Ackerfest: Blood, Guts, and Anarchy

Multidisciplinary punk festival featuring performances in exploration of the body, language and feminism. The work of American avant-garde writer Kathy Acker (1947–1997) was experimental and radical. Through her oeuvre, she sought to create a new, feminist language. Plagiarism and transgression were her primary tools. Among her works are ‘Great Expectations’ (1982) and ‘Don Quixote’ (1986). Acker appropriated the work of male authors, to dismantle and transform their language. She interwove fiction and autobrigraphical elements to develop a deeply embodied language of her own. West Den Haag presents the year-long exhibition ‘Blood, Guts, and Anarchy: The Work of Kathy Acker’, curated by Leonor Jonker. The exhibition explores Acker’s roots in the raw New York underground of the 1970s and avant-garde performance art, and examines the central role of the body in her work, her use of cut-up techniques, and her political ideas. It is the first presentation of Kathy Acker’s work in the Netherlands. Alongside her writing practice, Acker explored her identity and persona. She modified her body with tattoos and piercings and saw bodybuilding as a physical counterpart to her writing: exploring the possibilities of what a woman could be. During this one-day festival, writers, artists and musicians will engage with Acker’s radical work. Kathy Acker was ahead of her time in addressing themes such as gender and identity, challenged patriarchy and capitalism, and grappled with philosophical questions surrounding meaning and insatiable desire. Her work resonates with a new generation searching for freedom and possibilities at a time when hypercapitalism is thriving and women’s rights are under increasing pressure. Influenced by postmodern feminist theory, Acker increasingly made her ideas about language and feminism explicit. Her focus shifted from deconstruction towards the creation of new myths. During the festival, we explore the relevance of Acker’s work in 2027. How does the body write? How can language undermine patriarchy? Is there still room for disruption and transgression in literature? Expect talks, interviews, music and performance. Daniel Schulz, AnnaMaria Pinaka, Tessel Veneboer, Hester Scheurwater, Marianna Maruyama & Hessel Veldman, Leonor Jonker and more! The program will follow.