This master's thesis explores how the International Feminist and Queer Festival Red Dawns implements feminist curatorial practices. The starting point is an understanding of the festival as a space that has been co-creating feminist-queer counterbuplic for more than two decades and opening up opportunities for the visibility of marginalized artistic practices. The central research problem relates to the intertwining of feminist curating with the organizational, program related, and care processes of the festival. The work is based on three research questions: how does the festival implement feminist principles in its organizational structure, how are feminist curatorial practices reflected in the program design, and how are care practices implemented in the festival's practices? Methodologically, the thesis relies on a combination of a theoretical review of feminist art history, theories of the canon, feminist and care curating, feminist festivals as curatorial spaces, and a qualitative empirical approach that includes semi-structured interviews with the festival organizers. Key findings show that the Red Dawns festival can be seen as a feminist curatorial project that intertwines horizontal, collective, and DIY principles of organization, an anti-canonical program, and care practices aimed at creating fair working conditions, interpersonal support, and community. The festival thus represents an important space for feminist organizing and demonstrates that feminist curating can also take place outside institutional frameworks.
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