Matadero Madrid inaugurated next January 30 at 19:00, Guerrilla Girls 1985-2015. An exhibition that compiles almost all the work done by the American feminist art collective Guerrilla Girls and inaugurates a series of events for 2015 will commemorate the 30th anniversary of the foundation of the collective.
Along with his iconic posters, organized in a chronological sequence, a series of documents that generate a "context" that tells about the history and production processes Guerrilla Girls is. With publications, sweatshirts, correspondence, documentation of actions and exhibitions and other files of the group you can also watch the documentary Guerrillas in Our Midst, by Amy Harrison in 1992, and the video interview with members of the group, who performed the Commissioner Xabier Arakistain in 2013.
Furthermore, on Saturday 31, at 17:00, several of the members of Guerrilla Girls will offer a performance Cinematheque conference in Madrid.
At the intersection between art and activism, Guerrilla Girls are a leading voice of both the feminist art (feminist art), ie, the art produced from feminist perspectives, and the last stage of the feminist art movement (Feminist Art movement) The movement that brings artistic practices and theoretical developments made by artists, reviews and historians of feminist art from the mid 60s to mid 80s of last century.
Feminist art movement fought to thwart fictions, such as "genius artist" and "masterpiece", support a concept of art that presents itself as independent of their social and historical context. A concept that although it is forged in the nineteenth century is still valid today, as these fictions serve to perpetuate the process of mystification of an art that is classified as major or minor depending on the sex-and also of the race- of who occurs. Moreover, the excellence of high art, artists attributed to those men who were recognized, "genius" is determined as opposed to the secondary value of a minor art produced by women artists.
The conscience of the art world
Guerrilla Girls start their career in the mid-80s against the renewed impetus to the rise of neoliberalism experience these fictions and mystification processes within and outside the field of art, oppress and exclude women. Determined to give priority to the political dimension of his practice and denounce the systematic neglect that women experience in contemporary societies, the group decided to maintain the anonymity of its components, which are hidden under gorilla masks and adopt names of famous women now deceased. From the beginning, the work of Guerrilla Girls, which they define as "the conscience of the art world" represents a turning point in both feminist art, as in the feminist art movement, for several reasons.
For the first time, the Guerrilla Girls offered from 80 an overview of the different levels and processes that consolidate sexism in the art, without forgetting the connections that these processes have with other art institutions and cultural and social fields.
As a result of his conception of art as a social and historical product, the Guerrilla Girls have used techniques such as graphic design and other resources used for advertising, thus defining the cartel, which used both the suffragettes, as feminist activists 60 and 70 as the mainstay of his artistic production. His posters, in playing aestheticizing statistics, the science of the state, have become their hallmark. These posters, which are at the forefront of the complex interactions between agents and concepts that govern the field of art are also the basis of their activities, ranging from placement in public spaces, for example doors art galleries in New York, to different actions in museums and other institutions.
Probably the poster 1989 Do Women Have to be naked to get into the Met. Museum? Less than 5% of the artists in contemporary art sections are women, but 85% of the nudes are female (Do women have to be naked to get into the Metropolitan Museum in New York ?, Less than 5% of the artists presented in the modern art sections are women, but 85% of the nudes are female) is the best known of Guerrilla Girls.
According to the curator of the exhibition, Xabier Arakistain, "Guerrilla Girls work reminds us that the different political objectives set by the feminism of the 60s and 70s have not been achieved yet and invite us to continue the struggle to achieve them." In this sense, the poster you Feminism Until 1988 Achieved Its Goals, There Is No Post-Feminism (Until that feminism has not achieved its objectives will be no post-feminism) is a strong statement of intent.
The exhibition will be open from next January 30, in Hall 16
Source: Logopress
