Double bill and conversation with Dora García

Love With Obstacles & If I Could Wish for Something
Wednesday 16.02.22

Welcome to the screening of the films, Love With Obstacles (2020) and If I Could Wish for Something (2021) by the artist Dora Garcia. The films are a part of her in-progress project Amor Rojo, a study of the legacy of marxist-feminist Alexandra Kollontai. The two films were a part of Fotogalleriet's exhibition If I Could Wish for Something last fall.

Between the two films, there will be a conversation with the artist about her interest in and work on Kollontai, the two films' relation to the Amor Rojo project and her forthcoming feature. The conversation will be moderated by Abirami Logendran (graphic designer, writer and editor for the magazine Samora Forum).

Programme

18:00 Screening: Love With Obstacles

19:00 Conversation between Dora García and Abirami Logendran (KH Cinema)

19:45 Break

20:00 Screening: If I Could Wish for Something

About the films

Love With Obstacles (2020) looks into the work and life of Kollontai through archival material from the Moscow Archives. The film explores the revolutionary feminist as someone who fought for work rights and sexual rights for women during and after the October revolution. By swifting through letters, posters and flyers, reading and analyzing the archive material, we learn that Kollontai introduced intersectional feminism already in the 1920’s, making her legacy a bridging with newer waves of feminism.

If I Could Wish for Something (2021)poetically expresses the longstanding negligence of women’s rights. The film takes its title from Friedrich Holländer’s Weimar song- which reflects an important concept: sadness as political strength. The film follows two tracks: the many marches of different feminist movements in Mexico City. And clips from behind the scenes of the trans artist La Bruja de Texcoco who is in the process of recording the theme song for the film. By alternating between the two tracks, the film shows the individual as part of the collective and manages to capture the spirit of revolution through both music and people’s movement.

About the filmmaker

Dora García (b. 1965) lives and works in Oslo. She currently teaches at Oslo National Academy of the Arts, Norway. She has represented Spain at the Venice Biennale in 2011 and was present again in the Venice Biennale 2013. She took part in the 56th Venice International Art Exhibition, dOCUMENTA(13) and other international events such as Münster Sculpture Projects in 2007, Sydney Biennale 2008 and Sao Paulo Biennale 2010. Her work is largely performative and deals with issues related to community and individuality in contemporary society, exploring the political potential of marginal positions, paying homage to eccentric characters and antiheroes. These eccentric characters have often been the center of her film projects, such as The Deviant Majority (2010), The Joycean Society (2013) and Segunda Vez (2018).