Red Dawns
Feminist and queer festival in Ljubljana. Performances, acts, workshops and interventions.
The initiative for women’s festival Red Dawns began in 2000 in the Autonomous Cultural Centre Metelkova mesto in Ljubljana, Slovenia. A small group of women – members of associations KUD Mreža, ŠKUC-LL, Monokel and the no longer existing Women’s Centre and Kasandra – questioned the position of women in the tangled mesh of art, culture, politics, activism and everyday life. In Metelkova mesto, like elsewhere, the larger part of creative and organizational yet invisible work was done by women. Women were keeping Metelkova mesto alive and lively. We decided to organize a women festival on March 8th, the International Women’s Day, to celebrate our lives and redefine public space in order to make it accessible for creativity and socializing of women on our own terms: in an non-hierarchical, non-exploitational and anti-capitalistic manner.
The first edition of festival Red Dawns presented artists and activists working in AKC Metelkova mesto. In 2001, it connected with political allies from the Balkans and Central European neighbourhood. The assembly of low-budget and voluntary periphery travelled from Metelkova mesto to other locations – MC Podlaga (Sežana), Pekarna (Maribor) and Mostovna (Nova Gorica) – thereby considerably widening the circle of contributors. Since then, many individuals and other associations have joined and continue to support Red Dawns: Alkatraz Gallery, KUD Anarhiv, Radio Student, DZAC, CrossConversationCut, kamera REVOLTA, Cinema iNVISIBLE, feminist debate club of Faculty for Social Sciences, Teater Gromki, MKC Koper, MIKK Murska Sobota and the jugglers' collective of Menza pri koritu. Even though the groups differ greatly in their beliefs and not all of them can identify with any specific feminist theory they support the continuous efforts of Red Dawns as they believe that women’s work deserves more attention and appreciation.
