Feminism

Womenhouse @ SOMArts, Apr 16

7 April 2014

On April 16, San Francisco’s SOMArts will host a 2-hour panel discussion on ‘Art, Performance & Legitimacy’, followed by a performance from Womenhouse, a temporary drag queen feminist collective.

Following the recent opening of the Work More #6 group exhibition, which brings a taste of San Francisco’s avant-garde drag culture to the confines of a gallery space, the panel will explore the notion of authenticity and “outsider art”, featuring speakers such as Work More #6 curator Sarah Sass Biscarra-Dilley, Julie Phelps of Counterpulse, Bettie-Sue Hertz of YBCA, as well as Matt Sussman of Art Practical, and moderated by Cara Rose DeFabio.

The panel will also consider the return of performance art to the gallery world and the consequences of drag and other queer performances entering the conversation, from the ways in which it could legitimize the form to the dangers of commodification of queer culture.

After the 2-hour panel discussion, members of the group Womenhouse – inspired by the 1972 feminist art installation and performance space, Womanhouse – will enact performances throughout the evening. To find out more about more about the event, visit the official event website or get details directly on our aqnb event listing.**

Work MORE! #6 group exhibition. Image courtesy SOMArts.
Work MORE! #6 group exhibition. Image courtesy SOMArts.
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Yoko’s Meltdown starts this week

12 June 2013

After last year’s Antony Hegarty-curated festival, featuring the likes of CocoRosie and Marina Abramovic, London’s Southbank Centre continues its feminist thread with icon Yoko Ono curating the program for Meltdown 2013. Running from Friday, June 14 to Sunday, June 23 artists to appear include Patti Smith, Siouxsie Sioux, Boy George and the Guerrilla Girls. The Let’s Start A Pussy Riot book, featuring creative responses from the likes of Robyn, Kara Walker and Bianca Casady will be launched during their ‘Activism’ weekend, which will also feature Peaches and Peggy Seeger in conversation, discussion with legendary fashion designer Katherine Hamnett and screening of The (R)evolution of Immortal Technique.

We’re most excited about seeing Peaches’ performance of Yoko Ono’s Cut Piece, Kim Gordon and Bill Nace’s experimental duo Body/Head with a special appearance by No Wave legend Ikue Mori, 90s cult rock band Cibo Matto and Yoko Ono’s Plastic Band on Friday. With any luck we’ll get a rendition of ‘Kiss, Kiss, Kiss’ from Ono’s 2007 release I’m a Witch with Peaches or, better yet, her cover of Katy Perry’s ‘Fireworks’, which you can see below. See the Meltdown website for more info.

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Femme/Objet Linder Sterling exhibition review

7 February 2013

How do you like your woman? Well-done? Medium? Raw?

British artist Linder Sterling is currently showing her first retrospective exhibition at Paris’ Musée d’Art Moderne (MaM). Around 200 pieces are on display, selected from work produced over the last forty years.

Sans titre, 1978 ©Linder (courtesy of MaM)
Sans titre, 1978 ©Linder (courtesy of MaM)

Entitled “Femme/Objet” (Woman/Object), the clue is in the exhibition’s name – if you haven’t already heard of Linder, synonymous with feminism. She’s been hailed as a radical, but this description risks damaging the artist’s intentions and the efforts of equal-rights campaigners, regardless of her controversial style. There’s nothing radical in the observation of the notion of Woman, nor in the subsequent deconstruction of gender stereotyping. In fact, it’s very, very basic: dismantling the way we see things to uncover not simply their essence, but ours. Continue reading Femme/Objet Linder Sterling exhibition review

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