Briefschmerz: Addressing Procrastination Through BDSM

Workshop - 18+ and older.

Briefschmerz is a playful, performative workshop that approaches procrastination through consent-based sub-dom role-play. Open that tax office letter, or else...

Participants are invited to bring concrete tasks they've been avoiding — an unanswered email, a delayed decision, an unpaid bill, an awkward phone call — and work through them within a structured, performative setting. The workshop functions as a temporary co-working performance, a space where everyday responsibilities meet somatic practice, humour, and power dynamics.

Developed in the context of freelance and gig-based working realities, Briefschmerz addresses the often invisible pressure of multitasking, self-management, and unfinished mental load. It expands and hacks tools from performance and somatics to engage directly with the tasks that occupy unpleasant mind space, not by optimizing productivity but by shifting how we relate to them. Rooted in consent, care, and mutual agreement, participants take turns embodying the roles of "sub" (task owner) and "dom" (task facilitator), exploring giving and receiving, resistance and motivation, control and support. Tasks become durational, shared actions — sometimes precise, sometimes absurd — allowing space to reflect on how we perform productivity, and how we might do it differently.

Briefschmerz treats procrastination not as a problem to fix but as material to work with. What if avoidance became a stage? What if discipline could be playful, relational, even caring? The workshop creates a cozy, non-intimidating space where participants can experiment, take risks, and maybe finally send that email.

"Briefschmerz" (Urban Dictionary): A feeling of intense anxiety and/or psychological distress. Literally "letter pain." Named after the feeling anyone residing in Germany gets after seeing they have letters in their postbox. To be used literally or metaphorically.

About the facilitators 
Frida Giulia Franceschini & Simo Vassinen