5 VOICES FOR 1

 

“BILOURA is an international performance company that operates worldwide: with creativity, dance, songs and lots of fun it helps women victim of trafficking and violence to take up their voice and communicate through art by expressing themselves through creative languages. In Austria too, the power-women of BILOURA are working with the support of FOOTPRINT and LEFÖ IBF, in order to improve the women's life quality by strengthening their self-perception and identity.”

 NGO FOOTPRINT - Vienna 2018

 

 

5 VOICES FOR 1 is a long-term research project around the issues of prostitution, trafficking and the ab-use of female bodies within the sex industry. The project explores the artistic possibilities of creating echoes and attention around silenced voices of women in prostitution. With a transdisciplinary approach, BILOURA is studying the phenomena under different perspectives: social, economical, cultural, psychological, physical, gender. The title 5 VOICES FOR 1 stands symbolically for the utopia that with each unheard, silenced voice, 5 new voices shall create echoes. It was chosen due to the fact that one first observation on the phenomena had been how poor the open, public discussion on the topic is, and how little prostitutes themselves are being heard, as marginalization, social stigma and huge economical interests silence their voices.

 

The project includes so fare:

  • UNHEARD - a series of creative workshops with former trafficked women in several countries
  • ECHOS - visual sound installations projecting trafficked and marginalized women's voices into public urban spaces
  • FLESH - a dance and sound performance that explores the ab-use of female bodies within the sex industry
  • SILENT VOICES - a performance created by 6 artists from Europe and Asia approaching the topic from an  intercultural global perspective. The performance will be developed within an International Performing Arts Residency at the Asian Cultures Center in Gwangju, South Corea, in 2021.
5 VOICES FOR 1 originates 2017 in Italy, where BILOURA met several trafficked prostitutes from Africa, who created a strong impact on the artists on a personal level. From the observation of their fragile situation as well as the tremendous power and strength of these women, who experience the unimaginable, was born the desire to create an artistic project around women working in the sex industry. 

The substantial aim of 5 VOICES FOR 1 is to create attention on the phenomenon of sexual exploitation of women around the globe, trafficking, prostitution as cultural and economical issue. It also aims to give a stage to women in prostitution, who the Collective meets and who's stories it collects: precious witnesses, voices of who today, at this very moment, is working in the sex business in Europe and elsewhere. BILOURA believes it is very important to hear them and for the whole society to question itself on prostitution phenomenon. For this reason, the project 5 VOICES FOR 1 creates various interventions as performances, installations and workshops, in order to raise the public attention and awareness and stimulating the dibate.

 

 

 UNHEARD VOICES

Unheard Voices is a series of creative workshops with former trafficked and marginalized women. The creative work with the women turns around empowerment, self-esteem, freedom and fight against social stigma. From these meetings with the women, sound material about their cultures, their everyday life and their future dreams is captured. Not the trafficking, but the woman behind it is put at the centre of attention. The women themselves take the voice and determine the content of their voices.

First workshops with trafficked women took place in summer 2017 in collaboration with the NGO TAMPEP in Turin, Italy. With the desire to bring the artistic work with trafficked women to Austria, Angie Rottensteiner - coordinator of the project 5 VOICES FOR 1 - applied successfully for the States Grant for Performing Arts 2017 given by the Ministry of Culture of Austria. The workshops with former trafficked women were held from January to June 2018 in collaboration with the NGOs FOOTPRINT and LEFÖ IBF in Vienna.

 

 

ECHO

ECHO is a visual sound installation, projecting marginalized voices of women in prostitution into public urban spaces, in order to overcome the silence around their existance and rise public awarness about protitution phenomenon.

During the artistic work with trafficked women in Vienna - Austria from January to June 2018 sound material was captured in the creative workshops as well as in interviews. From this material was created a first sound teaser, featuring their voices.