the livingblog » feminist art

Join the Open Process

hannah — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 19:53:40 +0000

This evening, March 2, join us at Intersection for the Arts for “Clips and Conversation”, part of their Open Process series and an unprecedented opportunity presented by Bay Area Women in Film and Media! Not only will participants get a sneak peek of clips from TWO forthcoming documentaries about feminist art- Lynn’s !Women Art Revolution: a (formerly!) secret history, and Joan Braderman’s The Heretics- but they’ll also participate in a post-screening forum with Lynn, The Heretics producer Crescent Diamond, BAWIFM President Simone Nelson, and other exciting academic and artistic voices. Considering !WAR won’t be released until Fall 2010, this will truly be an evening to remember and a chance to get in on the ground floor of the dialogue this project will generate across the art world. Here at the livingblog, we hope to collect and disseminate this dialogue as much as we can. In the meantime, take yourself here for more details. Of course, for BAWIFM members, the event is free.

Putting on the !WAR Paint

hannah — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 19:35:19 +0000

As you may or may not have noticed, there have been a few changes to the digital face of the livingblog lately. In anticipation (and celebration!) of Lynn’s new documentary project, !Women Art Revolution: a (formerly!) secret history, we’ve been doing some renovations!

An inspiring film about freedom of expression and the influence of the feminist art movement on American culture, this groundbreaking documentary film combines forty years of stunning interviews with archival footage and a searing Riot-Grrrl-steeped soundtrack to tell the story of feminism and art:

!Women Art Revolution elaborates the relationship of the Feminist Art Movement to the 1960s anti-war and civil rights movements and explains how historical events, such as the all-male protest exhibition against the invasion of Cambodia, sparked the first of many feminist actions against major cultural institutions. The film details major developments in women’s art of the 1970s, including the first feminist art education programs, political organizations and protests, alternative art spaces such as the A.I.R. Gallery and Franklin Furnace in New York and the Los Angeles Women’s Building, publications such as Chrysalis and Heresies, and landmark exhibitions, performances, and installations of public art that changed the entire direction of art.

We here at the livingblog are proud to announce the official launch of the !WAR home page, as well as a plethora of ways to connect to the film, which has an anticipated release date of Fall 2010. The top sidebar on the right side of this page can direct you on how to get involved, and in the meantime, here’s a clip to tide you over, featuring Suzanne Lacy and Leslie Labowitz discussing their collaboration In Mourning and In Rage, and Judy Chicago discussing the first feminist art class at Fresno State University in 1970:

Revolution Art-Style Now!

hannah — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 19:39:35 +0000

As you might have heard, Lynn is currently in post-production on the documentary film !WOMEN ART REVOLUTION a (formerly) secret history, to be completed in Spring of 2010. The livingblog is thrilled to reveal the brand new trailer, hot off the Final Cut timeline!

This month in ARTnews is the “Feminist Evolution” issue, and an article of the same name examines the state of gender equality in the art world, especially New York. Author Phoebe Hoban investigates the exhibiting and collecting practices of many institutions, inlcuding the Whitney, MoMA, and Guggenheim, and the good news is, there’s lots of good news. It seems that for these art centers, a focus on collecting and displaying significant female artists has been the legacy of 2007’s trifecta of feminist art surveys. Among the most significant events this year include the upcoming publication of MoMA’s curatorial investigation of all its department’s collections from a feminist perspective, Individuals: Women Artists at the Museum of Modern Art (working title).

Despite this seeming coup, and the fact that these contemporary art centers are investing in even more female artists than ever, there is a persistent ambivalence: Jerry Saltz has recently criticized the MoMA’s lack of female artists in the painting and sculpture galleries, which he believes is a clear falsification of the story of Modernism.

!WOMEN ART REVOLUTION a (formerly) secret history is slated for completion in Fall of 2010. The launch of the film’s official website is imminent!

Reflections on the Electric Mirror

theo — Sat, 16 May 2009 03:27:45 +0000

Did we take the title of this post from one of Lynn’s past works? No Ma’am. This is the title of a new exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum: “Reflections on the Electric Mirror: New Feminist Video”.

But, as the web site points out:

“The exhibition title Reflections on the Electric Mirror is taken from an eponymous essay written in the 1970s by artist/filmmaker Lynn Hershman that examines the link between television and video art. The mirror serves as an apt metaphor for work in which artists use their own images for various types of subjectivity and self-analysis, ranging from role playing to autobiography.”

That means that this post itself is but a reflection of a reflection of a reflection, which begs the question, “who is the fairest of them all?” Well, don’t ask us. We are just bottom feeders here.