II. Symposium
8th SYMPOSIUM „SAFER SPACES – THE FEMINIST CULTURE OF PEACE“
Reflections, experiences and debate
20.9.2o24. 16 – 18 Hr.
21.9.2024. 15 – 17 Hr.
Orber Straße 57 – 60386 Frankfurt am Main
“The question of ‘safe to’ has been relatively neglected. If women were safe from routine harassment, abuse, and resulting fear, what would they be safe to do? How do they experience that ‘safety to’? What is it about spaces that make them ‘safe’? “
– Ruth Lewis, Elizabeth Sharp, Jenni Remnant and Rhiannon Redpath
In ‘Safe Spaces’: Experiences of Feminist Women-Only Space 2015
“The victims, the survivors are the ones who have taught us to build this culture of peace. We believe that culture, as Amilcar Cabral said, is made of the responses that peoples are capable of giving to crises. We want peace to become a way of being and thinking, which is why we believe that it is deeply linked to culture, the arts and knowledge.“
– Patricia Ariza
In “Patricia Ariza, a symbol of new Colombia” 2023
This year’s symposium will host international and local guests who will share their experiences and reflections on strengthening the role of womxn in art, culture and politics. Based on the theme “SAFER SPACES – The Feminist Culture of Peace”, we will engage in a feminist dialogue between theatre, art and politics in the year 2024, where exclusion, war and sexism still constrain us, in search of impulses for a radically utopian stage.
Together with politically engaged and arts working womyn on the panel and in the audience, we want to discuss how the performing arts can shape a feminist culture of peace that embraces diversity and respect for our differences and lives of everyone’s participation. As victims of structural violence, womyn and girlz have an important voice in building a culture of peace and overcoming our dystopian present.
We want to learn about new methods that shake up the structures of the old stage and fundamentally question the process of making theatre to date. And we want to find out at which points changes that begin on stage have an impact on society and thus mark the beginning of a larger change. Because an inclusive future is only possible by working together!
The focus of the discussion is on sharing different generations’ experiences with the stage as a performative space for an anti-racist, queer and eco-feminist utopia of peace. We want to learn more about feminist technologies for dealing with conflict in different cultural contexts and encourage speakers to gain a new perspective on their own political practice through shared debate and reflection.
In this sense, the 8th symposium is the high point of our festival debate so far. As in previous years, we continue to look for ways to change the patriarchal, Eurocentric narrative of theatre-making by engaging with a variety of feminist voices and collectively building connections of solidarity.
The current working theme thinks together about a feminist vision of peace and how it can be realised according to certain criteria. With a focus on the self-definition of one’s own artistic work, the International Womxn’s Theatre Festival 2024 addresses the following questions:
– What artistic strategies or methodologies have womyn developed in recent years to create a non-violent working environment?
– How do womyn artists deal with conflict and social violence?
– How can we co-create a space that is “safe for” (and not just “safe from”), where womyn and girlz feel empowered to express themselves authentically?
– How do womyn directors, writers and actors create a future of solidarity and safety for other womyn?
Confirmed speakers:
Ana Woolf (theatre maker, The Magdalena Project)
Alba Cristina Soares (artist and Yalorixá, Ya Darabi)
Bárbara Luci Carvalho (artistic director of IF*TF, protagon e.V.)
Bárbara Santos (theatre and film director, Kuringa)
Betânia Ramos Schröder (photojournalist, sociologist and editor)
Helen Varley Jamieson (theatre maker and digital artist, The Magdalena Project)
Isabelle Maurel (choreographer and dancer, The Magdalena Project)
Isriela Bushkola (Büro für Staatsbürgerliche Frauenarbeit e. V., Managing Director)
Ivana Milenović Popović and Milica Petrović (theatre makers, DAH teatar)
Lorena Valdenegro (theatre maker, AQUItheater Berlin)
Patricia Ariza (director of La Candelaria theatre)
Sophie Osen Akhibi (ADAN e.V.)
Viviana Bovino (theatre maker, The Magdalena Project)
PhD Sofia Varino, Paulina Rivera, Milica Labaš (Minor Cosmopolitanisms, University of Potsdam)
Tainá Correia Wittkowski (translator)
Languages: English/German/Spanish/Portuguese
Further speakers:
… are artists from the festival and experts on feminist, decolonial, migration and human rights issues – and all others who think that their voices should be heard in this context.
Allies and interested persons are warmly invited to listen, think and ask questions.
Registration at info@iftf-frankfurt.com