Monday, 20 December 2010
Tuesday, 14 December 2010
Friday, 10 December 2010
european alternative press fair
from my inbox...
The European Alternative Press Fair – Friday 27 May 2011 to Sunday 29 May 2011
Thank you for everyone who took part in last week's Alternative Press Fair, all the people who attended, who exhibited, who put on workshops and demonstrations, who helped promote and facilitate... in short to all who were part of a lovely day.
But wait..... You are all cordially invited to The European Alternative Press Fair! Starting on Friday 27th May 2011, continuing the next 2 days with a Fair at the Conway Hall in Holborn, London, with stalls, workshops, talks, etc. It's going to have artists from abroad showing the work they're doing over there, and they can see what we do over here! We'll be sending out details of table prices and so on soon, but at this stage we'd like to ask you to join in, to get in contact and help create the event.
As well as the 3 days we'll be running, for which we'll be looking for ideas or offers for running workshops and so forth, we would like to encourage others to put on their own events around the time, maybe gallery shows, music, etc., etc., so that both the European Artists and us will have a bunch of stuff to go to and enjoy, help promote each other, and put self-publishing on the map!
So come along and get involved and help try to put something good on for next May.
Email: jimigherkin@yahoo.co.uk or peterally@gmail.com
The European Alternative Press Fair – Friday 27 May 2011 to Sunday 29 May 2011
Thank you for everyone who took part in last week's Alternative Press Fair, all the people who attended, who exhibited, who put on workshops and demonstrations, who helped promote and facilitate... in short to all who were part of a lovely day.
But wait..... You are all cordially invited to The European Alternative Press Fair! Starting on Friday 27th May 2011, continuing the next 2 days with a Fair at the Conway Hall in Holborn, London, with stalls, workshops, talks, etc. It's going to have artists from abroad showing the work they're doing over there, and they can see what we do over here! We'll be sending out details of table prices and so on soon, but at this stage we'd like to ask you to join in, to get in contact and help create the event.
As well as the 3 days we'll be running, for which we'll be looking for ideas or offers for running workshops and so forth, we would like to encourage others to put on their own events around the time, maybe gallery shows, music, etc., etc., so that both the European Artists and us will have a bunch of stuff to go to and enjoy, help promote each other, and put self-publishing on the map!
So come along and get involved and help try to put something good on for next May.
Email: jimigherkin@yahoo.co.uk or peterally@gmail.com
queer modes of belonging reading group
Interrogating Queer Modes of Belonging
A Manchester Queer Reading Group Series
In collaboration with Race Revolt ‘zine
6pm Mondays January 17th, 31st & February 14th 2011
LGBT Community Centre, 49-51 Sidney Street, Manchester, Behind 8th Day Co-op/opposite All Saints Park.
Culminating in an all-day workshop; with various discussions, Jin Haritaworn in conversation with Adi Kuntsman, and Q&A 12-7pm, Friday February 25th 2011, Manchester
Check http://racerevolt.org.uk/events/home.html for updates
This reading series considers texts that address the ways in which gay rights are being used in nationalist, anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim rhetoric by racist organisations such as the English Defence League, politicians like Geert Wilders and even increasingly by gay activists.
Is it possible to show solidarity without patronising LGBTQI struggles elsewhere? How do we resist justifications for war on the basis of appeals to women’s and queer rights? Is secularism compulsory for LGBTQI people, and what does this mean for those who profess a faith? Does the focus on legal rights such as joining the army or gay marriage represent your idea of liberation?
All welcome, refreshments provided.
Let us know you’re coming and access readings by sending an email to manchesterreading@racerevolt.org.uk
Find a group near you or tell your friends!
As well as Manchester, the series is running in the following cities:
Brighton (brightonreading@racerevolt.org.uk),
Bristol (bristolreading@racerevolt.org.uk),
Coventry (coventryreading@racerevolt.org.uk),
Lancaster (lancasterreading@racerevolt.org.uk),
Leeds (leedsreading@racerevolt.org.uk)
London (londonreading@racerevolt.org.uk).
Email for details of dates and venues.
A Manchester Queer Reading Group Series
In collaboration with Race Revolt ‘zine
6pm Mondays January 17th, 31st & February 14th 2011
LGBT Community Centre, 49-51 Sidney Street, Manchester, Behind 8th Day Co-op/opposite All Saints Park.
Culminating in an all-day workshop; with various discussions, Jin Haritaworn in conversation with Adi Kuntsman, and Q&A 12-7pm, Friday February 25th 2011, Manchester
Check http://racerevolt.org.uk/events/home.html for updates
This reading series considers texts that address the ways in which gay rights are being used in nationalist, anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim rhetoric by racist organisations such as the English Defence League, politicians like Geert Wilders and even increasingly by gay activists.
Is it possible to show solidarity without patronising LGBTQI struggles elsewhere? How do we resist justifications for war on the basis of appeals to women’s and queer rights? Is secularism compulsory for LGBTQI people, and what does this mean for those who profess a faith? Does the focus on legal rights such as joining the army or gay marriage represent your idea of liberation?
All welcome, refreshments provided.
Let us know you’re coming and access readings by sending an email to manchesterreading@racerevolt.org.uk
Find a group near you or tell your friends!
As well as Manchester, the series is running in the following cities:
Brighton (brightonreading@racerevolt.org.uk),
Bristol (bristolreading@racerevolt.org.uk),
Coventry (coventryreading@racerevolt.org.uk),
Lancaster (lancasterreading@racerevolt.org.uk),
Leeds (leedsreading@racerevolt.org.uk)
London (londonreading@racerevolt.org.uk).
Email for details of dates and venues.
Tuesday, 7 December 2010
sounds of
Bildwechsel Glasgow presents: 'Sounds Of...'
16 December · 19:00 - 20:30
At: CCA, 350 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow
http://www.cca-glasgow.com/
A short-film programme of feminist, lesbian and queer music- and sound-related videos from the bildwechsel archives. Crossing genres, times and places, the programme is both a subjective selection of favourites and a look at the different techniques, themes and aesthetics of the times in which they were made (1979 – 2010).
More info
FREE
Full programme coming soon
16 December · 19:00 - 20:30
At: CCA, 350 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow
http://www.cca-glasgow.com/
A short-film programme of feminist, lesbian and queer music- and sound-related videos from the bildwechsel archives. Crossing genres, times and places, the programme is both a subjective selection of favourites and a look at the different techniques, themes and aesthetics of the times in which they were made (1979 – 2010).
More info
FREE
Full programme coming soon
Sunday, 5 December 2010
aorta funding drive via indiegogo
Aorta Magazine need to raise $3,500 to directly fund the printing costs for our upcoming 4th issue, and have set up a IndieGoGo page which is accepting (tax deductable) funding donations - all donations empower Aorta to keep recording queer art history.
The page is up at: www.indiegogo.com/Aorta-Magazine and there's all sorts of perks and incentives for those donating!
The page is up at: www.indiegogo.com/Aorta-Magazine and there's all sorts of perks and incentives for those donating!
G. B. Jones at Lexander in Los Angeles December 13th
The quite amazing G. B. Jones just emailed me to tell me about her amazing looking show in LA. Again, why am I this side of the Ocean?!?...
PAST PRESENT FUTURE G. B. JONES
1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s
OPENING DECEMBER 13 2010 / 6-9PM
Lexander is proud to present, for the first time anywhere in the world, the most comprehensive exhibition of the work of G. B. Jones, spanning over three decades of representational resistance. The opening reception will be held on December 13th from 6 to 9PM.
G. B. Jones is a multitalented artist working in the areas of drawing, design, film, music, and publishing. She has been producing drawings since 1985 and her work has been extensively exhibited in both group and solo exhibitions throughout both North and South America, Europe, and Australia. Her work has previously been featured in group exhibitions in Los Angeles at Stuart Regen Gallery in 1992 and at Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE) in the 1990s and 2000s.
The current exhibition includes selections from a number of series of her drawings, including the Tom Girls (1985-2002), Crash (2003-2004), Symbols (2004-2007), and Excesses and Extremes (2007). The full series of drawings from Fonthill Abbey (2005), The Farm (2005), and Tribute to Felicien Rops (2005) are being exhibited. The current exhibition also marks the debut presentation of the Svastia series, which explores new territory in drawings such as That Dark in September and Monotheism.
LEXANDER 215 W 6TH ST UNIT 113 LOS ANGELES CA 90014
For more information, visit the gallery website at www.lexander.co.
PAST PRESENT FUTURE G. B. JONES
1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s
OPENING DECEMBER 13 2010 / 6-9PM
Lexander is proud to present, for the first time anywhere in the world, the most comprehensive exhibition of the work of G. B. Jones, spanning over three decades of representational resistance. The opening reception will be held on December 13th from 6 to 9PM.
G. B. Jones is a multitalented artist working in the areas of drawing, design, film, music, and publishing. She has been producing drawings since 1985 and her work has been extensively exhibited in both group and solo exhibitions throughout both North and South America, Europe, and Australia. Her work has previously been featured in group exhibitions in Los Angeles at Stuart Regen Gallery in 1992 and at Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE) in the 1990s and 2000s.
The current exhibition includes selections from a number of series of her drawings, including the Tom Girls (1985-2002), Crash (2003-2004), Symbols (2004-2007), and Excesses and Extremes (2007). The full series of drawings from Fonthill Abbey (2005), The Farm (2005), and Tribute to Felicien Rops (2005) are being exhibited. The current exhibition also marks the debut presentation of the Svastia series, which explores new territory in drawings such as That Dark in September and Monotheism.
LEXANDER 215 W 6TH ST UNIT 113 LOS ANGELES CA 90014
For more information, visit the gallery website at www.lexander.co.
Saturday, 4 December 2010
Jane Arden Season at the Star & Shadow Cinema, Newcastle, UK
From my inbox, from the wonderful Charlotte Procter (season programmer of the following):
* JANE ARDEN SEASON AT THE STAR AND SHADOW CINEMA * 8TH- 16TH DECEMBER 2010
www.janeardenproject.blogspot.com
Jane Arden (1927- 1982) was a film director, actor, screenwriter, playwright, songwriter and poet. Her films are seldom seen, but her relevance in the history of Feminist cinema and British culture has received renewed interest.
At the Star & Shadow Cinema, we bring you three of her feature films and a rare short. This is a viewing opportunity not to be missed! This program is a continuation of the effort of the Jane Arden Project with the purpose that these works of art gain the greater recognition they deserve.
Wednesday 8th December, 7.30pmSeparation(Directed by Jack Bond, 1967, 89 mins)Scripted by and starring Jane Arden, Separation portrays the fragile complexity of its protagonist during a marital breakdown, through fragmented scenes, experimental, fragmented sequences. Set against the backdrop of 'swinging' 60s London. The soundtrack is by Procul Harum and light shows by artist Mark Boyle.
Sunday 12th December, 7.30pmThe Other Side of Underneath(Directed by Jane Arden, 1972, 106 mins)Jane Arden's violent and powerful film is an exploration into the mind of a woman labeled schizophrenic, whilst challenging the taboos of society. It is the only British feature film of the 1970s with a solo female direction credit and features a soundtrack by cellist Sally Pullinger.
Thursday 16th December, 7.30pmVibration + Anti-Clock(Directed by Jane Arden & Jack Bond, 1975 & 1979, 36mins & 92mins)Vibration is "an exercise in meditation utilising experimental film and video techniques" (Geoff Brown & Robert Murphy) “A complex and fascinating experimental exploration of time and identity. Anti-Clock is a film of authentic, startling originality. Filled with high tension and high intelligence, Anti-Clock is mysterious, disturbing, fascinating and exciting.” (Jack Kroll, Newsweek)
The Star And Shadow Cinema CIC, Stepney Bank
Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE1 2NP
info@starandshadow.org.uk
http://www.starandshadow.org.uk/on/season/83
Doors open at 7pm and the films start at 7.30pm on the dot. Please note that there are no adverts or trailers before the screenings.
Entry for all films is £4/£3 concessions, unless otherwise stated. Everyone who comes to the Star and Shadow must become a member: this is only £1 for the calendar year. The Star and Shadow will not turn anyone away through a lack of funds and entry for Asylum Seekers is free.
The Star and Shadow is run entirely by volunteer members, with all members having a say in what we do and how we do it.
///////////////////
A LITTLE MORE ABOUT JANE ARDEN
In the late 1940s, after studying at RADA, Arden’s career started to form as she began to play parts on television and in London theatres. As the 1950s progressed, Arden concentrated on writing for stage and television, working with some of the key figures of British theatre and cinema such as Sheila Allen, Joan Simms, Jack Bond, David de Keyser, Alan Bates, Victor Spinetti, Albert Finney, Charles Laughton, Harold Pinter, and Philip Saville (whom she married).
In the 1960s her work became increasingly radical as her interest and involvement in feminism and the anti-psychiatry movement grew. This is particularly evident from 1965 onwards, when Jane began tracing female oppression and wrote a script for the BBC drama 'The Logic Game'. It was described as a "surrealist puzzle" which attempted to locate the isolation of women in the context of a bourgeois marriage.
Arden’s cinematic career begins with her original script and her performance in Separation (1967), which was directed by Arden’s collaborator Jack Bond.
In 1969 she produced the play Vagina Rex and the Gas Oven, which ran to a packed house for six weeks at Arts Lab in London. From this she formed the radical feminist theatre group Holocaust and then wrote the play A New Communion for Freaks Prophets and Witches, which was to become the film The Other Side of the Underneath. The film premiered at the London Film Festival in 1972.
In the early 1970s Jane spent time in Morocco. Upon her return she made two more films, both co-directed with Jack Bond, the experimental Vibration in 1974, and Anti-Clock, which opened the 1979 London Film Festival. Both films incorporated experimental video techniques, Arden's vision was seminal in creating the 'multi-channel' film art form.
Arden died in 1982 and, after an initial tribute at the National Film Theatre in 1983, the films were suppressed; her name consequently fading from the public realm. After nearly three decades, in 2009, the BFI re-released Separation (1967), The Other Side of the Underneath (1972) and Anti-Clock (1979), creating a previously unavailable platform for a new generation to see her work.
However, the depth and social relevance of this work commands that Arden’s output receive greater recognition and award her deserved status amongst her contemporaries.
* JANE ARDEN SEASON AT THE STAR AND SHADOW CINEMA * 8TH- 16TH DECEMBER 2010
www.janeardenproject.blogspot.com
Jane Arden (1927- 1982) was a film director, actor, screenwriter, playwright, songwriter and poet. Her films are seldom seen, but her relevance in the history of Feminist cinema and British culture has received renewed interest.
At the Star & Shadow Cinema, we bring you three of her feature films and a rare short. This is a viewing opportunity not to be missed! This program is a continuation of the effort of the Jane Arden Project with the purpose that these works of art gain the greater recognition they deserve.
Wednesday 8th December, 7.30pmSeparation(Directed by Jack Bond, 1967, 89 mins)Scripted by and starring Jane Arden, Separation portrays the fragile complexity of its protagonist during a marital breakdown, through fragmented scenes, experimental, fragmented sequences. Set against the backdrop of 'swinging' 60s London. The soundtrack is by Procul Harum and light shows by artist Mark Boyle.
Sunday 12th December, 7.30pmThe Other Side of Underneath(Directed by Jane Arden, 1972, 106 mins)Jane Arden's violent and powerful film is an exploration into the mind of a woman labeled schizophrenic, whilst challenging the taboos of society. It is the only British feature film of the 1970s with a solo female direction credit and features a soundtrack by cellist Sally Pullinger.
Thursday 16th December, 7.30pmVibration + Anti-Clock(Directed by Jane Arden & Jack Bond, 1975 & 1979, 36mins & 92mins)Vibration is "an exercise in meditation utilising experimental film and video techniques" (Geoff Brown & Robert Murphy) “A complex and fascinating experimental exploration of time and identity. Anti-Clock is a film of authentic, startling originality. Filled with high tension and high intelligence, Anti-Clock is mysterious, disturbing, fascinating and exciting.” (Jack Kroll, Newsweek)
The Star And Shadow Cinema CIC, Stepney Bank
Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE1 2NP
info@starandshadow.org.uk
http://www.starandshadow.org.uk/on/season/83
Doors open at 7pm and the films start at 7.30pm on the dot. Please note that there are no adverts or trailers before the screenings.
Entry for all films is £4/£3 concessions, unless otherwise stated. Everyone who comes to the Star and Shadow must become a member: this is only £1 for the calendar year. The Star and Shadow will not turn anyone away through a lack of funds and entry for Asylum Seekers is free.
The Star and Shadow is run entirely by volunteer members, with all members having a say in what we do and how we do it.
///////////////////
A LITTLE MORE ABOUT JANE ARDEN
In the late 1940s, after studying at RADA, Arden’s career started to form as she began to play parts on television and in London theatres. As the 1950s progressed, Arden concentrated on writing for stage and television, working with some of the key figures of British theatre and cinema such as Sheila Allen, Joan Simms, Jack Bond, David de Keyser, Alan Bates, Victor Spinetti, Albert Finney, Charles Laughton, Harold Pinter, and Philip Saville (whom she married).
In the 1960s her work became increasingly radical as her interest and involvement in feminism and the anti-psychiatry movement grew. This is particularly evident from 1965 onwards, when Jane began tracing female oppression and wrote a script for the BBC drama 'The Logic Game'. It was described as a "surrealist puzzle" which attempted to locate the isolation of women in the context of a bourgeois marriage.
Arden’s cinematic career begins with her original script and her performance in Separation (1967), which was directed by Arden’s collaborator Jack Bond.
In 1969 she produced the play Vagina Rex and the Gas Oven, which ran to a packed house for six weeks at Arts Lab in London. From this she formed the radical feminist theatre group Holocaust and then wrote the play A New Communion for Freaks Prophets and Witches, which was to become the film The Other Side of the Underneath. The film premiered at the London Film Festival in 1972.
In the early 1970s Jane spent time in Morocco. Upon her return she made two more films, both co-directed with Jack Bond, the experimental Vibration in 1974, and Anti-Clock, which opened the 1979 London Film Festival. Both films incorporated experimental video techniques, Arden's vision was seminal in creating the 'multi-channel' film art form.
Arden died in 1982 and, after an initial tribute at the National Film Theatre in 1983, the films were suppressed; her name consequently fading from the public realm. After nearly three decades, in 2009, the BFI re-released Separation (1967), The Other Side of the Underneath (1972) and Anti-Clock (1979), creating a previously unavailable platform for a new generation to see her work.
However, the depth and social relevance of this work commands that Arden’s output receive greater recognition and award her deserved status amongst her contemporaries.
call for submissions: London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival 2011
from my inbox...
Please forward...
It is that time of year again...
Submissions are open for the 25th London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival! Link to form below. The festival will take place 31st March - 6th April. Please get work to us before Christmas.
http://www.bfi.org.uk/llgff/news/430
As many of you will have heard by now, the festival is sadly only a week long next year due to funding cuts. But this does mean more fun packed into one week, half the hangovers and no time to get festival flu... so that's not so bad. Of course this also means there are less screening slots so please please get your work in as soon as possible.
As ever please mark feminist, activist, music related and POC work for my attention - I would really like at least one film involving a labrys this year if at all possible please!
Hope you are all warm, well and safe.
x Naz
PS please note that I have moved so if you have sent films to me at home in the past I won't get them in time as my post is being redirected to Wales. Please send to;
Nazmia Jamal, LLGFF, Festivals Office, BFI Southbank, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XT.
Please forward...
It is that time of year again...
Submissions are open for the 25th London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival! Link to form below. The festival will take place 31st March - 6th April. Please get work to us before Christmas.
http://www.bfi.org.uk/llgff/news/430
As many of you will have heard by now, the festival is sadly only a week long next year due to funding cuts. But this does mean more fun packed into one week, half the hangovers and no time to get festival flu... so that's not so bad. Of course this also means there are less screening slots so please please get your work in as soon as possible.
As ever please mark feminist, activist, music related and POC work for my attention - I would really like at least one film involving a labrys this year if at all possible please!
Hope you are all warm, well and safe.
x Naz
PS please note that I have moved so if you have sent films to me at home in the past I won't get them in time as my post is being redirected to Wales. Please send to;
Nazmia Jamal, LLGFF, Festivals Office, BFI Southbank, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XT.
Wednesday, 24 November 2010
women make noise
From my inbox. From Julia Downes...
Call for Contributors: ‘Women Make Noise’ edited by Julia Downes
For the Women and Arts series on a new imprint SUPERNOVA BOOKS
General overview:
We are seeking contributors for a new book on music. Women Make Noise will critically explore the past and present participations of women and girls with popular music. Particular attention will be paid to ‘all-girl’ bands. Whilst the media celebrates the spectacles of the girl singer and female-fronted band, ‘all-girl’ bands tend to be marginalised, trivialised and even ignored by dominant journalistic and historical accounts of popular music cultures. Commentary of ‘all-girl’ bands can include doubts over women’s musicianship, anxiety and fear of lesbian/assertive female sexualities, an overemphasis on bitching and bickering amongst band members, and a ‘novelty’ status that constantly marks ‘all-girl’ bands as different from authentic (male) bands. This leaves ‘all-girl’ bands to exist in a contradictory position of opportunity and devaluation in society and culture.
Women Make Noise will critique these mainstream representations of the ‘all-girl’ band to explore alternative accounts of ‘all-girl’ bands; to explore the complexities of creativity, identity, performance, aesthetics, politics, conflict and community at work in women and girls collective music-making. The book will focus on the ways in which music can be used as a radical medium by women and girls in order to contest wider struggles – for instance, of nation, ethnicity, class, sexuality, gender, age and feminisms. Thereby highlighting how ‘all-girl’ bands offer the potential to question and transform society, culture, history and politics. The book will feature informed yet accessible contributions from a variety of writers.
500 word (approx) chapter proposals and 100 word (approx) author biographies are sought from writers on women and girls’ music participations within, but not limited to, the following broadly-defined genres:· Rap and hip hop· Metal· Post-punk· No wave· Punk· Hardcore· Rock· Pop· riot grrrl· Disco· Electro· Girl groups· Noise
Chapters (6,000 words max) should focus on the contributions of ‘all-girl’ groups who write/wrote their own material and play/played their own instruments, though discussion of groups with some male members and of solo artists can be included where relevant. Proposals should (i) outline the musical moment, music-makers and individuals that contributors wish to focus on, (ii) highlight the contributor’s personal connection to the music cultures and communities under discussion and, (iii) outline how the contributor will directly engage with the thoughts, ideas and perspectives of the music-makers and cultural producers to be discussed. Proposals should also highlight how the chapter will meet the overall ethos of the book and also demonstrate the author’s ability to write for a popular and specialist audience.
Proposals and biographies should be submitted by December 31st 2010 to julia.h.downes@gmail.com although we welcome submissions in advance of this date.The publishing date for this book is October 2011 and we would require completed chapters from contributors by March 2011 (though the Aurora Metro team can of course help with research and offer feedback prior to this date).
We are also looking for images to be included within the book to be sent to rebecca@aurorametro.com
About the editor:
Julia Downes completed her PhD in British queer feminist music cultural resistance at the University of Leeds in 2010. She has also been a Lecturer in Popular Music at the University of Birmingham and has taught courses on music histories, gender and sexualities at the University of Leeds. Julia has previously published academic and populist articles on riot grrrl and feminist music cultures. Julia currently works for Independent Domestic Abuse Services and plays drums in the ‘all-girl’ band Vile Vile Creatures. http://leeds.academia.edu/JuliaDownes
About the publisher
SUPERNOVA BOOKS is a new imprint on Aurora Metro Publications that will explore the arts in innovative ways, giving voice to creative groups and individuals that may be marginalised within their chosen fields. Using digital technology to reach new audiences and looking beyond the mainstream, the aim is to examine the bolder and more extreme creative thinkers as well as those enjoying critical acclaim. The press will launch in March 2011 with a biography of enigmatic actor, writer and director Patrick McGoohan who starred in cult TV series The Prisoner. This will be followed by a series examining the position of female filmmakers, musicians, theatre directors, architects, artists and fashion designers within their chosen sector. These books will explore new talent and profile the work of recognised pioneers in each field placing all within a historical context, examining their influences and asking what the future has in store for them and their contemporaries. Each book will also suggest ways for readers to become actively involved and provide comprehensive resource lists detailing festivals, workshops, online communities and DIY strategies for self-starters. www.supernovabooks.co.uk
AURORA METRO PUBLICATIONS is an independent publisher and an arts-based charity situated in an old stable building in Twickenham, Middlesex, England. The company founder and director is Cheryl Robson, playwright, producer and editor. She works with a small staff and volunteers to discover unique and powerful works that demand to be published. She also manages the arts and education projects which the company is involved with in schools, colleges and the community. www.aurorametro.com
Call for Contributors: ‘Women Make Noise’ edited by Julia Downes
For the Women and Arts series on a new imprint SUPERNOVA BOOKS
General overview:
We are seeking contributors for a new book on music. Women Make Noise will critically explore the past and present participations of women and girls with popular music. Particular attention will be paid to ‘all-girl’ bands. Whilst the media celebrates the spectacles of the girl singer and female-fronted band, ‘all-girl’ bands tend to be marginalised, trivialised and even ignored by dominant journalistic and historical accounts of popular music cultures. Commentary of ‘all-girl’ bands can include doubts over women’s musicianship, anxiety and fear of lesbian/assertive female sexualities, an overemphasis on bitching and bickering amongst band members, and a ‘novelty’ status that constantly marks ‘all-girl’ bands as different from authentic (male) bands. This leaves ‘all-girl’ bands to exist in a contradictory position of opportunity and devaluation in society and culture.
Women Make Noise will critique these mainstream representations of the ‘all-girl’ band to explore alternative accounts of ‘all-girl’ bands; to explore the complexities of creativity, identity, performance, aesthetics, politics, conflict and community at work in women and girls collective music-making. The book will focus on the ways in which music can be used as a radical medium by women and girls in order to contest wider struggles – for instance, of nation, ethnicity, class, sexuality, gender, age and feminisms. Thereby highlighting how ‘all-girl’ bands offer the potential to question and transform society, culture, history and politics. The book will feature informed yet accessible contributions from a variety of writers.
500 word (approx) chapter proposals and 100 word (approx) author biographies are sought from writers on women and girls’ music participations within, but not limited to, the following broadly-defined genres:· Rap and hip hop· Metal· Post-punk· No wave· Punk· Hardcore· Rock· Pop· riot grrrl· Disco· Electro· Girl groups· Noise
Chapters (6,000 words max) should focus on the contributions of ‘all-girl’ groups who write/wrote their own material and play/played their own instruments, though discussion of groups with some male members and of solo artists can be included where relevant. Proposals should (i) outline the musical moment, music-makers and individuals that contributors wish to focus on, (ii) highlight the contributor’s personal connection to the music cultures and communities under discussion and, (iii) outline how the contributor will directly engage with the thoughts, ideas and perspectives of the music-makers and cultural producers to be discussed. Proposals should also highlight how the chapter will meet the overall ethos of the book and also demonstrate the author’s ability to write for a popular and specialist audience.
Proposals and biographies should be submitted by December 31st 2010 to julia.h.downes@gmail.com although we welcome submissions in advance of this date.The publishing date for this book is October 2011 and we would require completed chapters from contributors by March 2011 (though the Aurora Metro team can of course help with research and offer feedback prior to this date).
We are also looking for images to be included within the book to be sent to rebecca@aurorametro.com
About the editor:
Julia Downes completed her PhD in British queer feminist music cultural resistance at the University of Leeds in 2010. She has also been a Lecturer in Popular Music at the University of Birmingham and has taught courses on music histories, gender and sexualities at the University of Leeds. Julia has previously published academic and populist articles on riot grrrl and feminist music cultures. Julia currently works for Independent Domestic Abuse Services and plays drums in the ‘all-girl’ band Vile Vile Creatures. http://leeds.academia.edu/JuliaDownes
About the publisher
SUPERNOVA BOOKS is a new imprint on Aurora Metro Publications that will explore the arts in innovative ways, giving voice to creative groups and individuals that may be marginalised within their chosen fields. Using digital technology to reach new audiences and looking beyond the mainstream, the aim is to examine the bolder and more extreme creative thinkers as well as those enjoying critical acclaim. The press will launch in March 2011 with a biography of enigmatic actor, writer and director Patrick McGoohan who starred in cult TV series The Prisoner. This will be followed by a series examining the position of female filmmakers, musicians, theatre directors, architects, artists and fashion designers within their chosen sector. These books will explore new talent and profile the work of recognised pioneers in each field placing all within a historical context, examining their influences and asking what the future has in store for them and their contemporaries. Each book will also suggest ways for readers to become actively involved and provide comprehensive resource lists detailing festivals, workshops, online communities and DIY strategies for self-starters. www.supernovabooks.co.uk
AURORA METRO PUBLICATIONS is an independent publisher and an arts-based charity situated in an old stable building in Twickenham, Middlesex, England. The company founder and director is Cheryl Robson, playwright, producer and editor. She works with a small staff and volunteers to discover unique and powerful works that demand to be published. She also manages the arts and education projects which the company is involved with in schools, colleges and the community. www.aurorametro.com
Tuesday, 23 November 2010
i assumed it was totally acceptable for me to be doing whatever bizarre thing i wanted to do on stage
Oh, and while I'm re-posting rad things from the Internet: oh hello rad interview with Khaela Maricih!
I remember seeing The Blow live a few years ago, and Khaela blowing my mind so much that I embarrassingly gushed as much to her after the show and blushed more than a little at the realisation of my ability to gush so wildly!
I was so ill at that point that hadn't left my bed for a couple of weeks before the show, yet I'm so thankful that somebody put me on a train so that I *had* to go to the show, making sure I *didn't* miss it. And I'm so bloody glad that happened. I can remember some of the things Khaela said in-between the songs almost word-perfectly, so attuned she was to some of the insides of my head.
Brilliant woman!
I remember seeing The Blow live a few years ago, and Khaela blowing my mind so much that I embarrassingly gushed as much to her after the show and blushed more than a little at the realisation of my ability to gush so wildly!
I was so ill at that point that hadn't left my bed for a couple of weeks before the show, yet I'm so thankful that somebody put me on a train so that I *had* to go to the show, making sure I *didn't* miss it. And I'm so bloody glad that happened. I can remember some of the things Khaela said in-between the songs almost word-perfectly, so attuned she was to some of the insides of my head.
Brilliant woman!
oh hello brilliant idea...
Via Microcosm:
"The awesome Beehive Collective is running a Kickstarter to help re-print their ENTIRE BODY OF GRAPHIC WORKS! WOW!"
I remember first hearing about the Beehive Collective such a long time ago via Punk Planet - it's so rad that they're doing this!
"The awesome Beehive Collective is running a Kickstarter to help re-print their ENTIRE BODY OF GRAPHIC WORKS! WOW!"
I remember first hearing about the Beehive Collective such a long time ago via Punk Planet - it's so rad that they're doing this!
Monday, 22 November 2010
shape and situate zine news
Updates on where you can get hold of the zine, 'Shape & Situate: Posters Of Inspirational European Women':
1. Thanks to the wonderful Jimi Gherkin, copies of the zine will be available on the communal table at this weekend's Alternative Press Fair
Details: Sunday 28 November 2010, 12pm to 6pm. A day of zines, comix, poetry, radical literature, printmaking and anything else self-published! Venue: St. Aloysius' Social Centre, Corner of Eversholt Street and Phoenix Road, London NW1 1TA (Nearest Tube: Euston)
2. The zine will soon be available (if it isn't already) from the following UK zine distros:
Marching Stars [thanks Lizzie]
&
Dear Soeurs [thanks Izzy and Flo]
3. I've just started listing them on the COTL etsy site and the COTL Folksy site (UK delivery only for the time being I'm afraid)
4. If you see me out and about in Leeds over the next few weeks I'm bound to have a copy on me!
//////////////////
If you want to distro the zine or stock the zine please do get in touch - I'd generally just love for less of them to be in a box in my bedroom!!
//////////////////
Nina Nijsten has also blogged about the zine on her Feminist Poster Project Blog
Thanks Nina!
1. Thanks to the wonderful Jimi Gherkin, copies of the zine will be available on the communal table at this weekend's Alternative Press Fair
Details: Sunday 28 November 2010, 12pm to 6pm. A day of zines, comix, poetry, radical literature, printmaking and anything else self-published! Venue: St. Aloysius' Social Centre, Corner of Eversholt Street and Phoenix Road, London NW1 1TA (Nearest Tube: Euston)
2. The zine will soon be available (if it isn't already) from the following UK zine distros:
Marching Stars [thanks Lizzie]
&
Dear Soeurs [thanks Izzy and Flo]
3. I've just started listing them on the COTL etsy site and the COTL Folksy site (UK delivery only for the time being I'm afraid)
4. If you see me out and about in Leeds over the next few weeks I'm bound to have a copy on me!
//////////////////
If you want to distro the zine or stock the zine please do get in touch - I'd generally just love for less of them to be in a box in my bedroom!!
//////////////////
Nina Nijsten has also blogged about the zine on her Feminist Poster Project Blog
Thanks Nina!
Tuesday, 16 November 2010
footprint zine fayre 13th november 2010
It was the Footprint Zine Fayre in Leeds on Sunday, held to celebrate 10 years of Leeds-based Footprint Workers Co-Op - A Printing Cooperative.
The event was held to try and bring together zine makers and self-publishers who have used Footprint over the years, along with other cooperators and campaigners, and radical & activist projects affiliated with Footprint so that people could sell their work, meet each other, and forge community.
I was asked by the quite wonderful Cath from Footprint to take on the fantastic task of rummaging through Footprint's storage boxes to come up with samples of the ten years worth of zines that Footprint have printed, to show/exhibit them on the day.
The boxes of zines that they had at Footprint HQ were like a treasure trove - so many great examples of past zine work and exciting self-publishing. It was a treat too to be able to see samples of friends' work in those boxes, and even a copy of the first zine I ever had printed at Footprint, back in 2004!! It was even nicer to be able to liberate the zines from their storage boxes for a day and put them on display at the event on Sunday for people to stop by, have a read of, be inspired by, and see just what great work Footprint have been facilitating over the past 10 years.
My initital idea was to make zine bunting, criss-crossing the room to fill the whole space with Footprints' past work. On the day though, there was very little on the walls to attach string and bunting to, so I had to make do with concentrating the bunting in one corner of the room. This worked out well anyway, as that was the same area where the zine reading area was going to be set up, and the space where people were reading from their zines and holding discussion groups, so in the end it acted as a nice communal space for the zines.
Here's some (of my dodgy) photographs of the zine display:
The event was held to try and bring together zine makers and self-publishers who have used Footprint over the years, along with other cooperators and campaigners, and radical & activist projects affiliated with Footprint so that people could sell their work, meet each other, and forge community.
I was asked by the quite wonderful Cath from Footprint to take on the fantastic task of rummaging through Footprint's storage boxes to come up with samples of the ten years worth of zines that Footprint have printed, to show/exhibit them on the day.
The boxes of zines that they had at Footprint HQ were like a treasure trove - so many great examples of past zine work and exciting self-publishing. It was a treat too to be able to see samples of friends' work in those boxes, and even a copy of the first zine I ever had printed at Footprint, back in 2004!! It was even nicer to be able to liberate the zines from their storage boxes for a day and put them on display at the event on Sunday for people to stop by, have a read of, be inspired by, and see just what great work Footprint have been facilitating over the past 10 years.
My initital idea was to make zine bunting, criss-crossing the room to fill the whole space with Footprints' past work. On the day though, there was very little on the walls to attach string and bunting to, so I had to make do with concentrating the bunting in one corner of the room. This worked out well anyway, as that was the same area where the zine reading area was going to be set up, and the space where people were reading from their zines and holding discussion groups, so in the end it acted as a nice communal space for the zines.
Here's some (of my dodgy) photographs of the zine display:
upcoming uk self publishing / zine events
From my inbox (from Peter)...
Upcoming Self-Publishing Events in the UK (that I wish I could be at...)
1. Alternative Press Fair – Sunday 28 November 2010, 12pm to 6pm
A day of zines, comix, poetry, radical literature, printmaking and anything else self-published! Ceri May & Burgess the Rhymer will be running the Poetry Worshop, Sophie will have the tie-dye’g on the go, there will be a communal table to put some work on. What can you say other than “Fair enough”
www.alternativepress.org.uk
Venue: St. Aloysius' Social Centre, Corner of Eversholt Street and Phoenix Road, London NW1 1TA (Nearest Tube: Euston)
FREE
2. Handmade & Bound- Sunday 21 November 2010, 12pm to 6pm
The independent fair with affordable, handmade artists’ books, comics and zines. The event is based on handmade but affordable books and zines. It's a good balance between artists’ books and zines (in the DIY punk tradition), and it's the affordable alternative to the London Artists' Book Fair. Don’t be an Old Maid, be HandMade (& Bound).
http://www.handmadeandbound.com/
Venue: St. Aloysius' Social Centre, Corner of Eversholt Street and Phoenix Road, London NW1 1TA (Nearest Tube: Euston)
FREE
3. The Hot Tap Pop-Up Shop - Saturday 20 November, 10am-6pm
“The mission of the Pop-Up Shop is simple; Hand or home-made/ organic/ fair-trade/ eco-friendly/ recycled/ vintage and local.”
www.artsaveslives.com
Venue: The Hot Tap Theatre Warehouse, 20-40 Goodwood Road, New Cross Gate, London SE14 6BL
FREE
“A Guilt-Free Christmas Shopping Extravaganza! If you require a 6ft trestle table please donate £10 on our website, and in the 'Add special instructions to the seller’s box, put your name, contact details and what you are selling. If you need to ask any more questions you can call or text me on 07968710702 or reply to: oonagh@artsaveslives.co.uk”
4. Thought Bubble Sequential Art Festival – Thursday 18 November - Sunday 21 November 2010
The annual comics’ festival up North returns over 4 days:
www.thoughtbubblefestival.com
Venue: Saviles Hall, Clarence Dock, Chadwick Street, Stourton, Leeds LS10 1LT
5. Fanzine and Comic Fair at the Cowley Club, Brighton - Saturday 11 December, 12pm to 6.30pm - FREE
It's the build up to Christmas, and what better time is there to visit Brighton, breathe in the sea air, and get yourself a festive sackful of Comics, Zines, and no doubt some Vegan cakes, made by members of autonomous co-operative non-hierarchical organisations?
Organiser Paul Stapleton says "plenty of people confirmed so far, as well as a handful of exciting distros - should be plenty to peruse. Starts at midday, and goes on till about 6pm when we get everything ready for the Zounds gig in the evening. Entry is free, and there'll be plenty of chairs and sofas in which to park yourselves and read all the lovely stuff you've bought.”
It is free to vend, and first-come, first-served. If you’re interested in stall space for your fanzines, comics, books, badges and all manner of arts and crafts, please contact Paul direct: beat_bedsit@yahoo.co.uk
Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=169758179701431
6. Bear Gamii Zulu Zine Symposium – Sunday 19 December, 12pm to 8.00pm
Venue: The Ice Cream Factory, 136 Tanners Hill, Deptford, London SE8 4QD
ZULU-CHRISTMAS themed Small-Press Print Auction to raise money for the BIG Issue
ZULU-themed workshop culminating in the printing of what is created on the day in free zine and live performance from Ouse-signed London three-piece PLEASE.
- David Samu exhibition http://pourlafrime.blogspot.com/
- Zine flicking'//purchasing
- Le Dernier Cri competition
For more info contact: joeyfourr@googlemail.com
//////////
Plus, I heard today that the 7th Annual London Zine Symposium is set to take place on Sunday 17th April 2011 at The Rag Factory again, just off Brick Lane, London.
Upcoming Self-Publishing Events in the UK (that I wish I could be at...)
1. Alternative Press Fair – Sunday 28 November 2010, 12pm to 6pm
A day of zines, comix, poetry, radical literature, printmaking and anything else self-published! Ceri May & Burgess the Rhymer will be running the Poetry Worshop, Sophie will have the tie-dye’g on the go, there will be a communal table to put some work on. What can you say other than “Fair enough”
www.alternativepress.org.uk
Venue: St. Aloysius' Social Centre, Corner of Eversholt Street and Phoenix Road, London NW1 1TA (Nearest Tube: Euston)
FREE
2. Handmade & Bound- Sunday 21 November 2010, 12pm to 6pm
The independent fair with affordable, handmade artists’ books, comics and zines. The event is based on handmade but affordable books and zines. It's a good balance between artists’ books and zines (in the DIY punk tradition), and it's the affordable alternative to the London Artists' Book Fair. Don’t be an Old Maid, be HandMade (& Bound).
http://www.handmadeandbound.com/
Venue: St. Aloysius' Social Centre, Corner of Eversholt Street and Phoenix Road, London NW1 1TA (Nearest Tube: Euston)
FREE
3. The Hot Tap Pop-Up Shop - Saturday 20 November, 10am-6pm
“The mission of the Pop-Up Shop is simple; Hand or home-made/ organic/ fair-trade/ eco-friendly/ recycled/ vintage and local.”
www.artsaveslives.com
Venue: The Hot Tap Theatre Warehouse, 20-40 Goodwood Road, New Cross Gate, London SE14 6BL
FREE
“A Guilt-Free Christmas Shopping Extravaganza! If you require a 6ft trestle table please donate £10 on our website, and in the 'Add special instructions to the seller’s box, put your name, contact details and what you are selling. If you need to ask any more questions you can call or text me on 07968710702 or reply to: oonagh@artsaveslives.co.uk”
4. Thought Bubble Sequential Art Festival – Thursday 18 November - Sunday 21 November 2010
The annual comics’ festival up North returns over 4 days:
www.thoughtbubblefestival.com
Venue: Saviles Hall, Clarence Dock, Chadwick Street, Stourton, Leeds LS10 1LT
5. Fanzine and Comic Fair at the Cowley Club, Brighton - Saturday 11 December, 12pm to 6.30pm - FREE
It's the build up to Christmas, and what better time is there to visit Brighton, breathe in the sea air, and get yourself a festive sackful of Comics, Zines, and no doubt some Vegan cakes, made by members of autonomous co-operative non-hierarchical organisations?
Organiser Paul Stapleton says "plenty of people confirmed so far, as well as a handful of exciting distros - should be plenty to peruse. Starts at midday, and goes on till about 6pm when we get everything ready for the Zounds gig in the evening. Entry is free, and there'll be plenty of chairs and sofas in which to park yourselves and read all the lovely stuff you've bought.”
It is free to vend, and first-come, first-served. If you’re interested in stall space for your fanzines, comics, books, badges and all manner of arts and crafts, please contact Paul direct: beat_bedsit@yahoo.co.uk
Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=169758179701431
6. Bear Gamii Zulu Zine Symposium – Sunday 19 December, 12pm to 8.00pm
Venue: The Ice Cream Factory, 136 Tanners Hill, Deptford, London SE8 4QD
ZULU-CHRISTMAS themed Small-Press Print Auction to raise money for the BIG Issue
ZULU-themed workshop culminating in the printing of what is created on the day in free zine and live performance from Ouse-signed London three-piece PLEASE.
- David Samu exhibition http://pourlafrime.blogspot.com/
- Zine flicking'//purchasing
- Le Dernier Cri competition
For more info contact: joeyfourr@googlemail.com
//////////
Plus, I heard today that the 7th Annual London Zine Symposium is set to take place on Sunday 17th April 2011 at The Rag Factory again, just off Brick Lane, London.
Thursday, 11 November 2010
Tuesday, 9 November 2010
shape and situate zine
My new zine, 'Shape & Situate: Posters of Inspirational European Women' just came back from the printers.
Thanks to all the contributors for all their hard work - Jo Harrison, Flo Brooks, Molly Askey-Goldsbury, Sarah Francis, Stephanie Young, Erica Smith, Verity Hall, Jenny Howe, Red Chidgey, Deborah M. Withers, Siân Williams, Emily Aoibheann, Sarah Maple, Charlotte Cooper, Ralph Fox, Jay Bernard, Gladys Badhands, Isy Morgenmufflel, Rachael House, and Lauren Hutchinson.
The zine, 'Shape & Situate: Posters Of Inspirational European Women' will make it's first official debut at LEEDS ZINE FAYRE (Footprint's 10th Birthday) this Saturday (November 13th, 11am-5pm at Leeds University Union) where I have a stall, sharing with Em of the zine 'The World's A Mess & Yr My Only Cure'
I'll post other places/distros/events where the zine can be purchased from as and when I have the information.
If you like issue one, be a part of issue two:
digital desperados film screenings, glasgow
from my inbox...
DIGITAL DESPERADOS Proudly presents the 2010 half our FREE winter screenings & talks.
We also have a free film-making course for women of colour aged 16 - 30 (starting in February 2011 & lasting for 8 weeks) with workshops on massage, self defence & womens health as well as sound, editing & camera use. You can find out more at:
http://www.digitaldesperados.orgwe hope to see you at the screenings!
Please forward widely!
**************************************************
Friday 19th November 7 - 8.45pm
Garnethill Multicultural Centre 21 Rose street
NOBODY KNOWS ABOUT PERSIAN CATS
The film follows two young musicians who have just been released from prison. The pair befriends a man named Nader, an underground music enthusiast and producer, who helps them travel around Tehran and its surrounding areas. The film highlights many of the legal and cultural challenges independent musicians and generally Iranian youth face in Iran’s severely confined government.
**************************************************
Saturday 20th November 1.30 - 5pm
Pearce Institute, Govan Road
DISCUSSION: Reclaiming public space both locally & globally with Yasmine Brien from the Kebele Centre, Bristol
KANEHSATAKE: 270 years of resistance (probably not suitable for younger viewers) *film starts at 3pm
In 1990, a confrontation propelled Native issues in Kanehsatake and the village of Oka, Quebec, into the international spotlight. Alanis Obomsawin spent 78 nerve-wracking days and nights filming the armed stand-off between the Mohawks, the Quebec police and the Canadian army.
**************************************************
Thursday 25th November, 7 - 10pm
Pearce Institute, Govan road
*45min program of Iranian short films
DISCUSSION: Yassamine Mather, herself exiled from Iran due to the political climate, will speak representing H.O.P.I. (Hands of the People of Iran) exploring both the current possibility of the U.S.A. waging war against Iran, past and present governments and political movements of Iran and how all of these affect life for Iranian people themselves, including women
She will then be available for a Q & A session and to take part in discussion.
**************************************************
Wednesday 1st December 7 – 10.30pm, CCA cinema space
*free but ticketed
OPEN SOURCE PANEL DISCUSSION:
First up is a public discussion on copyright and intellectual ownership sparked off by our panel: Nina Moeller, Simon Yuill & Sacha Kahir who will bring their experiences of intellectual copyright, open source film-making and the plant patenting-resistance movement in Ecuador.
SITA SINGS THE BLUES (cert PG) film starts 9pm
SSTB is an animated film which retells the story, from the Indian epic ‘The Ramayana’, of Sita a Goddess separated from her beloved Lord and husband Rama. It is also a contemporary story of the director who moves to India to be with her love only for him to dump her by email... This is an open source film which means that it is completely free to screen, distribute & sell.
*free dvds to the first 10 people!!
**************************************************
Saturday 4th December 7 - 8pm
CCA Cinema *free but ticketed
QPOC SHORTS (queer people of colour)
Homotopia, Family, Desi Girls and more...Love revolution not state delusion
**************************************************
For more information check out
www.digitaldesperados.org
DIGITAL DESPERADOS Proudly presents the 2010 half our FREE winter screenings & talks.
We also have a free film-making course for women of colour aged 16 - 30 (starting in February 2011 & lasting for 8 weeks) with workshops on massage, self defence & womens health as well as sound, editing & camera use. You can find out more at:
http://www.digitaldesperados.orgwe hope to see you at the screenings!
Please forward widely!
**************************************************
Friday 19th November 7 - 8.45pm
Garnethill Multicultural Centre 21 Rose street
NOBODY KNOWS ABOUT PERSIAN CATS
The film follows two young musicians who have just been released from prison. The pair befriends a man named Nader, an underground music enthusiast and producer, who helps them travel around Tehran and its surrounding areas. The film highlights many of the legal and cultural challenges independent musicians and generally Iranian youth face in Iran’s severely confined government.
**************************************************
Saturday 20th November 1.30 - 5pm
Pearce Institute, Govan Road
DISCUSSION: Reclaiming public space both locally & globally with Yasmine Brien from the Kebele Centre, Bristol
KANEHSATAKE: 270 years of resistance (probably not suitable for younger viewers) *film starts at 3pm
In 1990, a confrontation propelled Native issues in Kanehsatake and the village of Oka, Quebec, into the international spotlight. Alanis Obomsawin spent 78 nerve-wracking days and nights filming the armed stand-off between the Mohawks, the Quebec police and the Canadian army.
**************************************************
Thursday 25th November, 7 - 10pm
Pearce Institute, Govan road
*45min program of Iranian short films
DISCUSSION: Yassamine Mather, herself exiled from Iran due to the political climate, will speak representing H.O.P.I. (Hands of the People of Iran) exploring both the current possibility of the U.S.A. waging war against Iran, past and present governments and political movements of Iran and how all of these affect life for Iranian people themselves, including women
She will then be available for a Q & A session and to take part in discussion.
**************************************************
Wednesday 1st December 7 – 10.30pm, CCA cinema space
*free but ticketed
OPEN SOURCE PANEL DISCUSSION:
First up is a public discussion on copyright and intellectual ownership sparked off by our panel: Nina Moeller, Simon Yuill & Sacha Kahir who will bring their experiences of intellectual copyright, open source film-making and the plant patenting-resistance movement in Ecuador.
SITA SINGS THE BLUES (cert PG) film starts 9pm
SSTB is an animated film which retells the story, from the Indian epic ‘The Ramayana’, of Sita a Goddess separated from her beloved Lord and husband Rama. It is also a contemporary story of the director who moves to India to be with her love only for him to dump her by email... This is an open source film which means that it is completely free to screen, distribute & sell.
*free dvds to the first 10 people!!
**************************************************
Saturday 4th December 7 - 8pm
CCA Cinema *free but ticketed
QPOC SHORTS (queer people of colour)
Homotopia, Family, Desi Girls and more...Love revolution not state delusion
**************************************************
For more information check out
www.digitaldesperados.org
revolutionary women: a book of stencils
Knowing how rad the zine was, this book looks like it's gonna be amazing...
Revolutionary Women: A Book of Stencils by Queen of the Neighbourhood Collective
Publisher: PM Press
ISBN: 978-1-60486-200-3
Paperback; 128pp; b&w with colour cover; 2010
A radical feminist history and street art resource for inspired readers! This book combines short biographies with striking and usable stencil images of thirty women—activists, anarchists, feminists,freedom-fighters and visionaries. It offers a subversive portrait history which refuses to belittle the military prowess and revolutionary drive of women, whose violent resolves often shatter the archetype of woman-as-nurturer. It is also a celebration of some extremely brave women who have spent their lives fighting for what they believe in and rallying supporters in climateswhere a woman's authority is never taken as seriously as a man's. The text also shares some of each woman's ideologies, philosophies,struggles and quiet humanity with quotes from their writings or speeches.
The women featured are: Harriet Tubman, Louise Michel, Vera Zasulich, Emma Goldman, Qiu Jin, Nora Connolly O'Brien, Lucia Sanchez Saornil, Angela Davis, Leila Khaled, Comandante Ramona, Phoolan Devi, AniPachen, Anna Mae Aquash, Hannie Schaft, Rosa Luxemburg, Brigitte Mohnhaupt, Lolita Lebron, Djamila Bouhired, Malalai Joya, Vandana Shiva, Olive Morris, Assata Shakur, Sylvia Rivera, Haydée SantamarÃa, Marie Equi, Mother Jones, Doria Shafik, Ondina Peteani, Whina Cooperand Lucy Parsons.
"What you hold in your hands is a lethal weapon. Revolutionary Women: A Book of Stencils is a threat to the status quo and a dangerous wake-up call to every person who has ever dared to think forthemselves... I believe the words and art in this book have the powerto mobilize a revolution. Rise up and let’s join them now!”--Wendy-O Matik, author of Redefining Our Relationships: Guidelines for Responsible Open Relationships
"The beauty and simplicity of message is stark in this zine. It is lovingly earnest with its handcrafted cut and pastes. The snippets are well-worded, the quotes cleverly chosen. The silhouettes of fearless females are striking. Overwhelmingly, one is left with a sense of the near universal absence of images of revolutionary women. From now on,every time I see a Che Guevara portrait, I will wonder about his many, unheralded and invisible sisters."--Karlo Mila, author of Dream Fish Floating
"What an amazing creative way to magnify, and illuminate the courage of 30 Sheroes whose courage, leadership and character is symbolic of the many unsung Women Sheroes of past and present." --Emory Douglas, Former Black Panther Party Member, Revolutionary Artist & Minister of Culture
About Queen of the Neighborhood: Queen of the Neighbourhood Collective is an all-women crew of writers, researchers, editors and graphic designers originally hailing from Aotearoa/New Zealand. Drawing on backgrounds from disparate worlds in zine-making, art, activism and academia, this is Queen of the Neighbourhood's first book.
BOOK LAUNCH!!
Wednesday 17 November, 2010.
5.30-7.30pm
Alleluya Cafe, St Kevin's Arcade, K Rd, Auckland, NZ
The long-awaited book version of the original zine, Revolutionary Women: A Book of Stencils is at last in print! Brought to you by PM Press of New York and written, drawn & edited by Queen of the Neighbourhood Collective hailing from Aotearoa with their roots in Cherry Bomb Comics.
The awesome Newtown will be playing in the arcade and there will bebook signing, wine, vittles and lively feminist conversation. All welcome!
For more info check out:
http://www.cherrybombcomics.co.nz/ or
http://www.pmpress.org/
http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=173113472702649
Revolutionary Women: A Book of Stencils by Queen of the Neighbourhood Collective
Publisher: PM Press
ISBN: 978-1-60486-200-3
Paperback; 128pp; b&w with colour cover; 2010
A radical feminist history and street art resource for inspired readers! This book combines short biographies with striking and usable stencil images of thirty women—activists, anarchists, feminists,freedom-fighters and visionaries. It offers a subversive portrait history which refuses to belittle the military prowess and revolutionary drive of women, whose violent resolves often shatter the archetype of woman-as-nurturer. It is also a celebration of some extremely brave women who have spent their lives fighting for what they believe in and rallying supporters in climateswhere a woman's authority is never taken as seriously as a man's. The text also shares some of each woman's ideologies, philosophies,struggles and quiet humanity with quotes from their writings or speeches.
The women featured are: Harriet Tubman, Louise Michel, Vera Zasulich, Emma Goldman, Qiu Jin, Nora Connolly O'Brien, Lucia Sanchez Saornil, Angela Davis, Leila Khaled, Comandante Ramona, Phoolan Devi, AniPachen, Anna Mae Aquash, Hannie Schaft, Rosa Luxemburg, Brigitte Mohnhaupt, Lolita Lebron, Djamila Bouhired, Malalai Joya, Vandana Shiva, Olive Morris, Assata Shakur, Sylvia Rivera, Haydée SantamarÃa, Marie Equi, Mother Jones, Doria Shafik, Ondina Peteani, Whina Cooperand Lucy Parsons.
"What you hold in your hands is a lethal weapon. Revolutionary Women: A Book of Stencils is a threat to the status quo and a dangerous wake-up call to every person who has ever dared to think forthemselves... I believe the words and art in this book have the powerto mobilize a revolution. Rise up and let’s join them now!”--Wendy-O Matik, author of Redefining Our Relationships: Guidelines for Responsible Open Relationships
"The beauty and simplicity of message is stark in this zine. It is lovingly earnest with its handcrafted cut and pastes. The snippets are well-worded, the quotes cleverly chosen. The silhouettes of fearless females are striking. Overwhelmingly, one is left with a sense of the near universal absence of images of revolutionary women. From now on,every time I see a Che Guevara portrait, I will wonder about his many, unheralded and invisible sisters."--Karlo Mila, author of Dream Fish Floating
"What an amazing creative way to magnify, and illuminate the courage of 30 Sheroes whose courage, leadership and character is symbolic of the many unsung Women Sheroes of past and present." --Emory Douglas, Former Black Panther Party Member, Revolutionary Artist & Minister of Culture
About Queen of the Neighborhood: Queen of the Neighbourhood Collective is an all-women crew of writers, researchers, editors and graphic designers originally hailing from Aotearoa/New Zealand. Drawing on backgrounds from disparate worlds in zine-making, art, activism and academia, this is Queen of the Neighbourhood's first book.
BOOK LAUNCH!!
Wednesday 17 November, 2010.
5.30-7.30pm
Alleluya Cafe, St Kevin's Arcade, K Rd, Auckland, NZ
The long-awaited book version of the original zine, Revolutionary Women: A Book of Stencils is at last in print! Brought to you by PM Press of New York and written, drawn & edited by Queen of the Neighbourhood Collective hailing from Aotearoa with their roots in Cherry Bomb Comics.
The awesome Newtown will be playing in the arcade and there will bebook signing, wine, vittles and lively feminist conversation. All welcome!
For more info check out:
http://www.cherrybombcomics.co.nz/ or
http://www.pmpress.org/
http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=173113472702649
patrick at mixnyc
My quite brilliant friend Patrick Staff ♥ has organised a film programme, 'Action Constellation' that is showing at MixNYC this weekend:
- - - - - - - -
MixNYC
23rd New York Queer Experimental Film Festival
November 9th - 14th 2010
@ Theatre for the New City, 151 First Avenue Manhattan
between E. 9th & 10th Street
www.mixnyc.org
MIX NYC promotes, produces and preserves experimental media that is rooted in the lives, politics, and experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and otherwise queer-identified people. MIX's work challenges mainstream notions of gender and sexuality while also upending traditional categories of form and content.
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
ACTION CONSTELLATION - Saturday November 13th, 6pm, 62mins
Featuring: Rhiannon Chaloner, Emma Hedditch, Nia Hughes, Richard John Jones, Paul Kindersley, Stephen Robinson, Patrick Staff & Nina Wakeford
Selected from across the UK, ACTION CONSTELLATION presents a selection of queer artist film and video made being made now. Whilst there is a wealth of shorts, documentaries and feature length films made in the DIY queer community this is a selection of those films made to be shown in art spaces, galleries, squats or bedroom screenings - films that approach structure, appropriation, historicity, gender and sexuality, performance and community from a point of experimentation and autonomy. They posit a queer horizon, a futurity that could enact a queer that has yet to happen, or a queer that is a place of could-be: the narratives are fractured, at times unperceivable and the particulars of queerness go beyond simple boy-on-boy or girl-on-girl, to a queer constellation of subject matters. Performance and performativity emerge in each film, though these tropes do little to elaborate upon or reveal the bodies of the artists or subjects of the videos; rather they knot notions of identity, dense or antagonistic gestures that negotiate their context’s structures. This programme does not attempt to contextualise these films or their modes of production, nor does it move towards any pretence of a ‘scene’ or movement: instead it focuses on a current but loose set of provocations that vibrate tensely in proximity to one another and begin to reveal threads that run through contemporary, critical queer video art now.
For full programme information and to book tickets go to http://www.mixnyc.org/23/actionconstellation.php
Download the full catalogue in PDF format here http://www.mixnyc.org/downloads/23/MIX-program-spread.pdf
- - - - - - - -
MixNYC
23rd New York Queer Experimental Film Festival
November 9th - 14th 2010
@ Theatre for the New City, 151 First Avenue Manhattan
between E. 9th & 10th Street
www.mixnyc.org
MIX NYC promotes, produces and preserves experimental media that is rooted in the lives, politics, and experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and otherwise queer-identified people. MIX's work challenges mainstream notions of gender and sexuality while also upending traditional categories of form and content.
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
ACTION CONSTELLATION - Saturday November 13th, 6pm, 62mins
Featuring: Rhiannon Chaloner, Emma Hedditch, Nia Hughes, Richard John Jones, Paul Kindersley, Stephen Robinson, Patrick Staff & Nina Wakeford
Selected from across the UK, ACTION CONSTELLATION presents a selection of queer artist film and video made being made now. Whilst there is a wealth of shorts, documentaries and feature length films made in the DIY queer community this is a selection of those films made to be shown in art spaces, galleries, squats or bedroom screenings - films that approach structure, appropriation, historicity, gender and sexuality, performance and community from a point of experimentation and autonomy. They posit a queer horizon, a futurity that could enact a queer that has yet to happen, or a queer that is a place of could-be: the narratives are fractured, at times unperceivable and the particulars of queerness go beyond simple boy-on-boy or girl-on-girl, to a queer constellation of subject matters. Performance and performativity emerge in each film, though these tropes do little to elaborate upon or reveal the bodies of the artists or subjects of the videos; rather they knot notions of identity, dense or antagonistic gestures that negotiate their context’s structures. This programme does not attempt to contextualise these films or their modes of production, nor does it move towards any pretence of a ‘scene’ or movement: instead it focuses on a current but loose set of provocations that vibrate tensely in proximity to one another and begin to reveal threads that run through contemporary, critical queer video art now.
For full programme information and to book tickets go to http://www.mixnyc.org/23/actionconstellation.php
Download the full catalogue in PDF format here http://www.mixnyc.org/downloads/23/MIX-program-spread.pdf
suggestions of a life being lived
Kickstarter page for Suggestions Of A Life Breing Lived exhibition. They're wishing to create a publication/exhibition catalogue to document the exhibited artwork on queer activism, intentional and imagined communities, self-determinism, and DIY alternative world-making, and are using Kickstarter as a fundraiser.
Monday, 25 October 2010
ladyfest herstorical society
The Ladyfest Herstorical Society will be celebrating 10 years of Ladyfest with a small exhibtion at Lambeth Women's Project on Saturday 13th November.
Do you have anything you would like to see exhibited at this event? You can lend us your items or donate them to the archive we are putting together.
We are looking for posters, fliers, photos, badges, tshirts, programmes, tickets, merch, workshop notes, minutes etc. From any Ladyfest.
Please get in touch with Nazmia at ladyfest.herstorical@gmail.com if you would like to arrange a donation or have further questions.
Do you have anything you would like to see exhibited at this event? You can lend us your items or donate them to the archive we are putting together.
We are looking for posters, fliers, photos, badges, tshirts, programmes, tickets, merch, workshop notes, minutes etc. From any Ladyfest.
Please get in touch with Nazmia at ladyfest.herstorical@gmail.com if you would like to arrange a donation or have further questions.
eyeworks experimental animation festival, chicago
From my inbox... From Lilli Carre:
Hello ladies and gents!
I'm organizing a new experimental animation festival called Eyeworks with Alexander Stewart, and we're very excited to announce the details!
It will be a mix of abstract animation and unconventional character animation, shown on 16mm film and video.
It's taking place November 6th in Chicago, at 247 S. State Street at the De Paul CDM Theatre.
Please spread the word to those who might be interested in this project, and we hope to see some of you there!
Sincerely, Lilli Carré & Alexander Stewart
eyeworksfestival.com
The trailer with a sampling of work from the festival can be viewed here: http://www.vimeo.com/15828865
Here are the program listings:
Program 1: CLASSIC SHORTS
1:00 pm
Adam Beckett, Heavy Light
Robert Breer, Bang
Sally Cruikshank, Make Me Psychic
Larry Cuba, Two Space
Howard Danelowitz, Inside Out
James Duesing, Impetigo
Paul Glabicki, Five Improvisations on a 120-Drawing Cycle
Stuart Hilton, Save Me
Jonathan Hodgson, Nightclub
Al Jarnow, Autosong
Henry Selick, Seepage
Steven Subotnick, Hairyman
Chris Sullivan, Master of Ceremonies
Program 2: NEW SHORTS
3:00 pm
Lisa Barcy, Mermaid
Thorsten Fleisch, Dromosphere
Stefan Gruber, Petting Zoo 1 & 2
Inger Lise Hansen, Travelling Fields
Andy Kennedy, Accumulonimbus
Amy Lockhart, The Collagist
Matt Marsden, Worm Room
Winona Regan, Haunted Heart
Dash Shaw, The Unclothed Man in the 35th Century A.D
Kyle Sullivan, Esthesia
Jim Trainor, The Presentation Theme
Aaron Wendel, Dwellings
Program 3: WORK BY FESTIVAL GUEST DAVID O'REILLY
7:00 pm
Festival guest David O'Reilly will present a program of work, including his new animation The External World (15:00, HD, 2010.) O'Reilly will accompany his own work with a selection of pieces from other contemporary filmmakers whose work interests him.
LOOPING PROGRAMA reel of silent works on continuous display throughout the festival on two monitors in the lobby of the theater.
Animations by:
Gwyneth Anderson
Kevin Eskew
Laura Heit
Jodie Mack
Dash Shaw
Collaborative work from the California State Summer School for the Arts animation students
--
Eyeworks Festival of Experimental Animation
November 6, 2010
Chicagoeyeworksfestival.com
eyeworksfestival@gmail.com
Hello ladies and gents!
I'm organizing a new experimental animation festival called Eyeworks with Alexander Stewart, and we're very excited to announce the details!
It will be a mix of abstract animation and unconventional character animation, shown on 16mm film and video.
It's taking place November 6th in Chicago, at 247 S. State Street at the De Paul CDM Theatre.
Please spread the word to those who might be interested in this project, and we hope to see some of you there!
Sincerely, Lilli Carré & Alexander Stewart
eyeworksfestival.com
The trailer with a sampling of work from the festival can be viewed here: http://www.vimeo.com/15828865
Eyeworks Festival 2010 trailer from Lilli Carré on Vimeo.
Here are the program listings:
Program 1: CLASSIC SHORTS
1:00 pm
Adam Beckett, Heavy Light
Robert Breer, Bang
Sally Cruikshank, Make Me Psychic
Larry Cuba, Two Space
Howard Danelowitz, Inside Out
James Duesing, Impetigo
Paul Glabicki, Five Improvisations on a 120-Drawing Cycle
Stuart Hilton, Save Me
Jonathan Hodgson, Nightclub
Al Jarnow, Autosong
Henry Selick, Seepage
Steven Subotnick, Hairyman
Chris Sullivan, Master of Ceremonies
Program 2: NEW SHORTS
3:00 pm
Lisa Barcy, Mermaid
Thorsten Fleisch, Dromosphere
Stefan Gruber, Petting Zoo 1 & 2
Inger Lise Hansen, Travelling Fields
Andy Kennedy, Accumulonimbus
Amy Lockhart, The Collagist
Matt Marsden, Worm Room
Winona Regan, Haunted Heart
Dash Shaw, The Unclothed Man in the 35th Century A.D
Kyle Sullivan, Esthesia
Jim Trainor, The Presentation Theme
Aaron Wendel, Dwellings
Program 3: WORK BY FESTIVAL GUEST DAVID O'REILLY
7:00 pm
Festival guest David O'Reilly will present a program of work, including his new animation The External World (15:00, HD, 2010.) O'Reilly will accompany his own work with a selection of pieces from other contemporary filmmakers whose work interests him.
LOOPING PROGRAMA reel of silent works on continuous display throughout the festival on two monitors in the lobby of the theater.
Animations by:
Gwyneth Anderson
Kevin Eskew
Laura Heit
Jodie Mack
Dash Shaw
Collaborative work from the California State Summer School for the Arts animation students
--
Eyeworks Festival of Experimental Animation
November 6, 2010
Chicagoeyeworksfestival.com
eyeworksfestival@gmail.com
Sunday, 24 October 2010
and while i'm talking about spot on...
Tobi Vail's staggeringly relatable piece about Jean Smith of Mecca Normal desrves a link too: http://jigsawunderground.blogspot.com/2010/10/man-thinks-woman-when-he-talks-to-me.html
I can't sum up as eloquently just what hearing the song she talks about, Man Thinks Woman , did to me when I first heard it at 17.
I can't sum up as eloquently just what hearing the song she talks about, Man Thinks Woman , did to me when I first heard it at 17.
spot on
Perhaps the most spot-on obituary I read this week after Ari Up's death...
http://thequietus.com/articles/05145-ari-up-obituary-the-slits by Zoe Street Howe
http://thequietus.com/articles/05145-ari-up-obituary-the-slits by Zoe Street Howe
Friday, 22 October 2010
lauren carney interview online
My interview with Lauren Carney went up on the Pikaland website yesterday.
Oh my, I love Lauren so much. She had me in stitches with this interview, and in all our correspondane. I think she's bloody ace!
She's got an exhibition opening in Brisbane this weekend; sending her the best of luck with it xox
Oh my, I love Lauren so much. She had me in stitches with this interview, and in all our correspondane. I think she's bloody ace!
She's got an exhibition opening in Brisbane this weekend; sending her the best of luck with it xox
Wednesday, 6 October 2010
don't let the monster stay under the bed
It's all over the net at the moment, so it's hard not to think about the It gets Better project.
I just now saw the Sia video for the project, and its really rad that people are talking about this stuff. And it's not just people making those videos, there's currently so much conversation going on. Like Dave End writing on his facebook: 'Hang in there little ones! pick up an instrument, go out and make some weird friends, Be proud of being you, and remember that nothing lasts forever!!!! It gets SO much better I promise! believe me, I know! You're not gonna want to miss your future! its wonderful!'
(Incidently, and not 100% on topic, but this has also totally reminded me to go back and watch all of Queen Juliana's 'People Are A Trip' videos; y'know, people telling their truths and helping others out in the process.)
It makes me think, this stuff has been said for decades... people have been trying to have this conversation for so long. I was writing my article for Charlotte's zine project documenting relationships to female musicians/bands/performers; I wrote about Jody Bleyle of Team Dresch.
After I submitted the article last night, we were talking about the band, and I got to thinking about TD songs like Musical Fanzine, Remember Who You Are, Don't Try Suicide, and My Dirty Hands Are Mined. Hell, this stuff [and, for that matter, any queercore stuff, past, or present] pre-dates 'It Gets Better' by a good 15 years. Talking about how to overcome judgement calls about who we are, and crucially how say and hear what we need to hear to aid the ability to overcome (and stay alive). I hope the conversation continues, both in the mainstream, and underground between allies.
Musical Fanzine:
Don't let the monster stay under the bed , don't' let the monster stay under the bed Hey you, say what she needs to hear
What's he's looking for, he won't find in school He stays up late, flipping through
tapes Listening to songs he's heard a hundred times, but nothing's there Hey you,
say what he needs to hear: Queer sex is great, it's fun as shit don't worry Jesus
is dead and God don't exist and swearing is fun, it's funner than piss, that's it's
stupid is a cruel and classist myth. Don't kill yourself cause people can't deal with your brilliance Sometimes I can't remember why i want to live Then i think of all the freaks and i don't want to miss this.
Remember Who You Are: Takes notes from a movie box Make a list of what I need Remember who you are, Remember who you are But then, I can't feel good about anything And just when i Get something started I read or hear something, that makes me forget My Confidence or honesty What are my motives are they selfless enough, Are they Righteous, righteous enough? Then before I get started, I get all fucked up Can't Get sick of thinking about meaning or language or anything that gets me hot Make Up who you are, it makes up who you are.
Then I found myself dancing alone in my room I was writing in my journal, playing records When i felt my shoulders slide from side to side I found the bass in my hips Being alone brings courage and strength of mind.
Remember who you are, and make up who you are
But then I just want a public place Where girls can meet each others stare Sometimes that;s what it takes just to know you're alive To feel yourself burning just from some girl's stare.
Put up signs to make up who you are Send out signals telling who you are Transmit messages about who you are No matter who you are.
My Dirty Hands Are Mined:
She said my greatest strength, is my greatest weakness. Some things are probably better kept to myself. But some scared part of me tells everything as if that could help. There is not quiet, no quiet is rewarded, inertia keeps youmoving or standing still. Stay alive carpenter, you can laugh if you fail. Don't get behind the gun, just to hope you get killed.
I just now saw the Sia video for the project, and its really rad that people are talking about this stuff. And it's not just people making those videos, there's currently so much conversation going on. Like Dave End writing on his facebook: 'Hang in there little ones! pick up an instrument, go out and make some weird friends, Be proud of being you, and remember that nothing lasts forever!!!! It gets SO much better I promise! believe me, I know! You're not gonna want to miss your future! its wonderful!'
(Incidently, and not 100% on topic, but this has also totally reminded me to go back and watch all of Queen Juliana's 'People Are A Trip' videos; y'know, people telling their truths and helping others out in the process.)
It makes me think, this stuff has been said for decades... people have been trying to have this conversation for so long. I was writing my article for Charlotte's zine project documenting relationships to female musicians/bands/performers; I wrote about Jody Bleyle of Team Dresch.
After I submitted the article last night, we were talking about the band, and I got to thinking about TD songs like Musical Fanzine, Remember Who You Are, Don't Try Suicide, and My Dirty Hands Are Mined. Hell, this stuff [and, for that matter, any queercore stuff, past, or present] pre-dates 'It Gets Better' by a good 15 years. Talking about how to overcome judgement calls about who we are, and crucially how say and hear what we need to hear to aid the ability to overcome (and stay alive). I hope the conversation continues, both in the mainstream, and underground between allies.
Musical Fanzine:
Don't let the monster stay under the bed , don't' let the monster stay under the bed Hey you, say what she needs to hear
What's he's looking for, he won't find in school He stays up late, flipping through
tapes Listening to songs he's heard a hundred times, but nothing's there Hey you,
say what he needs to hear: Queer sex is great, it's fun as shit don't worry Jesus
is dead and God don't exist and swearing is fun, it's funner than piss, that's it's
stupid is a cruel and classist myth. Don't kill yourself cause people can't deal with your brilliance Sometimes I can't remember why i want to live Then i think of all the freaks and i don't want to miss this.
Remember Who You Are: Takes notes from a movie box Make a list of what I need Remember who you are, Remember who you are But then, I can't feel good about anything And just when i Get something started I read or hear something, that makes me forget My Confidence or honesty What are my motives are they selfless enough, Are they Righteous, righteous enough? Then before I get started, I get all fucked up Can't Get sick of thinking about meaning or language or anything that gets me hot Make Up who you are, it makes up who you are.
Then I found myself dancing alone in my room I was writing in my journal, playing records When i felt my shoulders slide from side to side I found the bass in my hips Being alone brings courage and strength of mind.
Remember who you are, and make up who you are
But then I just want a public place Where girls can meet each others stare Sometimes that;s what it takes just to know you're alive To feel yourself burning just from some girl's stare.
Put up signs to make up who you are Send out signals telling who you are Transmit messages about who you are No matter who you are.
My Dirty Hands Are Mined:
She said my greatest strength, is my greatest weakness. Some things are probably better kept to myself. But some scared part of me tells everything as if that could help. There is not quiet, no quiet is rewarded, inertia keeps youmoving or standing still. Stay alive carpenter, you can laugh if you fail. Don't get behind the gun, just to hope you get killed.
Saturday, 2 October 2010
window shopping
If I had any spare money (i.e. if I had worked more hours this week), I would be buying:
The Life Of Mr Mustache By Studio Violet
and
This lovely Oso felt bear brooch by Depeapa
The Life Of Mr Mustache By Studio Violet
and
This lovely Oso felt bear brooch by Depeapa
it gets better project
http://www.youtube.com/itgetsbetterproject
Kate Bornstein gets it pretty spot on: http://katebornstein.typepad.com
Kate Bornstein gets it pretty spot on: http://katebornstein.typepad.com
Thursday, 30 September 2010
illustrated subversion in make/shift
I have a teeny tiny (heavily edited) one-page article, 'Illustrated Subversion: European Feminists Draw Comics Zines' in the latest issue (#8) of Make/Shift magazine Out Now.
I tried to take a photo, but white pages + flash photography = baaad photos, so you'll just have to imagine it, unless you snag a copy of the magazine yourself.
Woop - they used Sara Hansson's image too :)
Huge thanks to Karolina Bang, Isy Morgenmuffel, Nina Nijsten, Sara Hansson, Chris Campe, Sofia Olsson, Kate Evans, Julia Klaring, Sofia Niazi, Trouble X, and Liv Stromquist for letting me write about their comics.
The article is a reeeeealy short version of something much larger that I once wrote on european feminist comics artists/makers, that will hopefully see the light of day sometime... we shall see!
I tried to take a photo, but white pages + flash photography = baaad photos, so you'll just have to imagine it, unless you snag a copy of the magazine yourself.
Woop - they used Sara Hansson's image too :)
Huge thanks to Karolina Bang, Isy Morgenmuffel, Nina Nijsten, Sara Hansson, Chris Campe, Sofia Olsson, Kate Evans, Julia Klaring, Sofia Niazi, Trouble X, and Liv Stromquist for letting me write about their comics.
The article is a reeeeealy short version of something much larger that I once wrote on european feminist comics artists/makers, that will hopefully see the light of day sometime... we shall see!
Friday, 10 September 2010
london, curse you and your rad events
Sometimes I wish I lived in London (but only when rad things are happening... I could never live there day to day and keep my sanity!!)
These events look so rad that I could vomit with jealousy!!..
Gang Girl Film Trilogy / UK Premiere of Hell on Wheels Gang Girls Forever
LONDON FILM PREMIERE: Hell On Wheels Gang Girls Forever!! plus Gang Girls 2000 and SURF GANG
Directed by Katrina del Mar
New York City filmmaker, photographer and artist, Katrina del Mar, described in the press alternately as “the Lesbian Russ Meyer” and “the lesbian Kenneth Anger” will premiere to the UK her newest girl gang movie, Hell on Wheels; Gang Girls Forever which will wind up her award-winning cult classic trilogy of Girl Gang Films including SURF GANG and Gang Girls 2000. All 3 films will be screened at the Horse Hospital in London September 18th, 2010. Katrina and some of her wild-women cast members will be on-hand for the screening and a Q&A after the films.
Films presented include the latest and greatest Hell on Wheels; Gang Girls Forever!! (Winner, Award of Merit, Accolade Film Competition) The girl gang movie that winds up the cult classic trilogy! Burning up the dirty streets and blazing down the pavement, everything is all wheels all the time. SURF GANG (Awarded Best Experimental Film, Planet Out Short Movie Awards and the NYFA Fellowship in Video) Two sisters are orphaned by drunks and are left to fend for themselves. One of them disappears into the sea, and the other forms a gang, The Rockaway Ruffnecks, New York City surfers. Gang Girls 2000 (which received a 4 1/2 star review from Film Threat Magazine, first screened in the UK at the BFI London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival). When a legendary Brooklyn gang, the Sluts, invade their turf, the Lower East Side Glitter Girls are hell-bent for revenge. But a clandestine visit to Chinatown for supplies runs them afoul of the Blades. Next thing they know, things escalate into an all-out rumble at Coney Island!
Pre screening Reception @ 7 pm. Q&A with director immediately following films
Afterparty is presented by Storm in a Teacup London and will be held at the Horse Hospital
£5 (free if you’ve been at the screening)
- - -
and, starting tonight - with a screening including a Q&A with Vivienne Dick and Nan Goldin, and a performance by Lydia Lunch - comes:
Vivienne Dick
Films
Friday 10 September – Tuesday 14 September 2010
Irish filmmaker Vivienne Dick moved to New York in 1975 and became a key figure of the 'No Wave' movement, a time of collaborative countercultural production by a loose collective of people including Nan Goldin, Lydia Lunch, James Nares, Beth and Scott B, Arto Lindsay and many others.
Shot on Super-8, 16mm and video, Dick's work is marked by an interest in individual transgression, urban street life, kitsch and pop culture. Multilayered and open-ended, the work is framed from a female perspective, with an overriding concern for social conditioning and sexual politics.
These events look so rad that I could vomit with jealousy!!..
Gang Girl Film Trilogy / UK Premiere of Hell on Wheels Gang Girls Forever
LONDON FILM PREMIERE: Hell On Wheels Gang Girls Forever!! plus Gang Girls 2000 and SURF GANG
Directed by Katrina del Mar
New York City filmmaker, photographer and artist, Katrina del Mar, described in the press alternately as “the Lesbian Russ Meyer” and “the lesbian Kenneth Anger” will premiere to the UK her newest girl gang movie, Hell on Wheels; Gang Girls Forever which will wind up her award-winning cult classic trilogy of Girl Gang Films including SURF GANG and Gang Girls 2000. All 3 films will be screened at the Horse Hospital in London September 18th, 2010. Katrina and some of her wild-women cast members will be on-hand for the screening and a Q&A after the films.
Films presented include the latest and greatest Hell on Wheels; Gang Girls Forever!! (Winner, Award of Merit, Accolade Film Competition) The girl gang movie that winds up the cult classic trilogy! Burning up the dirty streets and blazing down the pavement, everything is all wheels all the time. SURF GANG (Awarded Best Experimental Film, Planet Out Short Movie Awards and the NYFA Fellowship in Video) Two sisters are orphaned by drunks and are left to fend for themselves. One of them disappears into the sea, and the other forms a gang, The Rockaway Ruffnecks, New York City surfers. Gang Girls 2000 (which received a 4 1/2 star review from Film Threat Magazine, first screened in the UK at the BFI London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival). When a legendary Brooklyn gang, the Sluts, invade their turf, the Lower East Side Glitter Girls are hell-bent for revenge. But a clandestine visit to Chinatown for supplies runs them afoul of the Blades. Next thing they know, things escalate into an all-out rumble at Coney Island!
Pre screening Reception @ 7 pm. Q&A with director immediately following films
Afterparty is presented by Storm in a Teacup London and will be held at the Horse Hospital
£5 (free if you’ve been at the screening)
- - -
and, starting tonight - with a screening including a Q&A with Vivienne Dick and Nan Goldin, and a performance by Lydia Lunch - comes:
Vivienne Dick
Films
Friday 10 September – Tuesday 14 September 2010
Irish filmmaker Vivienne Dick moved to New York in 1975 and became a key figure of the 'No Wave' movement, a time of collaborative countercultural production by a loose collective of people including Nan Goldin, Lydia Lunch, James Nares, Beth and Scott B, Arto Lindsay and many others.
Shot on Super-8, 16mm and video, Dick's work is marked by an interest in individual transgression, urban street life, kitsch and pop culture. Multilayered and open-ended, the work is framed from a female perspective, with an overriding concern for social conditioning and sexual politics.
feminist soapbox, edinburgh
From my indox, from Marylou Anderson...
“Feminist Soapbox” a free weekend of feminist workshops, discussion and entertainment is taking place on September 25th & 26th in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Brought to you by women behind Edinburgh Ladyfest and Edinburgh anarchafem collective.
Info on events here: edinburghanarchafeminist.noflag.org.uk and via Facebook
“Feminist Soapbox” a free weekend of feminist workshops, discussion and entertainment is taking place on September 25th & 26th in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Brought to you by women behind Edinburgh Ladyfest and Edinburgh anarchafem collective.
Info on events here: edinburghanarchafeminist.noflag.org.uk and via Facebook
lilli carre interview on pikaland
Y'know when somebody's art work makes you do little internal flips? Well that's what Lilli Carre's work does for me -- whether it be via each and every one of her stunning books, or be it me geeking out when me and Em saw her window display for Little Otsu in San Francisco [see pics below] last year, or be it viewing her animations and moving drawings and beaming... Well, yeah, I could go on a bit cuz I bloody love Lilli Carre's art work big time. So, I was thrilled to be able to interview her for Pikaland. The interview went online today. I ♥ Lilli!!
ladyfest ten's art blog
Ladyfest Ten (London) has just started an arts blog: ladyfesttenartblog.wordpress.com with details of their arty happenings, like the Postcard Project and zine, with more to come.
Wednesday, 25 August 2010
zine cover art in teal triggs' new book
Cover shots of two of my zines, 'UK Ladyfest Artwork Zine' (2007 - somehow I managed not to include the cover on this PDF version of the zine - glad it's been captured by Teal elsewhere then!!) and the really old 'I'm Not Waiting: Doin It Yrself Now' (2003?) are to feature in the wonderful Teal Triggs' new book 'FANZINES' which is to be published by Thames & Hudson, Oct 2010.
Thanks Teal xox
Thanks Teal xox
laura mckellar interview on pikaland
My new interview with the wonderful Laura McKellar is now up here on the Pikaland site. I heart Laura's work big time!
Tuesday, 24 August 2010
purple rhinestone eagle are heading over the ocean
Purple Rhinestone Eagle - The European Tour 2010 - looks a little something like this:
CONFIRMED SO FAR:
--------------
EUROPE
-------------
1rd september @Madame Moustache, Brussels, BELGIUM
3rd september @Le Sfero (squat), St. Etienne, FRANCE
4th september @Sonic, Lyon, FRANCE
7th september @Le dynamo, Toulouse, FRANCE
8th september @La pequena Bety, Madrid, SPAIN
9th september @Moog, Barcelona, SPAIN
10th september @El Refugio del Crápula, Zaragoza, SPAIN
14th september @Rhiz, Vienna, AUSTRIA
15th september @Kapu, Linz, AUSTRIA
16th september Leipzig
17th september @SO36 (ladyfest berlin), Berlin, GERMANY
18th september @ AZ, Cologne
19th september @AJZ, bielefeld (with cloak/dagger)
UK DATES
-------------
22nd September - Swansea, UK
@ Bar Sigma w/ Woolf, Trash Kit and more tbc
23rd September - Bristol, UK
@ Midnimo Centre w/ Trash Kit and Bellies
24th September - Glasgow, UK
@ Nice N Sleazy w/ Comanechi and DIVORCE
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=135465609820619
25th September - Leeds, UK
@ Upstairs at Mook w/ Trash Kit + more tbc
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=145139015513571&index=1
26th September - London, UK
@ Korsan Bar w/ Trash Kit, Woolf, Italian Casuals and Truly Kaput and Unskinny Bop DJs
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=133482116689581
27th September - Manchester, UK
@ TBC
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=sent#!/event.php?eid=148306088532699&ref=mf
----------
Tour organised by the bloody ace Em Ledger xox
CONFIRMED SO FAR:
--------------
EUROPE
-------------
1rd september @Madame Moustache, Brussels, BELGIUM
3rd september @Le Sfero (squat), St. Etienne, FRANCE
4th september @Sonic, Lyon, FRANCE
7th september @Le dynamo, Toulouse, FRANCE
8th september @La pequena Bety, Madrid, SPAIN
9th september @Moog, Barcelona, SPAIN
10th september @El Refugio del Crápula, Zaragoza, SPAIN
14th september @Rhiz, Vienna, AUSTRIA
15th september @Kapu, Linz, AUSTRIA
16th september Leipzig
17th september @SO36 (ladyfest berlin), Berlin, GERMANY
18th september @ AZ, Cologne
19th september @AJZ, bielefeld (with cloak/dagger)
UK DATES
-------------
22nd September - Swansea, UK
@ Bar Sigma w/ Woolf, Trash Kit and more tbc
23rd September - Bristol, UK
@ Midnimo Centre w/ Trash Kit and Bellies
24th September - Glasgow, UK
@ Nice N Sleazy w/ Comanechi and DIVORCE
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=135465609820619
25th September - Leeds, UK
@ Upstairs at Mook w/ Trash Kit + more tbc
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=145139015513571&index=1
26th September - London, UK
@ Korsan Bar w/ Trash Kit, Woolf, Italian Casuals and Truly Kaput and Unskinny Bop DJs
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=133482116689581
27th September - Manchester, UK
@ TBC
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=sent#!/event.php?eid=148306088532699&ref=mf
----------
Tour organised by the bloody ace Em Ledger xox
Thursday, 19 August 2010
lynnee breedlove on kathy acker - an interview
Bloody ages ago in 2009 I did an interview with Lynnee Breedlove. I thought I'd put it up here for folks who want to read it. The interview was about inspirations...
Lynnee Breedlove is the founder/frontperson/main yeller of the first American out dyke punk band Tribe 8. Tribe 8 has always stood for queer, transgender, multiracial, and working class visibility, and influenced and inspired the hell outta me in my late teens.
Lynnee is also the author of the highly acclaimed autobiographical novel – Godspeed - later converted into Godspeed the short film. Lynnee has also toured regularly with the spoken word troupe, Sister Spit.
Most recently though, Lynnee has been touring the world with One Freak Show, a solo, queer, punkrock spoken word/ standup comedy show on transgender bodies, feminism, family, and "community." It was after the Leeds and Manchester shows and subsequent workshops that this interview, about the influence of American writer Kathy Acker happened…
How have the shows/the tour been going so far in the UK/Europe?
Great. I was reminded that English and American are two different languages. Not to mention my own made up words and the fact that I am a member of one of the most miniscule cultures in the world: sf queer transfeminist. So I drew pictures like I do for Germans and Frenchies, and it helped a lot.
What is ‘One Freak Show’ all about, for those who haven’t seen it?
It’s about being a bridge between warring factions that are supposed to be on the same side but aren’t. It’s about being a no-op transguy who is not a real fill in the blank. Doesn’t measure up to anyone’s standards but his own.
Thinking about this interview, I recently read Tobi Vail state,
‘as with any oral history, my favorite part is listening to those involved track their influences. It involves hours of research and hanging out, [with] people who have been around longer than you, asking them questions, listening to how they discovered what means the most to them and learning how what they unearthed evolved into their own art and how it provided them with the tools to create a meaningful existence and try to change things via participation...to be more than a consumer...to realize your place in history....that history forms you ...and then to try and use that same methodology to impact future history...to use being in a band or making a fanzine as a way to create the world you want to exist...and to recognize that this is totally possible because it has happened before and it will happen again.’
In thinking about this, how important to you was knowing and working alongside/under Kathy Acker, as somebody who had ‘gone before’, doing what you were embarking on doing at the time (writing)?
Kathy was a queer leather clad Harley Davidson riding gnarly death bitch. We were all posers. She had her shit together but had been to some dark places. She had risen to a place of power in academia and used it for good, still bringing in the punks and encouraging us to make art out of whatever we were doing. She was a mom and a big sister to us. We all need older role models to bring us up. She believed in us. We needed someone who was like us to believe in us. Our parents didn’t get it. But we needed parenting. She said ok, so you’re a bike messenger. Write about it. She validated our experience, instead of what I was doing which was more ephemeral, in the moment, and just out of total self destruct mode, flying through life. She encouraged me to chronicle it as I went.
Kathy’s writing classes encouraged you, with Kathy telling you to write as a result of your attendance; leading to Godspeed chapter 1 being written (and beyond)
How important to you were those classes?
The classes were the seed of the writing community that supports me today. Writing is lonely work. We need each other to read to , to listen, comment on each others work.
What were they like? (format/ideas shared/atmosphere)
Kathy would talk about some esoteric shit I didn’t comprehend, then read some Bataille or de Sade I didn’t comprehend. Then she would tell us to write then we would read what we wrote. Sometimes there were shows where her students would read and the rest of us would listen.
Who attended?
We were punks, queers, whores, strippers, messengers, junkies, survivors. Many of us went on to become university professors and published writers like Daphne Gottlieb and Anna Joy Springer. Some died of AIDS. Some died of overdoses. But what we created was a moment in time that would inspire all of us to keep passing on that encouragement: “write.”
What was it about Kathy’s presence that was so inspiring?
She was a badass. She didn’t take any shit, she was an intellectual, and she did shit like jerk off and write like Jean Genet and challenged us to do it too. She brought the ghosts of literary heroes into our lives. She brought queer history to life. She lived it.
I read that those classes were secret, open classes that Kathy did (unpaid) in order to make such education open to poor punx (etc).
Well the cool thing was she got paid by SF Art Institute and she held them at a pub called Edinburgh Castle where anyone could come in addition to the students that were paying tuition.
How did you hear about them / become involved/active?
Anna Joy, one of the singers of Blatz, a punk band at Gilman Street who did a split 45” with us called Bitches and Brew, brought me. I thought she was the hottest most fascinating babe on the planet so whatever she told me to do I did.
How important do you think it was that it was Kathy’s intention to increase accessibility to writing in that way?
She put her money where her mouth was. She modeled integrity. And she let us know that punks and academia were not mutually exclusive. Where I went to school, I was the only queer punk stomping around in a Mohawk and a leather jacket with a skull painted on the back. So for her to say yeah you are writing something important and you don’t have to put on a suit to do it, that was different than what my parents and my school said.
And, as a result, is this something you too also hope to achieve by performing internationally to punk/DIY/queer crowds, and by doing associated workshops?.. To increase those waves of participation?
I do feel we created community through art, we encouraged each other to talk about our lives intimately in a public forum, politically, humorously, wildly. I do want to pass on that gift.
Kathy believed in the performative function of language.
I know that verbal expression is really important to you – as heard in Tribe 8 lyrics; there’s a definite urgency there to be heard and understood.
However, did Kathy’s ideas of the performative function of language lead (in part) to your wish to present your writing as spoken word performance; performance that elicits audience attention?
Before then I had written for 25 years, journals, poems, but it was private. Yes, I handed them to girls, but I never read them aloud in front of an audience. I had performed other people’s work onstage since I was a kid though, so it was natural for me to fuse the two forms.
Going back to talking about punk, and performing to punk audiences, how influential to your current work is your punk background / present?
It’s integrated. When I perform solo shows, comedy, it’s in your face, funny, naked, impertinent, asking questions designed to wake people up.
I am working on a book with my mom, working title, How I Became an American Anarchist. It’s about not understanding what’s happening politically as a child but being a product of it anyway, and later as an adult putting it all together and choosing actions based on a retrospective analysis.
Do you still believe punk is about Intellect, Education, and Social Commentary?
Yeah. That sounds right. Why, did I say that? It’s also about humor. I know I am at a punk show when I am cracking up. There’s all this jumping around and childlike stuff. It’s about freedom, not censoring yourself. The government will take care of that. It’s our responsibility not to hold back.
Kathy too was deeply entrenched in punk, and this showed in her portrayals of subcultures, and in her experimental/anarchic approach to literature that created her transgressive writing style.
Was Kathy’s body of work influential to you; in terms of it confounding expectations of what fiction should be? (i.e. showing you that fiction could be transgressive and punk and queer)
She was a balls out plagiarer. She said, “That’s right. I plagiarized it. What. Men have plagiarized women forever. Anon. is a woman. Shut the fuck up.”
That told me I could freely incorporate pop culture into my work without trying to come up with something new under the sun. It was punk for me to admit that I was a product of pop culture, that I was old, and quote a led zeppelin song, without worrying, oh they’re not punk enuff, I have to prove I am cool, all this self conscious bullshit. I felt free to just be as uncool as I was, and that I had the balls to admit it, that made me cool.
I see a huge parallel in the use of “queer theory” and queerness in yours and Kathy’s writing and performance.
Kathy’s work [not to sound too poncey] was incredibly post-structuralist and deconstructive. She played with characters and autobiographical personas and pronouns, upsetting conventions, and thus opening up gender possibilities (in a time before this was to become more commonplace).
Her writing wasn’t universal writing that would be maintaining a skewed concept that rested on normativity.
Was this encouraging to the queerness of your work to come? To you, as a no-op trans writer?
I actually never read Kathy. I knew Kathy. It was who she was and who we all were together in the bearded Lady café, dykes reading to each other about acting out politically incorrect straight rape fantasies on our girlfriends that let me know, like Pat Califia let me know, like diet popstitute, and all the homocore queens and fags and dykes and transsexuals, it didn’t matter what our bodies were or what anyone told us feminism was or what rules we had to adhere to. We were going to break down every barrier that we had built for ourselves. We stood by as each of us did it brick by brick. Kathy stood with us shoulder to shoulder. It didn’t matter if I understood Foucault. What mattered is Kathy and all of us stood up for each other’s right to be any kind of fucked up way we wanted to be. As long as we wrote it and lived it and made art and made it funny or hot as long as it was smart and called society on its shit by saying what real people felt. Thanks to her I read Genet and knew that a whole line of queer writers and outsiders came before us. And it was up to us to carry on the tradition.
How do you process all of your influences in life in terms of ways in which you are then able to share it all, creatively, with your community?
I integrate into my life what I have learned everyday. So when it is time to pass it on, it’s easy to put together spiritual and intellectual concepts. What I see as key to building the community we want to live in is looking inside, bringing it out in art, sharing it. That is trust. When you trust a group of people with your deepest emotional experience, you create community. However you bring it, you are modeling it for the rest. So bring your very best, and what you want to see in your world everyday, because it will instantly be reflected back to you.
Huge thanks for this Lynnee,
Thanks pal. My pleasure…
lynnee
Lynnee Breedlove is the founder/frontperson/main yeller of the first American out dyke punk band Tribe 8. Tribe 8 has always stood for queer, transgender, multiracial, and working class visibility, and influenced and inspired the hell outta me in my late teens.
Lynnee is also the author of the highly acclaimed autobiographical novel – Godspeed - later converted into Godspeed the short film. Lynnee has also toured regularly with the spoken word troupe, Sister Spit.
Most recently though, Lynnee has been touring the world with One Freak Show, a solo, queer, punkrock spoken word/ standup comedy show on transgender bodies, feminism, family, and "community." It was after the Leeds and Manchester shows and subsequent workshops that this interview, about the influence of American writer Kathy Acker happened…
How have the shows/the tour been going so far in the UK/Europe?
Great. I was reminded that English and American are two different languages. Not to mention my own made up words and the fact that I am a member of one of the most miniscule cultures in the world: sf queer transfeminist. So I drew pictures like I do for Germans and Frenchies, and it helped a lot.
What is ‘One Freak Show’ all about, for those who haven’t seen it?
It’s about being a bridge between warring factions that are supposed to be on the same side but aren’t. It’s about being a no-op transguy who is not a real fill in the blank. Doesn’t measure up to anyone’s standards but his own.
Thinking about this interview, I recently read Tobi Vail state,
‘as with any oral history, my favorite part is listening to those involved track their influences. It involves hours of research and hanging out, [with] people who have been around longer than you, asking them questions, listening to how they discovered what means the most to them and learning how what they unearthed evolved into their own art and how it provided them with the tools to create a meaningful existence and try to change things via participation...to be more than a consumer...to realize your place in history....that history forms you ...and then to try and use that same methodology to impact future history...to use being in a band or making a fanzine as a way to create the world you want to exist...and to recognize that this is totally possible because it has happened before and it will happen again.’
In thinking about this, how important to you was knowing and working alongside/under Kathy Acker, as somebody who had ‘gone before’, doing what you were embarking on doing at the time (writing)?
Kathy was a queer leather clad Harley Davidson riding gnarly death bitch. We were all posers. She had her shit together but had been to some dark places. She had risen to a place of power in academia and used it for good, still bringing in the punks and encouraging us to make art out of whatever we were doing. She was a mom and a big sister to us. We all need older role models to bring us up. She believed in us. We needed someone who was like us to believe in us. Our parents didn’t get it. But we needed parenting. She said ok, so you’re a bike messenger. Write about it. She validated our experience, instead of what I was doing which was more ephemeral, in the moment, and just out of total self destruct mode, flying through life. She encouraged me to chronicle it as I went.
Kathy’s writing classes encouraged you, with Kathy telling you to write as a result of your attendance; leading to Godspeed chapter 1 being written (and beyond)
How important to you were those classes?
The classes were the seed of the writing community that supports me today. Writing is lonely work. We need each other to read to , to listen, comment on each others work.
What were they like? (format/ideas shared/atmosphere)
Kathy would talk about some esoteric shit I didn’t comprehend, then read some Bataille or de Sade I didn’t comprehend. Then she would tell us to write then we would read what we wrote. Sometimes there were shows where her students would read and the rest of us would listen.
Who attended?
We were punks, queers, whores, strippers, messengers, junkies, survivors. Many of us went on to become university professors and published writers like Daphne Gottlieb and Anna Joy Springer. Some died of AIDS. Some died of overdoses. But what we created was a moment in time that would inspire all of us to keep passing on that encouragement: “write.”
What was it about Kathy’s presence that was so inspiring?
She was a badass. She didn’t take any shit, she was an intellectual, and she did shit like jerk off and write like Jean Genet and challenged us to do it too. She brought the ghosts of literary heroes into our lives. She brought queer history to life. She lived it.
I read that those classes were secret, open classes that Kathy did (unpaid) in order to make such education open to poor punx (etc).
Well the cool thing was she got paid by SF Art Institute and she held them at a pub called Edinburgh Castle where anyone could come in addition to the students that were paying tuition.
How did you hear about them / become involved/active?
Anna Joy, one of the singers of Blatz, a punk band at Gilman Street who did a split 45” with us called Bitches and Brew, brought me. I thought she was the hottest most fascinating babe on the planet so whatever she told me to do I did.
How important do you think it was that it was Kathy’s intention to increase accessibility to writing in that way?
She put her money where her mouth was. She modeled integrity. And she let us know that punks and academia were not mutually exclusive. Where I went to school, I was the only queer punk stomping around in a Mohawk and a leather jacket with a skull painted on the back. So for her to say yeah you are writing something important and you don’t have to put on a suit to do it, that was different than what my parents and my school said.
And, as a result, is this something you too also hope to achieve by performing internationally to punk/DIY/queer crowds, and by doing associated workshops?.. To increase those waves of participation?
I do feel we created community through art, we encouraged each other to talk about our lives intimately in a public forum, politically, humorously, wildly. I do want to pass on that gift.
Kathy believed in the performative function of language.
I know that verbal expression is really important to you – as heard in Tribe 8 lyrics; there’s a definite urgency there to be heard and understood.
However, did Kathy’s ideas of the performative function of language lead (in part) to your wish to present your writing as spoken word performance; performance that elicits audience attention?
Before then I had written for 25 years, journals, poems, but it was private. Yes, I handed them to girls, but I never read them aloud in front of an audience. I had performed other people’s work onstage since I was a kid though, so it was natural for me to fuse the two forms.
Going back to talking about punk, and performing to punk audiences, how influential to your current work is your punk background / present?
It’s integrated. When I perform solo shows, comedy, it’s in your face, funny, naked, impertinent, asking questions designed to wake people up.
I am working on a book with my mom, working title, How I Became an American Anarchist. It’s about not understanding what’s happening politically as a child but being a product of it anyway, and later as an adult putting it all together and choosing actions based on a retrospective analysis.
Do you still believe punk is about Intellect, Education, and Social Commentary?
Yeah. That sounds right. Why, did I say that? It’s also about humor. I know I am at a punk show when I am cracking up. There’s all this jumping around and childlike stuff. It’s about freedom, not censoring yourself. The government will take care of that. It’s our responsibility not to hold back.
Kathy too was deeply entrenched in punk, and this showed in her portrayals of subcultures, and in her experimental/anarchic approach to literature that created her transgressive writing style.
Was Kathy’s body of work influential to you; in terms of it confounding expectations of what fiction should be? (i.e. showing you that fiction could be transgressive and punk and queer)
She was a balls out plagiarer. She said, “That’s right. I plagiarized it. What. Men have plagiarized women forever. Anon. is a woman. Shut the fuck up.”
That told me I could freely incorporate pop culture into my work without trying to come up with something new under the sun. It was punk for me to admit that I was a product of pop culture, that I was old, and quote a led zeppelin song, without worrying, oh they’re not punk enuff, I have to prove I am cool, all this self conscious bullshit. I felt free to just be as uncool as I was, and that I had the balls to admit it, that made me cool.
I see a huge parallel in the use of “queer theory” and queerness in yours and Kathy’s writing and performance.
Kathy’s work [not to sound too poncey] was incredibly post-structuralist and deconstructive. She played with characters and autobiographical personas and pronouns, upsetting conventions, and thus opening up gender possibilities (in a time before this was to become more commonplace).
Her writing wasn’t universal writing that would be maintaining a skewed concept that rested on normativity.
Was this encouraging to the queerness of your work to come? To you, as a no-op trans writer?
I actually never read Kathy. I knew Kathy. It was who she was and who we all were together in the bearded Lady café, dykes reading to each other about acting out politically incorrect straight rape fantasies on our girlfriends that let me know, like Pat Califia let me know, like diet popstitute, and all the homocore queens and fags and dykes and transsexuals, it didn’t matter what our bodies were or what anyone told us feminism was or what rules we had to adhere to. We were going to break down every barrier that we had built for ourselves. We stood by as each of us did it brick by brick. Kathy stood with us shoulder to shoulder. It didn’t matter if I understood Foucault. What mattered is Kathy and all of us stood up for each other’s right to be any kind of fucked up way we wanted to be. As long as we wrote it and lived it and made art and made it funny or hot as long as it was smart and called society on its shit by saying what real people felt. Thanks to her I read Genet and knew that a whole line of queer writers and outsiders came before us. And it was up to us to carry on the tradition.
How do you process all of your influences in life in terms of ways in which you are then able to share it all, creatively, with your community?
I integrate into my life what I have learned everyday. So when it is time to pass it on, it’s easy to put together spiritual and intellectual concepts. What I see as key to building the community we want to live in is looking inside, bringing it out in art, sharing it. That is trust. When you trust a group of people with your deepest emotional experience, you create community. However you bring it, you are modeling it for the rest. So bring your very best, and what you want to see in your world everyday, because it will instantly be reflected back to you.
Huge thanks for this Lynnee,
Thanks pal. My pleasure…
lynnee
remind me again why i live the wrong side of the ocean?
I wish I could be at this:
Tammy Rae Carland
Funny Face, I Love You
September 10 - October 23, 2010
Silverman Gallery, 804 Sutter Street (between Jones and Leavenworth), San Francisco, CA 94109
Opening Reception: September 10, 6 – 8PM
Silverman Gallery is pleased to present Funny Face, I Love You, an exhibition of new work by Tammy Rae Carland on view from September 10 - October 23, 2010.
The artist’s second solo exhibition at the gallery features a suite of new photographs, a selection of mixed media works as well as a cast porcelain sculpture. Inspired by the history of female comedians, Carland explores questions of humor and desire,
juxtaposing images of empty stages with singular figures caught mid-act. These works isolate the body, focusing less on the artifice of public personas than the sheer spectacle of performing corporealities. Through these, Carland foregrounds the fragility and pathos inherent in these acts of vulnerability and self-humiliation—acts which also resonate with the unraveling of gender roles through acting out. Invariably, the conversation opens onto a larger meditation on the fragmentation of the body and the currency of the abject, while engaging the politics of performativity and the legacy of feminism.
Tammy Rae Carland received her MFA from UC Irvine, and also attended the Whitney Museum Independent Study Program. Her work has been screened and exhibited in galleries and museums internationally including New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Berlin and Sydney. She has been featured in numerous publications, including Artforum and Pulse. She is co-founder and owner of Mr. Lady Records, an independent record label and video distribution company. She is currently chair of Photography at California College of Arts and Crafts. Carland lives and works in Oakland, California.
For more information contact info@silverman-gallery.com
Tammy Rae Carland
Funny Face, I Love You
September 10 - October 23, 2010
Silverman Gallery, 804 Sutter Street (between Jones and Leavenworth), San Francisco, CA 94109
Opening Reception: September 10, 6 – 8PM
Silverman Gallery is pleased to present Funny Face, I Love You, an exhibition of new work by Tammy Rae Carland on view from September 10 - October 23, 2010.
The artist’s second solo exhibition at the gallery features a suite of new photographs, a selection of mixed media works as well as a cast porcelain sculpture. Inspired by the history of female comedians, Carland explores questions of humor and desire,
juxtaposing images of empty stages with singular figures caught mid-act. These works isolate the body, focusing less on the artifice of public personas than the sheer spectacle of performing corporealities. Through these, Carland foregrounds the fragility and pathos inherent in these acts of vulnerability and self-humiliation—acts which also resonate with the unraveling of gender roles through acting out. Invariably, the conversation opens onto a larger meditation on the fragmentation of the body and the currency of the abject, while engaging the politics of performativity and the legacy of feminism.
Tammy Rae Carland received her MFA from UC Irvine, and also attended the Whitney Museum Independent Study Program. Her work has been screened and exhibited in galleries and museums internationally including New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Berlin and Sydney. She has been featured in numerous publications, including Artforum and Pulse. She is co-founder and owner of Mr. Lady Records, an independent record label and video distribution company. She is currently chair of Photography at California College of Arts and Crafts. Carland lives and works in Oakland, California.
For more information contact info@silverman-gallery.com
wears the trousers meets ladyfest ten for zine fun
The seriously lovely Charlotte of Wears The Trousers Magazine is putting a zine together in time for Ladyfest Ten.
She's looking for anything from 50–200 words about your favourite female-centric band, singer, song or album and why they mean so much to you. Photographic submissions are also welcome.
When she has a good spread of chord-riffed memories and girl-sung nostalgia, it'll all be collated into a one-off, free-for-all zine that will be distributed at this year’s Ladyfest Ten events in London in November. It'll also be available to download.
See all the info, and details on where to send your contributions here on the Wears The Trousers blog post about it all.
She's looking for anything from 50–200 words about your favourite female-centric band, singer, song or album and why they mean so much to you. Photographic submissions are also welcome.
When she has a good spread of chord-riffed memories and girl-sung nostalgia, it'll all be collated into a one-off, free-for-all zine that will be distributed at this year’s Ladyfest Ten events in London in November. It'll also be available to download.
See all the info, and details on where to send your contributions here on the Wears The Trousers blog post about it all.
Wednesday, 18 August 2010
katy on pikaland
My interview with Katy Horan went up on the Pikaland site today... go read what Katy has to say about her amazing artwork.
xox
xox
Tuesday, 17 August 2010
female illustrators needed
Rag (Maga)zine are looking for women illustrators to contribute to their fifth annual magazine.
See their blog post for the list of articles that need illustrating, plus contact details: http://ragdublin.blogspot.com/2010/08/calling-all-women-illustrators.html
See their blog post for the list of articles that need illustrating, plus contact details: http://ragdublin.blogspot.com/2010/08/calling-all-women-illustrators.html
Sunday, 15 August 2010
feminist poster project
There's many reasons why I love Nina Nijsten; her latest project, The Feminist Poster Project is just one of those reasons.
The Feminist Poster Project website archives feminist posters, postcards and stickers for you to print and paste. It will offer a network for feminist poster artists and a space for inspiration. You can share your own self-made posters, postcards and stickers too.
The Feminist Poster Project wishes to support feminist poster making by offering a space where feminist posters are collected and archived. All posters on this website are available for downloading in pdf and can be easily printed.
The Feminist Poster Project website archives feminist posters, postcards and stickers for you to print and paste. It will offer a network for feminist poster artists and a space for inspiration. You can share your own self-made posters, postcards and stickers too.
The Feminist Poster Project wishes to support feminist poster making by offering a space where feminist posters are collected and archived. All posters on this website are available for downloading in pdf and can be easily printed.
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