Call for Submissions – Red Dawns 2009

In March 2009 Red Dawns will rise for the 10^th time! It's the magic number. The festival has transformed and grown over the years under the influence of all the people that participated, debated, reacted and witnessed our ravagings. It's not a women's festival anymore, it's a feminist-queer festival that cares less about adjectives and more about adverbs: How? When? Why?

And what is a feminist-queer festival? Is it sex or gender? Is it politics or party? Is it history or future? Is it contra or pro? Is it angry or horny? Is it just like you, or something completely different? Perhaps the answer for now has to stay: All of the above. We want freedom, justice and love for all, but we know that the way there is mined with contradictions and struggle, just as it always was. On our festival we take time to explore utopian possibilities, and deal with reality. But most importantly, we do it together.

As always, we are inviting you to join us with your questions and answers. All suggestions welcome within the field of the usual festival programme: visual arts, performance, music, literature, theatre, dance, workshops, debates (and an empty space for the unpredictable)!

Yours truly,

Red Dawns

rdece.zore@gmail.com

Red Dawns in Amsterdam!

Yup, at the Eclectic Tech Carnival!

May 25th – 31st, 2008, Amsterdam

»When we move, it's a movement!«
Feminist and queer festival Red Dawns (http://www.kudmreza.org/rdece/)
Presentation by Tea Hvala

Red Dawns festival happens annually around March 8^th in the Autonomous Cultural Center Metelkova mesto (http://www.metelkova.org/) in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Since 2000 and the 1^st Red Dawns, the organizers have shifted from self-defining it as women’s to feminist and finally in 2007, to a feminist and queer festival. The presentation is going to outline the reasons for and consequences of Red Dawns’ constant need for (re)articulation. Welcome!

Reaction

by Nino Jaeger

Noha Ramadan: Body as the Site of Action
Discussion/Workshop

…in the end we stand half naked in the center of Ljubljana - the capital city of Slovenia! Before that we saw each other kissing while walking over the three bridges - again and again. Most of us - I think - were women. How I consider my own person - I am not sure. Maybe I am no man either?

How could all that happen to us? I think it started when we all attended this workshop with Noha Ramadan. She is an Australian performer, "fauxlosopher" and street activist. Noha is researching the revolutionary necessity of liberating the body in public. The body is conceptualized as a means and site of activism that disturbs predetermined meanings of public space.

From her we learend about performances at public spaces, like the subway, that try to involve the people around. This political motivated actions don't want to use "signs" for the content they want to bring in the public awareness, eg. "don't smoke", "no war", "no rape". Because such (no-)signs are based on the concept of black-and-white, bad-and-good. So people are used just to obey this signs. As there is no such thing as a truly good or truly bad you have to decide in many situations of your life what is maybe the best action for a certain situation. What is sad to be truly good or bad is more a matter of power or dominance than truth. So it is necessary for all of us to learn and do what is not very popular: To think, decide and act on the basis of using my brain and body and senses in an autonomous way.

The output of our discussion was a feminist and queer action on a bright Sunday noon.

We tried to involve the "audience" from a public space - like at the center of Ljubljana - by actions of us and our bodies that are unexpected, unusual or improper. Behaving as "normal" couples we walked over the Tromostovje for about one hour - only: there were too many women among us kissing each other in public.

Kaj je narobe z Rdečimi zorami?

Članek Anne Ehlermark Kaj je narobe z Rdečimi zorami? je izšel v 5. št. revije Narobe. V njem je objavljen tudi intervju Suzane Tratnik z aktivistkama skupine Lambda Instanbul.

http://www.narobe.si/stevilka-5/rdece-zore.html
http://www.narobe.si/stevilka-5/turcija.html

Rest in peace, Pippa

6th Girls are Weird Fest, Kutina

Klaus (One-woman-band iz Rijeke koji čine Nora i njezin laptop ...)
Kimiko (Zagreb; indie electro (dream) pop bile bi ključne riječi za opisivanje nesvakidašnje muzike koju Kimiko stvara ...)
Ž Buka (Zagreb, punk rock)
The Rock Flock (Pleternice kod Pozege, indie rock grunge)

Girls are weird festival (GAW) dekonstruira rodne stereotipe i djeluje neovisno o uobičajenim muško-ženskim društvenim ulogama. Namjera nam je promijeniti uobičajeno mišljenje o ženama kao pop-ukrasima, back vokalima i vrištećim fanovima!

Saturday, March 22nd at 21:00 in Baraka, Kutina (Croatia)
Entrance fee: 15 kuna

http://www.gawfest.net/
http://www.myspace.com/girlsareweirdfest

Photo stream

Photo: Nada Žgank

Lots of new photos on Rdeče Flickr!

Exercise in interpretation »If you're a woman, become a man!«

Thursday's discussion on gender in Balkan fairy tales added
to fairytale opening of Red Dawns festival in Wednesday by
providing with theoretical frame and background. Lilijana
Burcar explained how fairy tales which challenge the binary
construction of masculinity and femininity were told by
women in literary saloon in Ludvik XIV palace as a direct
critique of his rule. Women who were forced into marriage
due to economic and political reasons found an escape in
fairy tales. Even though fairy tales are organic forms, they
do not change spontaneously only. Little Red Riding Hood, at
first sexually independent girl who manages to escape the
wolf, Perrault turned into a helpless child who ends up in
wolf's stomach, being saved only with a help of a male figure.
A strong moral dictum can be drown out of it: women, do not
wander in wood on your own, and do not be surprised if/when
you're violated if you chose to do so. With a different aim,
in the 19th century the fairy tales were transformed to serve
the strengthening of the national consciousness and
consequently the widening of the gap between public in private.
Grimm's Snow-White is in the latest versions asked to perform
more and more household work (also more explicitly determined)
for the seven dwarfs than in previous ones. It seems as that
the fairy tales lost its role in challenging the patriarchal
system.Those who attended the discussion had an opportunity
to listen to Zdena Gajser telling Balkan fairy tales where
distinctions between genders are shadowed and female figures
really are heroines. Nonetheless, even this stories to certain
extent confirm heteronormativity: the princess
(otherwise dressed as a men) has to change into the man to lie
with her wife. Neither homosexuality nor transvestism are
acceptable. What is then the possibility for a lesbian marriage
in the fairy tales, Suzana Tratnik asked herself, and in the
next breath answered: it is an utopia.
Not only that the heroines in fairy tales are not able to
maintain their homosexual relationships as such, also in real
life so-called 'virginjesha' assume on themselves a masculine
gender and do not really establish homosexual relations. Balkan
fairy tales which challenge the heteronormativity then do so
only to certain extent. I am ending with two questions that
appeared to me in relation to the discussion: to what extent
(will) contemporary Balkan writers and story tellers use the
potential of the fairy tales for a subversion of the patriarchal
system?
And why there is no known old Slovenian fairy tale that would even
attempt to do so?

Tanja Škander

DIYALA - friday night

Young, intensive, convincing, full of music. Every movement seemed to be the body expression of the lyrics and the music. Only watching was electrifying and nearly nobody, never mind of in other cases a fan of hip hop and electro, could stand still. Maybe one reason was the simple fact, that her music was not made to be categorized or it was simply the intensity of her show.

To get to know more about this remarkable croatian band watch: http://www.diyala.org/

Antje Höhne

Please, do not feed the Lesbian! - a comedian evening by Urska Sterle

Urska Sterle, a young female comedian, performed at Saturday night at the Rdece Zore Festival in the only lesbian club of the town, Monokel. The small room was already time before, totally full and entering only succedded with a strong will. At the end, people were trying to get the show also from outside... watching all this going on before, it seemed to become an interesting and good show.
But either it was my lack of knowledge about the brisance of the topic in Slovenia or my different understanding of humour. However from my point of view the presentation missed something less obvious and a deeper humour, than only a relatively open reproduction of the existing stereotypes. For sure the show of the young Slovenian comedian caused laughter also in me, but it was more a short and superficially one, than the deep one, that bumps up again and again also after the show, that I expected. Nevertheless it was an entertaining show and maybe the aim is already reached, if the majority of the audience enjoys the action.

Antje Höhne

The body as the site of the action

A moment of freedom, and a tribute to the revolutionary every day movements introduced and discussed by Noha Ramadan on the festival's sharpest and most focused discussion (with the reservation that i didn't hear it all...) - The body as the site of the action.

I would like to tell you all about it, but my brain is suffering from a temporary black out, and words wont come out. Later.

Ehrle

To get to know Joomla and some visa trouble

During the whole festival several workshops took place- part of them also the computer workshops or the gender changers. One of them was getting to know the wide world of making a web page with joomla given by Majda Puaca from Serbia, but still only until a few days before the festival it was not sure, if this workshop, as all the user actions, made by Serbians could happen at all.
The Slovenian embassy in Serbia is closed, as a consequence of the events after the declaration of independence of Kosovo and so it was nearly impossible to get a visa through the Slovenian embassy. The more easy traveling in Europe got for EU citizens, the more difficult it got for all of those, staying outside this "coterie". The positive part of the "Schengen-union", is that "people from outside wanting to enter" can take any visa of a Schengen country, not necessarily the one they are supposed to travel to, to enter EU- anyway again, another example of inclusion-exclusion mechanism and even though the festival was supposed to deal with the gender aspect of this mechanism a short improvised discussion or presentation of the events could have been interesting. Doubtless this fact was present for some of the participants anyway, sure not everybody even knew about it and I in my point of view, it can never causes you damage to realize in which environment you built up your "island" of festival, action, ...
In any case the participation of the Serbians got possible at the end and Majda could give a pretty motivating, relaxing joomla workshop, where people could really get a broad overview about the program, a delight for continuation of playing with joomla to figure out, the possibilities for the realization of what they always wanted to put at a web page, but never got to do. Furthermore at the end a short discussion with some participants started and the topic "entered", albeit in smaller group...

And for all interested i a nice example: http://www.eng.queerbeograd.org/

Antje Hoehne

Audio recordings

Barb is a radio hero! She's allready uploaded two recordings from the festival program, from now online for those that weren't lucky enough to be present IRL.

Book presentation: New feminism. Queer and Networking Conditions.

Sophia Starmack and R.G. Gözüm talking about the Turkish lesbian and lgbt movement.

Zoe Gudović - Women at Work

You are part of Women at Work (Žene na delu), organizing courses for feminist activists, who deal with women helping women victims of violence. Why did you decide to do this?

Tree years ago happened, that during one year tree of the women activists helping the victims died of cancer. We realized that they also need psychological help, because they are exposed to many negative things in their work. We decided to think about prevention, how to protect yourself not to burn out completely. We did research among these women, if they knew about burn-out syndrome, and we realized, that they don’t know what to do, how to protect themselves, that’s why we decided to focus on it.

How do the courses look like?

We involve female artists, who professionally give courses, how to use art techniques and different art media to protect yourselves. Women are for example learning how to use the space, they are acting, working with images, creating the masks... They also work with voice, learning how to be visible, realizing we have right to use our voice.

Why do you organize exactly this kind of courses involving art therapy?

It is important to use creativity. In this kind of social work you don’t have so much space for creativity. Creativity is another level, this way they can be open. They learn techniques how to solve the situation. We are teaching the women, that even when we are strong enough, we have to take care of ourselves and only then to help others. For this we need to be open and learn new techniques and things and this can help us to change our position.

You also organize street performances about violence against women.

We do it already 5 years it in the occasion of international activity 16 days of activism about violence against women. We use theater as a tool to present social issue. It is good way of communication with people, because they actually never see this kind of issue addressed in this way. We present real situations through the theater play. Our group involves 10 activists and artists. I always ask a female director from the academy to direct our play. This is also the way how to inspire the professionals to change their mind and start to think about their work in an activist perspective.

In what public places do you play?

It is diverse, it could be open markets, squares, in front of police stations, in front of a court. We usually choose the place according to the issue. Working in the street is controversial – you never know what happens. At the beginning police did not want to protect us, now they have to, because they want to look democratic.

What kind of reactions did you get?

Sometimes we had violent reactions from men watching, they were attacking us verbally. For example they were shouting, that women must be beaten, it is their role. At the other hand many women came to us after the performance and ask about more information. We provide them with leaflets with contacts for help lines. We know that some of the women came to the police and said that they don’t want to die like they saw in the performance. Many people are feeling touched and they are crying. We want to be personal for everybody, we always show different age, statuses, race, everything who we actually are, we think about the whole society.

What is your opinion of the connection of art and activism?

I am doing theater for a long time. When I started to be involved in feminism I realized, that feminism does not give you many opportunities to use you body and voice, more time we usually spend with theory. For me it is important to make ourselves strong, not to be just quiet, mild and not loud. We should not forget we are strong women beings. This is a motivation to involve more art in feminism and also introduce feminism to the artists. Using different techniques of art is a better way how to communicate with people. They better start to think, when they see something.

More informaion about projects of Žene na delu in Serbian you can find online here: www.zenergija.org

Coelestine Engels: Final Solution – Questions

Who are the persons shown at the pictures?

The portraits are showing female fighters of the resistance contrasting pictures of female Nazi collaborators. The background of the pictures is made up by their story, either as part of the Slovenian-Kärtner resistance movement either their active participation in the war machinery of the Nazi.

How you got the pictures of this women or how you choose the women?

Some of them are painted out of my memory on this person, because I knew them in real and others are made after photos. Out of both ways the lightly coloured faces are manifested at the paintings. On the one hand I wanted to face the different sites with each other with the portraits and on the other hand they are all shown in front of the same alpine landscape so you can differentiate between them, who was partisan and who was the Nazi collaborator.

Before you mentioned that some of the pictures come from your memory at the people…that meanst it is also part of your history?

Yes, it is partly a private connection with the topic but also a general confrontation with the question of decision. The personal question came up with the question how the own grandmother behaved during Nazi times…and it was connected with the fact to realize that my own grandmother acted totally different than her best friend. One went after work to the forest to take part in the partisan movement, risking her life, while the other one was working at the airport for the Nazi.

But if history was so important for the pictures or for your decision that is going to be portrayed, why you did not wrote a short description of each women to every painting?

The content is not about the concrete person, but about the thing itself, therefore I wrote only the first name of the women.

Could you describe “the thing itself” a bit more?

The thing itself is first of all the everyday question of decision. In this special case it is the question of how people decided to behave during Nazi times. But the pictures are also made in the very same stile, either it was a partisan or a Nazi collaborator because I think, that it could have been everybody, who had to decide and decide either for one or the other thing. We have to decide every moment and sometimes decisions are more important as in this case shown at the pictures others seem to be more “regular”, but decisions has to be always made and because of a certain circumstance we could have decide totally different than we did, the same with the women at the pictures. So I preferred not to put an explanation down the pictures, because it the commutability should become clear.

To get an impresion of the pictures look at: http://www.kudmreza.org/rdece/artist%20pages/coelestine_eng.html#

Antje Höhne

Queer ancestor of the day

Sophia Starmack: Here is my great-grandmother (also Sophia) with her "friend" at Atlantic City circa 1916. I asked my grandma for some family pictures a few years ago and this is one of the ones she gave me. She said, "The girls were dressing up and having a good time! It's so funny!"But I think we know what's really going on here. My great-grandmother Sophia later got married to an Irish man who sold liquor illegally during the 1930s and had to spend a lot of time hiding from the police. She had a sad life but she liked to dance and drink beer and was still building fences and climbing trees well into her 70's.

Interview with Urša Vidic

It is hard to recognize the bodies on your paintings, who are they?

It is not important who they are, male or female, what kind of a story is behind them. In this way I can avoid the system of the biological determination, which causes the social determination and classification.

Why do you use human figure, what does it speak about?

I use a human body as a mean of language which is different from verbal language. But first of all the body is used as an instrument, it goes through the process of let´s say decomposing, for developing new spaces and forms which are different, strange, abstract.

Your paintings represent just fragment of the bodies and head is usually missing, why?

In this case the head would be too personal, too didactical. My idea was to speak about feelings, emotions, tensions,...in a silent, non verbal manner. So the hand is a very good sign for reading our inner thoughts. Through the gestures you are avoiding the codes of speech, which belongs in a psychological terminology to the man.

What is the relation of the paintings to eroticism or beauty?

My work is not about erotic, it is about sensibility. At the first sight it could be perceived as beautiful, but if you´ d look closer, there is something strange and maybe surprising in the painting. This strangeness comes from partiality, fragmentation of the body. Except for the hand the rest of the body is loosing its proper shape. It is becoming two-dimensional, abstract and it is loosing its function. So I wouldn’t say that decomposing of the body can be erotic.

How do you paint your works – do you use models or photographs?

The paintings are done according to the photographs. It is me and my boyfriend, but this is not important, since I am not using our portraits. From the photography I choose, I decide which part is interesting for me and then I paint it. But I use only details, the rest of the body has to slowly disappear. The result is dreamy, fogy like space, which points on the illusion or wish.

You are also presenting the video. What it is about?

The video presents the journey through the landscape of one body which is made of many human bodies. The camera moves from realy close detail to the bigger plan, and through that you get the sensation you are flying above something, sort of a landscape, which reminds you of the human body. You feel familiar with it, jet it is disturbing, since it brings different, unknown aspects of the human body.

How it is done?

Video was made in collaboration with Lorenka Stropnik and Aron Boršo. We used the photographs that I was using for my painting and made a 3D landscape out of them. Then we just decided how the camera is going to move. It looks simple but you real have to know a lot about the computers.

Paintings of Ursa Vidic is possible to see in Galerija Alkatraz till 29.3. www.kudmreza.org/alkatraz More of her works you can see here: www.uvslike.blogspot.com

Lenka Kukurova

Interview with Austrian artist Evelin Stermitz

How did you come to the idea to create a net art project World of Female Avatars?

I was artist in residence at the Art Center Slovenia when I began to occupy with the topic of female bodies. It was a photographic project combined with interviews and I was asking women what they think about their bodies. I realized it is very hard for them to talk about it, and I also realized that many women live without the consciousness about their body, so I investigated this topic further.

What is the project about?

The aim was to create a kind of world or space for women, as a digital world. It was also a contribution to the feminist discussion and an artistic survey on the female body through the virtual space.

How were the avatars created?

I sent an open call out to women to contribute with their pictures and thoughts about their bodies. The works are anonymous and therefore maybe more truthful. I collected the images of the participants, created digital collages and put them online.

Was it also about the freedom of expression of the body?

In virtual space we can be anybody, it is a question where the freedom of the body is. In our everyday lives we usually repeat stereotypes.

What about male contributions to the project?

I can not control, if only women send the avatars for the project, but that was not the aim. I intended to create an open platform for everyone who has something to say about the female body. It is not possible to control the biological sex of someone virtual. In virtuality some kind of third sex is created.

How would you comment the possible threat of human beings swallowed by virtual reality?

I would not be so much afraid of this. Virtual reality is just another tool we can use, it is a kind of an expanded thinking. It is a new technical reality, we have to learn to live with.

Where do you see the connection between art and activism?

I think it is very crucial for artists to be involved in activism and in reflecting the society. If artists just passively show works in the galleries, it is also just a small part to evolve changes or impacts on society. Activism sees the function of an artist also as a public intellectual and is rooted in performance, installation and more. I think art and feminism needs more public action!

How will the project continue?

The project is still open for submissions as a life time project, you can find it online at http://females.mur.at

Lenka Kukurova

R.G. Gözüm: Notes about e-waste

E-waste is hazardous. E-waste contains over 1000 different substances, many of which are toxic, and creates serious pollution upon disposal.

E-waste produces much higher volumes of waste in comparison to other consumer goods.

European studies estimate that the volume of e-waste is increasing by 3-5% per year, which is almost three times faster than the municpal waste stream is growing generally.

Each year, European cunsumers are producing 8,7 million tons of e-waste.

Between the years 1997 and 2007 experts estimated that there were more than 500 million obsolete computers in the United States.

Where does e-waste go?

Storage. U.S. government researchers estimate that three quarters of all computers ever sold in the United States remain stockpiled, awaiting disposal. Other studies estimate that the number of these unused, stored, computers in the U.S. will soon be as high as 315-680 million units.

Landfill and incineration. It is thought that most households and small businesses that dispose rather than store their obsolete electronic components send their material to landfills or incinerators rather than take them to recyklers.

Re-use. Re-use constitutes direct second-hand use, or use after slight modifications are made to the original functioning equipment.

Domestic recykling. All of the current information regarding e-waste recykling glaringly fails to point out that most of what is called e-waste recycling today involves recykling in a developing country. All of the studies that have been done fail to make a distinction between domestic recykling in developing countries with the gross assumption that all recykling is the same an all is equal from an environmental standpoint.

Prison. An alternative to export to developing countries, there is another high growth area for e-waste emerging in the U.S. New “electronic recykling facilities” are opening in California and other states – in prisons.

Export to developing countries. The most often overlooked and ignored e-waste management option- export to developing countries under the name of “recykling”. Why? The labor costs are very low (China: $1.50 per day); Environmental and occupational regulations are lax or not well enforced; It is legal in the U.S., despite international law to the contrary, to allow export of hazardous e-waste with no controld whatsoever; Europe keep shipping e-waste labelling it as “recykling”.

What are the possible solutions to this environmental tsunami?

1. Ban hazardous waste export.
2. Get the poison out of the products.
3. Exercise precaution – don’t worsen the situation by creating even more poisonous products.
4. Make the producers responsible.
5. Require producers to “take the waste back”.
6. Design for longevity, upgradability, repair and re-use.
7. Design for recykling.

...And recykle with joy! Find pictures from the crash keyboard poetry workshop on the rdece flickr.

Anna Ehrlemark retyping R.G's presentation.

Emelie Röndahl - Angry Ugly Feminist.

Emelie: I'm so fucking tired of being the angry ugly feminist all the time, but it's a dirty job and somebody's got to do it.

Anna: This is a feminist festival, you can take a break for once and let others do the job. You deserve it.

Emelie: Yeah... Fucking feminism. Always having to explain other peoples definitions. Spiritually me and Svetlana are on the same level. She just grabbed for a different position of opposition. Don't know why i'm not as famous as her though...

Anna: Hold your horses. Fame is not what it used to be. You're better off in oblivion. I'm sure Svetlana would agree.

Emelie: Nobody forgets the angry, ugly, feminist. I'm a 20th century icon.

Ehrlemark

car repair workshop - interview with Ksenija Glavac

How the idea to make a car repair workshop at the rdece zore festival came up?
Mostly women are supposed not be able to handle the repairing of their car. But this is something that should be changed, so the idea came up, to give women the possibility to get to know their cars better and to get to know how to fix some basic stuff.

Did you ever such workshop before?
No, never. But then some of the festival came to me, for repairing their car and in our place it is always like this, that you also have a tea or coffee together after fixing the car. So the idea came up that I make the workshop at the festival.

And now, after doing it, what´s you impression of it?
Oh, I really liked it. I think it is necessary that people get to know some more things about fixing the car. Before I asked myself what to tell you...because to for e.g. windsreen wiper is something everybody already knows, so where I should start? But than my daughter said to me, noe I don´t know how to fix it.Therefore I started to explain really basic things. Because for me that is no problem, but if you don´t know it, it can become a problem and it is good if you don´t have to ask for every single thing a mechanic.

What do you like most of your work?
My work is very different every day. Sometime I have to do paperstuff and another day different cars are coming that need to be fixed. It is always something different. I don´t like to do the same every day, and in this job I don´t. And I also don´t like to have a boss. I want to be my own boss and I want to be able to work when I want to and I want to be able to say, today I want to have a day off - that´s what I can do here.

So it is only to say thanks for the interesting workshop and let us see what repairing workshop is going to take place at the next festival.
Antje Höhne

Queer animal of the day

Emelie Röndahl's mother is raising naked guinea pigs. It's a queer destiny indeed. The only reason they excist is because they were used for vivisection, and now people keep them as pets for their kitchy look (a la knee dogs). Her name is Arosa.

Anna Ehrlemark

Svetlana Makarovič

"It's absurd that somebody like me should open a feminist festival" - Svetlana Makarovič opened the feminist and queer festival Red dawns yesterday in Menza pri koritu, explaining why she absolutely doesn't want to be associated to feminism.

In a way it was a suiting opening of a festival that is representing so many conflicting views of the topics it wants to present.

Thank you for coming Svetlana!

More pictures can be seen on the rdece flickr.

Anna Ehrlemark

New Feminism - a book presentation

The first action after the morning workshops at the first festival day was a book presentation of "New Feminism. Queer and Networking Conditions" (Loecker, Vienna, 2008) with the co-editors and two contributors of the book. The subtitle of the book is according to the co- editor Marina Grzinic "New Feminism is politics", but still it remains the question, what does it mean new feminism and can a new feminism begin and an old on ends or isn' t it more a new way in the development of feminism. The presentation of the book could not really give an answer to this and that could be also seen as a result of the way of presentation. The four presenters gave more or less a short overview of what they aimed with the book or in particular with their article but no real discussion came up - unfortunately. Unfortunately, because all of them had a very different view on what "new feminism" can be or what it is not and why the necessity for change in feminism exists. And for sure a discussion about this could have shown more precisely what is meant by their concept and maybe some open questions at the end could have been answered more easily. Anyway it got clear that the motor for publishing this book is the fact, that the publishers think that it became necessary to rethink feminism in new capitalism and that the need came up to write a feminism from a different perspective than the "white, western,middle class" one. They wanted to include an understanding that there is not THE feminism but a lot of different circumstances that brought up, feminist and queer movement in the so called "1st, 2nd and 3rd world" and that until now the situation for gender and queer movements are pretty different in all the different countries represented in the book.

But what is the political part in it? On the one hand the publishing of the book itself was described as a political act, in order to be a "writing against conventions" because it is a book that nearly nobody wanted to support and that got only a very little interest also among people dealing with the topic. But on the other hand the political part can be also seen in the fact, that at least some of the authors (61 authors were involved and so it is hard to generalize) tried to "re-politicize" feminism, that during the last period got more and more into a institutional status, by making it an active process again and showing that still feminism, gender - or queer studies are in motion and different in all the parts of the world. If that is enough to be called political again or how far beyond the common use of "political" it goes can hardly be answered without reading the book, but doubtless there might be found some interesting thoughts about "being political" in queer and gender movements in the 41 texts.

How the presenters of the book managed to reach their aim to explain why and why for "new feminism" or what is the aim of the collection of articles by gender, queer and feminist theorist and activist did not turn out clear during the presentation. However one fact got obvious, that this book may not redefine the world, but it reached to collect articles on the topic that were written by authors, that still are not perceived much in scholar discussions at the topic, at least in the so called "western world" and still to get a closer look of the idea, it is still up to you to read the book.

Antje Höhne

Donna Metzlar, Genderchangers

Here is what Donna Metzlar has to say about the brave new world of technology conscious consumers!

As opposed to most of us, the Genderchangers are conscious technology consumers, with a holistic view on the technology that dictates our daily lives, work and relationships whether we want it or not. I suppose most of us believe you have to be a real nerd with lots of free time to get on top of it, but I suspect you would try to convince me that's not true. Shoot!

You need a certain attitude, a political consciousness, the same kind as that of being concerned about other consumer products like food and clothes, about the environment, about human rights. We spend a lot of time learning to cook in a vegetarian or vegan way, consume less and relax, take yoga classes or singing lessons. With computers it should be no different. It's just as much the right thing to do, and fun to look at the hardware and software you use in a critical way!

So far, nobody applied to the computer hard ware crash course, perhaps people think a computer is rocket science that you better not play around with… Why exactly is it good to get to know the intestines of your computer?

Practically it means you know what to choose, ie you can make an informed decision, the next time you want to buy a new or upgrade an old computer or some software. Additionally you can fix it yourself and don't need to rely on others to do it for you. And you can converse in as eloquent jargonesque as the sales representative in the shop or on line. That's good for your ego :).

Neither the workshop about privacy and security on the Internet seems to attract much attention in Ljubljana, which reminds me of something i read recently in an interview in Wired: «People say they're nervous about storing personal info online, but they do it all the time – sacrificing privacy to save time and money.» So whats wrong with people? And is there real reason that we should be worried about our privacy on the net - who's after our personal information?

There's nothing wrong with people they just have to prioritise their time and money, and obviously other issues are higher on the list. I think this is a shame however. The ICT industry is only getting bigger and more influential, run by less people every minute, increasing our dependence on these few, the owners, architects, engineers, designers and maintainers.

Genderchangers are not gender hackers, you've made a conscious decision to work with and for women only, why?

From my own experience and from research findings I can confidently say that in women-only spaces the participants feel more comfortable to express themselves (eg ask so called silly questions). In addition the space is a testing ground, where women can become accustomed to the techie sub-culture before experiencing it in the "real" or mixed world. When talking about skill-sharing and learning, a context sensitive, peer environment generally results in better levels of skills and knowledge acquisition.

Anna Ehrlemark

SATURDAY NIGHT FOX

Today after a final logistic meeting to untie the last knots before the storm of festival guest next week, we spent all afternoon and evening printing foxes. Mateja says we are becoming professional! All the fox eyes in the right place! Next year - inshallah - we'll have our new silk screen printing studio equipped and ready to fulfill our tehnicolor dreams...

The t-shirts will be on sale during the festival, but if you have your own shirt you would like to crown with a fox, you can come by for the second round on monday afternoon, in (A)-infoshop.

Anna Ehrlemark

Vabilo na predfestivalski dogodek

9. mednarodni feministični in queer festival Rdeče zore

vas vljudno vabi na predfestivalski dogodek:

projekciji umetniških videov

Ane Grobler in Slađane Mitrović,

ki bo v ponedeljek, 3. marca, ob 18.00 v knjižnici Otona Župančiča, enota Kolodvor ( v železniškem podhodu).

Vabljene, vabljeni!

www.kudmreza.org/rdece

*

Slađana Mitrović (Slovenija): Koža Special (video, 2007, 02:56 min)

Refleksija ženske biti in ženske identitete v sodobni kapitalistični družbi, ki nenehno proizvaja popolne podobe žensk-objektov.

Ana Grobler (Slovenija): Migrena /Migraine, (video, 2007, 05:23 min)

»Migrenski avtoportret« je nastajal med migrenskim napadom in je kot tak prežet z bolečino. Z video efekti prikaže, približa in pomaga občutiti stanje obolelega v času migrene.

Podrobnosti: http://www.kudmreza.org/rdece/artist%20pages/ana_grobner.html

Na ogled do 10. marca 2008.

Urnik: pon. – pet., 8.00 – 20.00

Lisička je prav zvita zver... 2008!

Lisička je prav zvita zver,
u Lublan’ma ona svoj kvartir.
Sam donc ni doma,
na Metelkovo j'šla,
na pravljice, musko in pir.

Oj, lovec mlad tud šel je pet,
s spolom igrat se in fajn se imet,
in res, bil je ženska,
lisica j'bla dec,
in tko obrnila sta red!

RDEČE DELAVNICE OD 5. DO 8. MARCA!

Sreda, 5. marec 2008

12.00 - 16.00, KUD Mreža studio (stavba Pešci)

Računalniška delavnica / The GenderChangers

Donna Metzlar (Nizozemska): Kratki tečaj iz strojne opreme

Na tečaju bomo razstavile in ponovno sestavile računalnik. Razjasnile si bomo računalniški žargon, besede kot so: port, plug, bus, interface, PCB, kartica, procesor, spomin, shramba, cache, master, slave in BIOS. Udeleženke ne potrebujejo nobenega predznanja ali izkušenj.

Brezplačno. V angleščini. Samo za ženske. Prijave zbiramo do 2. marca na naslovu rdece.zore@gmail.com (Zadeva: Tečaj o strojni opremi).

*

14.00 – 17.00, Klub SOT-24,5

Umetniška šiviljska delavnica

Helen Terry (Velika Britanija / Nizozemska): Iznajdljiva moda

Helen Terry, strastna »naredi-sama« oblikovalka, izkušena v tehnikah reciklaže, bo udeleženkam pomagala osvežiti staro garderobo. Prinesite stare obleke in jih rešite pred žalostno usodo z barvami, šablonami, našitki in drugimi izvirnimi dodatki.

Brezplačno. V angleščini. Za vse. Prijave sprejemamo do 2. marca na naslovu rdece.zore@gmail.com (Zadeva: Iznadljiva moda)

*

*

*

Četrtek, 6. marec 2008

12.00 - 16.00, KUD Mreža studio (stavba Pešci)

Računalniška delavnica / The GenderChangers

Donna Metzlar (Nizozemska): Delavnica o zasebnosti in varnosti

Na delavnici bo prikazano, kako podatki potujejo po internetu in kako enkripcija, ključi (PGP, Enigmail plug-in za Thunderbird), certifikati (CACert) in aplikacije za anonimnost kot sta Tor in Privoxy ščitijo vaše podatke pred radovednimi očmi.

Brezplačno. V angleščini. Samo za ženske. Prijave sprejemamo do 2. marca na naslovu rdece.zore@gmail.com (Zadeva: Delavnica o zasebnosti in varnosti).

*

12.00 – 16.00, dvorišče pred Menzo pri koritu

Avtomehanična delavnica

Ksenija Glavač (Slovenija) bo predstavila osnove avtomehaničnih popravil in pokazala, kako zamenjati gume, olje, žarnice, varovalke…

Brezplačno. V slovenščini in angleščini. Samo za ženske. Prijave sprejemamo do 2. marca na naslovu rdece.zore@gmail.com (Zadeva: Avtomehaničarke).

*

14.00 – 17.00, Klub SOT-24,5

Umetniška šiviljska delavnica

Emeli Röndahl (Švedska): Krvave norme

Šiviljska delavnica nagovarja absurdno »ljudsko obrt« heteronormativnega nasilja. Nevidno bolečino spreminja v vezenine v obliki ran. V tej queer »švicfabriki« z lakom, lasmi, sukancem, barvami, lepilom in blagom proizvajamo ranjene našitke, podplut street art in folklorne rane.

Brezplačno. V angleščini. Za vse. Prijave sprejemamo do 2. marca na naslovu rdece.zore@gmail.com (Zadeva: Krvave norme).

*

18.00, Ženska svetovalnica (Langusova 21, Ljubljana - Vič)

Delavnica o preprečevanju izgorelosti

Zoe in Sunčica, Žene na delu (Srbija): Feministična politika skrbi

Delavnica je namenjena svetovalkam, ki delajo na SOS telefonih, v ženskih centrih, svetovalnicah in varnih hišah, torej tistim, ki delajo z ženskami in dekleti (pa tudi z otroki), žrtvami različnih oblik nasilja. Delavnica temelji na prepričanju, da imamo pri tako pomembnem socialnem delu odgovornost najprej do sebe: aktivno in zavestno moramo skrbeti tudi za lastno duševno zdravje in varnost.

Brezplačno. V srbskem ali angleškem jeziku (odvisno od želja udeleženk). Samo za ženske. Število udeleženk je omejeno. Prijave zbiramo do 2. marca na naslovu: rdece.zore@gmail.com (Zadeva: Burn-out).

*

*

*

Petek, 7. marec 2008

12.00 – 16.00, KUD Mreža studio (stavba Pešci)

Računalniška delavnica / The GenderChangers

Urška Merc (Slovenija / Nizozemska): HTML / CSS delavnica

CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) je preprosto sredstvo za spreminjanje izgleda spletnih dokumentov, ki se izogne spreminjanju njihove strukture. Deluje tako, da loči vizualne oblikovne elemente (fonte, barve, robove, velikosti, ozadja itd.) od strukturne logike spletne strani in tako omogoča poigravanje z obliko brez strahu, da se zruši struktura vsebine.

Brezplačno. V angleščini. Samo za ženske. Prijave zbiramo do 2. marca na naslovu rdece.zore@gmail.com (Zadeva: CSS delavnica).

*

12.00 – 16.00, [A] Infoshop

Delavnica poetičnega recikliranja e-odpada

R.G. Gözüm (Turčija): Poezija odpadlih tipkovnic

Na delavnici vas bo borka za človekove pravice, snemalka, video umetnica in VJ-ka R.G. Gözüm poučila o težavah, ki jih povzroča e-odpad, vam pojasnila, kaj e-odpad je, in vam predstavila različne metode recikliranja e-odpada. Potem bomo z izvijači preučile anatomijo starih tipkovnic in jih spremenile v reciklirano, dobesedno žarečo poezijo.

Brezplačno. V angleščini. Samo za ženske. Prijave zbiramo do 2. marca na naslovu: rdece.zore@gmail.com (Zadeva: Recikliranje e-odpada).

*

14.00 – 17.00, Klub SOT-24,5

Drugi del umetniških šiviljskih delavnic

Emeli Röndahl (Švedska): Krvave norme

Helen Terry (Velika Britanija / Nizozemska): Moda iznajdljivih

*

16.00 – 18.00, Klub Tiffany

Pirsing delavnica

Kaamala (Slovenija) nudi svetovanje in možnost pirsanja.

V slovenščini in angleščini. Za vse. Pristojbina po dogovoru (priporoča okrog 10 €). Število udeleženk in udeležencev je omejeno. Prijave do 3. marca na telefon 031 487 238 ali naslovu kaamala7@gmail.com

*

*

*

Sobota, 8. marec 2008

12.00 – 16.00, KUD Mreža studio (stavba Pešci)

Računalniška delavnica / Žene na delu

Majda Puača in Milica Gudović (Srbija): Delavnica o programskih aplikacijah Drupal in Joomla

Drupal je odprtokodna programska oprema, ki omogoča individualno ali skupinsko uporabo orodja za objavljanje, upravljanje in organiziranje skupnostnih spletnih portalov, forumov, korporativnih spletnih strani, blogov, resursnih direktorijev itd. Joomla CMS je večnamenska odprtokodna aplikacija za ustvarjanje spletnih strani. Z njo lahko brez vsakršnega oblikovalskega in programerskega predznanja ustvarite svojo lastno spletno stran. Na delavnici bo predstavljeno njeno delovanje, instaliranje na vaš računalnik in delo s preprostimi primeri sistemov.

Brezplačno. V angleščini. Samo za ženske. Prijave zbiramo do 2. marca na naslovu rdece.zore@gmail.com (Zadeva: Drupal / Joomla).

*

12.00 – 16.00, [A] Infoshop

Drugi del delavnice poetičnega recikliranja e-odpada

R.G. Gözüm (Turčija): Poezija odpadlih tipkovnic

*

14.00, Klub SOT-24,5

Pogovor / Delavnica

Noha Ramadan (Avstralija / Nizozemska): Telo kot prostor akcije

Avstralska performerka, filozofinja in ulična aktivistka bo konceptualizirala telo kot sredstvo in prostor taktičnega uličnega aktivizma, ki z nepričakovanim, nenavadnim in »neumestnim« gibanjem lahko pretrese in zmoti vnaprej določene pomene javnega prostora – in telesa. Na željo udeleženk in udeležencev se bo pogovor spremenil v pripravo na dejansko ulično akcijo.

Brezplačno. V angleščini. Za vse. Predhodna prijava ni potrebna, zaradi prostorskih omejitev je najava vseeno priporočljiva. Naslov: rdece.zore@gmail.com (Zadeva: Telo kot prostor akcije).