After two years of international collaboration, the major European project FemminiCity will conclude in Novi Sad with three days of theatre, educational activities and practical prevention initiatives that place women’s status at the centre of public attention. From 22 to 24 October, the Cultural Centre of Novi Sad will bring together artists from France, Slovenia, Romania, Poland and Serbia. Through five different theatrical approaches, the festival will address issues that transcend national borders and concern us all.
FemminiCity connects what is being discussed, what is important to understand and what can be done in practical terms. In addition to five theatre performances, the programme includes artistic installations, an exhibition, an expert lecture on violence against women and free preventive breast screenings.
The Romanian production 12A, Street of Happiness, performed by the Csiky Gergely Hungarian State Theatre in Timișoara, is based on the testimonies of women who have survived domestic violence. Meanwhile, the French production D.R.I.F.T. challenges perceptions of political power and equality through audience interaction. The Polish organisation Kobietostan explores the invisible labour of parents and societal expectations in Motherpolis. A Walk Through Lack, while the Slovenian association ZIZ from Maribor addresses taboos surrounding menstruation in From First to Last. The Novi Sad-based theatre troupe Drž’ ne daj will present A Broken Rib, a production created in collaboration with more than 20 women from different generations. The performance explores the connection between misogynistic stereotypes and femicide.
A particularly powerful message is conveyed through the spatial installation She Will Not Come After All, one of the festival’s accompanying programmes. Thirteen specially marked empty chairs in a cinema auditorium will symbolise the thirteen women (at least) who have lost their lives to femicide in Serbia since the beginning of the year. Their absence will serve as a powerful reminder of lives cut short and places that can never be filled. The accompanying programme also includes the exhibition She Is Generated, by Tijana Jevrić, which explores social standards and the question of who determines what a woman should be through the relationship between a vulnerable female figure and her perfect, AI-generated counterpart.
The issue of violence will be further explored through the lecture From the First Signs of Control to Femicide, delivered by Associate Professor Nada Padejski Šekerović, PhD, on 22 October at 4:30 p.m. at the premises of the Novi Sad – European Capital of Culture Foundation. A clinical psychologist with eighteen years of experience working with victims of domestic violence and human trafficking, she will discuss how to recognise patterns of abuse and the importance of timely intervention. Registration for the lecture is available via an online form.
In October, Breast Cancer Awareness Month, FemminiCity is also placing special emphasis on prevention. On 21 and 22 October, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., a specialised mobile unit will be stationed at Katolička Porta as part of the Fight Like a Woman project. Women under the age of 43 will be able to receive free breast screening there. Examinations will be performed using a state-of-the-art 3D Automated Breast Ultrasound System (ABUS), which does not use ionising radiation and is designed to help detect breast abnormalities at an early stage. The project is being implemented by the Clinical Centre of Vojvodina and the Novi Sad Health Centre, with financial support from the Provincial Secretariat for Health and the Provincial Government.
REGISTRATION for 21 October
REGISTRATION for 22 October
The international FemminiCity project is funded by the European Union through the CERV programme (Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values). The project is led by the Csiky Gergely Hungarian State Theatre in Timișoara, in collaboration with the Novi Sad – European Capital of Culture Foundation, the Drž’ ne daj theatre troupe, and partners from France, Poland and Slovenia.
