EL*C's inaugural lesbian arts festival Lesbiennale focuses on lesbian productions in the arts, culture and politics. The Lesbiennale is a way to escape, distract, celebrate, engage, support, and honour lesbian, bi, queer, trans women who despite their incredible resilience have been hit hard by the pandemic.
The project was led by EL*C and involved many groups and local lesbian / queer partners: Café Congo, Cinematek, the Crazy Circle, La Bellone, La Doyenne, Muntpunt, Passa Porta, Rainbow House, rile*, Elles Tournent, Fatsabbats, GHB, L-tour, Midis de la Poésie, Mothers & Daughters, TuLiTu
After two successful large-scale conferences in 2017 (Vienna) and in 2019 (Kyiv), we have decided to expand our scope of events and to focus our next one on spotlighting the vast amount of radical and political art created by lesbians in the past & present. We want to acknowledge and honor the inherent closeness or familiarity between radical lesbians and artists, and that oftentimes, we find that art becomes the only medium to reflect, critique, and think beyond restraints of dominant systems. In October 2021 – to coincide with International Lesbian Day, the EL*C is planning on organising its inaugural lesbian arts festival – 'Lesbiennale' – focusing on lesbian productions in the arts, culture and politics.
A great moment was the live/public coming out of Iris Brey during her presentation on the lesbian gaze at the Cinematek; it's always great when visible folks come out and help increase the pool of visible out lesbians! Another great thing was the number of folks that told us how much such a festival was needed after almost two years of a cultural halt and its hardships brought about my covid-19.
My favorite spots are ephemeral, like when M&D set up their bar space, when there is an L-festival event etc.
LESBIENNALE, 2022