Feminist future

Marta Jalowska’s notes kept during her work on the performance ‘Whenever There Are People to Dance Until Then We’re Gonna’ give an insight into the intimate process of imagining and embodying feminist futures. The artist writes down associations with the word ‘utopia’ that members of the collective mapped out during rehearsals, and writes down their collective fantasies of a better world – without bureaucracy, poverty and abuse of power; without guilt, violence and shame about their own bodies. While doing that, Marta also reflects on how to find the seeds of a feminist future in her everyday experience. What is currently hidden in her body and her heart intermingles with the collective speculations about possible, though distant, scenarios. Stretching far beyond the horizon of probability set by dominant social norms, the artists don’t lose sight of current issues and political entanglements. This practice, both situated and speculative, allows them to broaden their political imagination and see previously invisible possibilities to change their immediate environment.

Marta’s notes reflect the performative potential of feminist practices – their ability to transform dominant power relations. At a time when ‘it is easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism’, as Mark Fisher wrote, we need pragmatic feminism which allows us to stretch our imagination and see alternative ways of living, while remaining attentive to the realities in which we are submerged.