From Wednesday October 15th
Throughout history and across different cultures, women have played a key role in transmitting the memory of their communities and building the “minimal stories” that define collective identity and vitality over time. They have also ensured that voices continue to be heard in times of censorship and repression, whether through symbolic or real violence.
Beacons, a work by Jasmina Cibic, is a cinematic journey portraying eight women who create a sonic and choreographic translation of the speeches delivered at the first conference of cultural workers from countries of the Non-Aligned Movement held in Titograd, Yugoslavia, in 1985. The artists, curators and politicians gathered there to share strategies for achieving cultural independence, spiritual decolonisation, moral rehabilitation and the emancipation of developing countries.
“The film was shot in architectural settings and locations whose purpose was to announce, defend, commemorate and alert a multinational state in its development: monuments, presidential balconies and communication towers. The protagonists use them as amplifiers for their voices and actions, offering a feminist interpretation of patriarchal architectural sites and reconsidering their world-building potential through a feminist lens.”
This work prompts reflection on the memory of recent times as well as the circumstances in which cultural debate made it possible to envisage emancipatory futures.
Commissioned by the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA) and co-produced by Waddington Studios London, IMMA, and Snaporazverein, this project is supported by the Non-Aligned Countries Laboratory, Museum of Contemporary Art Montenegro; ZOOM Europa – Cultural Association for Central and Eastern Europe; Biennale Jogja 17; and Friends of Nomad.
Image: Jasmina Cibic, Beacons