International Feminist and Queer Festival Red Dawns

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Rdeče zore, mednarodni feministični in queer festival

Kulturno-umetniško društvo Mreža (KUD Mreža), Masarykova 24, SI-1000 Ljubljana

http://www.rdecezore.org

rdece.zore@gmail.com

Phone386 (0) 1 434 0345

Organised byKUD Mreža Arts and Culture Association

Frequencyannual

Launched in 2000 by KUD Mreža Arts and Culture Association, the International Feminist and Queer Festival Red Dawns takes place annually at Metelkova mesto Autonomous Cultural Zone in Ljubljana and also at MC Podlaga in Sežana, Mostovna Cultural Centre and Pekarna Magdalena Network in Maribor. Red Dawns features international creators and activists from the fields of performing arts, visual arts, film, and music, as well as organises video projections, round tables, book presentations, and lectures.

Background

The festival was instigated by the requestioning of the position of women in an inseparable intertwinement of art, culture, politics, activism, and everyday life. The title and motto of Red Dawns festival is taken from Kurt Held's 1941 novel The Red Zora and Her Gang. Red Zora had beautiful red hair and her daringly witty, anarchist attitude inspired many struggles, including the militant feminist organisation Rote Zora of West Germany, which stood against patriarchy, biotechnology, and nuclear power, among other things. Zora means "dawn" in Slovenian language. The Red Dawns festival hosts artists and activists whose work is subversively beautiful in their brave-hearted questioning of the supposed natural and social determinants of women's femininity and supposed men's masculinity.

Overview

Red Dawns annually invites women artists who actively voice their visions, politics, opinions and feelings through any media. It supports women who express their creativity in self-organised ways, capturing the do-it-yourself ethic of constructive rebellion against capitalist consumption. The festival's ideal ground is to unite the strength of women activists and artists in order to demonstrate the possibility of a festival that is produced, organised, and performed by women.

The festival invites young and not yet established creators and activists whose work engages in or transgresses gender roles and identities, thematises sexuality, and performs the body in new ways.

Each year the festival presents from 20 to 30 different events. The 2009 edition of the festival featured an exhibition Women Are Coming [Ženske prihajajo], presenting Slovene feminist video, photography, and other visual art works, performances by Liad Kantorowitz (Israel/Palestine), Noa Reshef (Israel), and Sara Filipovič (Slovenia), concerts by Kombinat Choir and Cherry Sunkist (Austria), etc. The festival also organises intriguing workshops, such as a DIY workshop of clothes recycling, a workshop on Internet security and privacy, a workshop on preventing burn-out, a workshop on DIY sex toys, etc.

The festival is organised by KUD Mreža in cooperation with ŠKUC Association, Klub Monokel, Klub Gromka, Alkatraz Gallery, MC Podlaga, Mostovna Cultural Centre, Pekarna Magdalena Network, the Society for the Protection of Atheistic Feelings (DZAČ), Radio Študent (RŠ) and KUD Anarhiv. Red Dawns is supported by ACU (Utrecht) and the Global Fund for Women.

See also

• Metelkova mesto Autonomous Cultural Zone
• KUD Mreža Arts and Culture Association
• ŠKUC Association
• Alkatraz Gallery
• Mostovna Cultural Centre
• Pekarna Magdalena Network
• Society for the Protection of Atheistic Feelings (DZAČ)
• Radio Študent (RŠ)

External links

• Red Dawns International Festival website
• Red Dawns blog
• Rdečke razsajajo! book with interviews with the Red Dawns Festival organisers (2010, excerpts in English)