Monica Lennon

Monica Lennon is a Scottish Labour and Co-operative Member of the Scottish Parliament. Passionate about gender equality and women’s health, she spearheaded a campaign to combat period poverty and introduced the ground-breaking Period Products (Free Provision) (Scotland) Act. The legislation passed in 2020, making Scotland the first country in the world to introduce universal free access to menstrual products for all citizens who need them.

Dr. Louise Newson

Dr. Louise Newson is a multi-hyphenate champion committed to increasing awareness and understanding of perimenopause and menopause. She is an award-winning doctor, a women’s hormone specialist, a member of the UK Government’s Menopause Taskforce, educator and best-selling author. Described as “the medic who kickstarted the menopause revolution”, she has empowered a generation of women to gain greater understanding, choice and control over their health journeys.

Tammy Sheldon

Tammy Sheldon is the co-founder and chair of the trailblazing grassroots initiative Neighborhood Feminists. On a mission to end period poverty, the organisation works from a feminist and anti-racist perspective to organise local, direct-impact projects. For the past five years their “menstruation stations” have provided free period products to the public in Amsterdam. In 2022, Neighborhood Feminists published Amsterdam’s first-ever survey on period poverty.

René Boer

René Boer works as a critic, curator and organizer in and beyond the fields of architecture, design, heritage and the arts. In his practice he articulates new perspectives on spatial conditions and facilitates fertile ground for imagining and materialising alternatives.  Based between Cairo and Amsterdam, he is a founding partner of Loom, a practice for cultural transformation. His latest book, Smooth City, explores the politics of city design, challenging the obsession with urban ‘perfection’.

Aida Bilajbegovic

Aida is programme manager with a focus on health at WOMEN Inc., one of the most dynamic NGOs in the Netherlands, dedicated to driving gender equality forward. She is a Bosnian-Dutch medical anthropologist and feminist. Before joining WOMEN Inc., she worked as a senior programme officer at Rutgers, a Dutch centre of expertise on sexual and reproductive health and rights, where she managed various programmes in Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Zambia and Malawi.

Menstrual Matters

Menstrual Matters is a popular event series curated by the community-led collective The Ovaries and Crampy. With a focus on honest, inclusive dialogue, the series unpacks the often-unspoken realities of menstrual, reproductive, and sexual health. Through storytelling, connection, and shared experience, Menstrual Matters creates a powerful space for learning, unlearning, and action. Menstrual Matters will lead a vital Gossip Session on endometriosis.

Letizia Chiappini 

Letizia Chiappini is co-founder of the collective Slutty Urbanism – a cyborg creature that is fertilised with gender theory, digital feminism, urban sociology and histories of urban planning. In her work, Letizia Chiappini critiques extractive digital markets and develops tools for understanding grassroots initiatives and resistance practices that can be supported by new urban digital platforms. She uses her expertise in research and activism as a tenured Assistant Professor of Digital Geography and Urban Sociology at the University of Twente.

Fillip Studios

Fillip Studios is an internationally acclaimed art and design studio led by Roos Meerman and Tom Kortbeek. Their work sparks connection and wonder, blending cutting-edge technology with deep collaboration in the realms of science, culture and industry. In partnership with Radboud University Medical Center, they recently explored a radical rethinking of vaginal pessaries—devices worn by 1.8 million women in the Netherlands—to imagine a more women-centred future for pelvic health.

Radhieka Bansidhar

Radhieka Bansidhar founded Menstrucation at just 20, driven by the gap she saw in menstrual education during her own school years. As a cycle educator working with middle schoolers in Rotterdam, she speaks directly and openly with young people — of all genders — about periods, pain, and support. By demystifying period products and encouraging empathy in the classroom, Radhieka is equipping the next generation with knowledge, confidence, and body literacy.

Petra Kroon

Long-time Bloody Beautiful ambassador Petra Kroon is an artist — though, as she puts it, “not the kind of art you’d want to hang above your couch.” Working through journalism and photography, she explores deeply existential and sharply political themes, from medical misogyny to the stigma of loneliness. Her most recent research at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague offers a searing critique of clichéd visual portrayals of menopausal people, captured in her powerful book Silenced Womb.

Maria Carmen Punzi

Maria Carmen Punzi is a self-proclaimed “biggest fan of the menstrual cycle you will ever meet”. Her PhD in menstrual health was completed at the Erasmus University business school – where she explored how companies can integrate menstrual health into the workplace and how organisations can challenge period taboos through the way they communicate their products. As an activist, academic and menstruation educator, she actively translates research into advocacy and social change, contributing to public debates on femtech, menstrual equity and reproductive rights.

Dr. Natalie Dixon

Dr. Natalie Dixon is co-founder of the international Bloody Beautiful movement for celebrating stories about menstruation and menopause using art and design reaching more than half a million people in its mission. Natalie is a born storyteller, researcher and writer with a passion for narratives from the margins. She has 25 years experience in the cultural and media fields with a current focus on how powerful creative tools can create more equitable and diverse public conversations about women's health.

Klasien van de Zandschulp

Klasien van de Zandschulp is co-founder of the Bloody Beautiful movement for celebrating stories about menstruation and menopause using art and design. Klasien is the creative driving force behind the story-based and participatory experiences that are exhibited as part of the movement, blending digital/physical and online/offline interactions. Her creative practice explores sensory design, embodiment, rituals, augmented  realities, human interaction and (radical) thoughts around our daily technology consumption.

Dr. Camilla Mørk Røstvik

Dr. Camilla Mørk Røstvik is Associate Professor in History at the University of Agder in Norway with a longstanding research interest in the history, cultures and art of menstruation. Her first book, Cash Flow: The Businesses of Menstruation (2022), focused on capitalism and menstrual product history. In it she offers a sharp feminist take on menstrual capitalism and the product-solution mindset of the menstrual product industry.

Thaïs Zuchetti

Thaïs Zuchetti is a Brazilian-born multidisciplinary designer specialised in architecture. Alongside her career as an architect in the Netherlands, she recently graduated with an MSc in Architecture from the Academy of Architecture with her graduation project Lunar Lessons: Habitat for Interplanetary Living. As part of her extensive two-year research, Zuchetti participated in an analogue mission at the Analogue Astronaut Center in Poland. During this time, she kept a period journal to monitor changes in her menstrual cycle in the simulated space environment.

Frank Bosma

Frank Bosma is a creative developer connecting people with purpose through playful experiences, whether that's online or offline. Frank has been a passionate developer for 25 years, always keeping up with the ever evolving digital landscape of languages, libraries and methodologies - which means he never has a dull moment. His expertise ranges from apps, services, installations and sites to VR and 3D design. Projects he collaborated on have been shown at highly renowned festivals like SXSW, Cannes Festival’s Immersive Competition and the Venice Biennale.

Patricia Nagtzaam

Patricia Nagtzaam is an interaction designer passionate about exploring the intersection of ubiquitous systems, communication tools, and speculative techno-ecological interactions. Through this feminist practice, they question the ways technology and materiality might be innovatively used to foster ethical and intimate connections with The Other.
They recently started their MA New Media at Aalto University in Finland, and are part of developing cyborg-style heat-sensor wearables for Hot Flash Dance Clash.

Guanyan Wu

Guanyan Wu is a graphic designer and artistic researcher based in Amsterdam, working across the public and cultural sectors, and commercial brands. Seeing design as an inherently interdisciplinary practice, she earned an MA in Social Design from Design Academy Eindhoven, where she developed skills in design research, object making, and sound practice. As a DJ, Guanyan plays high-tempo, bass-heavy sets that move fluidly through breakbeats, guaracha, dembow, techno, and more, blending in nostalgic mandopop and canto-pop from her heritage to generate an energy that is both communal and personal. 

Nicolette Lazarus

When Nicolette Lazarus founded the community and online platform Womanship, it was driven by a deeply personal motivation: she felt a certain type of conversation was missing. She created Womanship to offer safe, empowering spaces for women to “Share More, Worry Less.” Drawing on her research into how and why women worry, she supports women in validating one another through shared life transitions, connecting them with trusted health professionals and hosting events where she moderates intimate Empathy Circles. With over 30 years of experience in the creative industries, Nicolette is now the Chief Connection Officer of Womanship and a spokesperson for female empowerment, DEI and entrepreneurship. 

MAIN HALL

10:00 - 10:25
Bloody Beautiful Opening Talk: The Art of Breaking Taboo
Speaker: Dr.Natalie Dixon (affect lab)

10:25 - 10:30
Bloody Beautiful Artist Feature

10:30 - 11:10
Bloody Beautiful Talk
Speaker: Monica Lennon (Member of Scottish Parliament)

11:30 - 12:10
Bloody Beautiful Discussion: Design
Speakers: Fillip Studios - Roos Meerman & Tom Kortbeek, Dr. Mirjam Weemhoff (Zuyderland Medisch Centrum), Dr. Kim Notten (Radboud UMC)

12:10 -12:15
Bloody Beautiful Artist Feature

12:15 - 12:55
Bloody Beautiful Discussion: Public Space
René Boer (Loom), Thaïs Zuchetti (Lunar Architect), Letizia Chiappini (Slutty Urbanism)

12:55 - 13:00 
Bloody Beautiful Artist Feature

13:00 - 14:00
LUNCH 

14:00 - 14:40
Bloody Beautiful Talk 
Speaker: Maria Carmen Punzi (VU, Erasmus University)

14:40 - 15:20
Bloody Beautiful Discussion: Period Justice
Speakers: Tammy Sheldon (Neighborhood Feminists), Aida Bilajbegovic (Women Inc.), Radhieka Bansidhar (Menstrucation) 

15.30 - 15.35
Bloody Beautiful Artist: Hot Flash Dance Clash

15:35 - 16:15
Bloody Beautiful Discussion: Femtech

16:15 - 16:55
Bloody Beautiful Discussion: Art
Speakers: Camilla Mørk Røstvik (University of Agder), Debra Knoop

17:10 - 17:50
Bloody Beautiful Talk (Online)
Speaker: Dr. Louise Newson (Menopause expert, Newson Health)

17:50-18:00
Closing Talk

18.00 - 19.00
Bloody Beautiful Drinks 🩸🥂

More programme updates soon. 

20:00 - 22:30
Opening Night with Hot Flash Dance Clash and Bleeding Into the Metaverse

The Bloody Beautiful Festival kicks off at Amsterdam’s iconic nightclub Doka on the 2nd October 2025 with the premiere of Hot Flash Dance Clash - an interactive game and dance battle.  By coming together on the dance floor, the project highlights the physical experiences of people with cycles and celebrates them. 

The equation is:
hacking x dance-off = Hot Flash Dance Clash.

Together with affect lab, feminist interaction designer Patsy Nagtzaam has been creating cyborg-style heat-sensor wearables that sync with a data collector developed by creative coder Frank Bosma. These sensors will be worn during the dance session, allowing participants to track their own (and collective) body temperature in real time. To really set the vibe, DJ and designer Guanyan Wu will be igniting the dance floor.

Right after, we’re hosting a ‘Bleeding into the Metaverse’ party featuring a remixed video artwork from our 2023 collab with Sputniko!