* english *
Liad Hussein Kantorowicz is a performance artist, activist, a musician under the alias LIADLAND, and a Jewish perpetual migrant from Palestine living in Berlin. In her work the body is used as a site to exhibit its multitude of marginalities, as well as being a tool to question and transgress the politically imposed realities. Sexuality and gender-based performance practices are frequently used in her work to address political issues facing the SWANA region and Palestine liberation struggles in particular.
On the occasion of the ongoing genocide in Palestine and a moment before the elections in the Empire, Liad will show two of her films and use them as a platform to speak about Palestine liberation and solidarity from the perspective of differently marginalized peoples with a focus on Queer for Palestine. Her talk will address the following questions: Do the struggles of these two individually marginalized groups have anything in common? Could struggles of distinct groups be brought together to support each other in any way? Where are the potentialities of coming together, and where are the challenges? We will be delving into the imaginaries of what could be possible, as well as looking at situations where realities have brought us both together and apart.
Mythical Creatures (17', 2022) is a short documentary that focuses on the story of the first sex-worker-led direct action in Palestine-Israel, conducted by members of Argaman Alliance in 2019, following the passing of the law to criminalize the purchase of sexual services. While seeking to reconstruct the story through alternative visual options, the film examines how distance and privilege affect the perspectives through which sex worker struggles are told. It also raises questions surrounding the means of marginalized groups to document and archive their histories as they create them.
NO DEMOCRACY HERE (25', 2018) Liad is a leftie human rights defender-dominatrix who re-educates her right-wing submissives about the ethoes of leftist values like economic justice and direct democracy using BDSM practices. On election day Liad decides to give her submissives the ultimate political domination session – outdoors and in public, where she teaches them about the pillars of democracy. At the end she forces them to engage in the ultimate political BDSM practice – voting, but only for the 'correct' political party, the one reflecting her political beliefs. This film uses BDSM as an allegorical critique of electoral democracy. It explores the meaning of 'consent' and 'free will', which are frequently used in a BDSM-context, and applies them to the context of electoral democracy and public political processes.
* slovensko *
Liad Hussein Kantorowicz je performerka, aktivistka, glasbenica pod psevdonimom LIADLAND in večna judovska migrantka iz Palestine, ki živi v Berlinu. V svojem delu uporablja telo kot prostor za prikaz številnih marginalnosti ter kot orodje za preizpraševanje in preseganje politično vsiljenih realnosti. Pri svojem delu pogosto uporablja spolnost in prakse performansa, ki temeljijo na spolu, pri čemer obravnava politična vprašanja, s katerimi se sooča regija SWANA, predvsem pa palestinski osvobodilni boj.
Ob trajajočem genocidu v Palestini in tik pred volitvami v imperiju bo Liad prikazala dva svoja filma in ju uporabila kot platformo za pogovor o osvoboditvi Palestine in solidarnosti z vidika različno marginaliziranih ljudstev s poudarkom na kvirovstvu za Palestino. V svojem govoru bo obravnavala naslednja vprašanja: Ali imajo boji teh dveh različno marginaliziranih skupin kaj skupnega? Ali je mogoče boje različnih skupin združiti, da bi se na kakršen koli način medsebojno podpirali? Kje so možnosti združevanja in kje so izzivi? Poglobili se bomo v predstave o tem, kaj bi lahko bilo mogoče, in si ogledali situacije, v katerih nas je realnost združila in razdružila.
Mythical Creatures (17', 2022) je kratki dokumentarni film, ki se osredotoča na zgodbo o prvi neposredni akciji spolnih delavk v Palestini in Izraelu, ki so jo leta 2019 po sprejetju zakona o kriminalizaciji kupovanja spolnih storitev izvedle članice Argaman Alliance. Film poskuša rekonstruirati zgodbo z alternativnimi vizualnimi rešitvami, hkrati pa preučuje, kako razdalja in privilegiji vplivajo na perspektive, skozi katere se pripoveduje o boju spolnih delavk in delavcev. Postavlja tudi vprašanja v zvezi s sredstvi, ki jih imajo marginalizirane skupine za dokumentiranje in arhiviranje svoje zgodovine, ko jo ustvarjajo.
NO DEMOCRACY HERE (25', 2018) Liad je levičarska zagovornica človekovih pravic in domina, ki svoje desničarske podložnike s pomočjo BDSM praks poučuje o levičarskih vrednotah, kot sta ekonomska pravičnost in neposredna demokracija. Na dan volitev se Liad odloči, da bo svojim podrejenim omogočila vrhunsko politično dominacijo - na prostem in v javnosti, kjer jih bo učila o stebrih demokracije. Na koncu jih prisili, da se vključijo v ultimativno politično prakso BDSM - volijo, vendar le „pravo“ politično stranko, ki odraža njena politična prepričanja. Ta film uporablja BDSM kot alegorično kritiko volilne demokracije. Raziskuje pomen izrazov „privolitev“ in „svobodna volja“, ki se pogosto uporabljata v kontekstu BDSM, ter ju uporablja v kontekstu volilne demokracije in javnih političnih procesov.
