The Smoqua international Festival of Queer and Feminist Culture is presented by a combination of an artistic, activist and fun programme and carries the theme Semo Qua in the local Fiuman dialect meaning Here we are.
This special outing of the international Smoqua Festival of Queer and Feminist Culture gathers together dozens of artists, activists and guests from Croatia, Canada, the USA, Russia, Great Britain, Norway, Austria, Cyprus, Greece and other countries. During the festival there are performances, a concert, an exhibition, artist and activist interventions in public spaces, workshops, panel discussions and other activities in order to introduce visitors to the importance of queer and feminist history and to experience queer and feminist culture.
The theme of Smoque 2020 is Semo Qua which in the local Fiuman dialect of the city means “here we are”, and the festival includes a series of premieres such as the activist exhibition 20 Years of LORI on Korzo and a Feminist Walk Through Rijeka which is based on the research of women who have left their mark on the history of city and whose contribution is largely unacknowledged and unrecognised today. One of the main participants in the festival is a Canadian artist from America Cassils (CA) who the Huffington Post highlighted as: “one of several transgender artists who are changing the image of contemporary art”, plus CUNTemporary (UK), one of the most significant queer artist collectives today.
Smoqua was begun in 2017 by the Lesbian Organisation Rijeka LORI in collaboration with the Human Rights and Civic Participation Association (PaRiter), the Centre for Women’s Studies at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Rijeka and the From the Citizens to their City Initiative arts organisation as a blend of art and activism that examines the social norms. LORI, as the first registered lesbian organisation in Croatia, is celebrating twenty years of work in 2020.