Deseti Queer Zagreb: umjetnici iz najrazličitijih krajeva svijeta po čitavom gradu, uz aktivističku konferenciju o arapskim LGBT pitanjima, te uzbudljiv noćni i filmski program!

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Queer Zagreb izvedbeni je festival koji se odvija svake godine u Zagrebu od 2003. s misijom opiranja normama koje konstruiraju društvo i umjetničke prakse. Festival 2012. naglašava svoje desetogodišnje postojanje s nekolicinom iznimno uspješnih umjetnika i izvedbi.

Priznati koreografi u programu desetog Queera

Raimund Hoghe predstavlja svoj najveći projekt do sada, Si je meurs laissez le balcon overt. Nazvan prema pjesmi Federica Garcije Lorce, rad je posveta Dominiqueu Bagouetu, osnivaču montpellierskog festivala plesa koji je preminuo 1992. od AIDS-a, a bavi se temama smrti, boli i života. Koreografiju koju potpisuje sam Hoghe treba gledati, ili bolje rečeno čitati, kao nezavršenu rečenicu; s Marcelom Proustom i Gabrielom Fauréom u radu 65-godišnjeg Nijemca koji je pripremao koreografije Pine Bausch od 1980-ih do 90ih. Izvedba je svjesno dugačka, kao da je Hoge želio izbaciti naše unutarnje opiranje njegovom i tuđem nezavršenom zadatku.

Dok će s izvedbom Raimunda Hoghea, koja se održava u MSU-u, 30. travnja biti zatvoren festival, njegovo otvorenje odvija se 23. travnja u Zagrebačkom plesnom centru, gdje u proslavi svoje desete obljetnice Queer Zagreb predstavlja prve Afrikanke na festivalu, Kettly Noël (Haiti/Mali) i Nelisiwe Xaba (Južna Afrika). Pod nazivom Correspondances, izvedba opisuje susret između dvije žene nakon dugačkog perioda korespondencije koje se nalaze kako bi raspravljale o različitim temama. Od svjetovnih i popularnih do profanih, kroz suvremeni ples otkrivaju izvor naših pokreta: raspravljajući o problemima rasnog, kulturnog i rodnog identiteta – queer temama bez premca.

Tadasu Takamine japanski je umjetnik koji izaziva uvriježene ideje performativne umjetnosti te vizualnih i artističkih praksi općenito a 2013. će njegov postav biti izložen u cijenjenoj MoMA-i. Njegovi su performansi između grana umjetnosti, nemoguće ih je definirati, a u svojoj suptilnosti se bave problemima koji su istovremeno lokalni i univerzalni upoznavajući nas s tumačenjima kakva su postojala svo to vrijeme. How not to think? bavi se s japanskim i univerzalnim tabuom osobama s invaliditetom. Koliko je subjektivnosti dozvoljeno onima koji se ne mogu brinuti sami za sebe? Trebamo li intervenirati?

Lokalni autori

Bojan Đorđev, srbijanski kazališni redatelj suosnivač je i član uredničkog odbora TkH a donosi kazališnu adaptaciju djela Psi Hervéa Guiberta uz hrvatskog glumca Stipu Kostanića koji će na pozornicu donijeti svoja propitkivanja i sukob s kolektivnim vlasništvom i praksama post-drame u suvremenom performansu. Ovaj performans nastao je u suradnji s QueerZagrebom kako bi se osnažila regionalna produkcija.

Bogat brazilski segment

Sveukupno, QueerZagreb 2012 predstavit će radove iz niza zemalja sa sve četiri strane globusa u preko deset izvedbi koje će nam dati prikaz što je svjetska queer performativna scena radila posljednjih godina. Istovremeno, festival će redefinirati situacije i iskustva koje nose queer prefiks: u solo nastupu Angela Madureire, gdje putem bogatstva narodnih običaja svoje rodne države Pernambuco u Brazilu raspravlja o osjećajima usamljenosti i sumnjama oko bivanja strancem u stranoj zemlji na margini sustava, u konkretnom slučaju umjetničkih praksi; ili performansom Marte Soares, u kojoj kroz gotovo doslovnu prezentaciju Sambaquisa, prethistorijskih groblja nekadašnjih stanovnika Brazila, simbolizira prolaznost vremena i njegovu utjecaj na tradicionalno i na prostore unutar sebe koji simboliziraju neizbježne promjene u širem društveno-povijesnom kontekstu.

Jedan od bitnih trenutaka festivala biti će i izložba Tužni tropi. Radi se kolekciji šest radova brazilskih umjetnica koje izazivaju definicije umjetnosti i, izvan vlastitog umjetničkog konteksta, pokazuju kako život u tropima nije uvijek sretan. Izazivajući uvriježene načine prikaza umjetnosti i života u tropima, ovi radovi utjelovljuju namjere i dostignuća QueerZagreb festivala tijekom posljednjih deset godina. Izložba predstavlja mlade i perspektivne brazilske umjetnice poput Gabriele Mureb koja otvara izložbu performansom koji će nas natjerati da preispitamo vlastito poimanje queera. Izložbu otvara Raquel Versieux (iz Belo Horizontea s radom Performance Sem-Título (Performans bez naziva) iInstalacijom Erosões de luz… (Erozije svjetla…)) koja propituje našu sposobnost shvaćanja socijalnih problema čak i u slučaju da nas točka koja nestaje odvede negdje drugdje. Isabel Ramil (iz Porto Alegrea) govori o vlastitim queer osjećajima i samoći vukući paralele s Winnie, likom iz drame Sretni dani Samuela Becketta. Uz brazilski program, hrvatski konceptualni umjetnik Željko Zorica predstavit će vlastito viđenje civilizacija pomoću fotografske instalacije.

Politička linija festivala i zadnje festivalsko izdanje

Festival također ispunjava svoje aktivističke aspiracije organizirajući konferenciju sa sudionicima iz preko deset arapskih, mediteranskih i kavkaških država na kojoj će se raspravljati o početcima i kraju Queera u kontekstu arapskog proljeća i prezentacijskih formi samog Queer Zagreba.

Desetu godinu Queer Zagreba obilježit će njegovo simboličko zatvaranje. Jedan važan emancipacijski manjinski projekt ući će u fazu svoje transformacije. Doživio je kraj – početka. U predanoj borbi za emancipaciju LGBTIQ prava u stalnoj smo zamci o nikada do kraja ostvarenoj pobjedi. Uvijek postoji još jedan korak koji se mora učiniti. Početak nema kraja. Kao što i nikad ostvarena ideja kraja nema svoj početak. Borba kao da se uvijek nastavlja, prelazi u nove forme. U tom procesu nailazimo na brojne završetke bilo u obliku pobjeda ili u obliku poraza. No, ponekad sami odlučujemo da završavamo. Zatvaramo.

Dvodnevna konferencija u obliku diskusijskih grupa tijekom Queer Zagreba tematizirat će različite oblike i mehanizme emancipacija seksualnih i rodnih manjina na Balkanu, zemljama Kavkaza i u arapskom svijetu. Konferencija je i prigoda za refleksiju aktivističkog rada u kontekstu izraženih nacionalističkih tenzija, post-ratnih sukoba i radikalnih vjerskih doktrina. Okosnica konferencije su LGBTIQ organizacije s Balkana, Kavkaza i arapskih zemalja okupljene oko neformalne mreže za borbu protiv homofobije.

Deset godina djelovanja će dodatno biti obilježeno proslavom i domjenkom u nedjelju, 29. travnja  u HNK-u, uz prisutnost brojnih izvođača te imena s područja nezavisne kao i institucionalne kulture.

Filmski i noćni program festivala

Dodatno, filmski program festivala sadrži neka od najboljih queer igranih i dokumentarnih otvarenja koji su obilježili scenu bilo svojim suvremenim pristupom temama identiteta do problema s kojima se nose neki queer a ponekad i straight individualci. U tom kontekstu francuski film Elles, u kojem nastupa Juliette Binoche, predstavlja nam ženinu perspektivu suvremene seksualnosti i ono što je na prodaju – ili ne, u seksu i trgovini njime. Sram (Shame), igrani film koji je vinuo Michaela Fassbendera, tematizira seksualne prakse van okvira i njihove poveznice s homoseksualnošću. Prikazati ćemo i pobjednika nagrade Teddy za najbolje queer ostvarenje filmskog festivala u Berlinu, Ostavi upaljena svjetla (Keep the Lights On).

Zatvaranje festivala u velikom stilu omogućit će ponovni posjet prošlogodišnjih gostiju, queer performerskog clubbing kolektiva PUSSYFAGGOT iz New Yorka. U kombinaciji clubbinga i performansa, party će okupiti queer performere poput Lady Miss Kier (Miss Kier iz Deee-Liteove pjesme Groove Is in the Heart, himne 90ih koju svi toliko dobro poznajemo) plus talijanske i britanske performere koji će nam uz Njujorčane pokazati kako je queer nerijetko i divlja zabava. Međutim, tu zabava ne staje: queer nightlife svjetskih metropola nikad nije bio bliži Zagrebu koliko u tjednu QueerZagreb festivala! Uz veliki subotnji party, za posjetitelje festivala pripremili smo i  sedmodnevni party maraton u novom prostoru u centru grada – Hotpotu – te koncert indie-folk kantautora Holcombea Wallera koji sa svojim bendom The Healers nastupa 25. travnja u malom pogonu Tvornice kulture.

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TENTH QUEER ZAGREB: ARTIST FROM VARIOUS PARTS OF THE WORLD ALL OVER TOWN, WITH THE ACTIVIST CONFERENCE ON ARABIAN LGBT ISSUES, AND AN EXCITING NIGHT AND MOVIE PROGRAMS.

Queer Zagreb is a performance festival which takes place annually in Zagreb since 2003, with the mission of resisting norms that construct society and artistic practices. This years festival emphasizes its ten years of existence with a number of exceptionally successful artist and performances.

ACCLAIMED CHOREPGRAPHERS IN THE TENTH EDITION OF QUEER FESTIVAL
Raimund Hoghe presents his biggest project so far, Si je meurs laissez le balcon overt. Named after a poem by Federico Garcia Lorca this piece is a dedication to Dominique Bagouet, founder of the Montpelliere Dance Festival, who died in 1992 of AIDS, and it deals with subjects of death, pain and life. Choreography signed by Hoghe should be seen, or rather read like an unfinished sentence; with Marcel Proust and Gabriel Fauré in the work of this 65 year old german who prepared choreographies by Pina Bausch from the 1980s to the 90s. The performance is deliberately long, as though Hoghe wanted to expel our internal opposition to his and someone else’s work.

While the festival will be closed on the 30th of April with Hoghe’s performance in the Museum of Contemporary Art, it will be opened on the 23rd of April in Zagreb Dance Center, where Queer Zagreb will, in celebration of their tenth anniversary, present Kettly Noël (Haiti/Mali) and Nelisiwe Xaba (South Africa), first African women on the festival. Under the title Correspondances, the performance describes an encounter between two women after a long period of correspondence, who meet in order to discuss different subjects. From secular and popular to profane, through contemporary dance they reveal the source of our movement while discussing racial, cultural and gender identity problems – unrivaled queer subjects.

Tadasu Takamine is a Japanese artist who provokes conventional ideas in performance art, and visual and artistic practices in general. In 2013 his work will be displayed in the entire MoMA. His performances are in between various types of arts, impossible to define but in their subtlety they deal with problems that are local as well as universal, illustrating the interpretations that existed all this time. How not to think? deals with Japanese and universal taboo of disabled people. How much subjectivity is allowed for those who cannot care for themselves? Should we intervene?

LOCAL AUTHORS

Bojan Đorđev, Serbian theatre director and co-founder and editorial board member of the TkH brings a theatrical adaptation of Hervé Guibert’s Dogs, with Croatian actor Stipo Kostanić, who will bring to the stage his questionings and conflicts with collective ownership and practices of post-modern drama in contemporary performance. This performance has been made in collaboration with Queer Zagreb in order to enhance regional production.

RICH BRAZILIAN SEGMENT
Alltogether, Queer Zagreb 2012 will present works from a range of countries from all over the globe in more than a dozen performances that will give us a global image of queer performative scene in the past few years. At the same time, this year’s festival will redefine situations and experiences which carry the queer prefix: solo performance by Angelo Madureira, where he discusses feelings of loneliness and doubts about being a stranger in a foreign country on the systems margin, through wealth of local customs of his native country of Pernabuco, Brazil, in the specific case of artistic practices; or the performance by Marta Soares in which she through nearly literal presentation Sambaquisa, prehistoric cemeteries made by former Brazilian inhabitants, symbolizes the passing of time and its effect on the traditional and the premises within them that symbolize the inevitable changes in the broader socio-historical context.

One of the key moments of the festival is the Sad Tropics exhibition. It is a collection of six works by Brazilian artists who provoke art definitions and, outside their own artistic context, demonstrate that living in the tropics isn’t always happy. By challenging the conventions of art display and life in the tropics, these works embody intentions and achievements of Queer Zagreb festival in the last ten years. The exhibition presents young and perspective Brazilian artists such as Gabriela Mureb, whose performance will make us question our personal definition of queer. The exhibition is opened by Raquel Versieux (from Belo Horizonte with her work Performance Sem-Título (Performance Without a Title), an installation Erosões de luz…(Erosions of light…)) which questions our ability to comprehend social problems, even if the vanishing point takes us somewhere else. Isabel Ramil (from Porto Alegre) speaks about her personal queer emotions and loneliness dragging parallels with Winnie, a character from Happy Days (a play by Samuel Beckett). Along with Brazilian artists, Croatian conceptual artist Željko Zorica will present his personal view of civilizations using photographic installation.

THE POLITICAL LINE OF THE FESTIVAL AND ITS LAST EDITION
The festival also fulfills its activist aspirations by organizing a conference with participants from over ten Arabian, Mediteranian and Caucasian countries, where they will discuss the origins and end of queer in the context of Arabian spring and representational forms of Queer Zagreb itself.

Tenth year of Queer Zagreb will mark it’s symbolic closure. An important minority emancipation project will enter a phase of its transformation. He has experienced the end – of the beginning. In devoted fight for the emancipation of LGBTIQ rights, we are constantly trapped by the never fully achieved victory. There’s always that one extra step that needs to be done. The beginning has no end. Just as the never realized idea has no beginning. The battle continues constantly, exceeds to new forms. In that process we find numerous endings in the shapes of victory or defeat. But sometimes we decide ourselves to finish. To close.

The two-day conference in the form of discussion groups during Queer Zagreb will discuss various forms and mechanisms of emancipation made by sexual and gender minorities in the Balkans, Caucasian countries and the Arabian world. The conference is also an opportunity for reflection on activist work in the context of expressed nationalistic tensions, post war conflicts and radical religious doctrines. Framework of the conference are the LGBTIQ organizations from the Balkan, Arabian and Caucasian countries gathered around an informal network to counter homophobia.

Ten years of activity will additionally be marked with a celebration and reception on Sunday, 29th of April in the Croatian National Theatre, with the presence of numerous artists and names from the independent and institutional culture.

MOVIE AND NIGHT PROGRAM OF THE FESTIVAL

Additionally, the film program of the festival contains some of the best queer films and documentaries that had marked the scene with their contemporary approach to subjects of identity suffered by some queer and some straight individuals. In that context the French movie Elles, starring Juliette Binoche, presents us a womens perspective of modern sexuality, and what’s on sale or not, in sex and it’s sale. Shame (Sram), a movie that pushed Michael Fassbender, thematizes sexual practices outside of the box and their links to homosexuality. We will present the winner of the Teddy award for the best queer movie of the Berlin Film festival Keep The Lights On (Ostavi upaljena svijetla).

Closure of the festival in grand fashion will be enabled by our last years guests, queer performing clubbing collective PUSSYFAGGOT from New York. In the combination of clubbing and performance, the party will gather performers such as Lady Miss Kier (Miss Kier from the Deee-Lites song Groove Is In The Heart, a 90s anthem we’re all familiar with), plus Italian and British performers which will, along with New Yorkers, that queer is often quite wild. However, the fun doesn’t stop here: queer nightlife of world capitols has never been closer to Zagreb as much as in the week of the Queer Festival. With saturday’s big party, we have prepared a seven-day party marathon in the new club in the city centre – Hotpot – and the concert of indie-folk singer and songwriter Hollcombe Waller, who will on the 25th of April perform with his band The Healers in the Culture Factory.