagher.