About the Festival Concept
The topic of equality is related to many social problems and challenges. Human dignity, freedom, justice and equality are the values which underpin the concept of human rights.
Meanwhile, the value of equality is accepted by only a half of the population of Ukraine. So equality requires action by human rights advocates. This year, we would like to talk about what equality is and how we can profess it in our everyday lives. What is it, anyway — an abstract, intellectual concept or a practical value, which can help us achieve respect, harmony and security?
We used irony intentionally, because the topic of this year’s festival is a suggestion for the society to measure equal equalities, discuss the possibility of achieving equality in our time and in our circumstances. Are we prepared to accept only those rules which we like and ignore the needs of others? What consequences await the society in which people or groups of people try to establish their equal equalities?
To disrupt the stereotypes which are abundant in our society, we created 6 special programs which allow us to look at the most widespread inequalities from different perspectives:
SIMPLE FEMALE EQUALITY
QUEERALITY
SENIOR EQUALITY
EQUALITY SYNDROME
NEOINEQUALITY
HOLY EQUALITY
About the Festival Symbol
This time, our festival poster is a labyrinth. An optical illusion made of high-rise buildings with attached balconies, omnipresent parking lots and squads of armed men in black — they appeared on our streets recently, it is unclear whom they report to, and they carry their own special ideas about equality.
It is a metaphor of insanity which we are descending into, because we do not stick to the value of equality. First of all, equality before the law. We resist changes and modernisation. We paint an arch in rainbow colors and then, scared of who-knows-what, repaint it back in gray. We worship makeshift structures with crosses, which used to be tents, but year by year they petrify and expand in length and width. We worship an iron woman with a sword. As a symbol of simple female happiness.
The concept of equality is multifaceted, and we invite you to the festival journey to look, compare, discuss, and try to understand how to build life, city, our country, how to search for an exit from the labyrinth.
The organizing committee of the festival
