Festival of queer and feminist culture "Smoqua"/ Rijeka/ 12th – 14th of October, 2017

SMOQUA – HOW, WHEN AND WHY

Dear all, as we previously announced, in the dedicated LORI kitchen, we have prepared something that we have never done before - a festival of queer and feminist culture! 🙂 How did it come about? The idea has been simmering for many years. We have longed to contribute to the queer and feminist culture and scene, not only in Croatia but also beyond, by creating a platform that will develop, grow, and become a space for collaboration, ideas, and exchanges among activists, artists, and all interested participants.

Therefore, we invite you to the first festival organized by LORI, Smoqua, which will take place in Rijeka from October 12th to 14th, 2017.

ABOUT THE FESTIVAL

Smoqua is a three-day regional festival which takes place in Rijeka from 12th to 14th of October 2017, with participants from Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Kosovo, Macedonia and Montenegro. This is the first time that this festival is organised and we hope it will continue to exist and grow during the years that follow.

Overall objective of the festival is introducing queer and feminist culture to the public through artistic content (exhibition, performances), audio-visual concepts (drag show, concert of the feminist band, short film screenings etc.), workshops, panel discussions, and info booths of the CSOs and initiatives established for protection and promotion of women's rights and rights of the LGBTIQ persons.

Visitors also have the opportunity to learn about history and the importance of queer and feminist culture, to develop critical awareness, to explore the cultural and social context and psychosocial dimension of this culture. The program includes cultural institutions, CSOs and individuals distinguished in queer-feminist culture from local community and from regional countries.

The concept and topics

Main topic of the festival: Freedom – are we truly free?

The main aim is questioning the concept of freedom in relation to multiple oppression – social, cultural, institutional, as well as individual. Are we, as individuals, free to live our identities (to develop them and deconstruct them)? Artistic-activist content of the festival raises these questions and is involved with the issue of oppression towards women and queer/sexual and gender minorities and it necessarily touches upon matters of oppression in service of patriarchy, sexism, chauvinism, misogyny, heteronormativity, homophobia and transphobia.

Lesbian Organisation Rijeka – LORI has initiated and organised Smoqua Festival as part of its long-lasting activist work in field of protection and promotion of rights of sexual and gender minorities, while one of the LORI's objectives is development and promotion of queer and feminist culture. Smoqua is a combination of art and activism which presents the queer-feminist perspective in region as well as the queer-feminist artists and activists. This region (ex-Yugoslavian countries) is the place of particularly strong patriarchy and heterosexism, but also the place of strong „resistance movement“. Finally, the festival will serve as a platform and a networking spot for future artistic-activist projects.

PROGRAMME:

THURSDAY, 12th of October, 2017

11:00 – 15:00 Info booths on Korzo street: LORI and PaRiter, Centre for Women’s Studies (University of Rijeka), Centre for Civil Initiatives Poreč, SOS Rijeka – centre for nonviolence and human rights The purpose of the info booths is to provide the visitors with the information on work of initiatives and CSOs active in the field of promotion and protection of women’s rights and rights of the LGBTIQ persons, as well as with the information about the festival itself.

15:00 Queer walk around Rijeka: If you wish to learn few things about the (queer) history of Rijeka – which you will rarely find in “books” and you don’t know whom to ask – join us for a walk! In an easy-going, humorous atmosphere you can find out where were previous “gathering places” of the LGBTIQ crowd as well as few spicy details.

16:00 Festival Opening - short speeches from the organisers and sponsoring institutions and the presentation of the programme of the festival.
Aperitif bar, Korzo 15

17:00 Discussion: Queer-feminism – (non)position of freedom, challenges and responsibilities: Centre for Women’s Studies (University of Rijeka) and LORI, facilitated by: Brigita Miloš, participants: Franko Dota, Mia Gonan (Hrvatska) i Mirza Halilčević (BIH).
Mini Art-kino, Krešimirova 2

20:00 Anna Hoffner: Exhausted Time, exhibition opening and the talk with the artist Ana Hoffner will present video installations, photographs and objects dealing with experimenting, practicing and trying out as a work of exhaustion. The works address gender transgression in the postness of crisis, conflict and war but they also touch upon social and political transgressions that sometimes create significant differences between life and death. The exhibition will be opened from 12th of October until 5th of November, 2017.
Ana Hoffner is engaged in an art practice that seeks to introduce temporalities, relations and spaces in-between established perspectives. Hoffner employs means of appropriation such as restaging photographs, interviews and reports and desynchronization of body and voice, sound and image. She* has finished the PhD in Practice Program at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna in 2014.
Križanićeva 6A, Platform „Građani svom gradu”/ Platform ”Citizens to their City”

FRIDAY, 13th of October, 2017

15:00 – 17:00 Jasminka Juretić and Ana Andrinić – Workshop: Touch, body, sexuality
The workshop is intended for the women older than 18 who want to know more about experiencing touch and their own corporeality and sexuality. Due to the restricted number of participants, please make sure to register your participation by sending an e-mail to the following address: . Please bring comfortable clothes and a towel to the workshop.

17:00 Word Whipping performance- by Nika Rukavina, multimedial artist from Rijeka During the performance the artist will be citing discriminatory and humiliating statements which are often addressed towards women in our environment. After every said statement she is being whipped on her back by the guest actor. In this way, during the performance the audience is given the role of the third actor who is witnessing this obvious injustice and violence, but is staying passive.
Korzo, in front of Korzo shopping mall

18:00 Video screening Shaving Patriarchy, HAVEIT collective (Kosovo) The video shows a performance performed on the Independence Day of Albania (28th of November) in front of Skenderbeg’s statue in Pristina as a protest against the open emphasis on patriarch postulates in Albanian culture – where a length of man’s beard is considered to be proportional to his strength and the respect he deserves.
HAVEIT (Alketa Sylaj, Hana Qena, Vesa Qena, Arbërore Sylaj) is a collective that works to go beyond everyday pleasure, moralistic rules and refuse to agree with the matters that are being served. They won't do anything except tell their and your story! The group was established in 2011, Prishtina.
Book Caffe Dnevni boravak, Ciottina 12a

18:15 Discussion: The link between activism and advocacy – Whom are the institutions responsible to? Facilitated by: Marinella Matejčić, acticist from the CSO PaRiter, participants: Nataša Velikonja and Nina Dragičević (Slovenia), Leila Šeper (BIH), Zoe Gudović (Serbia).
Book Caffe Dnevni boravak, Ciottina 12a

23:00 House of Flamingo: drag performance/ Queer UP! Party presents: Zbeletron

House of Flamingo (Zagreb) is a queer artist collective, active locally as well as regionally, with an objective of promotion of the queer cultural, artistic and social heritage with primary emphasis on the presentation of drag performances. Besides their contributions in presentation and production of queer cultural content, by offering unconventional entertaining happenings for the LGBTIQ community and interested public, they are empowering the queer identities.

Zbeletron is a collective which is organising events aimed at increasing the visibility of lesbian, bisexual and trans* women. Lez Of The Year is probably the most known event they organise. It is a yearly event where the awards are given to persons, collectives, initiatives, bands etc. which contributed to visibility of LBT women in the fields of sport, culture, activism and generally increase the quality of life for LGBTIQ minority.

In charge of music, for the first time at Queer UP! party in Rijeka, will be the Zbeletrons Nora and Iva.
Club Crkva, Ružićeva 22

SATURDAY, 14th of October, 2017

18:00 Art-kino: Screening of the short queer-feminist movies and the talk with the authors
The talk will be led by the film critic, Dragan Rubeša.

Movies:

Transition (2016., Serbia, 21 min)
Directed and written by: Milica Tomović
Cast: Ivana Vuković, Milica Trifunović, Milica Stefanović
Two days before leaving to America, Jana says goodbye to her band members, friends, ex-girlfriend, and her family. They all share a feeling of regret saying goodbye to her, but also joy for her bright future in Michigan, where she’s going on post graduate studies. Only her sister knows a secret, that Jana is not going away to study, Jana is going away to have her sex change.
Milica Tomović (1986, SFR Yugoslavia) graduated from Academy Of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade 2011. “Transition” won golden plaque in Serbian short fiction film selection in Belgrade Film Festival, Heart of Sarajevo best short film in Sarajevo Film Festival, Best Director Award at the International Short Film Festival of Cyprus, best film in selection Brave Balkans at Auteur Film Festival in Belgrade, also recently won an award for the best short film in national selection at Merlinka International Queer Film Festival in Belgrade.

Strawberries (2015, Montenegro, 23 min)
Directed, written and produced by: Jelena Lela Milošević
Cast: Bojana Malinovska, Julija Milačić, Momčilo Otašević
This is an intimate story which progressively reveals the mysterious relationship of a couple. Couple lives quite isolated in a good relationship. However, there is a looming problem. This problem is gradually revealed. Very interesting twist at the end gives us completely different viewpoint of characters and their motives. In this craft lies a basic human need for acceptance and a large threat because of differences.

Don’t break my turbofolk heart (2011, Serbia, 24 min)
Directed and written by: Miona Bogović, Olga Dimitrijević, Michael Plundrich.
Cast: Dubravka Kovjanić, Jelena Škondrić
What the hell is Turbofolk? As folk itself is not bad enough already. But as the Serbians say, it can always get worse. In the film the Turbofolk singer Maja falls in love with a young curator Jelena. Their liaison unites two worlds which are incompatible. It is a story about a controversial city and a story of love, an ode to Turbofolk music and a visualisation of the Serbian queer identity today.

21:00 Concert Le Zbor
Le Zbor (Le Choir) is the first lesbian, feminist and antifascist choir, for women of any orientation, in south-eastern Europe. It is famous for its perfect combination of cultural and art activism, and light melodies. Since being formed in 2005, it has gained reputation as a major supporter of human rights and cultural artistic activism, antifascism, and feminism, primarily among the urban youth, as well as with a wider audience.
Club Bačva, Dolac 8

Organisers: CSO LORI in collaboration with: PaRiter, Center for Women's Studies (University of Rijeka), Art-kino, Platform Citizens to their City, Labris