Symposium
Saturday 3 December
Goldsmiths University, Ben Pimlott Building, 10am-5pm
Free, no refreshment provided
For more information contact Althea Greenan: a.greenan@gold.ac.uk
Access: see attached campus map and for additional info: http://www.gold.ac.uk/find-us/
The symposium is collaboration between The Women’s Art Library and BAG Women (Brixton Art Gallery women artists group) to coincide with Brixton Calling! exhibition at 198 Contemporary Arts and Learning (28 October – 21 December 2012).
Women Artists, Feminism in the 80s and Now is a cross generational symposium that examines the legacy of UK 80s women artists and feminists in the light of current feminist practice and thinking.
The symposium aims to recall 80s Feminist practice, thinking, debates and campaigns and discuss their relevance today for a new generation of women artists and feminists.
The symposium is part of a series of events, held during Brixton Calling! including a 3 day 80s Women Lens Based Media Event (10-12 November 2011, Brixton Village). For more information contact: e-mail: info@198.org.uk
Brixton Calling! (2011) is a collaborative and participatory project, connecting contemporary Brixton to its past through the history of 1980s Brixton Art Gallery & Artists Collective and their archives. Based at the Brixton Art Gallery, 2 women artists groups: Women's Work and Black Women In View, initiated and curated ambitious and powerful exhibitions and led courses, conferences and public events; contributing to local and international political campaigns and debates around Feminist art and aesthetics, sexuality, race and gender.
For Brixton Calling! exhibition, artists Françoise Dupré and Rita Keegan have created an Archives Installation, celebrating the contribution Women Artists and Feminism made to the Brixton Art Gallery. For the project, Dupré and Keegan have reactivated Brixton Art Gallery's network of women artists to form Brixton Calling! BAG Women.
Symposium Question and Themes
Debates about 80s feminist art often raise contradictory but relevant questions: 80s feminist art practice has been forgotten, parodied, emptied out of content, re-enacted, has produced paralyzing reverence and ongoing tension between past and present generations.
The symposium’s running question is:
Drawing from 80s Feminist aesthetics, ethics and practice, how can we today develop a critical and relevant feminist art practice?
It will be addressed by ‘young’ and ‘old’ feminists through panel and group discussions and a concluding plenary session.
Two interconnected themes have been identified:
· Body Politics (performativity, identity formation, race, sexuality)
· Public sphere (community engagement, education, places)
Symposium Format
Symposium’s Mistress of Ceremony: Rita Keegan, Brixton Calling! co curator
10am: Registration
10.15: Welcoming introduction by Rita Keegan
10.30am-10.45am: Introduction by Althea Greenan, Women’s Art Library curator
10.45-11.15am Introduo Rebecca Snow, Brixton Calling! volunteer and Françoise Dupré, Brixton Calling! project co-manager/curator
11.15am-12.45pm: Panel discussion
11.15am-12.15pm: Panel presentations (15 minutes each)
Artists Rosy Martin, Roxane Permar, Shanti Thomas, reflect individually upon 80s feminist engagement with Body Politics and the Public Sphere.
Catherine Grant addresses the tension and problematic about re-visiting 80s feminist art practice in the light of today feminism.
12.15pm-12.45pm: Panel discussion, moving debate forward for the afternoon sessions
12.45pm-1.30 Lunch
1.30pm-2.15pm: 3 group discussions responding to morning panel discussions to be lead by a younger generation of feminists including: Oriana Fox, Diana Georgiou, Rachael House, Rebecca Snow + more
Topics for the 3 groups: Body Politics, Education and third one to be identified on the day in response to the morning discussion
2.15-2.30: Break
2.30pm- 3.30pm: Group reports and panel discussion
3.30pm-3.45pm: Break
3.45-4.15pm: Bringing together by Rebecca Fortnum
4.15-5pm: audience response
5pm: end of symposium
