Festivals: Ladyfest and Queer-Feminist

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Könntest du dich bitte kurz vorstellen?

Ich bin die Momo, ich komme aus München und ich mache hauptberuflich Modedesign, hauptsächlich Mützen. Und hier auf dem Ladyfest biete ich Mützen an, die man sich selber nähen kann und Mützen, die man kaufen kann.

Ist das dein erstes Ladyfest?

Ja, ich habe vorher noch nie etwas darüber gehört. Mich hat eine Freundin darauf aufmerksam gemacht, die mir dann Flyer gegeben hat.

Was sagst du zu diesem Ladyfest, zu dieser Idee, zu diesem Konzept?

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Könntest du dich bitte kurz vorstellen?

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Könntest du dich bitte kurz vorstellen?

Ich wohne in Wien, habe Philosophie und Geschlechterforschung studiert, unterrichte gerade an der Politikwissenschaft als Lehrbeauftragte und mache sonst relativ viele Projekte im popkulturellen Bereich. Ich habe gerade ein Radioprojekt für Mädchen laufen und bin bei dem queerfeministischen DJ-Kollektiv Quote dabei, habe in vielen Bands Bass und Schlagzeug gespielt und organisiere auch hin und wieder Veranstaltungsreihen im Archiv der Frauen- und Lesbenbewegung in Wien.

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How would you describe the main idea and purpose of the Ladyfest?

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Please introduce yourself.

My name is Ines Castillo and I am 29 years old. I dedicate most of my time doing literature, art or theater workshops for kids, although I also teach at a high school. I am also an activist- almost full time. Sometimes teaching at the high school gets in my way of doing activist projects. But, yes this is what I do.

Are you from here?

Yes I was born here in Tijuana.

How did you get involved in organizing Ladyfest Tijuana?

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Please introduce yourself!
Hi! My name’s Monica, I´m a veterinary student at Sao Paulo State University (Brasil) but I´m from Asuncion, paraguayan city in South America. I make part of the collective Riot Grrrls chapter Paraguay, and organized with the collective 3 Ladyfests from Paraguay.

Zines

What is your zine “Synthemesco y las Ptitsas Zine” about? What topics do you discuss most often? What made you decide to start this project? How did you come up with the idea and the name?

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Please introduce yourself....

J: I’m Judith and I am 21 years old. At the moment I live in Vienna, Austria. I’m doing feminist things for some years. The last big thing I organised was the queer-feminist days in Vienna. I think what is important to me at the moment is that my activism is feminist, but it is not this ‘we are women and we are proud to be women and we are all the same’ and stuff like that. At the moment some anti-racist stuff is important for me and feminism with queer politics also.

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This interview features on the Ladyfest Romania blog and appears in the book Are you talking to me? Discussion on Knowledge Production, Gender Politics and Feminist Strategies, eds H.arta/Katharina Morawek.

How to intervene? Practices of her-stories

“A grrrl from Timisoara—who is involved in the local “underground” scene there—decided to start a Romanian Ladyfest after attending the one held in Amsterdam in 2003. Impressed by the premise of a feminist festival showcasing woman artists and by her whole Ladyfest experience, she felt that it would be a good idea to also try something like that, infused with the riot grrrl spirit, at home. Finally, in late 2004, she started planning the festival together with a girlfriend of hers who is the bass player of a political punk band from Timisoara and a few other grrrls they knew; in time the two of them were able to spread the word and get more help from several Romanian girls and women living in different regions and even outside of the country. Ladyfest Timisoara 2005 was a small scale event, but it was a much needed action that brought together Romanian feminists of various ages and younger ones especially, and everyone involved felt that it should be kept going. Afterwards, the organizing collective decided to stay together to plan more events and ultimately a second Ladyfest in October 2007.” Ruxandra

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DW: Please introduce yourself.....

T: My name is Tea, I’m 29. I have been involved in a lot of organising in the former squat (that now has a sort of an in-between status between legality and illegality), now Autonomous Cultural Center Metelkova mesto in Ljubljana. It is a big space where there are a lot of alternative cultural spaces. I was organising a lot of concerts and other events, including Red Dawns, obviously, but personally I am really really interested in writing so basically that is my priority – fiction, essays, translation.

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Debi Withers (DW): Please introduce yourself....

Nataša Serec (N): My name is Natasa and I have worked in Metelkova Mesta for 15 years. I was one of the people who squatted the place in ‘93 and since then and I am very very involved. This place was before was in use of the Yugoslavian army and then when they left the buildings were free and in the city many artists – this was in the beginning and many projects - artists and art producers got places for their work.