Pasarela

Pasarela is a defense of the diversity of bodies, sizes, ages, traditions, choices, memories, voices, and visions and ways of thinking of the women.

About the program credits:

Patricia Ariza: director and original idea 
Catalina García: assistant director and videographer
Carlos Satizábal: music and sound design

The performers went through a thorough process with Patricia Ariza: Roma girls from Leskovac, Nis, Vlasotince, Pirot, Vranje and Bujanovac and art activists Act Women from Belgrade.

La Pasarela was realized and performed also with women in Bogotá Colombia, in Sevilla, España. In Guanajuato, México, in Tokio, Japan. In Lima, Perú…and now in Serbia.

Reconstruction Women’s Fund opened a program Roma Girls’ Solidarity as a longterm active learning process creating a space where girls from South Serbia (Leskovac, Nis, Vlasotince, Pirot, Vranje and Bujanovac) learn with and from each other, about the other and themselves, abut similarities as well as diferrences with their peers, with understanding that differences can connect people, and to envision oportunities for change in their own lives through combating isolation. It is the „space“ imagined for sharing, exchange, creativity and fun.   

Within the program we are honored to host our guests from Colombia. Patricia Ariza, Catalina García, Carlos Satizábal will share their experience of work in their context and encourage thinking why reflexive  work on one’s own body, voice, attitude is important in repressive and militant countries where racism and discrimination are present.

Patricia Ariza is one the most important women in the contemporary theater in Latin America. She´s director, actress, play writer, poet, and designer. She´s also co-founder of legendary Teatro La Candelaria, 46 years ago. And she is the president of Corporación Colombiana de Teatro.

Catalina García is a video artist and video and cinema editor

Carlos Satizábal is a poet, musician, director and actor and associated professor of the Universidad Nacional de Colombia. He founded with Patricia Ariza the theater group Rapsoda Teatro.

ACT Women is a women’s/feminist/artistic group informally founded in the beginning of 2003 by three women activists. Starting from the core idea of feminist theory that private is political, is public, we decided to combine artistic and activist means (as fundamentally akin), and to merge our activist experience with our theatre work in order to create unique public space in which activism takes on an artistic expression. We find that this is an important way of reaching people/public, and that it bridges the gaps and overcomes obstacles that are sometimes present between informal sector i.e. women’s groups and general public.

Reconstruction Women’s Fund is the first local women’s foundation in Serbia. Through her programs, she supports activities focused on full realization of women’s human rights, academic exchange, pacifist/antimilitaristic engagement, cooperation and solidarity. 

Organized in the cooperation with the Contemporary Fine Art Gallery in Nis and the Centre for Empirical Studies of Southeastern Europe Culture. 

Reconstruction Women’s Fund program Roma Girls’ Solidarity is financially supported from the Balkan Trust for Democracy, a project of the German Marshall Fund of the United States and the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

Pasarela is supported in part by a grant from the Open Society Foundations, Arts and Culture Program.