TASHWEESH - Conversations and Alliances in Feminism

TASHWEESH – Conversations and Alliances in Feminism

What are the issues, questions, and strategies that nowadays feminist artists, activists, and academics tackle in their work? And what would actually come out of a joint conversation, bringing together all these different practices in one place? In an attempt to address these questions, Goethe-Institut Libanon is organizing a 3-days festival which is part of a festival series taking place in Brussels, Cairo, Beirut and Tunis under the title “Tashweesh تشويش”.

Tashweesh aims to prompt conversations, expand networks and enable knowledge exchange on feminist and gender-related issues on a multidisciplinary level. The series of events feature film screenings, lectures and discussions as well as performances. 

Tashweesh Beirut-Edition showcases parts of the film and performance program which took place earlier this year, organized by Goethe-Institut Bruxelles (17.10-27.10) and Goethe-Institut Cairo (6.11-12.11) in collaboration with individuals and institutions from the Arab region and Europe. The Beirut-Edition at Media Lounge of Goethe-Institut Libanon and Zoukak Studio, seeks to present the discussions and practices that took place during the Cairo and Brussels festivals, and to also build on them and locate these debates within the feminist and gender discourses in Beirut and beyond. Later this year, the festival will be traveling to Tunis (6.12-8.12).

The Film Program From Behind The Screen curated by Stephanie Schulte Strathaus presents feminist filmmaking from the Middle East, North Africa and Europe, which was deliberately developed as an alternative to a male-dominated approach to the history of film. It is drawn from the film library of the Arsenal – Institute for Film and Video Art in Berlin. Consisting of two blocks of short films and one feature-length film, the film program aims to engender transnational collaborative structures and discourse entanglements in order to open up new feminist spaces of possibility.

The Performance Program at Zoukak Studio curated by Nedjma Hadj Benchelabi and Goethe-Institut Libanon features lecture performances, spoken word and poetry readings that deal with feminist questions of body, gender and identity.

The Discursive Program co-hosted by Dima Hamadeh and Roula Seghaier wishes to discuss the wide variety of feminist practices featuring info-events, panel discussions and lectures. This program intends to provide a space for instigating conversations, sharing experiences and exchanging knowledge through open formats such as fishbowl discussions and Q&As. Topics include the production of open feminist knowledge, feminist art strategies for addressing existing power structures, representations of sexuality in Arab cinema and questions on feminist film-making.

With participants from Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Qatar, France, Belgium and Germany.