[in-enaction] 1980s revived: The Feminist Future (exhibit)

The Feminist Future: Theory and Practice in the Visual Arts
The Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA

Kristin M. Jones
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For ‘Body/Sexuality/Identity’, Beatriz Colomina explored Le Corbusier’s 
bizarre defacement of the Eileen Gray-designed villa E.1027, and Geeta 
Kapur addressed the ‘reconstruction of identity through the attenuation 
of identity’ in the work of Bombay artists Rumana Hussain and Navjot 
Altaf. Marina Abramovic’s talk on her ‘Balkan Erotic Epic’ series was 
fascinating, but there seemed to be a conflict when she denied being a 
‘feminist artist’ while mocking the male audio-visual personnel. The 
second day opened on a high note with Anne M. Wagner’s probing keynote 
in which she described works by artists ranging from Henry Moore to Yto 
Barrada as feminist, concluding, ‘the feminist imagination assumes many 
faces’, and worried about injustices that women face outside academia 
(her response to another talk’s gauzy optimism: ‘Nancy Pelosi as Speaker 
is not a sufficient solution’). For ‘Writing the History of Feminism’, 
David Joselit analysed works by Hannah Wilke and the Bernadette 
Corporation to argue that images are trans-gendered.

Despite such intriguing positions, issues that dogged Feminism in past 
decades remained vexing. ‘I feel like I’m gate-crashing a reunion’, 
admitted Wangechi Mutu before delivering a presentation on her work for 
the panel ‘Institutionalization of Feminism’, which concluded with a 
list of other women of colour who might have been invited. (Organizer 
Deborah Wye noted that one of the artists mentioned by Mutu was invited 
but unable to attend.) The implications of this bastion of Modernism 
playing host to such an event did not go unremarked. Helen Molesworth 
imagined works by Joan Snyder, Dana Schutz, Amy Sillman and Cindy 
Sherman hung together within its walls.

cont'd....
http://www.frieze.com/review_single.asp?r=2619