The 4th iteration in the program 12 Moons is dedicated to the relationship between dykes and money. The films presented in Moon 4: Dykes and Economy serve as artistic interventions for a dialogue around the workings of capitalism and patriarchy in all their manifestations. The program screens films dealing with capitalism, colonialism, sexism, their effects on the ecological systems and social spaces that surround us, as well as the idea of state-sanctioned disposable bodies, all through a critical, lesbian-queer lens.
Taking cues from Silvia Federici’s work Caliban and the Witch, the curation of Dykes and Economy works within the understanding that the history of dykes cannot be separated from the history of specific systems of exploitation. With this, Moon 4 curates a discussion around dykedom — its past, it’s current, and its future iterations — and money: access to economic capital or rather, the lack thereof, disparities between dykes and their gay counterparts, what’s so dire about the intersections of global capitalism, colonialism, racism and sexism, and why, in effect, money ruined the world and how we can envision utopic futurities that might shift the parameters late capitalism finds us in now. How do we as dykes embrace feminist theory and praxis while seeking to break ties with the ongoing circumstance of precariousness within which dyke culture exits? Why isn’t the gender pay gap shrinking, and why are we still losing our spaces?
The films lounge for Dykes and Economy will be running and open to the public as of the new moon on 16th April, with the films screening in loops on headphones during regular museum operating hours.
The official opening for Moon 4 will take place in conjunction with the opening of SPIRITS Dyke Bar on 20th April at 18:00, during with the 12 Moons Film Lounge will be available for collective, public viewing.
Team
Curation 12 Moons: Vera Hofmann
Co-curator 4. Mond: C Detrow
Assistance: Felix Roadkill
Film Descriptions
More Real Than Reality Itself by A.L. Steiner (2014, USA, 54 minutes, in English)
Political action, cultural shifts and social revolutions are a continuum of processes, yet are often framed as a “historical past” with a finite ending; likewise, “history” is often framed as a competition that produces a series of winners, losers, victors and victims – events with distinctive successes and failures. Such frameworks construct deceptive linearities, hierarchies and patriarchies. This video explores the term “radical” – how nature, nurture, gender and heteronormative culture formulate a personal and positional politic. Utilizing activism as autobiography, this project attempts to delve into the then, how, why and now of political herstoriographies.
Borderhole by Nadia Granados & Amber Bemak (Mexico/USA/Colombia, 2017, 14 minutes, in English and Spanish with subtitles)
Borderhole takes place on a mythical border area between Colombia and the United States. We investigate the relationship between North and South America through the lens of the American Dream and the illumination of multiple tensions in and around the border. The piece explores imperialism, globalization through pop music, gender mutation in an international context, and the choreography of women’s bodies in relation to sociopolitical and ecosystems.
Gut Renovation by Su Friedrich (2012, USA, 81 minutes, in English)
In 1989, together with a group of female friends, Su Friedrich rented and renovated an old loft in Williamsburg, a then-working class district in Brooklyn. In 2005, this former industrial zone was designated a residential area and the factories and artists’ lofts were priced out by property speculators lured by tax breaks. Friedrich spent five years documenting the changes in the area, showing the demolition of industrial buildings and the construction of new condos for wealthy clients, as old tenants leave and new inhabitants arrive. Her own tenancy agreement expires and so her documentary images and trenchant commentary become the tools of her growing anger.
Lesbian Factory by Susan Chen (2010, Taiwan, 56 minutes, in Taiwanese and English with English subtitles)
Lesbian Factory is a love story as well as a document of a social movement. It portrays a group of foreign migrant workers far from home, courageously resisting an unjust social system in a strange country. At the same time it faithfully records the trust and emotional bonds between people during times of greatest difficulty. Lesbian Factory presents the stories of seven lesbian couples against an atypical setting, covering labor disputes, reflecting on the migrant worker system, examining the discriminatory treatment of migrant workers, and showing love without bounds.