A Manifesto for Yugofuturism: Maska’s Tools and Strategies for Imagining Possible (Feminist) Futures Inspired by Regional Pasts

The article analytically synthesises the growing archive of insights from artists and writers gathered around the non-governmental organisation Maska, a performing arts production and publishing house from Slovenia, on the newly coined concept and movement called Yugofuturism. Five aspects of Yugofuturism are determined and unpacked. First, Yugofuturism is positioned historically, geographically and through a generational, post-Yugoslav perspective. It is further examined in its relation to the historical avant-gardes. As its inspiration came from Hungarofuturism and Afrofuturism, it is then compared to these movements. Similarly to other neofuturist movements, especially Afrofuturism, it strives to affirm its own voice and thus creating a possible future in a space where there is allegedly none. Yugofuturism is also examined in its complex relation to feminisms, and finally pinpointed as a techno-imaginary, a creative shaping of a future that takes into consideration how technology (in this case the tools developed by the site yufu.kompot.si) is reshaping the world. Yugofuturism is thus outlined as a creative strategy that employs past potentialities as well as fictions to construct a future world – one where we have learned to use failure strategically, to better resolve upcoming adversities.