IAWM Conference Programme

August 24-29, 2025

A conference on feminist action, cultural work, and civic responsibility in women’s museums.

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 – 10:15 Welcome

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

Gaby Franger (Germany), IAWM Board Chair & Tijana Jakovljevic Sevic (Serbia/Germany), IAWM Administrator

Darlene Clover (Canada), Connection Workshop Convenor

Video: Stories and their tellers

Mary Ann Sing (Canada), Overview of Programme & Logistics

A

10:15 – 11:15 Introductions

Moderator: Darlene Clover (Canada), Ice Breaker and Formal Instructions
A

11:15 – 11:30 Stretch break
A

11:30 – 13:00 Knowledge and Resistance

Moderator: Stanislava Paunović (Scotland)

Egenur Oztelli, Stanislava Paunović & 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 Break
A

14:00 – 15:30 Building, Disrupting and Decolonising

Moderator: Elke Krasny (Austria)

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

Lara Perry (United Kingdom):
Museums and reproductive rights

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

15:45 – 16:30 Guest Talk

Aleksandra Berberih Slana (Croatia):
How can you push the agenda without being pushy? Balancing activism and audience engagement in museums

16:45 – 18:00 Feminist City Tour and Pop-Up Exhibitions

Guides: Judith Mittelberger & Hannelore Schettler (Italy)

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

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



18:30 Welcome Dinner - Tyrolean Restaurant

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)

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

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

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

    Evening On your own

 

Tuesday, 26 August

A

9:00 – 10:30 Workshop / Curatorial practice as feminist adult education

Facilitator: Claudia Diaz

11:00 – 12:30 Creating spaces of/for change

Federica Liberti (Italy):
Free to dream: Exploring gender-based challanges through art, feminism, and activism

Mansoureh Shojee (Iran):
A museum of our own: Bron in Iran, growing in the diaspora

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

12:30 – 13:30 Lunch (on your own)


13:00 – 14:45 Small Groups: Designing the Future

Moderator: Darlene Clover

  • 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

14:45 – 15:15 Stretch break

A


15:15 – 16:00 Group Discussion

Moderator: Gaby Franger

  • Sharing small group ideas

16:00 – 16:45 Closing of Cartographies Gathering

Moderator: Darlene Clover

A


18:00 Reception & Dinner / Kurhaus Restaurant

(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: Darlene Clover / 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 with flash fiction: Feminist museologicl pedagogies


    Lunch on your own

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

    • Keynote 1: Elke Krasny (Austria)
      In-Sorge-Bleiben: Reparatives Kuratieren und Restaurative Gerechtigkeit [Working with Care: Reparative Curating and Restorative Justice in the 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.