General Assembly

Our biennial gathering

 
General Assembly

General Assembly is a biennial international gathering of queer-feminist artists and activists joining by invitation. We get together without the pressure of performing to an audience to collectively elaborate strategies of struggle: to navigate cis-straight arts institutions, funding bodies and employers, and to share knowledge and information to support our individual practices and collectives.

In October 2023, we hosted our second General Assembly at La Bassa Mar, a seminar and retreat space for trans, inter, non-binary, and queer people, centering those impacted by racism, in the region of Tarragona. We gathered between Abel Ringot, Castillo, Golrokh Nafisi, Leto Ybarra, Loan, Marnie Slater, Tamila, and Tunde Adefioye. Some participants were invited for their participation in the collectives JUF in Madrid and Toro VJ in Marseille.

We commissioned musician Quieting with a song with the prompt to “Tell us a story of a duo, a trio, a group… undergoing a collective transformation.” Quieting didn’t attend the assembly at La Bassa Mar; the song is a parallel report of the assembly. You can listen to the song in her Bandcamp under this line.

In October 2021, we hosted our first General Assembly at Kunstencentrum BUDA performing arts center in Kortrijk. We gathered in chosen diversity, intimately, and in self organisation between Andrew Martin, Arthur Moreau, Betül Yildirim, Castillo, Cvmaea Halim, Loup Caccia, Marnie Slater, Ruth Novaczek, and Susana Vargas Cervantes. Some participants were invited for their participation in the collectives Movimiento Marika in Madrid and Mémoire des sexualités in Marseille.

We recorded a conversation over dinner about the history and present of Movimiento Marika, which was included in a new oral archive project by Mémoire des sexualités: Mars Chronix, which you can listen on Ola Radio, from minute 47 onwards.

This program is supported by Between Bridges Foundation (Berlin). The participation of Castillo in 2023 was supported by Flanders State of the Art (Belgium).