JUNE 2025

MONDAY, 02.06.2025

Activities: – Work on individual projects – Installation of diploma works

TUESDAY, 03.06.2025

Activities: – Work on individual projects – Installation of diploma works

Sunday and Monday, 8.06. and 09.06 2025

— Public Holidays (Lehargasse studios closed)

TUESDAY, 10.06 2025

Start of Diploma Exams, EXHIBIT

WEDNESDAY, 11.06.2025

– Continuation of Diploma Exam, LEHARGASSE, MZS

DO NOT MISS 10 and 11.06 2025 2 evenings of learning, reflecting

TUESDAY, 10.06.2025

WHERE: Studio ART and INTERVENTION/Concept Atelierhaus, Lehárgasse 8, 1060 Wien, 1OG Atelier Süd (M1)

When: At 19.00

This event is organized by the Studio Art and Intervention/ Concept (Prof. Marina Gržinić) and in collaboration with MEZEKƎRƎ – a new space for global and diasporic artistic practices exploring cosmologies of care, conviviality, and social transformation (opening in 2026 in Vienna: mezekere.com).

García (La Novia Sirena), Mexico City, Mexico

Pedagogies of Tenderness and Hospitality as Policies to Heal the Colonial Wound

Lecture Performance & Artist Talk in collaboration with Marissa Lôbo, Vienna

19:00–19:30

Lecture Performance Pedagogies of Tenderness and Hospitality as Policies to Heal the Colonial Wound Lia García (La Novia Sirena)

19:30–20:45 Conversation Care, Nourishment, and Hospitality Through Artistic and Curatorial Praxis

Lia García & Marissa Lôbo

In this lecture performance, Lia García explores the politics of tenderness and care in her dual roles as an artist and pedagogue, drawing from her lived experiences in Mexico. The performance will be followed by an artist talk with Marissa Lôbo—artist, curator, and PhD candidate in Philosophy at the Academy of Fine Arts—whose work focuses on curating through care, hospitality, nourishment, and affection. The colonial wound has left deep and lasting effects on our bodies and affections. Our skin carries the ancestral echo of pain, rage, frustration, and confinement caused by a brutal history of dispossession, violence, and capture. Across time, anti-colonial practices have fostered collective ways to heal these wounds. Among them, the pedagogies of tenderness and hospitality have emerged as powerful tools to question, create, and act.

Lia García (La Novia Sirena) is a performance artist, educator, and poet. Lia García is known for her radical trans activism, which focuses not only on defending LGBTIQ+ human rights in Mexico but also on crafting performative, educational, and poetic interventions in symbolically complex public spaces—prisons, hospitals, schools, military camps, and markets. García is the originator of the concept “aesthetics of radical tenderness” (2012), which has become a distinctive form of political activism across Abya Yala (Latin America). Her affective, artistic-pedagogical interventions challenge patriarchal violence and the marginalization of gender- and sexuality-nonconforming bodies—especially in Mexico, a country plagued by transfeminicides. She is the author of “Cucarachas Literarias,” the first archive of LGBTIQ+ children’s and youth literature in Latin America, and co-founder of Red de Juventudes Trans México, among other networks. Her work has been featured at major international festivals and in publications by Editorial Sexto Piso, Almadía, and the Hemispheric Institute of Performance.

Marissa Lôbo is an artist, curator, and cultural producer. Lôbo holds an MA in Post-Conceptual Studies and is a PhD candidate in Philosophy at the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna. Her work is rooted in artistic and curatorial practices that center care, affection, and transformative politics. Lôbo was a member of maiz, a self-organized migrant collective, and is the co-founder and artistic director of Kültüř Gemma! She has co-curated innovative projects such as “Night School” at Wiener Festwochen, Smashing Wor(l)ds, and Vivências | Art as Vessel to Conjure Spaces of Softness, among others. She is currently involved in developing the MEZEKƎRƎ Festival for Global Majority Arts, Politics & Care.

WEDNESDAY, 11.06 2025

WHERE: Atelierhaus, Lehárgasse 8, 1060 Wien, 1OG Atelier Süd (M1)

When 19.00

FARID HAFEZ (USA/Austria) and ÜMMÜ SELIME TÜRE (Austria) Presentations and discussion

Organized by the Studio Art and Intervention/Concept, professor Marina Gržinić in collaboration with Asma Aiad and Anahita Neghabat (PhD candidates in Philosophy, Academy of Fine Arts Vienna)

FARID HAFEZ

Talk Title

How I Was Declared a Public Enemy: Operation Luxor and the Crusade Against “Political Islam”

Talk Description

This book tells the story of one of Austria’s largest and most racist police operations, which specifically targeted Muslims. It explores the background of how such an operation came to be and why there was so little public resistance to this political development in Austria. The book also links Operation Luxor with the so-called “Project Ballhausplatz,” the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ), and the political style of Sebastian Kurz. It delves into the involvement of foreign actors and examines the conduct of the judiciary and so-called “Islam experts.” Biography

Farid Hafez teaches International Relations in the United States and is a Senior Fellow at The Bridge Initiative at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.

ÜMMÜ SELIME TÜRE

Talk Title Antimuslim Racism Report 2024: A Decade of Resistance and Documentation in Austria

Talk Description

Ümmü Selime Türe is the co-founder and vice chair of the Documentation and Counseling Center for Islamophobia (2014) and Anti-Muslim Racism Austria, a community-based counselling and research center that collects and generates data for the annual report.

Biography

Ümmü Selime Türe (she/her) is a culture- and social anthropologist with expertise in psychosocial counselling and transformative and healing justice. She completed her Master's at the Department for Cultural and Social Anthropology and the University of Vienna on media representation of racialized communities. She is a part of the anthology 'Therapie Intersektional', an intersectionality informed therapy & counselling book with experts from Austria, Germany, and Switzerland. Her work focuses on Self and Collective Care, Intersectionality as well as Transformative & Healing Justice and works in projects supporting people affected by racism, and she has experience of about fifteen years of teaching in social and academic contexts.

Moderation

Asma Aiad is an artist and researcher based in Vienna. Her work focuses on the representation of Muslim identities, anti-Muslim racism, and the politics of visibility. She is currently a PhD candidate in Philosophy at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna.

Anahita Neghabat is a social anthropologist, artist, and activist working on critical education, (anti-Muslim) racism, postmigrant identities, and memes. She is currently a PhD candidate in Philosophy at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna.

TUESDAY, 17.06.2025

Opening of Diploma Exhibition in different places at the Academy

MONDAY, 23.06 2025

Where: Schillerplatz 3, 1010 Vienna, Sitzungssaal

When: 16.00

auf Wiedersehen au̇f-ˈvē-dər-ˌzā(-ə)n —used to express farewell……and a new encounter

Organized by Asma Aiad in collaboration with Anahita Neghabat

MODERATION: Asma Aiad

Speakers: ALL and SURPRISE

TUESDAY, 24 06 2025

When: At 19.00

Where: FLUCC, Praterstern 5, 1020 Vienna

A celebration of dissidence: Book premiere of SEXUAL DISSIDENCES

A dynamic mix of DJ sets, performances, talks, readings, and discussions.

Envisioned and organized by the editors: Oke Fijal, Marina Gržinić, Sen Reyes, and Melina Vesel.

We are excited to announce an event at FLUCC celebrating the publication of the book SEXUAL DISSIDENCES: Frau Diamanda's Catalan Scenes. Travesti Politics of Resistance and Anti-canonical Knowledge, edited by Oke Fijal, Marina Gržinić, Sen Reyes, and Melina Vesely, and published in 2025 by Sternberg Press in collaboration with the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna.

The book centers on the writings of Frau Diamanda / Héctor Acuña and her decolonial strategies and survival politics of travesti identities beyond binary and normative gender frameworks. The first part of the book features contributions from 14 artists, writers, and academics—including Pêdra Costa, Marlene Wayar, Claudia Rodríguez, Iki Yos Piña Narváez, Francisco Godoy Vega, Gabriela Wiener, Diego Falconí Trávez, R. Marcos Mota, Diego Marchante, Johan Mijail, Sergio Zevallos, and others—who present a cartography of travesti knowledge as a foundation for creating new future narratives.

The second part offers the English translation of Frau Diamanda’s ESCENAS CATALANAS (CATALAN SCENES), a provocative sexual cruising journey through Barcelona, accompanied by a sharp, dizzying analysis of power and submission. We look forward to an unforgettable evening with a vibrant stage program featuring readings, discussions, performances, and music, connecting the themes of the book to voices from Barcelona and the local Viennese scene. This event is generously supported by Stadt Wien Kultur and the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna.

Participating Artists: • Frau Diamanda

• Henrie Dennis

• Pol Comelles Allué

• Faris Cuchi Gezahegn • Causa Mixta

• Jesus Arpal Moya

WEDNESDAY, 25.06.2025

Where: Schillerplatz 3, 1010 Vienna, Sitzungssaal

When: 17:30

Presentation of the book Publication Series of the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna Volume 29

Sexual Dissidences Frau Diamanda’s Catalan Scenes, Travesti Politics of Resistance, and Anti-Canonical Knowledge

Edited by Oke Fijal, Marina Gržinić, Sen Reyes, and Melina Vesely

Sexual Dissidences: Frau Diamanda’s Catalan Scenes, Travesti Politics of Resistance, and Anti-Canonical Knowledge brings together travesti writers, voices, performers, artists, and historians, highlighting their sharp and creative engagement with oppressive systems. Their power lies in their refusal to be erased. The idea for this book emerged in the summer of 2023, when students and faculty from three art academies—in Vienna, Barcelona, and Mainz—gathered in Barcelona as part of the EU academic exchange Blended Intensive Programme (BIP). During this experience, we encountered some of the most vital and defiant individuals, groups, and communities within Barcelona’s migrant, underground, activist, and grassroots scene.

As Lucas Platero Méndez, Associate Professor at Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid, noted:“The book transports you to the cruising zones of Barcelona! There, Frau Diamanda is the mistress, owner, and sovereign of her desire. She delivers a powerful anti-racist critique while sharing her experiences in the Catalan scene.”

Welcoming words by Dr. Johan F. Hartle, Rector of the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna

Book presentation with the Editors of the book and guests: Frau Diamanda, Pol Comelles Allué, and Jesús Arpal Moya

Moderated by Mayra Jenzer Azevedo Language: English

Join us in this meander of revolt, words, vision—another future. Biographies

Frau Diamanda (1971, Lima, Peru) is a translator, writer, travesti audiovisual artist, drag performer, independent curator, cultural infector, DJ, and occasional actress. Since 1999, she has existed as the artistic alter ego of Héctor Acuña. She has lived in Barcelona since 2016. In 2017–18, she attended the PEI Independent Studies Programme at MACBA, and in 2020 her book Escenas catalanas: Errancias antropológico-sexuales (Catalan Scenes: Anthropological-Sexual Wanderings) was published by Barcelona’s La Máquina.

Pol Comelles Allué (aka Hermanos Alquézar) is a founding member and artistic director of the Colectivo La Máquina, an art collective dedicated to producing (counter)cultural projects that blend art, literature, and experimental music. He is also the chief editor of La Máquina’s publishing label. As a performer, he is involved in several experimental music projects, including Avenc, Ca de Bestiar, and ESPAÑA. Jesusi / Jesusa / Jesús Arpal Moya (all pronouns) is an artist and cultural producer. They hold an MA from the Drawing Department of the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Barcelona. Since 1999, they have been part of the artistic team Jeleton, and since 2014, of the Barcelona-based cultural cooperative La Caníbal SCCL.

Moderation

Mayra Jenzer Azevedo (they/them) is a writer, performer, and cultural mediator. They hold a BA in Art History and German Philology from the University of Basel, have contributed to various (online) magazines, and have developed mediation concepts for institutions such as the Stapferhaus (Lenzburg ZH) and the cultural association Out & About (Basel, CH). Mayra also performs as the Drag King “Major Simp.” They are currently studying in the MA Critical Studies program at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, where they explore camp aesthetics and vampirism as methods of resistance against the bio- and necropolitical definition of queer existences.

FRIDAY, 27 06 2025 At 10.00

Lehargasse building

End of Semester & Diploma Festivities Come to see and toast with the diplomants and etc.

THE END Marina Grzinic was professor in the IBK, PCAP, STUDIO FOR CONCEPTUAL ART that changed many names POST CONCEPTUAL, ART AND INTERVENTION/Concept, the penal colony, are you crazy to study there, oh no,has nothing to do with art, only theory, etc., from 2003 to 2025.