Invitation to the Defense of Jul Tirler

The Examination Panel is made up of: Axel Stockburger (chair), Ruth Sonderegger (supervisor), and Monika Bernold (external appraiser, private lecturer).

Abstract

This study develops an open and processual conception of feminist collectivity and its representation on the basis of two examples of collective audio-visual practices. Between 1979 and 1983, Adriana Monti made the film Scuola senza fine (School without end) in Milan in a collaborative process with non-employed female workers who, from 1976 onwards, completed their secondary education in so-called 150-hour courses, which were implemented by Italian trade unions in 1973. The women continued the further education courses in a self-organised manner after the end of the course programme. The film shows feminist collectivity at the intersections of social power relations regarding gender, age and class by critically negotiating issues such as reproductive work, access to formalised education and cultural production. In 2002, Precarias a la deriva (Precarious women adrift) organised weekly derivas (drifts) in Madrid, in which a changing group of women visited the places that were central to their precarious working and living situations. In 2003, the video A la deriva por los circuitos de la precariedad femenina (Adrift through the circuits of feminised precarious work) was published, which addressed feminised work in Spain against the backdrop of precarisation, migration regimes and care relationships.

Intersectional and queer-feminist approaches have made a groundbreaking contribution to reconceptualising feminist collectivity, feminist practices and feminist theories in terms of gaps, omissions and exclusions, and in terms of transformative change and alliances. Approaches in critique of representation have shown that representation in its depicting, representing and knowledge-producing aspects also produces the reality that it purports to depict.

Based on this theoretical-methodological framework, I ask what forms of feminist collectivity Scuola senza fine and A la deriva por los circuitos de la precariedad femenina produce and what role self-representation plays in this context. I ask where feminist collectivity is contested in this process, whether topics or perspectives are excluded or omitted and what role power and knowledge hierarchies play. I analyse how questions of different social positions, privileges, visibility and power structures are dealt with politically and audio-visually and which forms of collectivity or collective action are possible when actors are positioned differently. My research thus contributes to a critical understanding of how cultural/audio-visual and political representation and social inequality structures are intertwined.

Keywords: feminist collectivity, collective film production, intersectionality and cultural production, queer-feminist critique, critique of representation, politics of representation, Scuola senza fine, A la deriva por los circuitos de la precariedad femenina

Short biography

Jul Tirler works at the intersections of visual culture studies, film and media studies and gender studies with a focus on politics and critique of representation, theories of collectivity, feminist theories and practices, film production and precarization using trans* and queer_feminist approaches. Currently they are working in the research project “Queer Cinema Austria. Assembling LGBTIQ* viewing strategies of film, video and television production in Austria 1906-2026” at the Institute for Theater, Film and Media Studies at the University of Vienna.

The thesis defense will be held in German and at the Academy at Schillerplatz in Anatomiesaal.

We are looking forward to welcoming you.