- Mesto Žensk - Mednarodni festival sodobnih umetnosti
- International Festival of Contemporary Arts – City of Women
Vsakoletni Mednarodni festival sodobnih umetnosti – Mesto žensk poteka v začetku oktobra. Vsakič gosti od 40 do 60 umetnic in teoretičark ter pritegne pozornost več tisoč obiskovalcev vseh starosti, izobrazb in zanimanj. Od ustanovitve je na njem sodelovalo preko 700 umetnic in umetnikov, kolektivov, skupin, kuratoric in kuratorjev, teoretičark in aktivistk z vsega sveta – od takih, ki se šele uveljavljajo, pa vse do najimenitnejših imen. Festival sodeluje s številnimi institucijami in alternativnimi prizorišči v Ljubljani, Sloveniji in tujini ter uživa veliko medijsko pozornost. Glavni soproducent festivala je slovenski kulturni hram Cankarjev dom. Vsakoletna festivalska ekipa je sestavljena predvsem iz samostojnih ustvarjalcev na področju kulture, trenutna programska vodja festivala pa je Mara Vujić.
Z leti je festival Mesto žensk pridobil vrsto značilnosti in z njimi prepoznavnost, zaradi katere se razlikuje od drugih podobnih dogodkov v Sloveniji in Evropi. Ena od takih značilnosti je njegova transdisciplinarnost in z njo povezano sodelovanje umetnic, ki eksperimentirajo, se spogledujejo ali celo prestopajo meje posameznih žanrov. Vsaka izdaja festivala je posvečena osrednji temi, pomembni bodisi v umetniškem, kulturnem ali družbenopolitičnem pogledu, k sodelovanju pa so povabljeni tudi akademiki s področja kulturoloških študij in študij spolov, ki se poklicno ukvarjajo z izbrano tematiko. Festival spodbuja dialog, nova spoznanja in živahno razpravo med sodelujočimi umetnicami, teoretičarkami in občinstvom. Mesto žensk je mednarodni festival sodobnih umetnosti in predstavlja umetnice z vsega sveta, tudi iz daljnih držav in področij, ki se v Sloveniji redko predstavljajo ali pa jih domače občinstvo še ne pozna najbolje. Je kraj, kjer prihaja do sodelovanja med povabljenimi gostjami, umetniki in institucijami oziroma organizacijami v Sloveniji in sosednjih državah. Festival organizira gostovanja povabljenih umetnic v Sloveniji in tujini ter predstavlja bogat program spremljevalnih prireditev izven festivalskih okvirov. Nagovarja široko in raznoliko občinstvo in si prizadeva za njegovo aktivno sodelovanje. Da bi to dosegel, ponuja raznovrsten program in organizira prireditve na različnih koncih mesta, kar nedvomno prispeva k njegovi odmevnosti, meša občinstva, tako da neobičajne ali kontroverzne dogodke postavlja na t. i. mainstream prizorišča, znane in uveljavljene umetnice pa nastopajo v t. i. alternativnih prostorih.
Z različnimi brezplačnimi delavnicami, predavanji in teoretskim izhodiščem, ki spodbuja razumevanje kulturne identitete in sodobne teorije, je v program festivala vpeto tudi izobraževanje v najširšem pomenu besede.
MANIFEST MESTA ŽENSK
Ker drugi festivali in kulturne prireditve pogosto zapostavljajo ustvarjalnost umetnic, je glavni kriterij za selekcijo del in dogodkov žensko avtorstvo: avtorice vseh konceptov in idej so ženske. V tem pogledu je Mesto žensk platforma, ki opozarja na nesorazmerno reprezentacijo in sodelovanje žensk v umetnostih.
Poleg tega Mesto žensk osvetljuje družbeno realnost, v kateri nastaja umetnost žensk, in želi razkriti nekatere pogoje ženske ustvarjalnosti. Festival ima integrativno in opozorilno vlogo. Zagotavlja priložnost za integracijo umetnosti žensk z vzhoda in zahoda. Integrira in pozicionira umetnost slovenskih ustvarjalk v širši kulturni prostor. Opozorilna vloga festivala pa je ozaveščanje o vlogi in položaju žensk v slovenskem in širšem mednarodnem okolju. Mesto žensk upa, da z okroglimi mizami in srečanji z mednarodno udeležbo, ki ponujajo teoretska razmišljanja o vlogi žensk v kulturi in omogočajo primerjavo različnih paradigem, prispeva k večji družbeni ozaveščenosti.
Pogoje za žensko ustvarjalnost v polju umetnosti poskušamo izboljšati tudi s produkcijami, soprodukcijami in gostovanji predstav in dogodkov domačih in tujih umetnic na samem festivalu kot tudi čez leto. Mesto žensk organizira tudi delavnice najrazličnejših umetniških zvrsti (scenske umetnosti, ples, sodobne multimedijske umetnosti itn.). Nazadnje – Mesto žensk upa, da razširja spoznanje, da umetnost žensk ni nekaj »uniformiranega« (predpostavka, ki ustvarja plodna tla za vse vrste stereotipov), temveč prav nasprotno.
The annual International Festival of Contemporary Arts – City of Women takes place at the beginning of October. Inviting between forty and sixty women artists and theorists each years, it attracts several thousand visitors from all ages, professions and interests. Since its institution, the Festival has welcomed over seven hundred female and male artists, collectives, groups, curators, theorists and activists from all over the world, ranging from the emerging to the pre-eminent. In establishing liaisons with many different institutional and alternative venues in the city of Ljubljana, Slovenia and abroad, the Festival enjoys wide media exposure. Slovenia’s premier national cultural centre, Cankarjev Dom, has been its main co-producer. The annual festival team is composed mainly of freelancers in the field of culture whilst the current artistic director is Mara Vujič. Over the years the City of Women has developed a range of specific characteristics that distinguish it from other such events in Slovenia and Europe. As a transdisciplinary festival, it has a rather experimental profile, welcoming artists who experiment with, blur, and even cross, the boundaries of genres. Every Festival’s edition is dedicated to the main topic of artistic, cultural or socio-political relevance, inviting scholars from the fields of cultural and gender studies, to address the issues. The Festival promotes dialogue, knowledge and lively debate among the participating artists, academics and the audience.
As an international festival of contemporary arts, City of Women introduces artists from all over the world, including distant countries and regions that have rarely been presented in Slovenia or the local audience isn’t very familiar with. It is a venue that initiates collaborations between the invited guests, artists as well as institutions and organisations in Slovenia and neighbouring countries. The City of Women organises tours by invited artists in Slovenia and abroad and presents a number of different events outside the Festival’s framework. It reaches out to a broad and diverse audience, and fosters their active participation. In order to achieve this goal, it offers a wide-ranging programme and accommodates festival events at venues across the city which undoubtedly contributes to a higher level of visibility, as well as mixes audiences by staging unconventional or controversial events in so-called mainstream venues and renowned artists in alternative settings. Through various free workshops and lectures, and a theoretical platform, which promotes a greater understanding of cultural identity and contemporary theory, there is also an educational element to the City of Women programme.
CITY OF WOMEN MANIFESTO
Based on the fact that other festivals and art events often neglect women’s art, the main criterion for selection of works and events is women’s authorship: all originators of the actual concepts and ideas being presented are women. In this context, we consider the City of Women to be a platform which draws the attention on the disproportionate representation of, and participation of, women in the arts. Furthermore the City of Women is focusing on the social reality in which women’s art is produced and wants to reveal some of the conditions of female creativity. The festival has an integrative as well as an injunctive function. It provides the opportunity to integrate women’s art from east and west. It also integrates and situates Slovenian women’s art in a larger cultural framework. The injunctive function of the festival is to entail political awareness of the role and place of women in Slovenian society as well as internationally. Through international discussion panels and meetings – offering a theoretical reflection on women’s role in culture and enabling a productive comparison between different paradigms – the City of Women hopes to help building that awareness.
Another way by which we attempt to improve the conditions for the production of art by women is by organizing a number of workshops (including performing arts, dance, contemporary multimedia arts, etc. ). Finally, the City of Women hopes to contribute to the idea that women’s art is not something uniform (a presumption creating fertile ground for all kinds of stereotypes) but is rather the opposite.