Fem TV 8.0 x Thorny Thistle

Friday, 7 March 2025, at 8 p.m.

Pionirski Theatre (Jenko Hall),
Miklošičeva 28,
1000 Ljubljana

Theater performance and announcement of the anti-award ‘Thorny Thistle’

In Slovene

Entrance fee: 8 EUR, reservations through the Pionirski Theatre website

Fem TV 8.0 x Thorny Thistle 

The feminist year is over and it is time to re-announce the Thorny Thistle Award. This dishonorable title can befall anyone who publicly attacks, humiliates and insults others on the basis of gender identity, gender expression and/or sexual orientation.

The announcement of the Thorny Thistle Award is the result of cooperation between the Red Dawns collective and the editorial team of the spol.si web portal. Of course, it cannot be done without the interested public, who can participate in the voting at several levels. Anyone who notices a sexist statement can report it on the Thorny Thistle portal (http://bodeca-neza.spol.si/). A working group consisting of the spol.si editorial board and the Red Dawns collective decide which statements will be published. The winning, most outrageous statement will be chosen by the audience at the award ceremony, which will take place as part of the Fem TV 6.0 show. All of you who will follow the event will be able to vote live for your ‘favorite’ among 5 selected statements.

Fem TV is a burlesque-cabaret show, consisting of short sketches that parody television shows and news programmes and provide a sharp critique of current social events. The Fem TV collective has existed for more than ten years, it was formed in 2011, and first performed in 2012. It also defied the COVID isolation period by performing the show online. The show plays with traditional and modern theatrical and television expressions, while addressing the most current events. This edition of Fem TV touches on topics ranging from the military industry, perimenopause, public health, what is happening with the excess profit generated from our work, the bizarreness of multi-billionaires and dreams of a better world.

More about the Thorny Thistle Award http://bodeca-neza.spol.si

This year’s online voting for the selection of the five most sexist statements is available at http://bodeca-neza.spol.si/glasovanje

‘Tea Hvala discusses Fem TV in her essay Working on Gender, New Burlesque and Cabaret in Ljubljana and highlights the deliberate unprofessionalism of the performers and humour as the most powerful critical tool for politicising ignored topics. The trash aesthetics of the Fem TV 3.0 performance is not only its common thread, but primarily a way of establishing a position on the phenomenon of media distortion of reality, with an emphasis on criticising the distorted image of the female body and the role of women as mere objects that serve both the profitable beauty industry and the open perpetuation of patriarchy.’ (source: MMC)

Link to Facebook event

Info

Organisation: 27th International Feminist and Queer Festival Red Dawns (Arts and Culture Association KUD Mreža)

Co-production/Co-organisation: Association for the Promotion of Equality and Pluralism Vita Activa / Spol.si, Association Matafir, Fem TV, Pionirski Theatre

Fem TV are: Eva Jus, Danijela Zajc, Pia S. Skušek, Ana Grobler, Ana Čigon, Vasja Progar, Jaka Andrej Vojevec, Slobodan Malić, Tadeja Pirih, Bernarda Kristan, Avalon, Lučka Zajc, Hay.

Design of the poster and graphic design: Janu Krohm

Photography: Nada Žgank

Press inquiries:  Saša Nemec, rdece.zore@gmail.com

Proofreading: Ana Makuc

Financial support: the City Municipality of Ljubljana – Department for Culture

Donations