Feminist Art and Exhibitions: History and Challenges

Online course with Anja Foerschner

Duration: Apr 08 – Apr 29, 2020
Fee: 154€
Max seats: 34
Enroll before: Apr 4, 2020
Dedication: 3 hrs/week

Since its emergence in the early 1960s, Feminist Art has remained one of the most relevant political art forms of our time. Pioneering and utilizing innovative art forms such as conceptual art, performance art, video art, and body art, as well as reinventing forms of expression traditionally considered “female”—such as fiber art or ceramics—feminist artists continue to radically challenge social, cultural, and political norms as they relate to women and, in particular, women artists.

This course will look at how feminist thinking has influenced the arts since the 1960s, both in Western as well as selected non-Western contexts. It will present the foundational feminist theories that furthered the radicalization of female artists and trace their manifestation in the visual arts. Due to its strong political content and often taboo-breaking visuality, feminist art continues to present its own set of challenges to curators and museum professionals. The course will introduce students to the most important exhibitions of feminist art and discuss their strategies, premises, and criticism. In addition, the course will present curatorial practices and exhibition formats that follow feminist premises.

The course will include archival material as well as video and photo documentation of key feminist art works and exhibitions. Participants will be given a reading list and weekly assignments.

Program

Week 1: First and Second Generation Feminist Art

• Key Feminist Texts and Theories
• First Generation Feminist Art: Key figures and works
• The female body as political tool
• Second Generation Feminist Art: Key artists and works

Week 2: Global Feminisms

• Terminological problems and the “Western Lens” in Feminist Art
• Feminist Art in Latin America
• Feminist Art in the former Soviet Union
• Feminist Art in former Yugoslavia

Week 3: Alternative Venues and Feminist Exhibitions

• Feminist Artists’ Initiatives and Alternative Venues
• History of Feminist Exhibitions
• Key exhibitions of Feminist Art: strategies, premises, and criticism
• Challenges of Feminist Art for curators and museum professionals

Week 4: Feminist Curatorial Practice and Contemporary Feminism

• Feminist strategies of curating
• Institutional Critique
• Community-based and participatory approaches
• Archival Practice
• Non-linearity
• Post-Feminism vs. Contemporary Feminism