Cheap Festival and its evolution
In 2012 six women started a Street Art festival, in Bologna. This shape, with this formula, has been going on for five years.
Meantime the needs have changed and with them the CHEAP’s way of expression has changed too.
The special aspect of this collective (or project, or form of expression) is the sensibility with wihich they focused on needs, doing it through art forms and collaborations that always change. This leads the public debate to awake in Bologna and and in other places.
The meaning of these artworks is very clear because they have a short time span and so “Be focused!”
But it is pretty simple, especially if you live in Bologna, because you can turn the corner and bump into these posters (yes, it is paper. An evergreen medium that will be always powerful, if it were used thoughtfully).
CHEAP incites to do something, to be part of this change, with real actions.
Already in 2018 MissMe, artful vandal, was invited to create a street poster art in Viale Masini that said: "SHUT UP, RATHER SPEAKS".
Focused on an important topic and a deep reflection about what does it means to be born in a body’s woman. The claims of MissMe are uncompromising and they ask loudly to reflect “I didn’t came from your rib, you came from my VAGINA”.
On the last summer there was a collaboration with School of Feminism, international platform promoting feminism in our society through the instruction and the communication.
Together, School of Feminism and CHEAP, realized the “THANKS A FEMINIST” campaign of communication.
“If you are a woman and you can vote, thank a feminist”.
Pressure and need for a concrete and current feminism, but also don’t forget how women worked to conquer women's rights, through years of political, social and cultural struggles.
Today. The fight.
Bologna is contaminated by new billboards around Via Indipendenza, there are 25 posters between walls and arcades. This time there are many authors and each has a different role, there are cartoonists, street artists, graphic designers and many others; maybe you already know all of them, but it also can be an opportunity to discover something new.
New style, various topics, new colour but everything joined by a message: the fight is FICA. Finally the women take possession of their image. A female vision of what is female.
As during the life time, in this campaign different topics are mixed.
You can compare yourself with the body positivity, the diversity, the naked, the gender violence, and the anti-racism, because the fight isn’t unidirectional or exclusive.
We can fight and affirm together the rights of men and women.