About
The term ‘Lesbiennale’ is an amusing merger of the terms ‘lesbian’ and ‘biennale’. The latter is a term commonly used in the art world and which alludes to an event occuring every two years. Similarly, following our first edition in 2021, our goal is to have this festival take place every two years in a different location within our scope of work: Europe & Central Asia.
About EL*C
The Eurocentralasian Lesbian* Community – (“EL*C”) is a lesbian feminist and intersectional network. The EL*C started out of a self-organised space in 2016, recognizing the multitude of needs surrounding the rights, the visibility and the well-being of lesbians throughout Europe and Central Asia. Our conferences are our lighthouses (Vienna, 2017 and Kyiv, 2019). Most recently, we’ve emphasised the need for lesbians to be included in all forms of pandemic-response work that is being undertaken: data collection, funding, and community support. More info about ELC can be found on the website.
As of September 2021, EL*C has over 300 individual members and 41 group members.
After an almost two-year-long cultural halt, EL*C plans to bring the lesbian artworld back together. The Lesbiennale is a way to escape, distract, celebrate, engage, support, and honor lesbian, bi, queer, trans women who despite their incredible resilience, have been hit hard by the global pandemic due to the cancellation of their gigs and projects.
Lesbian Arts Festival
After two successful large-scale conferences in 2017 (Vienna) and in 2019 (Kyiv), we have decided to expand our scope of events and to focus our next one on spotlighting the vast amount of radical and political art created by lesbians in the past & present. We want to acknowledge and honor the inherent closeness or familiarity between radical lesbians and artists, and that oftentimes, we find that art becomes the only medium to reflect, critique, and think beyond restraints of dominant systems. In October 2021 – to coincide with International Lesbian Day, the EL*C is planning on organising its inaugural lesbian arts festival – ‘Lesbiennale’ – focusing on lesbian productions in the arts, culture and politics.