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Satfemale:pressure is an anarchistic, open grass-root organisation founded in 1998. It is an international network of over 1,600 female artists from 66 countries in the broader fields of electronic music and arts. The organisation welcomes all for an event oriented around its latest campaign, "Music, Awareness & Solidarity for #Rojava".
In December 2015, female:pressure launched a campaign to raise awareness and generate a debate on issues around solidarity with the resistance movement currently taking place in the cantons of #Rojava (western Kurdistan, located in northern Syria), where women participate in all levels of decision-making and in building a new society from scratch with built-in social, racial and ethnic justice, religious freedom, ecological principles and gender equality. With a series of music, media and sound art to listen, dance and fight to, female:pressure would like to offer love and strength to these women, men and children and spread a positive message in support of their efforts.
In this presentation, Hevî, who recently spent time in Rojava, explains the background of the region's struggle and shares her thoughts on the role of art in this context. Ipek Ipekcioglu introduces her body of work and presents her collaboration with Kurdish singer Sakina. We will listen to Sky Deep’s submission featuring Hevî and she will present her work and the thought process behind her piece. female:pressure will also premiere a video work by Olivia Louvel that deals with women’s militaristic struggle. Antye Greie-Ripatti (AGF:poemproducer) and Annie Goh will lead the discussions and help to ask what we can learn from #Rojava.
The pseudonym Hevî means “hope” in Kurdish. Hevî is an activist who recently spent time in Rojava. She sees art as a tool for the transformation of feelings and experiences, only meaningful when inherently connected to resistance. The resistance in Kurdistan is art in the sense of life. Hope is the other name for resistance. Hevî embodies the stateless democracy principle and therefore does not want to be identified by nationality.
Based between Berlin and Istanbul, queer-living DJ, producer and curator, İpek İpekçioğlu has an established reputation across nightlife scenes worldwide. Her latest EP, Uyan Uyan, is released by the Katermukke label. She has performed at the Glastonburry, Fusion, Sziget, At.tension, Berlin Festival and many more international electronic and world music festivals.
Sky Deep is a producer, DJ, musician and live performer. She has been producing music for more than ten years. She has lived half her life in NYC and Los Angeles and now lives in Berlin. She has DJ'd and played live throughout the US and Europe. Additionally, her performances and tracks have been featured on VH1, NBC and UPN. In 2012, she launched Reveller Records from her Brooklyn apartment and has continued managing it in Berlin.
Antye Greie-Ripatti, i.e. AGF or poemproducer, has produced a formidable amount of output stretching across exhibitions, soundtracks, mixes, performances, and releases. Born in East Germany, she has been living and working in Hailuoto, Finland since 2008.
Annie Goh is an artist, researcher and educator working primarily with sound, space, gender and electronic media and their social and cultural contexts. Currently based in London and Berlin, she is a lecturer at Berlin University of Arts and a PhD student at Goldsmiths University, London. She has guest curated at the discourse program of CTM Festival since 2013.