squeezed up
"The Empress Club" is a unique music series in Austria that has been bringing international female talent with a focus on bass culture such as hip hop, grime, reggae, dancehall, funk, soul etc. to the stages of Linz since 2013. This club series was initiated and curated by artists Sandra Krampelhuber and Oona Valarie Serbest for Stadtwerkstatt.
We interviewed Sandra Krampelhuber, one of the initiators and curators of Empress Club. She tells us what has happened at Empress Club over the last two years: what events and workshops have been held, which artists have been guests and what plans they have for the future.
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aufgequeerlt
As part of the musician series "The Empress Club", the "Queen of Arab Hip Hop" - Malikah - performed in Austria for the first time. We recorded an interview with her before her stage performance at Stadtwerkstatt on April 10, 2015. Malikah talks about her first steps in the hip hop scene, what it's like for her in the male-dominated genre and how she combines hip hop and her political stance
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divensplitter
Helga Schager is an artist, radio producer and editor at the radio program SPACEfemFM on Radio FRO as well as an activist for women's rights. She is currently exhibiting her works under the title "Narrative X-Rays" at Galerie Hofkabinet. We conducted an interview with Helga Schager for our Divensplitter section.
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squeezed up
Images of sexualized violence are present in almost all media: advertising, feature films and documentaries, photos/reports, TV news, information and educational posters, YouTube clips, etc.. They surround us every day, they are part of the political space. How is this space governed with these images?
More than 20 speakers, activists and artists will discuss, problematize and subvert image politics of sexualized violence as part of the conference "Kicking Images". The conference will take place from May 6 to 8, 2015 at the University of Art and Design Linz. We spoke to Sabrina Kern, Angela Koch and Katrin Köppert, initiators and organizers, about the conference.
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NEWS
1. Andrew Jackson has been depicted on the 20-dollar bill since 1928. He was US President from 1829 to 1837. During his time in office, Jackson had Native Americans resettled, was in favor of slavery and against a central bank. "Women on $20s" now wants to replace him with a woman. The activists want to collect at least 100,000 signatures for the cause with an online petition.
On the website, you can vote for one of 15 women to replace Andrew Jackson. Among the candidates is Rosa Parks, who became famous for refusing to give up her seat on the bus to a white man on December 1, 1955. Also up for election are women's rights activists such as Betty Friedan, Susan B. Anthony, Alice Paul and Elizabeth Cady Stanton and anti-slavery campaigners such as Sojourner Truth. Until now, portraits of women have only been on US coins, which practically no one uses.
2. 19-year-old schoolgirl Elona Kastrati sticks women's sanitary towels with feminist messages on suitable places in public spaces in Germany. She is causing a stir worldwide. Kastrati wants to use the messages to draw attention to sexism and violence against women. The student began her campaign on International Women's Day and posted photos with the English slogans on social networks under the hashtag "PadsAgainstSexism". Some examples:
"You've had enough of feminism? I've had enough of earning less, feeling my body is common property, being exposed and harassed."
"Never give me a compliment that hurts another woman. That's not a compliment, it's a competition that neither of us wanted."
"Imagine if men were as disgusted by rape as they are by periods."
"Rapists rape people, not sexy clothes."
3. The American city of Boston has had a Riot Grrrl Day since 2015. April 9 was declared Riot Grrrl Day in honor of Kathleen Hanna. The former Bikini Kill singer, who now fronts Julie Ruin, was honored on the occasion of her visit to Boston. She spoke at the Wilbur Theater about "art, music, writing, trends, women and more."
The Riot Grrrl Day proclamation states, among other things:
"Because: our young women cannot become and be what they cannot see. Girls need to see other girls with drumsticks, with basses and on the mic. They need to see other girls with paintbrushes and pens, telling their stories out loud.
Because: the next Kathleen Hanna can be a young girl in a Boston bedroom making feminist art right now. Alone or afraid of not belonging to a community"
The declaration was signed by the city's mayor Marty Walsh:
"I, Marty Walsh, Mayor of the City of Boston, do hereby proclaim April 9, 2015 as Riot Grrrl Day in Boston. To remember the importance of riot grrrl culture, to celebrate it, and to actively promote it! The day is meant to be an inspiration for riot grrrls/girls everywhere to shake and recreate the status quo."
The proclamation was initiated by Joyce Linehan, Chief of policy for Boston. We need more Kathleen Hannas, Joyce Linehans and Marty Walshs all over the world :) - The mayor of Linz can take a big(!) leaf out of their book - Editor's opinion.
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served and decorated
- You can attend a Girls Rock Camps during the summer vacation. This summer, you and your friends between the ages of 13 and 24 can choose between two Girls Rock Camps in Austria! We are delighted to be celebrating our fifth anniversary with the Girls Rock Camp in Lower Austria AND are organizing a Girls Rock Camp in Linz for the first time. Registration is still open until 17 May 2015, registrations at http://www.girlsrock.at
- On May 1, 2015, the Mayday or alternative May 1 in Linz will take place again. The meeting point is in Schillerpark at 10 am.
- From 6 to 8 May 2015 the conference "Kicking Images" - Image Politics / Sexualized Violence / Interventions, will take place at the University of Art and Design Linz on Hauptplatz. With the conference Kicking Images we want to intervene in the production of future imagined images of sexualized violence with reference to queer-feminist re-presentation politics.
The music in the program is by: Malikah from their concert on April 10, 2015 at Stadtwerkstatt.
