Lisa Graves and Elizabeth Delage / Studio 303

Lisa Graves and Elizabeth Delage / Studio 303

This year’s Edgy Women Festival, a multinational, visual celebration of females and femininity, will showcase the work of a variety of different artists from Japan, Germany, Canada, and the United States. Taking place in venues across Montreal, the festival promises to be as unique and thought-provoking as it has been in prior years.

Since 1994, the goal of the Edgy Women Festival has been to provide audiences with alternative views and voices on issues concerning women, which range from gender and power dynamics to love and loss. This differentiation from traditional mainstream viewpoints has influenced the type of performances chosen and has subsequently made for an interesting itinerary for the upcoming festival.

“I hope that the programming helps dispel negative preconceptions some people have about feminism—that it’s stale, dated, not fun,” says Miriam Ginestier, the festival’s artistic director. “At Edgy, I like to mix politics and frivolity, high and low art, emerging and established artists—pushing artists and audiences alike a little past their comfort zones.”

A perfect example of Ginestier’s approach to the festival a performative lecture by Annie Sprinkle (a porn star and performance artist) and Elizabeth Stephens, founder of SexEcology which is both provocative and challenging with its emphasis on “SexEcology.” Retelling their experiences of artificial insemination and breast cancer and explaining their love for the Earth, Sprinkle and Stephens, founder of SexEcology, are sure to be the highlight of the festival with their “Adventures of the Love Art Lab” at La Sala Rossa.  

“We’re hoping to make the environmental movement more sexy, fun, and diverse,” says Sprinkle. “By switching the metaphor from ‘Earth as mother’ to ‘Earth as lover,’ we want more people to come out as ‘ecosexual.’ We’re creating a new sexual identity that is really satisfying and exciting.”

“Our message of messages is that love is a very powerful weapon against cynicism, adds Stephens. “It is a compelling reason to fight to change the things that are important to us. At this time the most important thing to Annie and me is the health and welfare of our lover, the Earth.”

Although Sprinkle and Stephens’s performance relies on transmitting their unique message through words, Ginestier tries hard to offer different performances due to Quebec’s bilingual nature. Focusing on non-verbal or bilingual acts, the festival shows the breadth of its approach to the feminist culture. Slippery, for example, an act of 40 performers with backgrounds in roller derby and hockey, seeks to play on the stereotypes surrounding the over-sexualized female self as it simultaneously points out the ridiculous nature of the sports.

“The audience should be ready to experience an intriguing public intervention of performance art, experimental dance, skating practice, and competitive conceptual thinking,” says Christopher DiRaddo, the festival’s public relations director.

With Sprinkle’s and Stephens’s enthusiasm about their own project and with Ginestier’s commitment to quality, the Edgy Women Festival looks to be exactly what the organizers and the performers are expecting: fun, provocative, and most importantly, edgy.

The 2011 Edgy Women Festival takes place from March 19 to April 2 at various theatres. Visit edgywomen.ca for details.