Making it Together vs WACK

In the past week I (finally) went to see the related, but very different, shows featuring feminist art from the 1970's and 80's, WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution at PS 1 and "Making It Together" at the Bronx Museum. While WACK! is a and sprawling show taking up two floors of PS1's rabbit warrens of galleries, Making It Together occupies a small, pink room of the Bronx Museum's North Building. WACK! has been heavily critiqued since it's opening in LA last spring and I don't want to regurgitate those critiques here. My main beef with the show was this: if I came in knowing nothing about feminism or feminist art, I certainly would not leave with any clear idea about what it was, is, or could be. The show feels static and dried out. There are very few wall labels or didactics that discuss who the artists were or the context in which the art was produced. While PS 1 and the LA MOCA had many public programs exploring these themes, there is no evidence of them in the galleries. WACK!'s installation at PS1 has sucked the energy, anger, messiness, collaboration and hope out of feminist art. It is very white and looks, well, very 1970's. While it was fantastic to see some works in person, the "why" was completely ignored and I left feeling like I might of well have just stayed home and read the catalogue.

By contrast "Making It Together," curated by Carey Lovelace, explores the moment where feminist artists collaborated to create no only art, but social change. Of course they featured Heresies, Womanhouse, and the founding of galleries such as A.I.R. They also included collectives I did not know about such as Spiderwoman Theatre, the Waitresses (shown here marching), and Judy Baca's large community mural project in downtown L.A. Each section of the show included a clearly written wall label (in both English and Spanish) and the catalogue was a free, takeaway, so you could take it with you in case you didn't want to spend your whole time in the gallery reading. While the collective projects features were still overwhelmingly white, the Bronx Museum show did a much better job of contextualizing feminism and feminist art. It showed women responding to pertinent issues of the day (sexism, the wage gap, war, violence against women, racism, poverty, the roles given to women in society, etc...) with creativity, rage and humor. It begs the question what is being done now to continue this legacy. A little bit of an answer is given by the large mural that you see when you enter the museum collectively painted by women graffiti artists including Lady Pink and Too Fly, and behind this, selections from the museums' permanent collection including work by Adrian Piper, Ana Mendieta, Tania Brugera and Carrie May Weems. The Bronx Museum has done what WACK! did not, which is emphasize that feminism is a living breathing entity, and it, like revolution, must be rooted in community, collaboration and exchange.

Future of Feminist Art Panel Wrap Up

Thank you to everyone who came out last weekend, as well to the panelists Jaishri Abichaidani, Sheila Pepe, Em 16 and Erica Cho, and moderators LO and Felix Gato, for making it such an interesting and successful event. At the panel, I hung back and acted as logistical support and took photos. It was so great to see the Forum space in the Sackler Center for Feminist Art was packed! From the panel I can see that dialogues around the direction that feminisms and feminist art is going is extremely important. Of course one panel on a Saturday afternoon isn't going to solve the many big questions surrounding race, class, culture and the gaps between generations in feminism. But something I noticed is how we need to create these spaces that are truly diverse (and I am proud to say I think this one was) more often in order to stop congratulating ourselves for being diverse and really talk about these issues. Critique is not complaining and I think we need to really open our ears and listen to each other when critiques are raised. It seems basic to say "open your ears" to other feminists, but I think this goes a long way to actually implementing the politics we profess to believe.

riffRAG Hosts Panel Saturday on the Future of Feminist Art

In the spirit of reflection and critical analysis, we hope that you will join us at the Brooklyn Museum this Saturday for a panel about the future of feminist art. On Saturday July 21, at 2pm riffRAG teams up with the Brooklyn Museum's new Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art to present a panel examining the future of feminist art. Join artists Sheila Pepe, Jaishri Abichandani, Erica Cho and Em Sixteen as they reflect critically on what's to come after the recent opening of many feminist exhibitions (moderated by editors Felix and LO).

Saturday, 2 p.m. The event is FREE with Museum admission and will be held at the Brooklyn Museum in the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art, 200 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn NY (2/3 Train to Brooklyn Museum).

I am really excited how well it fits in with the conversation they are having at Double-X art. I think at this point, the more conversations of this kind the better, as my fear is that this year with all the great feminist focused exhibitions will just be written off as "year of the feminist" and the structure of the art world (or, more importantly, society) will not change. This is why it is important to bring together many different feminist artists to discuss the present and future of feminist art. We hope that you will join us and add your voice to the conversation as well!

Feminist Art Base

As well as presenting interesting shows and public programs, the Brooklyn Museum's new Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art has created perhaps the first Feminist Art Base. In their words "This ever-growing database offers profiles from the most prolific contributors to feminist art from the 1960s to the present. Each profile includes multiple images, video and audio clips, short biographies, CVs, and 'Feminist Artist Statements.' "
It promises to be a great resource for scholars, curators and the curious alike, so check it out!

Brainstormers Report

Do you know about the fantastic, feminist performance group Brainstormers? I hope so, but if not, allow me to introduce you. These four, fabulous lady artists (I hope they don't mind me saying so) have made it their mission to address inequity in the art world through performances on the sidewalk outside of Chelsea galleries, outside of PS 1 during the Greater New York show and recently INSIDE the Brooklyn Museum during their First Saturday celebration in May. You can see photos of that performance on the Brooklyn Museum's flickr pages. The Brainstormers also produce regular reports that investiage the weather for women artists. They are fresh, funny and doing important work. It certainly makes me feel like we are acting more in solidarity and less in isolation when I see work like theirs.

Generations of Feminist Art (a review and a call to task)

There certainly is a buzz around feminist art, at least for those of us listening for it, with the opening of the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art at the Brooklyn Museum. This is underlined by the fact that this fantastic borough has also seen two other gallery shows focused around feminist art in the past month. Now, two is not many in the landscape of galleries, but I think that looking at them critically can make the point that feminist art is not a faddish thing that gets a reworking every 20 years or so, but a continuous movement of thinking about and creating artwork that deserves and demands way more attention than it gets and has gotten.

Let's start with "Women's Work: Homage to Feminist Art" a show that is still on view through May 13 at Tabla Rasa Gallery in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. The show was curated by venerable art critic Cindy Nemser. Nemser curated this show as a response to "Global Feminisms," the opening exhibition in the Brooklyn Museum's Sackler Center for Feminist Art. Nemser is upset that Global Feminisms does not include artists born before 1960. That cut off was a conscious, though difficult, decision by the curators to highlight artwork that could be classified as being part of the 3rd wave of feminism. Nemser wrote a scathing review and called the show "ageist." Might I point out that in our "ageist" society that women in their 40's are not considered "young" and that second wave feminist voices (like Nemser's) are still the ones being heard overwhelmingly in media coverage of feminist art and issues (as opposed to younger feminists)? Might I also point out that The Dinner Party by Judy Chicago occupies most of the Sackler Center for Feminist Art, providing at thoroughly second wave counter point to Global Feminisms?

In any event, I was excited about the impressive list of artists included in "Women's Work," including Eleanor Antin, Hannah Wilke, Howardena Pindell (who's work is above), and Dottie Attie (below). This is also probably one of the only gallery shows ever I could walk to from my house. When I got there it was, unfortunately, what I expected: A room full of older, white people (which does not at all reflect the demographic of the neighborhood). The art work itself was skillfully done and full of interesting ideas, but the show did not feel coherent enough. The only consistent theme seemed to be the fact the artists were feminist (which is a fine enough theme, but it made the show feel a little disjointed). The standout pieces were Howadena Pindells homage to victims of police violence (a very politically relevent choice considering the recent shooting death of Sean Bell) and Dottie Attie's small, three part painting. More distressing was the bitter tone of the wall text which seemed to be more about Cindy Nemser herself and how the show was a counterpoint to Global Feminisms than the individual and collective accomplishments of the artists exhibited. This added to my suspicion that Nemer's feeling of second wave artists being "slighted" by Global Feminisms (which is a temporary exhibition) wasn't really about these collective accomplishments of these artists, but about her own career. I heard two women remark as they read the wall text "So much for sisterhood is powerful."

In addition, Nemser's wall text eluded to artists of an "emerging third wave." If I check my feminist history, I think we could chart the third wave as emerging in the late 1980's or early 1990's. As many anthologies and feminists would attest, third wave ideas are not exactly new news. I think this show has powerful potential, but it's too bad the artwork got over shadowed by the curator's personal bitterness.

Another show (sadly closed now) was Re:Generation: Emerging Women Artists curated by Joan Snyder and Molly Snyder-Fink that was shown at Smack Mellon in DUMBO and the Kentler International Drawing Space in Red Hook, Brooklyn. In contrast to "Women's Work" I had never heard of any the artists exhibited. The show was a little hit or miss, my favorite pieces being the two shown below (unfortunately I missed the part of the show at the Kentler Drawing Center). Though this show was curated by two prominent feminist artists, the show itself did not seem to have overstated feminist content or wall text. If I hadn't known who the curators were I would have felt like it was a gallery show like any other. However, I think the idea of a mother/daughter collaboration is a fantastic idea and would love to hear the two curators expound on their ideas further and hear about the process, because in true feminist style, I think that is just as important as the product.

I would like to see feminists not playing into the game of being pitted against each other, as the media has been doing a good job to fan these flames. I would like us all to work together to address the ageism that effects both older and younger women in our society and create dialogues and Museum and gallery shows that reflect these goals. Feminism is not a career goal, it is an approach, a movement, a pratice...

Dottie Attie in "Women's Work"

This Dottie Attie piece was one of the strongest in the "Woman's Work: Homage to Feminist Art" show at Tabla Rasa Gallery in Sunset Park, Brooklyn.

Re:Generation (detail 2)

This mini faux revival tent included sound where you could hear the music and the sermon and was installed by riffRAG friend and supporter Michelle Dezember.

Re:Generation (detail)

This beautiful accordion book details violence and racism faced by Muslin and Arab communities after 9/11

Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art Blog

A great blog that all interested in feminist art should keep their eyes on lately is the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art blog (or EASCFA for short). The EASCFA will be opening on March 23rd on the Brooklyn Museum's 4th floor. There will be months of exciting programming and art, including an exhibition of contemporary feminist art called Global Feminisms. Those interested can keep themselve in the know by visiting http://eascfa.blogspot.com. There is also currently a very interesting entry about object conversation for an Egyptian statue for one of the upcoming shows, Pharaohs, Queens, and Goddesses, so if you ever wondered what bronze disease is, cruise over to their blog and find out!