Last week TU Berlin Urban Design student and graduate of Metropolitan Culture Andrea Protschky joined Stadtkuratorin for the International Festival on Feminism and Public Space. She responds to the different viewpoints that were presented with her own realisations.
In hysterical times like these, we need to challenge our presumptions. At the Festival on Feminism and Public Space from May 4th-7th in Hamburg, international artists, performers, theoreticians and activists questioned current public narratives of migration, gender roles and material reproduction conditions. As part of the project Stadtkuratorin, the event took place at the art university HFBK and the dance and performance platform Kampnagel.
In hysterical times like these, we need to challenge our presumptions. At the Festival on Feminism and Public Space from May 4th-7th in Hamburg, international artists, performers, theoreticians and activists questioned current public narratives of migration, gender roles and material reproduction conditions. As part of the project Stadtkuratorin, the event took place at the art university HFBK and the dance and performance platform Kampnagel.
In times of worldwide power play and warfare, refugee crises, and neo-fascist tendencies, the world comes across confusing, and disturbing. The talks illustrated underlying logics of this turbulent present, for instance how postcolonial structures in the global south prefabricate current crises, and how “feminism” is instrumentalised as a racist argument in refugee politics. Different speakers struck me with their unconventional thinking - like Nikos Papastergiadis when he stated, “The only real ghettos are white.”, comparing white enclaves to multi-ethnic quarters.
The talks were complemented with powerful manifestos of urban LGTBQIA-Citizenship. Media-activist Tyler Ford described experiences in New York transit: “In public, my body becomes a question mark, and no one will take “no” for an answer. […] Having a body and existing in public space does not make my body for public consumption. I am not for everyone and I am not for anyone.”
To me, the festival was an eye-opener on worldwide urban social interrelations and transformations. The project Stadtkuratorin thematizes the interrelations between arts, politics and the city in many more interesting events: http://stadtkuratorin-hamburg.de/.
The talks were complemented with powerful manifestos of urban LGTBQIA-Citizenship. Media-activist Tyler Ford described experiences in New York transit: “In public, my body becomes a question mark, and no one will take “no” for an answer. […] Having a body and existing in public space does not make my body for public consumption. I am not for everyone and I am not for anyone.”
To me, the festival was an eye-opener on worldwide urban social interrelations and transformations. The project Stadtkuratorin thematizes the interrelations between arts, politics and the city in many more interesting events: http://stadtkuratorin-hamburg.de/.