This year's edition of the City of Women Festival under artistic direction of Predrag Pajdic and Mara Vujic will address the topic Between Past & Future. The conceptual background relates to the eponymous book by Hannah Arendt who, back in the 60's, argued that the condition of human existence, robbed of the traditional, transcendental, religious and moral standards was employed to bridge the abyss between past and future, lost direction. Artists with various views, experiences, approaches, backgrounds and cultural milieu will challenge audiences between 8th and 17th October with their reflections and responses to the relationship between past and future that we confront today.

The events will be held at many venues across Ljubljana, such as Cankarjev Dom, the Kino Siska Centre for Urban Culture, the Old Power Station – Elektro Ljubljana, Skuc Gallery, Kinodvor, Glej Theatre, Ljubljana Dance Theatre, Gruber Palace, Tromostovje etc.

City of Women 2010 will be launched by one of the most prominent women in the Slovene popular music, Ditka Haberl, followed on the Linhart Hall stage (Cankarjev Dom) by a rising music attraction from UK, Marcella and The Forget Me Nots – a mixture of 1930’s Berlin, Klaus Nomi’s Baroque avant-garde and the art school rock bands of the 1970s.

The Festival's programme features numerous not-to-miss events, including the international group exhibition One Step Forward, Two Steps Back, borrowing its title from a 1904 revolutionary pamphlet by Vladimir Lenin. Through performances, video, photography and installations, the artists will address and examine 'today'. The exhibition opening at Skuc Gallery on the 12th of October at 8pm will also encompass live art by Oreet Ashery, UK-based artists of Israel origin, while Kira O'Reilly, will present her performance Stair Falling in the Gruber Palace on the 15th of October.

Lucinda Childs, the icon of postmodernism, who broke with prevailing notions of modern dance, had enraptured with her refined minimalist masterpieces Nicole Beutler, one of the most exciting choreographers within contemporary dance in the Netherlands. The Old Power Station – Elektro Ljubljana will be the venue of a two-dance evening – 2: Dialogue With Lucinda. Beutler produced an artistic remake of two of Childs’ early works: Radial Courses (1976) and Interior Drama (1977). In the former, four motion sequences are the basis for a constantly shifting composition whilst in the latter, five performers dance a hallucinatory and seemingly perfect system.

The Old Power Station – Elektro Ljubljana will also host the German artist Antonia Baehr with her performance Laugh. Antonia Baehr was sitting at the window of her small but stylish apartment in Berlin having an existential conversation with herself, or to put it more exactly, one of her many selves. And eventually realised she would describe herself as the one who laughs, the one who is often seen laughing.

Extraordinary French/German duo Stereo Total, comprised of Françoise Cactus, a renowned novelist, and experimentalist Brezel Göring, will heat up the Cathedral of Kino Siska. Their music is based on electronically manipulated punk-rock with a strong kitsch-pop connotation. Under the Kill Rock Stars label, Stereo Total released this year their tenth studio album, Baby Ouh!. They travel with a minimum of rock band equipment regardless of whether they are playing in clubs or at rave parties.

Within Cankarjevi Torki (Tuesday Clubbing), Cankarjev Dom will host a new ethnic music sensation DakhaBrakha from Ukraine. Since its establishment in 2004, DakhaBrakha (meaning give/take) has been asserting itself as one of the most sought-after concert sensations in Europe. The band is still somewhat of a cult phenomenon in Ukraine, appealing to a discerning audience of knowledgeable fans. They like their aggressive sound which involves several ritualistic tribal rhythms and frenzied, sometimes caterwauling, vocals. They perform in Ukrainian national costume, as befitting their faith in Ukrainian culture.

In their humorous and 'culinary' performance If You Can Stand the Heat: The History of Women and Food, Guerrilla Girls on Tour wish - through theatrically surprising stage conversation - to break the fear of food and encourage the ‘freedom of appetite’. The comedy addressing women’s relation to food, the obsessive dictates of physical appearance, diet and global hunger will be staged in Linhart Hall (Cankarjev Dom).

Further to the artworks from the four corners of the world, the Festival will also present three premieres by local female artists: Andreja Rauch Podrzavnik, as well as Natasa Zivkovic and Katarina Stegnar, both in the production of Via Negativa. Meta Grgurevic will participate in the exhibition, whilst the video programme entitled Racism, Europe, Capital, Queer will feature Marina Grzinic & Aina Smid duo.

For further information please visit http://www.cityofwomen.org/

The following artists are participating in City of Women 2010:

Ditka Haberl, Marcella and The Forget me Nots, Hana Makhmalbaf, Andreja Rauch Podrzavnik, Lauren Newton & Joëlle Léandre, Helena Hunter, Eleanor Bauer, DakhaBrakha, Oreet Ashery, Perry Bard, Stefania Bonatelli, Katharina Hesse & Lara Day, Jessica Lagunas, Vesna Mili?evi?, Nandipha Mntambo, Katarina Mootich, Maflohé Passedouet, Kira O'Reilly, Petra Reimann, Yvonne De Rosa, Judith Witteman, Meta Grgurevi?, Miya Masaoka, Antonia Baehr, Nicole Beutler, Tanja Ostoji?, Marina Gržini? & Aina Šmid, Ana Hoffner, Isa Rosenberger, Sophie Déraspe, Sonja Heiss, Mia Engberg, Shalimar Preuss, Charlotte Ginsborg, Birgitte Staermose, Manon de Boer, Stereo Total, HK 119, Guerrilla Girls on Tour, Nataša Živkovi?, Katarina Stegnar