Otago Pioneer Womens' Memorial Hall, 362 Moray Place, Dunedin.
General Info
The weekend symposium is an opportunity for artists, writers, musicians, performers and academics to investigate how feminism influences their practice on an everyday level. Participants are invited to present, perform and contribute to emotional and creative dialogue. The discussions and workshops will be based on information swapping and skill sharing, contributing to a culture of participation, access and empowerment - because all people have something to teach and learn.
While focusing on the subject of feminism, it is essential to us to create a space that has no gender hierarchies. Feminism can be discussed on a broader platform than its relevance for women. While we want to inspire women to make art that breaks down these hierarchies and celebrates women's experience, we are encouraging people of other genders to participate also. The system of patriarchy leaves little space for all of us to express ourselves emotionally and in ways that are traditionally seen as feminine. We want to free both artists and viewers from these limiting chains.
The more aware we become of the importance our culture gives to the male gaze, the greater the benefit of a feminist perspective to enliven our hearts to rise above this convention.
Registration
Registration is closed.
Programme Timetable
DAY 1
10:00-10:30 Greetings, introductions, weekend overview
10:30-11:30 Opening round
11:00-11:30 POETRY – Kajsa Louw
11:30-12:00 Morning Tea
12:00-12:30 POETRY - Anne Basquin
12:30-1:00 POETRY - Robin Steal
1:00-1:30 Lunch
1:30-2:00 VISUAL ART - Briar Comins
2:00-2:30 VISUAL ART - Shelley Adamson
2:30-3:00 Afternoon Tea
3:00-3:30 VISUAL ART - Desi Liversage
3:30-4:00 PERFORMANCE - Kate Anderson
4:00-4:30 PLAY READING - Hana Aoake
4:30-5:00 Closing round
DAY 2
10:00-10:30 Brief greetings, introductions, opening round
10:30-11:30 POETRY(Video Performance) - Rebecca Reider
11:00-11:30 PERFORMANCE - Gemma Tweedie
11:30-12:00 Morning Tea
12:00-12:30 RESEARCHER - Lynda Cullen
12:30-1:00 RESEARCHER - Emily Goldthorpe
1:00-1:30 Lunch
1:30-2:00 PARTICIPATION - We Are Optimistic
2:00-2:30 RESEARCHER - Fiona Mc Lachlan
2:30-3:00 Afternoon Tea
3:00-3:30 POETRY(Video Performance) - Joan Fleming
3:30-4:00 Closing Round & Clean up
10:00-10:30 Greetings, introductions, weekend overview
10:30-11:30 Opening round
11:00-11:30 POETRY – Kajsa Louw
11:30-12:00 Morning Tea
12:00-12:30 POETRY - Anne Basquin
12:30-1:00 POETRY - Robin Steal
1:00-1:30 Lunch
1:30-2:00 VISUAL ART - Briar Comins
2:00-2:30 VISUAL ART - Shelley Adamson
2:30-3:00 Afternoon Tea
3:00-3:30 VISUAL ART - Desi Liversage
3:30-4:00 PERFORMANCE - Kate Anderson
4:00-4:30 PLAY READING - Hana Aoake
4:30-5:00 Closing round
DAY 2
10:00-10:30 Brief greetings, introductions, opening round
10:30-11:30 POETRY(Video Performance) - Rebecca Reider
11:00-11:30 PERFORMANCE - Gemma Tweedie
11:30-12:00 Morning Tea
12:00-12:30 RESEARCHER - Lynda Cullen
12:30-1:00 RESEARCHER - Emily Goldthorpe
1:00-1:30 Lunch
1:30-2:00 PARTICIPATION - We Are Optimistic
2:00-2:30 RESEARCHER - Fiona Mc Lachlan
2:30-3:00 Afternoon Tea
3:00-3:30 POETRY(Video Performance) - Joan Fleming
3:30-4:00 Closing Round & Clean up
Each 30 minute session will start with a 10 minute presentation, and continue into a 20 minute facilitated discussion and response session.
About the Presenters
Kajsa Louw
Kajsa will read her poetry on the subject of life, gender and love. Kajsa is a local feminist poet, currently studying English literature at Otago University.
Anne Basquin
Anne will present a series of poems from her recently made limited edition hand printed books. Anne is an artist and poet working and living in Dunedin.
Joan Fleming
Joan will present (in absentia) a video poetry performance from her new collection-in-progress. Joan says, "These poems are all conversations, of sorts, between people and things. An ageing armchair talks to an arrogant window; a butoh dancer talks to the floorboards she dances on; an old man talks to the radio in his sleep. The poems try to translate unheard conversations from beneath the canopy of the ordinary. They illuminate the hidden voices of the everyday." Joan's work has been published in literary magazines such as Sport and Best New Zealand Poems, and in the DUETS chapbook series, launched in June this year.
Briar Comins
Briar will present thoughts from her current work that investigates the lived experience of being fat. Her potent imagery represents both the psychological pressures of consumer society and the joy of the physical body. By selecting unconventional materials for her figurative works, she is able to convey a very powerful message to the viewer with eloquence and insight. Briar Comins is an emerging artist who lives with her family in Dunedin. Briar's work is currently on show at ROCDA gallery as part of the Women on Form exhibition.
Shelley Adamson
Shelley will present a seminar about her ongoing knitting work shown in the accompanying exhibition. Shelley Adamson works within the interception between craft and digital culture. In Embodied model I knitted gloves are joined and manipulated to form an interpretation of the internet. The result is a non-hierarchical structure based upon the notions of decentering, multiplicity and connectivity.
Desi Liversage
Restoration is No Comedy. I will present three little stories about genitals – ours and theirs – us and them. The western world is appalled at the notion of genital mutilation. Do we have a right to be? I would like to stimulate a debate around these issues, based on an art piece in progress.
Hana Aoake, Jerome Cousins, Theodore McLay, Mel Shaw, Miriam Noonan and Jimmy Currin.
A reading of two sections of Caryl Churchill’s Cloud Nine (1978) will be performed by Jerome Cousins, Theodore McLay, Mel Shaw, Miriam Noonan and Jimmy Currin. Directed by Hana Aoake.
We Are Optimistic
Kate van der Drift and Clare Fleming make up the We Are Optimistic collective. Their current series of projects explore utopian feminist ideals through an attempt to create a world without Patriarchy. Currently in the ‘planning’ phase of this project they will facilitate a brainstorming session to investigate what the role of artists might be in their Patriarchy Free Zone.
Fiona Mc Lachlan
Fiona confesses that she is not a feminist. Drawing on her PhD work around queer temporalities she will open up a discussion that explores new political strategies for 'feminism(s)'.
Lynda Cullen
Lynda will present the paper Wonderwoman from the 1940s to the 21st Century: Superhero dress, identity, and gender issues. Lynda's MA was undertaken at Otago University's Gender and Visual Culture Departments. She is visitor programmes coordinator at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery.
Kate Anderson
Kate will present a musical performance. Kate is an artist working with notions of value through clothing, re-use and fashion.
Robin Steal
From the local Dunedin band - The Feral Hunks. Robin Steal will present some of his new songs that negotiate the tricky space of feminism for men.
