OLYMPIA, WA

Anarchist activism to community organizing, Riot Grrrl feminism to queer politics, early indie music to

DIY craft, Evergreen State to the Sex Workers Art Show . . . Olympia is built on opposition.

This film shows Olympia as a “terrible city”, or one that hasn‟t opened up to a new state of becoming .

COMMUNE: A Film about Free Spaces in Olympia,

is a DIY documentary-style video presented by

The Free Space Project, The Imaginary Party, and

the Bureau of Unmediated Experiences.

COMMUNE Parts 1-8

RIOT GRRRL

The Riot Grrrl Manifesto

We Are the Grrrls: Women in Music Before,

During, and After Riot Grrrl

BECAUSE us girls crave records and books and fanzines that speak

to US that WE feel included in and can understand in our own ways.

BECAUSE we wanna make it easier for girls to see/hear each other's

work so that we can share strategies and criticize-applaud each other.

A Brief Visual History of Riot Grrrl Zines

Girls to the Front: The True Story of the

Riot Grrrl Revolution

RIOT GRRRL LIVES ON

Ladyfest Ten (2010)

Video Interview with Gretchen

Wagner, Assistant Curator

(MoMA New York) on

Riot on the Page: Thirty Years of Zines

by Women

The very first

Ladyfest, a

community-

based, nonprofit

women‟s

music/art

festival, was held

in Olympia in

2000.

Kathleen Hanna‟s

Blog

JIGSAW

UNDERGROUND:

Tobi Vail‟s Blog

MUSIC

Olympia‟s independent music culture is a subject deep and vast enough for its own project(s).

Here are a handful of recent or current feminist-oriented musicians, projects, and businesses.

Listen to Gossip‟s new album, Music for Men .

This recent sensation of a band actually

formed over 10 years ago and played

Ladyfest 2000.

Marissa Magic is a

punk-noise musician

and music writer for

such websites as

Maximum Rock n Roll,

originally a punk zine.

Ex-Bikini Kill Tobi Vail

interviews her for Vail‟s

JIGSAW

UNDERGROUND.

KRS is a queer-positive, feminist, artist-friendly

Olympia record label started in 1991. It is now one

of the few female-run record labels in the US. And

encourages other women to start their own.

FILM & VIDEO

Bridget Irish, film/video artist,

teacher, curator, and blogger

Film and Destroy: to

present, support and

encourage independent

and experimental work by,

for and about women.

Olympia Film Society, a 501(c)(3) since

1980, hosts daily/weekly special

screenings at the historic Capitol

Theater, as well as the annual Olympia

Film Festival (27 years old). Film/video

by and about women

and other underrepresented artists is

well-represented in regular and festival

programming, especially compared to

film culture in other parts of the US. Integrated ArtsThe 2010 Olympia Film Festival

featured performances by queer

feminist punk banks Gossip and

The Need.

PERFORMANCE ART

“New Whore Order”

The Sex Workers Art Show is a

tour of visual/performance art

by women in the sex industry

that works to “dispel the myth

that they are anything but artists,

innovators, and geniuses!”Watch a clip of Erin Markey‟s performance from SWAS 2008.

Wynne Greenwood was Tracy + the Plastics (1999-2005), a queer-

feminist multimedia project exploring social politics and theory

through art, irony, and humor. Greenwood performed live in front

of per-recorded videos of herself as two other characters (members

of her “band”). T + P “broke down the fourth wall” to make

participatory art and media experiences.

TRASHY REMIX (RU BY RE - U SABL E)

Bride and Groom from the

White Trash Wedding series.

All images © 2007 Diane Kurzynawww.rubyreusable.com

www.rubyreusable.com/artblog

Bag Lady in the Alley (sculpture)

While recycled materials is the

common theme of her work,

[Ruby] employs a variety of

techniques to create installations,

sculptures, dolls, baskets, masks,

quilts and other wall pieces.

Inspired by a variety of sources,

[Ruby] feels a kindred spirit with

folk artists through the ages.

BLOGS & ZINES

Grrrl Zine NetworkWhile not specific to

Olympia, this digital global

archive and resource site for

feminist, queer, and trans

zines—founded by feminist

scholar and Elke Zobl--is

inspired by the Riot Grrrl

zine culture of the „90s.

Double Take is a show about and by

DIY and Feminist artists, musicians, and

social justice workers. We call it a „Feminist

Video Zine‟ because our media content is

inspired by zine aesthetics and DIY ethos.

- From Double Take website, a

project of Evergreen State College

Olympia Feminist BlogrollTobi Vail: JIGSAW

UNDERGROUNDJIGSAW‟S Feminist Theory

Bridget Irish: Shenanigans and SuchKathleen Hanna

TRANSMEDIA

RESOURCES

Tracy + the Plastics Video Links (2001-2005)

Olympia Radical Film Collective

Feminist Memory

Ladyfest/Grassroots Feminism Network

Girls to the Front: A History of Riot Grrrl(book tour, public dialogue @ local library