WORKSHOP

Cartographies of interruption and influence:
Feminist educational and institutional strategies
in museums in response to gender-based violence       

Despite decades of activism, the United Nations (UN) notes that
gender-based violence remains staggeringly high across the globe.
The UN calls on all sectors to respond including museums.

In response the Feminist Imaginary Research Network (FIRN) in collaboration with the IAWM and its 2025 General Assembly will host a 3.5 day workshop. Participants from across the globe will share and co-construct knowledge of how they address diverse levels and intensities of gender-based violence in local, regional and international contexts. The workshop will include formal presentations, a feminist walking tour of the city, and two experiential sessions to learn skills in using animation and creative writing.  

The workshop is open to the public but space is limited, so you need to contact the following email address to check if the particpation is possible: conference@iawm.international

Deadline: July 15, 2025

Please note:
All times are given in Central European Time (CET) using the 24-hour format.

Sunday, 24 August

9:30 – 10:45 Welcome

Gaby Franger (Germany), IAWM Board Chair

Tijana Jakovljevic Sevic (Serbia/Germany), IAWM Administrator

Sissi Prader (Italy), Director Merano Women’s Museum

Darlene Clover (Canada), Connection Workshop Convenor

Video: Stories and their tellers

Mary Ann Sing (Canada) and Sissi Prader (Italy), Overview of Programme & Logistics

A

10:15 – 11:15 Ice Breaker and Formal Introductions

Moderator: Darlene Clover (Canada)
A

11:15 – 11:30 Stretch break
A

11:30 – 13:00 Exclusion and Resistance

Moderator: Mary Ann Sing (Canada)

Egenur Oztelli, Stanislava Paunovic & Maggie McColl (Scotland):
The museum(s) of absence: Addressing gender-based violence and ‘difficult knowledge’ creation in museum spaces

Elke Krasny (Austria):
Transnational resistance against feminicides and the museum

Le Cam Nhung (Vietnam):
Hearts for peace
A

13:00 – 14:00 Lunch
A

14:00 – 15:30 Building and Disrupting

Moderator: Elke Krasny (Austria)

Claudia Diaz-Diaz (Canada/Chile):
Embracing discomfort through curatorial practice: Pedagogical capacities for gender justice in women’s museums

Stefania Pitscheider Soraperra (Austria/Italy):
Feminism in the countryside: Building bridges, breaking boundaries

Lara Perry (United Kingdom):
Museums and reproductive rights
A

15:30 – 17:15 Feminist City Tour and Pop-Up Exhibitions

Guides: Gaby Franger (Germany) & Sissi Prader (Italy)

A

17:15 – 18:00 Herstorying History: Interrupting Patriarchal Colonialism

Moderator: Claudia Diaz-Diaz (Canada/Chile)

Brittany Cherweniuk (Metis Nation/Canada):
Location connection: A case study of the ‘Wildflowers: Metis Women of Fort Edmonton’ exhibition

A

18:00 Welcome Dinner

A

Monday, 25 August

10:30 – 12:00 Violence, Military and War

Moderator: Nancy Taber

Sinéad McCoole (Ireland):
Women's Museums: Recording military action and peacemaking in a conflicted Ireland

Gaby Franger (Germany):
Stitched resistance against war and oppression: Narrative textiles that cry out

Tetiana Chernetska (Ukraine)
Feminist Museum work in the context of the Russian-Ukrainian war

AA

12:00 – 13:00 Lunch

A

13:00 – 14:30 Institutional strategies

Moderator: Gaby Franger (Germany)

Glenda Hecksher (Mexico):
Creating women’s museums to address femicide in Mexico

Burcu Yılmaz Gündüz (Turkey):
The case of Istanbul Women’s Museum in the context of structural violence in Turkey

Micki Voelkel & Shelli Henehan (USA) / VIA ZOOM
Restructuring the narrative of Miss Laura’s Social Club

AA

14:30 – 15:00 Stretch break

A
15:00 – 18:00 Break, Talk and Hands-On Animation Workshop

Facilitator: Samba Yonga (Zambia) / Introducer: Tijana Jakovljevic Sevic (Germany)

• Talk: The power of digital technologies to (re)write herstories

• Workshop: Animation strategies

Tuesday, 26 August

A

10:30 – 12:00 Visual and Poetic Strategies

Moderator: Stanislava Paunovic

Laura Formenti (Italy):
Using po(i)etic writing to foster reflexivity on age-gender violence: A study of the Photography Gallery

Meral Akkent (Turkey):
Istanbul Gender Museum: Intervening in public space with women’s words

Claudia Mandel-Katz (Costa Rica):
Visualizations of decolonial resistance to violence against Afro-Caribbean women in Costa Rica

A

A

12:00 – 13:00 Lunch (on your own)
A

13:00 – 15:00 Small Groups: Designing the Future

• Table One: Global Research Collaboration
  Facilitators: Darlene Clover, Claudia Diaz-Diaz & Gaby Franger

• Table Two: Outreach and connecting activities (e.g. webinar series, podcasts)
  Facilitators: Sissi Prader, Stefania Pitscheider Soraperra & Mary Ann Sing

• Table Three: Zines, Videos, Exhibitions, etc.
  Facilitators: Sinéad McCoole, Brittany Cherweniuk & Samba Yonga

• Table Four: Publications
  Facilitators: Meral Akkent, Elke Krasny & Laura Formenti

  A

14:30 – 15:00 Stretch break

A

15:00 – 16:15 Group Discussion

Moderators: Claudia Diaz-Diaz & Gaby Franger

• Sharing small group ideas
  

16:15 – 17:00 Closing of Cartographies Gathering

Moderator: Darlene Clover

A

18:00 Reception

(Includes newly arriving IAWM Members for the General Assembly)

Wednesday, 27 August

9:30 – 12:30 Creative writing and museums: Talk and experiential workshop (Open to all interested parties)

Introducer: Tijana Jakovljevic Sevic/ Facilitator: Nancy Taber (Canada)

• Talk: War in museums as settings in feminist fiction-based research: Creative writing as a tool to (re)story gender-based violence and resistance

• Workshop: Pracitising creative writing/non-fiction

  19:00 Public conference event (Open to all interested parties)

  • Keynote 1: Elke Krasny (Austria)
    Working with Care: Reparative Curating and Restorative Justice in the Museum (Achtsam arbeiten: Reparatives Kuratieren und Wiederherstellende Gerechtigkeit im Museum)

  • Keynote 2: Daniela Gruber
    A feminist-participatory action research project ‘TRACES - TRAnsgenerational ConsEquences of Sexual violence’.
    

IAWM GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Wednesday, 27 August

14:00-17:00 IAWM General Assembly / Part 1 (For members only)

Thursday, 28 August

9:30-12:00 IAWM Workshops (For members only)
These workshops will be organised according to ideas and suggestions of the participating members.

14:00-17:00 IAWM General Assembly / Part 2 (For members only)

Friday, 29 August

• Cultural program (For members only)
  

• Meeting of the newly elected IAWM board (For board members only)
  
  
  Details will follow shortly.