Ljubljana to Host 11th Celebration of Women Artists

Ljubljana, 30 September

The Slovenian capital will once again play host to a festival dedicated to women artists, the 11th City of Women festival. Starting on 7 October and lasting for a week, the event is to attract some 40 female artists from 18 countries.

This year's festival is to run under the title "(In)Security", which according to the festival president Mirjam Milharcic Hladnik is a topic that everybody can associate with.
"Everyone knows fear and everyone wants to feel secure," she told the press in Ljubljana on Friday.
Milharcic Hladnik stressed that the point of the festival "is to showcase women artists, while focusing on general social topics".
Mitja Rotovnik, director general of the arts centre Cankarjev dom, a co-producer of the festival, said the festival has now caught on despite facing initial teething problems.
The festival is to begin with a theatre-dance performance by the controversial South African choreographer Robyn Orlin, entitled "We must eat our suckers with the wrappers". The performance examines how the AIDS epidemic has affected Africa.
Ursula Cetinski, the head of dance and theatre programmes at Cankarjev dom, said that Orlin manages to get her point across with great simplicity, while her topics are almost always political.
The official opening is to be preceded by a retrospective of film featuring music composed by Jocelyn Pook of the UK, including "Eyes Wide Shut" by Stanley Kubrick. The films will be shown at the Kinodvor art film centre, while Pook is to hold a concert on 10 October at Cankarjev dom.
A multimedia exhibition by the Bodylab of Netherlands, entitled "Face_WSLOT (Woman See Lot of Things)", examining the lives of three female ex-child combatants in post-war Sierra Leone, is to be launched on the eve of the festival at Ljubljana's Moderna galerija.
The festival will also host the world premiere of the theatre performance "Baby Love" by Christen Clifford of the US on Wednesday, 12 October. "The 40-minute monologue directed by Julie Kramer (US) explores maternal sexuality through the lens of personal experience," the organisers said.
Moreover, Slovenian choreographer and dancer Andreja Rauch is to put on her brand new dance show "Tkalci" (Weavers) on Friday, 14 October at the alternative art venue Stara elektrarna.
The round table that will accompany this year's City of Women, hosted by Slovenian philosopher and video artist Marina Grzinic, is to look at the conditions that help or stop the participating artist from creating.
The budget of the festival stands at SIT 28m (EUR 117,00), with the bulk of the funds coming from the Ljubljana Municipality and the Culture Ministry.
The full festival programme can be found on the Internet at www.cityofwomen.org.

Ljubljana to Host 11th Celebration of Women Artists

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