Re: [-empyre-] geuzennamen
Hey Nancy,
<quote>I felt from this time and other experiences for me *it was more
helpful
to engage with issues like feminism head on,
at a more grass roots level.<quote>
I understand what you mean. For us, it's also important to continue doing
educational labs and workshops. I guess it's about addressing
representation on many different levels.
<quote>This might be an innapropriate time to add
to this but I am a core developer of the The Eclectic Tech Carnival this
is an annual womens hack lab. It has roots in anarcho-feminism. We are
interested in self led education as a tool of empowerment. Our mission
is to improve women's access to art, information, technology and science
by providing an umbrella organisation for women's projects in these
areas. The broad base reflects women's diverse experiences and
interests and enables us to highlight crossovers and interconnectedness
between areas such as art and technology. Current projects focus on
hands-on experience and knowledge sharing in the area of computers,
communication, information technologies and contemporary art. The main
ongoing activities we have are the Genderchanger Academy
(http://www.genderchangers.org), the Syster Server Project
(http://systerserver.net) and the Eclectic Tech Carnival
(http://www.eclectictechcarnival.org).<quote>
Thanks for the links. We know Genderchanger from participating in the
Next 5 Minutes and Digitales.... and we are big fans :-)
all the best,
Renee
Hi Reneee
Very briefly...Peaches did come out to Australia in 2004 at a big day
out concert. Briefly my memeories of it was she was in usual form but
there was little likely hood of gettng up close to the stage to see
her performace as the first several rows consisted of fairly drunk
guys, akin to a football pack. I do appreciate what she aims to
achieve as an artist but I think it was lost on that particular day-it
all seemed a tad sad when I overheard a comment from one guy to
another 'she's ugly but it's a pair of tits'. They really did not seem
interested in her performance. I'm not trying to say anything here
just relaying a memory.
Anitza
----- Original Message ----- From: "Renee Turner" <geuzen@xs4all.nl>
To: "soft_skinned_space" <empyre@gamera.cofa.unsw.edu.au>
Sent: Friday, October 20, 2006 9:16 PM
Subject: Re: [-empyre-] geuzennamen
Hi blakkbyrd and everyone on Empyre,
I appreciate your skepticism, and to address your questions, I'll
have to do a little backtracking. Our name De Geuzen, is a
historical one. It has its roots in the Spanish occupation in the
Netherlands during the 16th century. The Geuzen were those who
resisted the Spanish, and the Spanish "gave" them the derogatory
title which was the equivalent of 'rogue' or 'beggar.' But over
time, the resistance took that negative name and started to see it
as a badge of pride. It went from being a name they were *given*
to a name they *appropriated* and which was re-inscribed through
their actions and context. Today, the word, geuzennaam is still
used in the Dutch language whenever disparaging terms are
re-appropriated as a badge of pride. (I saw you were writing from
Amsterdam, so maybe you already know this, but it might be useful to
others on the list :-)
Tracey used the term* queering the language*. And in fact, this
kind of appropriation is key to *queer* studies and theory. Someone
else brands you, but you reappropriate the title for your own
devices while still carrying its histories and connotations. Also,
it happens within pop-culture all the time and is closely related
to drag. Think of someone like Peaches (in English, everyone knows
this is not just referring to fruit) or Hole (which is not just a
place Alice in Wonderland fell down) or Madonna who adorned a
t-shirt with the words, snatch. These kinds of flips are something
talked about extensively in Dick Hebdige's Subculture: The Meaning
of Style (1979) and brought into a more gender based context with
Judith Butler's writing. Both of which, have directly and
indirectly, informed our thinking.
Basically, the collection of geuzennaam (it is an older thread in our
work) grew out of our own desire as women to explore our stereotypes.
(it's connected to our uniforms and the paperdolls) And the project
started out simple, as a circulating list of words being added to and
translated across different languages amongst women. It was a
catalyst for discussion. Some words known by older women had faded
out of use. To be a bluestocking or crumpet, is not so common any
more. So, the list is a kind of changing sociological portrait.
And the t-shirts were first done at a Do-it-yourself exhibition. We
simply had the list of words on sticky back vinyl, shirts, an
ironing board and a label with the Geuzennaam definition which could
be sewn on. The women who were there immediately got it, and while
pilfering through cloth and words, you would hear things like "oh
this is mine"...or " no this one... this one is even better". They
chose for themselves . And we were able to explore ideas of
stereotypes, cliches and "hurtful names", in a way which we never
could have, if we said: "Now, lets talk about how women have been
disparaged through words." But at the same time, that is exactly
what we were discussing while making our shirts and simultaneously
bringing those words into our temporary possession.
And as the set of t-shirts went online, other things happened. We
had an Amsterdam gay teen magazine contact us about featuring the t-
shirts in their magazine. And again another trope, these words are
not just about women but cross over into other marginalized territories.
*Ryan* maybe this is also connected to your notion of subrational
And this idea of leaving questions....allowing for a slippage... at
once implicating and being implicated, and most of all, an element
of play. I guess this work raises the question, do we banish this
terminology or open it up, hold it in plain view and continually re-
define it? While I understand some people prefer the former (it is a
perspective we are familiar with), we have opted for the latter.
Regarding the legal issue you raise, I don't know that much about
Australian law. Someone Australian might be better suited to
discuss the law there, than me. Does anyone know if Peaches, or
Hole have been on tour there ;-)
all the best,
Renee
From: Renee Turner <geuzen@xs4all.nl>
Subject: [-empyre-] Tactics and Strategies
Or another example, we have been archiving the negative names for
women over several years (ranging from the virgin to the whore) and
have turned them into a set of T-shirts sold in our webshop. Our net
stats show us that people often come to our site because they are
searching for porn. (their keywords reveal them ;-) And oddly
enough, they linger. We actually get teenagers that email us because
they want to add to our list of words, or they want to buy a T-shirt.
(sorry this project is in Dutch but hopefully you get the idea:
http://www.geuzen.org/current/geuzennamen/ ) In a way, through mis-
recognition and the vernacular of the web, our work can move across
unfamiliar territories or finds itself viewed in unconventional
registers.
Dear Renee
I've looked at this project and would like some more information,
please.
How is it empowering for women to have you collect insulting terms
for women from teenage boys and then market the results on
teeshirts? Please direct me to the appropriate feminist theory.
I'm also intrigued how you would propose getting such an 'artwork'
past Australia's anti vilification and anti-discrimination laws?
This looks like a red light district tourist trap to me.
blakkbyrd
[from amsterdam]
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