Beside a place to see kick-ass girl bands, it is a community-based and collectively produced festival designed by and for women to showcase, celebrate and encourage the artistic,community and political work and talents of women.
The first Ladyfest was independently held in Olympia Washington in August 2000 by a collective of 55 female volunteers. This 4-days festival attracted an audience of 2,000, and raised $30,000 for a local rape crisis charity. Ladyfest have since kick-started a worldwide trend.
Ladyfest is an annual event featuring performance by bands, spoken-word artists, authors, visual artists and more! It contains fashion shows, dance parties, roller-derby, workshops on topics from basic auto mechanics to coaching to mandala drawing, short films, panels on positive body image, sexual health and gender socialization in schools, dance parties, and heavy metal karaoke.
Ladyfest is a part of the punk-rock tradition. The event is an independent, grassroots movement that rejects corporate labels or funding and refuses to speak and act in line with the main stream commerce. It sets itself as an example telling the world that the institutionalized barriers to women’s equal participation in all spheres of society has no longer exist, and women’s choices of careers, hobbies, interests etc. must be made freely and not shaped and limited by sexism, racism and their class position.
Ladyfest aims to foster a culture of “do-it-yourself” (DIY). Participants are encouraged to learn from their personal experience and participation in the festival and apply these lessons in their day to day life, promoting gender equality and living the values of equality whereby people receive support necessary for achieving their full potential.
Each Ladyfest, depending where in the world it is held, is different and heavily influenced by the local language, culture and contributors. All Ladyfests, however, are based on decentralization of power allowing for equity of participation. Ladyfest is not an organization and here are no leaders. All women involved in the event form a community and are encouraged to take initiative. If there is something you are passionate about and you don’t have access to it, make it happen! Don’t wait! Do It Yourself!
Ladyfest was by women, but it was never meant to be an exclusive female space. It is open to ladies and gents for all ages, regardless of their biological sex,sexual orientation, race, heritage, political stance, music taste or cup size.The event calls upon the local community to join in supporting freedom ofself-expression through a wide diversity of skills and to create an openenvironment which fosters mutual inspiration, exchange of experiences and visionsof femininity and gender equity.
It is a day to highlight female talent to the community as a whole. Also it is an open platform to provide a safe haven for all to engage freely with one another, to express emotions that were traditionally denied to women or men in the public sphere, e.g. anger, self-loathing, vulnerability, or sadness. Whether you are a man, woman, single, married, have kids, young or old, Ladyfest has something for everyone.
Ladyfest Shanghai, a grassroots, nonprofit organization, was founded by a group of friends, after experiencing Ladyfest in their home countries. Jen Childs, Asia Palmowska, Amber Mizerak, JessicaLum and Jessica Martinelli decided that this event just had to be hosted in ourgrand city – Shanghai. Since then the team grew and many amazing women joined in to drive shaping of this celebration: Zoe Seiter, Fei Xu, Lili, Wen, SarahMou, Francesca, Kelly and Kerry. All of them come from different countries and bring different skills and talents to the table.
“Ladyfest 上海”， 一个非营利的草根组织，是由一群在她们出生国体验过“Ladyfest”之后共同提议创建的。Jen Childs, Asia Palmowska, Amber Mizerak, JessicaLum 以及 Jessica Martinelli 决定要在上海也举办一个同样的活动。自此活动的策划团队日渐扩大，有很多出色的女性加入到其中，共同完成这个年度庆典的策划，包括：Zoe Seiter, Fei Xu, Lili, Wen, SarahMou, Francesca, Kelly and Kerry。她们都来自不同的国家，并给这次庆典展现了不同的元素、技能和天赋。
After three successful years, Ladyfest Shanghai returns in 2017 in a new location with an all-day event filled with new and engaging art installations, performances, workshops, speakers and vendors.
Ladyfest
Shanghai is presenting you today the interview of Time Sculpture.
This project includes capturing woman’s most relaxed status with
photography lenses before/during/after shower, combined with special
curriculum to help the participants to reach heartful free expression
through body movement.
1/
Background of who you are and why you choose this way of expressing
yourself? | 你是谁？为什么选择这种方式来表达自己？
A:
My
name is Alexandra Deng, born in a traditional Guangdong family which
have four children. By my family’s support, I start to study without
my parents living together in Shanghai, which makes me think and feel
independently somehow.
Growing
pattern almost like everyone, college entrance examination and work
as graphic designer, Art producer, art director and fashion
photographer. At the same time dance is always my habit.
Visual
is an illusion and Dance is an energy. The more I practice dancing
and the more I know about dancing, I more and more understand why I
love dancing so much. Specially when I improvise. In 2015, I quit my
job,
and
focus on learning contemporary dance and Choreography from BryanArias
(NDT), Jurij Konjar (Steve Paxton), Ermira Goro (DV8), Iratxe Ansa,
Igor Bacovich, Michele Rizzo, Florentian Holzinger…
in
2017, I started to create and perform in the public.
Performing
is a process to reborn. As I already know different formats of art, I
multiply different possibilities of Art crossing over—photography,
video, installation, art performance, material movement. for me
performance is the live energy communication in my illusion world.
It’s real and it’s strong and it’s my world. So how to make different
art to support the performances becomes my way to think too. That is
more free and more me.
V:
My
name is Viola, I grew up ina conservative Christian family with a lot
of religious standards, and followed the path of Chinese social
standards, studied hard, went to a nice university, found a stable
job after graduation. While along this way, I have always been trying
to search for what is good for me, and what I could be good at. By
chance, I discovered pair dancing. At first it was just a pure fun
hobby, while after I developed deeper through years, I gradually got
amazed by the deep connection, bonding and unlimited sparking
creativities inside it. I started to add my own emotions and
interpretations into my movement, reset and unlearn, where dance
miraculously becomes a pure beautiful conversation without words. A
dimension that I don’t
need to talk, just need to be, This actually opened a new world for
me, with endless possibilities, and questioning social stereotypes
and definition of my role. The boundary and separation of “how
I should be”,
“what
is right or wrong”,
“what
is good or bad”
started
to become more and more blurry. I stopped to struggle between black
and white, I started to search for what is true.
2/
It’s a daring project in the society status quo, how you gained the
courage to bring to the surface? |
对于目前的社会现状这是个很大胆的课题，你们如何鼓起勇气想要去尝试和挑战？
A:
As
Asian culture, our motivation follows the group’s
will, decisions are not driven by individual’s
will , which leads adults to trust authorities rather than the voice
from their feeling. Specially as a woman, in the most of the time,
woman’s
value is appendages. But now is somehow getting better, more and more
woman are awaken starting to think “who am I”. Comparing a
fierce feminist movement, I believe the key should be happiness and
freedom to open the door of self awareness.
Being
and feeling being is very important to everyone.
But
in China, as I witnessed, now we are in a big sharp conflict between
self awareness and society judgments. The way of how to encourage
women to be self awareness in China should be just Art not fight. And
Now is the best time to gather pioneer women to encourage more women
release from the society definition mindset right?!
V:
The
time I realized this world, this universe might not just be a simple
duality system as most of us identify. I started to question the
validity of values. Society mainstream gave us such a complicated but
dead standard of model role, “How
a good woman shall behave”,
“How
beautiful woman shall looks like”,
“What
lifestyle a good woman shall have”.
With various industries to promote together, and many of us are not
aware that we are already trapped in that whirl. When modern
psychology development combined with benefit drive, it comes back to
that everlasting question, “Do
we really have the free will?”.
And that is what I’m
searching for, FREEDOM. The freedom of being ourselves truly with no
brainwashing. That is a big ultimate topic, while in many places
around the world there are already people started to tap into it in
various forms, such as avant-garde art, or spiritual community. This
evolvement of awareness gives me courage, to challenge, to reset, to
free ourselves, and it has to start from ourselves. How to define
beauty? Once I heard an insightful answer from a Butoh master: The
next beauty is not beauty yet.
3/
What’s your observation of female value in this society and how you
wish it to be? | 你对当今社会女性价值观是如何看的？你希望的价值观又是怎样的？
A:
Woman
in this society live in a mindset. Mindset by brainwash, Brainwash by
repeating the same lies.
I
think my top wish is everyone is free and equality. But that is
another mindset trick. I would prefer encourage everyone to dare to
discover and find yourself first. The first step is how you feel.
V:
I
feel this age we are on a tipping point, on one side there are
bombarding propagandas telling us what we should be or should do, on
the other side there are small amount of people started to question
those, and searching for the ultimate freedom. This is a time of
awareness revolution in human history, even higher than gender
difference, but on a macroview of all humans, how to be free, how to
open our programmed vision to see the world as it is, not we are told
to be or to do. This is how I wish it to be.
4/
How has this project empowered female and what’s your own direct gain
from it? | 这个项目会怎样带动女性解放？谈谈你的亲身经历
A:
I don’t
think empower is a right word to describe the project. We are not
superficially to teach any skill or claim Feminism.This is
Philosophical proposition, who I am. and as woman and specially now,
we focus on encourage woman to think and find out who I am. That is a
frame of freedom too.
Expressions
are the highest climax. We will use two main aesthetics format to
express. Photography and Dance. So in result, it will be a photo
exhibition and dance performance. Cheer the beauty and the wisdom of
the human creatures, Woman!
V:
When
I met with AlexAndra for the first time, we resonated with each other
immediately. Freedom doesn’t
come from talk, it comes from doing. That’s
actually the driving spirit of Life Improviser platform too. To put
the spirit of FREEDOM down-to-earth, practicing it with our own life,
to make it full, to start our own pathless path through direct
experience. I’m
also on the path of challenging. Several weeks ago, I started to
perform with the concept of simplicity, simply wearing a shorts and a
top, with no bra, in front of everyone, I feel unexperienced freedom
through it. Dance/movement is a full-body showing of vulnerability,
receiving judgement from all angels, while still being myself in my
center. How? Because I don’t
care, I’m
only in charge in being me. That is the freedom I’m
searching for. This project combines portrait art & movement,
resonate with the same spirit of challenging ourselves to reach that
ultimate domain of FREEDOM.
Life
Improviser is a platform to provide all urban lives of creative
lifestyle. Exploring is its forever spirit, while also encouraging
everyone to create or to share life experiences by themselves. Life
is not only about work-shopping-home; life can be so fully lived with
endless curiosity, each blink to see the world with new eyes. It’s
also a bridge and lab, to connect resonation, no matter pro or
non-pro; and experience the unexperienced. It’s a dynamic
transformation platform for all sharers.
LADYFEST
Shanghai
Ladyfest
Shanghai – a riot grrrl feminist do-it-yourself festival – has been
organized in Shanghai since the year 2014. We are a grassroots
organization with the mission to create a safe space where individual
voices come together beyond gender, shape, size, colour, cultural
background, religious beliefs, or political stance. Our annual event
is a collaboration of various contributors to foster mutual
inspiration through music, arts, workshops, performances,
exhibitions, and all that jazz.
