28. jan. 2010

Delavnica 'Svetovi drugih'

ŠKUC-evi Ustvarjalni ponedeljki vabijo na delavnico

SVETOVI DRUGIH
Skupinsko pisanje znastvenofantastičnih zgodb


Meniš, da »ne znaš pisati«, »nimaš inspiracije« ali »zadostnih izkušenj«? Potem te na delavnici čaka veliko presenečenje, kajti vsi ti zadržki bodo - kot se za takšno delavnico spodobi - odpadli!

Kratkemu pogovoru o vsebinah, ki te najbolj zanimajo, in žanrskih posebnostih znanstvene fantastike, bo sledila skupna odločitev o dogajalnem času, prostoru in likih, ki bodo nastopili v zgodbah.

Tako kot pri stripovski ali glasbeni skupinski improvizaciji („jam session“), se bomo posedli v krog. Vsak bo začel pisati svojo zgodbo, po petnajstih minutah jo bo podal sosednjemu udeležencu, ki bo napisano prebral in v naslednjih petnajstih minutah zgodbo nadaljeval po lastnem okusu. Zgodbe bodo krožile, dokler ne bo vsaka udeleženka ali udeleženec prispeval svoje pisave k vsaki zgodbi. Če bo udeležencev (denimo) pet, bo tako v uri in pol nastalo pet zgodb. Delavnico bomo zaključili z branjem zgodb in – po vsej verjetnosti – obilico smeha.

Delavnico bo vodila Tea Hvala.

Info center ŠKUC, 1. februar 2010, med 17. in 20. uro. Prijave zbirajo osebno v Info centru ŠKUC na Starem trgu 21, po elektronski pošti info.skuc@guest.arnes.si ali po telefonu na številki 01 421 31 42 vsak dan med 12. in 20. uro.

Še to: Po dogovoru nastale zgodbe lahko ilustriramo ali/in oblikujemo v knjižico. Vsakdo bo prejel dva brezplačna fotokopirana izvoda. Druga možnost je, da zgodbe objavimo na posebej v ta namen odprti wiki strani (to je povezava na wiki stran z zgodbami v nemščini in angleščini, napisanimi na podobni delavnici v Salzburgu; brezplačne wiki strani omogočajo enostavno urejanje in spreminjanje že objavljenega, s tem pa je mogoče tudi spletno nadaljevanje delavnice).

Delavnica kljub dostopnosti orodij za neposredno skupinsko delo na spletu vztraja pri izvedbi v „resničnem“ prostoru in času ter uporabi staromodnih pripomočkov kot sta pisalo in papir, ker se bomo na ta način osredotočili na zgodbo in drug drugega, ne pa na popravljanje „zatipkanih“ napak.

Povezave: primeri zgodb, ki so nastale na podobnih delavnicah l. 2008 na festivalu
Ladyfest v Amsterdamu (vabilo in zgodbe) ter na že omenjeni delavnici, ki je potekala lani na konferenci Civilmedia v Salzburgu (vabilo in zgodbe).

26. jan. 2010

Porno dlake na jeziku

Dlake na jeziku: napoved oddaje.

O pornografiji:
Pornič z medvedom - prvi del!
Pornič z medvedom - drugi del!

Premiera oddaje Dlake na jeziku, ki se tokrat posveča pornografiji, bo v MC Medvode oz. klubu Jedro v četrtek, 28. januarja 2010, ob 20.00. Kdor je na vest.si že videl prejšnji dve oddaji, posvečeni smrti (dober začetek!) in potrošništvu, vsaj približno ve, kako resno raziskovalno novinarstvo jemlje mlada ekipa iz Medvod, in kaj lahko pričakuje na premieri. Oddajo o pornografiji na tem mestu priporočam (kaj pa druzga) tudi zato, ker sem vmes imela svoj jezik...

Podrobnejša napoved je objavljena na spletni strani MC Medvode. Tule pa je zemljevid.

23. jan. 2010

Uredniška vaja iz nekorektnosti

Luksuzna vaja iz nekorektnosti je neavtorizirani, a kljub temu objavljeni uredniški naslov članka o muzeju in študijah Jugoslavije, ki je izjavo o specifični "vaji iz nekonkretnosti" najprej spremenil v "nekorektnost", potem pa jo je posplošil na vse omenjene pobude, projekte in dogodke - kar ton in poanto članka precej spremeni.

Prispevek sva napisala z Daretom Pejićem in ne jaz ne on ne misliva, da so omenjene pobude in projekti "nekorektni", še manj pa, če smo že pri tem, da je (politična) "nekorektnost" nekakšno luksuzno ali privilegirano 'stališče' tistih, ki si jo lahko privoščijo... Če je bilo skratka z "nekorektnostjo" mišljeno nasprotovanje zgodovinskemu revizionizmu in lokalnim etnonacionalizmom, potem je to kvečjemu zelo konkretna in naša skupna, prav nič prestižna dolžnost!

Članek je izšel v današnji izdaji Objektiva (sobotni prilogi časopisa Dnevnik). Prvotni naslov Kako na 870 m² razstaviti zgodovino Jugoslavij? na tem mestu vodi do njegove spletne izdaje.

Ker v spletni izdaji pod večino fotografij ni podnapisov, brez njih pa je kontekst nejasen, jih spodaj objavljam še enkrat.


Fotografija iz depoja Muzeja zgodovine Jugoslavije, ki hrani izvirna darila za Titota. Ljudska kultura!



Katarina Živanović, v.d. direktorja muzeja Jugoslavije in prof. Milan Ristović z beograjske Filozofske fakultete na konferenci Novi Stari muzej o novi stalni zbirki Muzeja zgodovine Jugoslavije (fotografija: Jelena Čelebić).



Najdražji eksponat v zbirki: Titova medalja. Njena ocenjena vrednost je milijon dolarjev (fotografija: Dare Pejić).


Fronta svobode je prvič izšla leta 1943. Naslovnico je oblikoval Voja Dimitrijević, prve članke je podpisal Meša Selimović. Na spletni strani nove Fronte svobode bo kar dvainšestdeset letnikov časopisa kmalu dostopno v digitalni obliki (fotografija: Arhiv Fronte svobode).



»Od kafane do festivala 'visoke umetnosti'«, je nastop turbo folk zvezde Dragane Mirković na Wiener Festwochen komentiral beograjski časopis Vreme. Video instalacija Sama je v okviru razstave Gender Check do 14. februarja 2010 na ogled v dunajskem MUMOK (fotografija: Draško Gagović).

13. jan. 2010

čist mim



za prvi januar verjetno še nkol ni blo revolucije. so pa drame. a sinoči, ko sva se s cimrom komi pobrala s toplih kavčev in dek v dnevni, spremenjeni v kino s platnom in pravim saund sistemom, in se spravla v kuhno, kjer so s šampanjcem v zraku že čakale punce, bilo je minuto do ali čez polnoč, sva se na vratih še enkrat zasukala v mir tiste sobe, čudežno lepe s preprogami in dekami in kupi blazin v sijočih rdečih odtenkih.

potem smo obstali na robu smeha, s kozarci na ustnicah, slovesno, kot se spodobi. ko sva se vrnila v dnevno, odmaknjenost, mi je prišlo, da bi odprla vrata. šla sem na balkon in rekla, da je ob takih večerih, na konec leta s koncem polne lune in razlivanjem barv nad bloki, moral obstajat kak tak običaj, da moraš odpret vrata in okna in pustit rečem, da pridejo in grejo. ali ostanejo kjer so, če jim paša.

vrnila sem se pod kovtre. spet mehčala ude. vesela, da smo si pustili dihat. celo punce, ki jim je prvi od mnogih usekal na govorjenje in smeh, so pustile dihat. domače jim je blo, tko so si naredile. jst sem šla vleč tišino nase in naokrog, k ostalim, ki so negovali svoj prostor v metežu besed. ne, za prvi januar zihr še ni blo revolucije.

3. jan. 2010

Getting the blues with Tom Robbins

Review of Tom Robbins' Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (1976)
(Full text.)

(Excerpt)
There's girls on the Rubber Rose who are political, but I don't share their views, Jellybean Bonanza says to Sissy. I got no cowgirl ideology to expound. I'm not recruiting and I'm not converting. (...) Delores del Ruby makes a big fuss about cowgirlism being a force to combat cowboyism, but I'm too happy just being a cowgirl to worry about stuff like that. Politics is for people who have a passion for changing life but lack a passion for living it. (152)


First edition cover from 1976


In other words, Bonanza is convinced that politics are dull, ideology-driven and incompatible with creative, joyful and supposedly non-ideological resistance that she choose for herself. This dichotomy is stipulated in the novel's climax where the cowgirls from the Rubber Rose ranch are facing a battle with the federal police (a remake of the classic Western shoot-out).

The FBI is there because the girls have kept the last flock of migrating whooping cranes in United States at their lake for a suspiciously long by feeding them LSD, prevented authorities from accessing the flock, and refused to negotiate. When the protagonist, SissyHankshaw, returns to the ranch, and despite the situation, her cowgirl friends organize a small welcoming party behind the barricades because, well, Sissy Hankshaw Gitche had returned and a party was only proper (368). 'Aint' that just like women,' growled the ghost of General Custer, peering through the grass. Yes, oh yes yes yes sweet yes. Ain't that just like women, indeed, (368) is the narrators comment who quickly corrects himself by adding that ghosts, because they can walk through the walls, have a tendency to generalize (...). Your author, however, should know better. What should have been said was not 'just like women' but 'just like some women' or, better, 'just like the feminine spirit'. All women do not possess the feminine spirit (368).

Tom Robbins's essentialist definition of “femininity” seems to be reserved for women who have joined the party. The women who stay on the barricades are seen as unfeminine, and the way this notion connects to Robbins's idea of Sissy's “magical” and “poetic” innocence is further established when he adds that they did not join the party because Sissy meant nothing to them; she was noncowgirl. A goofy-handed freak. An older woman who had starred in advertisements that had told them that their cunts smelled bad (368).

If the only women in the novel who criticize Sissy's politics (or, rather, their absence in the traditional sense) are in Robbins's view unfeminine, it is further possible to claim that the writer's perception of women's feminist political engagement is quite stereotypical: it is “essentially masculine” and turning women into men because they fight against authorities in a “masculine” way: in this case, with armed struggle, supposedly inappropriate for women who are “pacifist by nature”.

Still, rather than concluding that political violence is, in Robbins's eyes, less important or valid than Sissy's poetic rebellion, I would suggest that the final pages of Cowgirls hint at his Jungian understanding of “femininity” and “masculinity” as different ways of perceiving and approaching reality, not as qualities pertaining to people of different sexes. His controversial view is feminist in the sense that Robbins is aware of both material and (to a lesser extent) metaphysical foundations of gender asymmetry in the West.

However, I see it as controversial exactly because it seems that the basic condition for Sissy's indeed poetic and magical fight against assimilation and normalization is her political ignorance, guaranteed by her physical and mental “perpetual motion” which re-introduces the utopian idea that in order to challenge the axis of domination, one has to step outside the social order; one has to ignore rather than subvert “the master's tools”.

This position is utopian because, as Sandra Harding and Donna Haraway have shown, it is impossible to inhabit “the culture of no culture” unless you sacrifice the very differences that constitute your accountable position in the world and at the same time believe that you have in this way “exited” the world (discourse).

Tom Robbins favors Sissy's feminine, natural, poetic, magical, pure and individual resistance to the collective, separatist and armed struggle of cowgirls fighting against cowboyism. However, he does not dismiss the latter as irrelevant. Even Cowgirls Get the Blues reads as an attempt at questioning what counts as “significant resistance” and offers an answer, similar to that of Sandra Harding: the proliferation of narratives of resistance is possible only by abandoning Cartesian dualism. While Robbins fails to do so in the context of his essentialist feminism, he successfully constructs a shifting postmodernist narrative in which there is space for a multitude of voices.

The Chink observes that in times such as ours (...) when there is too much order, too much management, too much programming and control, it becomes a duty of superior men and women to fling their favorite monkey wrenches into the machinery. To relieve the repression of the human spirit, they must sow doubt and disruption (229). If the reader is willing to join this postmodern game, he or she will learn that feminist politics are not immune to totalizing accounts of “subversion” and “liberation” and that “disruptive” strategies of resistance are situated – they are specific responses to specific mechanisms of disciplining.

Moreover, this poststructuralist approach allows one to see why the playful and shifting narrative in Cowgirls is necessary for contextualizing the “middle ranges of agency” between the “extremes of compulsion and voluntarity” (E. K. Sedgwick). It also allows one to see why the novel ends in a fit of laughter and does not joins the mourning rock that “weeps for the cowgirls who think like cowboys”.

Like cowgirls, Robbins seems to get the blues when he is forced to choose between politics and poetry.

1. jan. 2010

2010: The Year We Make Contact!

It could be, of course, an artifact of random chance, cosmic noise or even just a glitch in the technology... Nevertheless, the two penguins wish you many successful transmissions in 2010!