ÖFA-kollektivitet: I Ass Jazz

Menza pri koritu, March 5th (Photo JK)
More photos from the performance on Red Dawns here.
http://www.ofakollektivet.se/

"Teme življenja se enako tičejo vseh"

V okviru feminističnega in queer festivala Rdeče zore, ki se je začel sinoči in bo do ponedeljka potekal na različnih lokacijah v Metelkovi mestu, se bodo danes ob 20. uri v Menzi pri koritu predstavile tri plesalke iz švedskega feminističnega gledališko-umetniškega kolektiva ÖFA-kollektivet, Amanda Apetrea, Emma Tolander in Lisen Rosell, ki se jim je pri pogovoru pridružila še četrta, Emelie Garmén. Kolektiv ÖFA ima sicer trenutno 22 članic, ki vsaj večinoma izhajajo s področja sodobnega plesa, režije in koreografije, toda med njimi so tudi novinarke, socialne delavke, glasbenice, učiteljice in druge.

V vsakem njihovem performansu je po navadi udeleženih približno deset članic, tokratni predstavile se bodo s projektom I Ass Jazz pa je po številu nastopajočih nekoliko manjši.

Svoje dejavnosti kolektiv ne omejuje zgolj na plesne in gledališke predstave, ki tvorijo glavnino njihove dejavnosti, ukvarjajo se tudi z organizacijo klubskih večerov, publicistiko ter s prirejanjem različnih delavnic, predavanj in razstav.

Predstava I Ass Jazz, ki jo boste izvedle nocoj, je vezana na kabaret. Ali so vaše predstave tudi sicer bolj kabaretne?

Amanda Apetrea: Pri predstavi I Ass Jazz smo se mnogo bolj posvetile raziskovanju jazz baleta, muzikalov, kabareta in glasbenih spotov MTV, kot smo to počele prej. Tokrat smo se vsekakor bolj zavestno ukvarjale s to formo predvsem pri konstrukciji koreografije. Toda že v osnovi smo sestavljale predstavo iz različnih točk.

Emma Tolander: Če bi že morale govoriti o stilu predstav, ki jih delamo z ÖFA kolektivom, lahko rečem, da pravzaprav delamo s precej tradicionalnimi postopki gledaliških dramaturgij in dela na odru, čeprav jih uporabljamo precej nespoštljivo, jih prekinjamo, mešamo, trgamo.

Kako ste sploh ustanovile kolektiv?

Lisen Rosell: Začele smo kot neformalna skupina, ki se je srečevala zato, da bi se pogovarjale o vsakodnevnem življenju in delu. Najprej smo oblikovale spletno skupino in vse, kar smo na začetku počele, je bilo povezano s tem, kar smo objavljale na spletnem forumu. Še danes ta stična točka na spletu igra pomembno vlogo pri komentiranju in koncipiranju projektov.

Če si želimo komunikacije s širšo družbo, je v tem pogledu nekoliko problematično, kadar ustvarjamo javni prostor, ki ga zasedajo le ženske. Kdo sestavlja vaše občinstvo?

Emelie Garmén: Ko smo začele, smo kolektiv večinoma sestavljale ženske med 22. in 29. letom starosti, zato smo predvidevale, da delamo predvsem za ženske naše generacije. Že pri prvem performansu pa se je izkazalo, da so tematike, o katerih smo govorile na odru, zanimale za nas povsem nepričakovane skupine ljudi.

Emma Tolander: Lahko bi govorile tudi o naši zadnji premieri, ki se imenuje ÖFA skrivnosti. Bila je posebna, ker smo jo pripravile za šolajoče se otroke. Učitelji so nas na začetku spraševali, če bo performans v prvi vrsti namenjen deklicam, ker smo na odru same ženske, a izkazalo se je, da so bili dečki enako zainteresirani. Za tematiko smo vzele svoje življenjske izkušnje in izkazalo se je, da se s podobnimi situacijami lahko do neke mere poistoveti kdor koli v publiki.

Amanda Apetrea: Med delovnim procesom smo se veliko pogovarjale o tem, kaj pomeni, da so teme, ki jih obravnavamo, pogosto zelo radikalno feministične in queer. Pomembno je predvsem, da si hkrati zelo prizadevamo, da teh tem pravzaprav ne bi komentirale, da bi le uprizarjale situacije, ne da bi poskušale občinstvo poučevati o nečem.

Emma Tolander: Zanimiv komentar je ob neki priložnosti ponudila Lisen, ki se je vprašala, zakaj se nam ne zdi nič problematičnega, da so v glasbeni skupini Metallica le moški. Zakaj se ne sprašujemo, ali je njihova glasba namenjena le dečkom?

Nocojšnja predstava naj bi govorila predvsem o željah in poželenju. Ali bo imela neko jasno zgodbo, pripoved?

Amanda Apetrea: Predstava ni narativna, a mnogo se ukvarjamo s podobami, s klišeji, zato so različni deli predstave zelo jasno prepoznavni očitno je, o čem govorimo, a hkrati ne sledimo neki zgodbi. Predstava je bolj podobna nekakšnemu pobiranju koščkov tega sveta in njihovemu postavljanju na oder.

Verjetno pa vsebuje mnogo humorja?

Amanda Apetrea: Vsekakor! A čeprav izhajamo iz zelo resnih tem, smo si prizadevale, da pri tem ne bi bile ironične.

Emelie Garmén: Švedski gledališki prostor je v zadnjem času preplavljen z ironijo. In če nisi ironičen, postane občinstvo precej zmedeno, ker tega enostavno niso navajeni. Sprašujejo se, ali je to, kar gledajo, resnično ali je zgolj šala, ali želimo nekaj povedati? Zmeda je vsekakor nekaj, kar nas zanima. Vse v predstavi je pravzaprav popolnoma pretirano.

Koliko pozornosti vam namenja širša javnost? Ali so vas že kdaj povabili v priznane umetnostne institucije ali delate na margini?

Emma Tolander: Kraljevo dramsko gledališče Dramaten se je v zadnjih letih začelo nekoliko odpirati za različne eksperimente. Ponudili so nam, da en večer popolnoma samostojno oblikujemo program. Na ta način so pridobili novo publiko, mlade ljudi, ki sicer večinoma ne zahajajo v to gledališče. Tudi za nas je bila izkušnja zanimiva, čeprav se zavedamo, da Dramaten na neki način izkorišča nevladne skupine, kot je naša, za širjenje občinstva.

Ida Hiršenfelder

Vzeto iz tiskane izdaje Dnevnika; petek, 5. marec 2010;
http://www.dnevnik.si/tiskane_izdaje/dnevnik/1042342467

Mini Report from Civilmedia Conference

Below, there are some photos taken by Dušan Dobiaš at the panel on Participatory culture and technology in on- and offline networks that took place on Saturday, November 7th 2009 in Salzburg at the Civilmedia conference. The audio recording of the debate was published on the CBA (Cultural Broadcasting Archive) site and can be heard here.

Initially, Alek Ommert was supposed to join the conversation but could not make it. Instead, Sonja Prlic spoke about Frontiers, an online computer game about crossing borders. Rosa Reitsamer spoke about the Vienna-based feminist and anti-racist series of discussions Female Consequences and about the DVD and online publication Dig Me Out dedicated to female musicians and performance artists. I spoke about Rdeče zore festival and a little bit about my own blogging. The debate was moderated by Elke Zobl.




Rosa Reitsamer, Tea Hvala, Sonja Prlic, Elke Zobl

For Fuck's Sake - Part II

In the previous post, Anna Ehrlemark shared some impressions about the XXX Politics, or as we prefer, For Fuck's Sake workshop we held at the 2009 Pride Istanbul week. Here are some of my additions...

The workshop took place in a dance studio called Çıplak Ayaklar or, in literal translation, Naked Feet, a name that, if you ask the neighbors, seems to suggest more than you could ever imagine seeing at the hammam right next door. Not only did we listen to on-screen moans and sighs at lower volume; during the workshop, the entrance door was locked – just in case another guardian of pub(l)ic morals would decide to check up on yet another shameless exposure of conscientious objectors who, among other kind and brave people, run the venue.

The studio is placed in a small dead-end street beside a metal workshop where a large sun-tanned man was smoking a cigarette, resting in the fading daylight while people began gathering for the discussion and screening. To my great surprise, there were people there who said they never watch porn but have come to see whether the independent and possibly queer porn films have something “less revolting” and more ticklish to offer.

After seeing portions of Trans Entities: The Nasty Love of Papi' and Wil and The Crash Pad, a girl said she could only enjoy these films if she put herself into a “male mindset”, a comment that needed further explaining since the exact characteristics of a “male mindset” seemed to be unknown to male and female participants alike. And yet, our demands to explain her claim might have been too pushy. In fact, it looked like we were too busy proving our point to actually hear her answer.

Did she say that the pleasures embodied on-screen were too far from the ones she likes? Or that the use of porn for arousal is, in her eyes, a domain so traditionally male, that it is easier for her to imagine herself in that role than it would be to claim that space, make it comfortable for her as a woman? Perhaps all she was saying was that she could not identify with those filmed bodies – an issue that seems to enter reflections on porn use only at workshops like these. As an abundance of sources claims, the essential condition for one’s enjoyment of porn is the opposite: you have to accept the objectification of another’s body in order to let your fantasies go, and allow yourself to scribble your own handwriting on those bodies. And then again: if you feel objectified and reduced to a sex object in real life – how can you be expected to do the same to people acting in virtual representations of sex? Especially those that deliberately try to familiarize you with the actors, de-objectify them, by interviewing them and showing the interviews before the sex, for example.

If we were satisfied with Barbara DeGenevieve’s amusing definition of queer porn as porn in which “queer people are having queer sex”, feminist porn proved to be a more difficult subject to pin down. As mentioned in Anna's notes, Jennifer Lyon Bell’s film received quite contradictory responses, all made in the name of feminism. In order to make any kind of discussion possible – in spite of the very articulate and respectful participants – it seemed that everybody has to define what they claim in the name of feminism first. And we tried.

There were people who have already seen all the films we brought for screening, and willingly shared other film suggestions with us. Like Abby Winters, an amateur lesbian site that prides itself with moral, or rather, ethical integrity. Also recommended were the Straight Guys for Gay Eyes site and the award-winning documentary about female masculinity by Gabriel Baur, Venus Boyz (2002). And, of course the fabulous “erotic noir” SM film by Maria Beatty, The Black Glove.

During The Crash Pad scene screening, I was smoking a cigarette in the studio’s kitchen. While watching familiar scenes, I realized that I must have reached my limit. I must have seen that film four times, and like it happens with “real” unimaginative sex, I definitely had enough. The scene that aroused me at the first viewing seemed terribly long and predictable now, and the only joy I could find was in the fact that I was looking at the scene in a mirror that reflected another mirror’s reflection of the screen.

I was thinking about what Luca Donnini said earlier that day: that from a genital point of view, the number of possibilities, sex positions, is very limited: our bodies are too predictably familiar, too similar to each other. And yet, if you talk about genders and their possible expressions, the details and differences multiply into infinity. While the challenge of making interesting, challenging, arousing queer porn would seem to lie right there – in the ability to portray that playful variety – it seems, strangely enough, that a whole lot of people are turned on more (and therefore keep looking for) visual representations of sex that are familiar, mirroring more of the same familiarity.

And thinking about the girl who had to put on her “male” persona in order to enjoy “women-friendly” porn, I could think of only one question: could it be that enjoyment of independent, feminist or queer porn requires a process of un-learning the rules of the genre (allowed and accessible fantasies included) as defined by mainstream production first. Could it be that, in order to enjoy porn, you also have to un-learn behaviors that are socially approved for your sex? And then: does it demand an exposure to a great variety of independent queer porn so that you can familiarize yourself with queer bodies and previously unseen fantasies, and get used to them. In other words, does it demand, like other kinds of sensitivities, a training in the ability to imagine the yet unseen and inexperienced? Something like our attempt to stamp out “common morals” with our “naked” feet and vulnerable ethics, perhaps.