THE FUTURE IS FEMINIST. Focus programme on feminism today.

THE FUTURE IS FEMINIST. Focus programme on feminism today.

From 29 September until 22 December

Beursschouwburg's next focus programme guides the audiences along definitions, interpretations of and opinions on contemporary feminism. 

With e.g. Dana Michel, Lisa Spilliaert, Jaamil Olawale Kosoko, Samira Elagoz, Antonia Baehr, Zoë McPherson, Sara Manente & Christophe Albertijn, Just For The Record, Florentina Holzinger, Girls Like Us, and many, many more...

21 January 2017. On this historic day, cities were flooded with countless participants in the Women’s Marches. Streets swarmed with pussy hats (pink bonnets with cat's ears), many accompanied by protest signs with unmistakable slogans: ‘Pussy Grabs Back!’ ‘Queers Revolt!’ ‘Black Lives Matter!’ ‘Make Empathy Great Again!’ ‘Women's Rights Are Human Rights!’ ‘Refugees Welcome!’

Under the loose banner of feminism, a single, huge opposition came together, a gathering of all possible tenors and minority groups. It became an inclusive march for a broadly supported feminist struggle. The themes spoke volumes: immigration, abortion, racism, the environment, inequality, head coverings, patriarchy…

Since that January day, ‘the future is female’ no longer (a slogan from the 1970s that was popular amongst lesbian separatists and was later greedily adopted by popular feminism). From now on, we say THE FUTURE IS FEMINIST, a slogan that was frequently spotted during the Women’s Marches. Feminism consequently comes into high gear, from political platform to brand identity to political platform.

This focus programme aims to provide a handhold in the confusion of interpretations and opinions within feminism. We investigate the term ‘intersectionality’ and research how many layers are embraced by that banner. Or indeed, how many banners there are for the same content. We will be looking at the (female) body, at its objectification, its representation in the media, the complexities and the pleasures. We will be rethinking the two-part concept of man/woman, and give space to post-binary and queer feminism.  

Everyone is welcome to our self-declared intersection, in the heart of the city. It is our open forum and safe space. A place where you can search for meaning and find like-minded feminist souls. And not to be forgotten: a place where you can make a misser or a well-placed dance step. IT WILL BE A GREAT BIG FEMINIST PARTY!

Go to the programme:
- Expo
- Film & video 
- Performing Arts
- Black Box Screenings
- Topicality (debates, encounters, workshops, ...) 
- Music

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EXPO 

30.9 - 22.12 Lisa Spilliaert (BE) - Growth Record 
In this long-term project Spilliaert records the growth of a child, whose mother might, as it were, have been the filmmaker herself. She had had sex with the Japanese man who became a father nine months later. Curious about the baby, she decided to photograph the child at regular intervals. more info

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FILM & VIDEO PROGRAMME 

4 OctoberSara Manente (IT) & Christophe Albertijn (BE) - Spectacle #4 - première - film 
A 3D Film about the relationship between dance and words: a work of fiction in four chapters. more info

11 OctoberSamira Elagoz (FI) - Craiglist Allstars - première - film/ documentary
On the encounter with a colourful procession of men: a magician, and exhibitionist, a sadistic video artist, a soft porn director, etc. more info

19 & 20 October: CIRCULATION On distribution and circulation of film and video art
Two days of lectures, debates and a workshop about strategies for the distribution of experimental cinema and artists’ films. In collaboration with Argos Centre for Art and Media, Atelier Graphoui, KASK Gent and Kunstenpunt. more info 

During Bâtard Festival (1 - 4 November) - Ruben Desiere (BE) - La fleurière [The Flower Shop] - avant-première - film/ documentary 
Following Kosmos, the debut film by Ruben Desiere, we now present his second feature film. Together with the Bâtard Festival, we are supporting the screening of this recently graduated filmmaker. more info

6 December: Tumbleweed #1
Graduation films by young filmmakers! Hosted by Christina Stuhlberger. more info

14 & 15 December: Sarah van Lamsweerde (NL/BE) - Cast Witnesses - video
What do plaster sculptures tell us about stories from the past? Double bill with the dance performance Nadita by Alma Söderberg. more info 

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PERFORMING ARTS

29 & 30 September - Belgian premiere: Jaamil Olawale Kosoko (US/NI) - #negrophobia - performance
An investigation into the identity of the black body in Western culture: subcutaneous racism, violence, stereotyping and secret fascination. more info

6 & 7 October - Belgian premiere: Eisa Jocson (PH) - Princess - dance
The Philippine Snow White: from small supporting role to cheerful leading role. more info 

13 & 14 October - Florentina Holzinger (AT) - Apollon Musagète - performance/dance
An investigation into the role of women and the boundaries surrounding body cult nowadays. What does the perfect woman want? more info

27 & 28 October - Belgian premiere: Dana Michel - Yellow Towel - performance/dance
With a mix of seriousness and absurdity, Dana Michel digs into the stereo types that exist around 'black culture'. more info

24 & 25 November, premiere: Rósa Ómarsdottir - Traces - dance
Immersive, tactile performance in which the audience sits down in the decor and becomes part of a pagan ritual. more info

1 & 2 December, double bill:
Bryana Fritz - Indispensible blue - performance

About a (potential) relationship with the user software of a computer. more info

Premiere: Ana Pi - NoirBLUE - dance
NOIRBLUE's choreography creates a fictional link between two colours: the black of a skin tone and an ultra-navy blue pigment. more info

8 & 9 December - premiere: Antonia Baehr - Normal Dance - dance
Contemporary avantgarde dance! “It’s a trio for three butches who are butches, but at the same time they are many other things.” more info

14 & 15 December - Alma Söderberg - Nadita - performance/dance
Nadita is Spanish for small nothing. Body and voice act as instruments that produce a small nothing. Double bill with the film Cast Witnesses by Sarah van Lamsweerdemore info 

21 & 22 december - avant-premiere: Aurelie di Marino - If there weren’t any blacks you’d have to invent them - theatre

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BLACK BOX SCREENINGS

We - Sa, 12:00 - 22:00 (in loop) - free 

In the tiniest space in Beursschouwburg, we show a different audiovisual work each week. As part of the focus programme The Future is Feminist, Beursschouwburg screens a selection of new work by e.g. Josephine Arnell and Simon Fujiwara combined with classics like Freak Orlando by Ulrike Öttinger and Maria Lassnig's Kantate. more info

29 September - 7 October​: Amalia Ulman, Future Ahead - AR/US, 2014, 16'
An Instagram series that carefully underscores that femininity is a construct, shaping young girls (and boys) from very early on.

11 - 14 October: Josefin Arnell, Mothership goes to Brazil - SE/NL, 2016, 28'
About an intriguing mother-daughter relationship, where one wonders who is who.

18 - 21 October: Ursula Biemann, Performing The Border  - CH, 1999, 45'
On the gendered dimension of migration.

25 - 28 oktober: Lee Anne Schmitt - Purge This Land  - US, 2017, 84'
The history of racism and slavery in modern America is retold in a virtuoso and highly topical film, spanning a time frame from the 1850s to present-day USA.

15 - 18 november: Kate Cooper - We Need Sanctuary - UK, 2016, 4'
About the frustration and hurt that comes from marketing images with unattainable alluring perfection.

29 november - 2 december: Simon Fujiwara, Joanne - UK, 2016, 12'
On the representation of women in social media, the tabloid press and consumer culture.

6 - 9 december: Ulrike Öttinger, Freak Orlando - DE, 1981, 126'
German filmmaker Ulrike Ottinger blends Tod Browning’s Freaks (1932) with Virginia Woolf’s novel Orlando (1928) into an excentric roadmovie told in five chapters.

13 - 16 december: Maria Lassnig, Kantate  - AT, 1992, 16'
Lassnig tells us her life’s story, observing the complexities of male-female relationships and the experience of being both a woman and an artist.

20-22 december: Fatima Al Qadiri & Khalid Al Gharaballi - Mendeel um A7med (NxLxSxM) - KW, 2012, 16'
An homage to Abdul-Aziz Al Nimish, the legendary actor who performed the roles of mature women when women of that age group were not allowed to perform in public.

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TOPICALITY

26 October: FEMINIST CURSE NIGHT with Fins Cultureel Instituut

18 November, 25 Novemver & 2 December: WORKSHOP RACE & RACISM

18 Oktober, 22 November & 20 December: WIKIPEDIA EDIT-A-TON with Just For The Record 

8 December, 15 December & 22 December: A LESBIAN BAR with Girls Like Us 

30 September, 21 Oktover & 2 December:  'THE FUTURE IS FEMINIST' for KETJES 

16 December: THE BIG CONVERSATION 

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MUSIC 

20 & 21 October: Two Days of Indigenous Electronics by Zoë Mc Pherson (associated artist at Beursschouwburg) 
Dag 1: Première String Figures audiovisueel project in 7 chapters.
Dag 2: Zoë invites: concerts - performances - expo 
more info 

About Beursschouwburg

Beursschouwburg is a multidisciplinary center for arts and reflection, an open meeting place strongly anchored in Brussels’ reality. Here we embrace the local, the global and the glocal. 

Beursschouwburg functions as a platform to present and develop a wide array of art practices and research, as a  support and experimentation network for artists, collectives and thinkers; a hub that questions normativity and welcomes new narratives.

Together with collaborators, we co-create programs that ignite fruitful encounters between different audiences, forms and genres, between art and everyday life, between the emerging and the established, between urgency and joy.

Beursschouwburg
Auguste Ortsstraat 20-28
1000 Brussel