Reading List Feminism & Art

This reading list is based on the Feminist Reading Group organized by ArtEZ studium generale and Mister Motley. We are also grateful for the additional suggestions of Mirjam Westen (curator Museum Arnhem) and Rajae El Mouhandiz (researcher, theater maker, filmmaker, curator) and the preparatory research by intern Christianne van der Leest. We are aware that this list is far from exhaustive and keep us recommended for further suggestions. If the text of the book or article is only in Dutch, the description is also in Dutch.
The reading list contains different parts: general information, information on visual arts and art theory, information on performing arts and texts that were treated in the Feminist Reading Groups.
We are very grateful to the Mediatheek of ArtEZ for purchasing all the books. They are placed in a separate bookcase in the ‘living room’ of the library in Arnhem and can be borrowed.
Please note that the Mediatheek of ArtEZ is currently closed (until January 18). Students / teachers can reserve material via their website https://mediatheek.artez.nl and collect it in consultation.
Nederlandstalige inleiding
De literatuurlijst bevat verschillende onderdelen: algemene informatie, informatie over beeldende kunst en kunsttheorie, informatie over podiumkunsten en teksten die behandeld werden in de Feministische Leesgroep.
Wij zijn de Mediatheek van ArtEZ erg dankbaar voor de aanschaf van alle boeken. Ze staan in een aparte boekenkast in de ‘huiskamer’ van de bibliotheek in Arnhem en zijn uitleenbaar.
GENERAL / ALGEMEEN
Arruzza, Cinzia, Tithi Bhattacharya, and Nancy Fraser, Feminism for the 99%. A Manifesto, New York: Verso books, 2019.
Available/aanwezig Mediatheek ArtEZ.
Beauvoir, Simone de, The Second Sex. New York: Vintage Publishing, 1949. Nederlands: De Beauvoir, Simone, De Tweede Sekse. Utrecht: Uitgeverij Bijleveld.
Available/aanwezig Mediatheek ArtEZ.
Bergsma, Stella, Nouveau Fuck, Amsterdam: Nijgh & Van Ditmar, 2020.
Available/aanwezig Mediatheek ArtEZ.
Criado-Perez, Caroline, Invisible Women. Exposing data bias in a world designed for men. London: Vintage Publishing 2020.
Available/aanwezig Mediatheek ArtEZ.
Greer, Germaine, The Female Eunuch, London: HarperCollins, 2006 (1970 first edition). Nederlands: De vrouw Als Eunuch, Meulenhoff.
www.groene.nl/artikel/de-brandstichtster-van-het-feminisme
Artikel over De Vrouw Als Eunuch door Xandra Schutte.
Available/aanwezig Mediatheek ArtEZ.
hooks, bell, Talking Back: Thinking Feminist, Thinking Black, Cambridge: South End Press, 1989.
Available/aanwezig Mediatheek ArtEZ.
Lorde, Audre, Sister Outsider, London: Crossing Press, 2007
Presenting the essential writings of black lesbian poet and feminist writer Audre Lorde, Sister Outsider celebrates an influential voice in twentieth-century literature. In this charged collection of fifteen essays and speeches, Lorde takes on sexism, racism, ageism, homophobia, and class, and propounds social difference as a vehicle for action and change. With examples and anecdotes from her own life, Lorde investigates the complexity of identity. She argues that women should enter into a conversation because they suffer from the invisibility of their stories. She believed in emphasizing differences as a driving force for the women's movement. By dissecting the barriers faced by women, Lorde shows us that the only way the feminist movement can evolve is to allow and understand differences.
Available/aanwezig Mediatheek ArtEZ.
Olufemi, Lola, Feminism interrupted: Disrupting Power, London: Pluto Press 2020.
www.plutobooks.com/blog/podcast-feminism-interrupted/
A podcast celebrating the launch of the book, with Lola Olufemi, Jade Bentil, a black feminist historian and PhD researcher at the University of Oxford, and author of the book, Rebel Citizen: A History of Black Women Living, Loving and Resisting (2020); and Gail Lewis, a black feminist and former Reader in Psychosocial Studies at Birkbeck College. Their discussion covers a range of subjects treated in the book, including the history of black feminist organizing, grassroots activism, liberal feminism, sex work, the nation state and state violence, gender, trans and queer life, intersectionality, and art.
Available/aanwezig Mediatheek ArtEZ.
Schipper, Mineke, Heuvels van het paradijs. Amsterdam: Prometheus, 2018.
De vrouwelijke sekse heeft, naast menselijk leven en seksuele lust, angsten gebaard: angst voor de magie van tepels, maagdenvlies en menstruatiebloed. Angst voor duistere gangen vol schrikbarende begeerte, waarin het meest kwetsbare mannelijke deel heldhaftig zijn weg moest zoeken. Angst voor afhankelijkheid van moeders en andere vrouwen. Bij wijze van geruststelling heeft de mythologie mannelijke scheppers bedacht en is vrouwen de toegang tot openbare functies vaak ontzegd vanwege hun ‘afwijkende’ anatomie.
Wie zich in deze rijkgeschakeerde erfenis van macht en onmacht verdiept, raakt bevangen door intens medelijden met de mensheid. Dit onthullende (en soms hilarische) werelderfgoed biedt niet alleen helder inzicht in de wereld van vóór #MeToo, maar ook in de manier waarop we, bewust of onbewust, vandaag nog vaak met elkaar omgaan.
Available/aanwezig Mediatheek ArtEZ.
VISUAL ART / BEELDENDE KUNST + FEMINIST ART THEORY / FEMINISTISCHE KUNST THEORIE
Alphen, van, Ernst (ed.), Shame! and Masculinity, Amsterdam: Valiz / H401, 2020.
Since the # metoo movement, forms of male sexual violence and abuse of power have been widely scrutinized. The focus on toxic masculinity affects our perception of male sexuality, which significantly affects men's self-image and self-esteem. Men are shamed by others for their cross-border and contemptuous attitude; and they are intrinsically ashamed of their own mistakes or of the virulent patterns and traditions within the "Western" conception of masculinity.’ Shame! and Maculinity examines both of these points of view. It looks at the representation of different aspects of masculinity, such as sexuality, nudity, fatherhood, male violence, rape, fascism and men and war. The book shows various works of art that address the subtleties and contradictions inherent in these sociocultural constructions and realities.
Shame! and Masculinity is hybrid in genre; short stories are combined with scientific essays, personal testimonials and provocative and intimate artist contributions. The book reflects on the many meanings of masculinity, from different perspectives. These 'masculinity' issues, which play a significant role in contemporary society, but also in our personal experience, in history and in our own body, are explored in a differentiated manner in order to offer ample scope for other and new forms of imagination.
With contributions by Ernst van Alphen, Lorenzo Benadusi, Jeannette Christensen, Marlene Dumas, Adeola Enigbokan, Tijs Goldschmidt, Arnoud Holleman, Hans Hovy, Natasja Kensmil and many others.
Available/aanwezig Mediatheek ArtEZ.
Battersby, Christine, Gender and Genius: Towards a Feminist Aesthetics, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1989.
Available/aanwezig Mediatheek ArtEZ.
Butler, Cornelia and Lisa Gabrielle Mark (ed.), WACK!: Art and the Feminist Revolution. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2007.
Written entries on each artist offer key biographical and descriptive information and accompanying essays by critics, art historians, and scholars offer new perspectives on feminist art practice. The topics, including the relationship between American and European feminism, feminism and New York abstraction, and mapping a global feminism, provide a broad social context for the artworks themselves.
Available/aanwezig Mediatheek ArtEZ.
Deepwell, Katy (ed.), Feminist Art Activisms and Artivisms, Amsterdam: Valiz / London: Middlesex University, 2020.
With contributions by Linda Aloysius, Marissa Begonia, Sreyashi Tinni Bhattacharyya, Marisa Carnesky, Paula Chambers, Amy Charlesworth, Emma Curd, Katy Deepwell and many others.
Available/aanwezig Mediatheek ArtEZ.
Deepwell, Katy (founder/ed.), ‘n.paradoxa, international feminist art journal’, published by KT press between 1998 and 2017.
The magazine n.paradoxa was published in print for 20 years bi-annually. A total of 40 volumes, 550 articles to promote understanding of women artists and their work. PDFs of selected articles from n.paradoxa are available online to read.
The extensive resource pages on this website are now called the Feminist Art Observatory. These resources link to many other websites and sources of information from feminist art groups and archives, feminist art publications, feminist art topics and 1000+ MA/PhDs theses on feminist art.
A history of the journal is available in Volume 40 (July 2017) written by its founder and editor, Katy Deepwell.
This magazine is not available in Mediatheek ArtEZ. But PDF’s of selected articles from n.paradoxa are available online to read. And descriptions of articles can be found in the Ebsco database which be found via mediatheek.artez.nl> databases.
Guerilla Girls, The Guerilla Girls’ beside companion to the History of Western Art, London: Penguin Books, 1998.
Ever wonder about the abundance of naked male statues in the Classical section of your favorite museum? Did you know medieval convents were hotbeds of female artistic expression? And how did those ‘bad boy’ artists of the twentieth century make it even harder for a girl to get a break? Thanks to the Guerrilla Girls, those masked feminists whose mission it is to break the white male stronghold over the art world, art history-as we know it-is history. Taking you back through the ages, the Guerrilla Girls demonstrate how males (particularly white males) have dominated the art scene, and discouraged, belittled, or obscured women's involvement. Their skeptical and hilarious interpretations of ‘popular’ theory are augmented by the newest research and the expertise of prominent feminist art historians. ‘Believe-it-or-not’ quotations from some of the ‘experts’ are sprinkled throughout, as are the Guerrilla Girls' signature masterpieces: reproductions of famous art works, slightly ‘altered’ for historic accuracy and vindication. This colorful reinterpretation of classic and modern art, as outrageous as it is visually arresting, is a much-needed corrective to traditional art history, and an unabashed celebration of female artists.
Full of witty insights, stories behind the stories, and relevant facts about women artists of days gone by. Broken down into chapters according artistic eras (Classical, Middle Ages, the Renaissance, etc.), this book chronicles the continuing plight for recognition of women through the history of art all the way to the twentieth century.
Available/aanwezig Mediatheek ArtEZ.
Jouwe, Nancy (ed.), Jaarboek voor Vrouwengeschiedenis: A Gendered Empire, Hilversum: Uitgeverij Verloren, 2020.
With contributions by Nancy Jouwe, Suze Zijlstra, Merve Tosun, and many others.
Available/aanwezig Mediatheek ArtEZ.
Pejić, Bojana (ed.), Gender Check. Femininity and Masculinity in the Art of Eastern Europe. Cologne: Walter König, 2009.
The book starts in the 1960s, when heroic male and female workers were the dominant figures in the socialist realist tradition of art. The intended reality-transforming program of a ‘sexless society’ propagated by the state was met with irony and unmasked by unofficial art at the time. Following the period of collective state utopian aesthetics, different individual and more open tendencies could be found on a local level – periodically provoking a hostile response – that created independent spaces for nonconformist art. Beginning in the 1970s, ideals of femininity and masculinity were reexamined beyond the propagandist clichés of the past: Self-portraits and representations of the body and subjectivity began to hint at a newfound self-confidence also reflected in openly displayed sexuality that called heterosexual standards and heroic ideals of masculinity into question. Even many of the abstract pieces worked with anthropomorphic forms and the relationship between the sexes within society.
Available/aanwezig Mediatheek ArtEZ.
Reckitt, Helena (ed.), Art and Feminism, London/NY: Phaidon, 2001.
Available/aanwezig Mediatheek ArtEZ.
Reckitt, Helena (ed.), The Art of Feminism: Images that Shaped the Fight for Equality, 1857-2017, London: Tate Publishing, 2018.
Beginning in the nineteenth century, the study moves on to developments of both World Wars before arriving at the ‘birth’ of feminist art in the 1960s. More recent artworks describe the development of feminism from the fall of the Berlin Wall to the present day, including examples by Barbara Kruger, Sophie Calle, Nancy Spero, Marina Abramović, Mary Kelly, Judy Chicago, Faith Ringgold and Sonia Boyce.
Available/aanwezig Mediatheek ArtEZ.
Reilly, Maura and Linda Nochlin (ed.), Global Feminisms: New Directions in Contemporary Art. London: Merrell Publishers, 2007.
The book offers an alternative narrative of art by bringing together a wide selection of women artists, from an array of cultures, whose work deals with their socio-cultural, political, economic, racial, gender, and/or sexual identities. In so doing, Global Feminisms acknowledges the profound differences in women's lives around the world. By challenging the notion of a single, universal feminism, it also challenges the predominantly Westerncentric, masculinist discourse of contemporary art.
Available/aanwezig Mediatheek ArtEZ.
Robinson, Hillary, (ed.), Feminism Art Theory: An Anthology 1968 – 2014 (2nd Edition), Hoboken: Wiley-Blackwell, 2015.
Available/aanwezig Mediatheek ArtEZ.
Shohat, Ella (ed.), Talking Visions. Multicultural Feminism in a Transnational Age, Cambridge: MIT Press, 2001.
Co-published with the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York.
Available/aanwezig Mediatheek ArtEZ.
Westen, Mirjam (ed.), Rebelle. Art & Feminism 1969-2009, Arnhem: MMKA, 2009.
In addition to the artists’ entries and Westen’s introductory essay, the book-catalogue contains six critical texts.
Available/aanwezig Mediatheek ArtEZ.
Westen, Mirjam (ed.), Female Power, Arnhem: MMKA, 2013.
Available/aanwezig Mediatheek ArtEZ.
PERFORMING ARTS - DANCE + THEATRE / DANS + THEATER
Banes, Sally, Dancing Woman: female bodies on stage. London: Routledge, 2013.
Available/aanwezig Mediatheek ArtEZ.
Goodman, Lizbeth and Jan de Gay (ed.), The Routledge Reader in Gender and Performance. London: Routledge, 1998.
Available/aanwezig Mediatheek ArtEZ.
FEMINIST READING GROUP MATERIAL / LEESSTOF FEMINISTISCHE LEESGROEP
Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi, We Should All Be Feminists. London: Fourth Estate, 2014.
Ted talk: We should all be feminists
Available/aanwezig Mediatheek ArtEZ.
Ahmed, Sara, Living a Feminist Life. Durham: Duke University Press, 2017.
Available/aanwezig Mediatheek ArtEZ.
Duits, Linda, Dolle Mythes, Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2017.
In dit boek ontkracht Linda Duits vijf mythes over feminisme. Ze analyseert wat er daadwerkelijk gebeurde in de Tweede Golf en spiegelt dat aan de praktijken van jonge feministen: van Dolle Mina tot Feministen Tegen Wilders, van praatgroepen tot hashtagactivisme. Met humor en veel voorbeelden werpt Duits een nieuwe blik op de wondere wereld van man-vrouwverschillen.
Available/aanwezig Mediatheek ArtEZ.
www.mistermotley.nl/art-everyday-life/van-wie-het-feminisme
Artikel over Dolle Mythes door Linda Duits.
Van Tricht, Jens, Waarom feminisme goed is voor mannen. Amsterdam: Atlas Contact, 2018.
Available/aanwezig Mediatheek ArtEZ.
www.mistermotley.nl/art-everyday-life/mannen-zijn-mensen-daarom-mannenemancipatie-hoognodig
Perry, Grayson, The Descent of Man. London: Penguin Books, 2016.
Available/aanwezig Mediatheek ArtEZ.
Borrel, Daan, Soms Is Liefde Dit. Een brief over lichaam, seks en verlangen. Amsterdam: De Bezige Bij, 2018.
In dit persoonlijke essay zien we Daan Borrel in haar hongerige zoektocht naar antwoorden. Ze richt zich tot literatuur, filosofie, popmuziek en films, maar ook tot haar eigen lijf en tot de vrouwen die het opgevoed hebben. Soms is liefde dit biedt een intieme blik in het hoofd én de onderbuik van iemand die in alle nuance probeert haar seksualiteit te begrijpen.
Available/aanwezig Mediatheek ArtEZ.
https://studiumgenerale.artez.nl/nl/studies/all/blog/je+kunt+het+pas+voelen+als+je+het+weet/
Jouwe, Nancy, various articles
Issues of race, class and gender are not isolated. They interact with each other like different paths at an intersection. Nancy Jouwe explains what intersectionality is, how it can be used as a tool for empowerment, and why academia should care about it.
Standing at the crossroads. 2016.
www.academia.edu/34542049/Nancy_Jouwe_-_Standing_at_the_Crossroads_-_Historica_2016.3.pdf
In this article Nancy Jouwe concentrates on Dutch Black feminists and feminists of color and positions them as the Dutch intellectuals, organizers, and activists who, as a movement and as individuals, have been the key to developing an intersectional theory and praxis. Early on, these feminists developed the inclusive term Black, Migrant, Refugee.
Sites for unlearning in the museum. 2019.
www.mistermotley.nl/art-everyday-life/sites-unlearning-museum
Can we find sites for unlearning in the arts sector? And if they were there, would we recognize them? In 2018, the year of the dog, we find ourselves in a new reality in terms of questions that Dutch museums ask themselves and actions that they take as they question themselves as institutions.
Emre, Merve, On Reproduction (2018)
www.bostonreview.net/forum/merve-emre-all-reproduction-assisted
Available/aanwezig Mediatheek ArtEZ.
Haraway, Donna, The Cyborg Manifesto. Coventry: University of Warwick, 1991.
The audio version of the book:
archive.org/details/ACyborgManifesto
Available/aanwezig Mediatheek ArtEZ.
Kaersenhout, Patricia, ‘Diversiteit is Big Business’, op: Mister Motley
https://www.mistermotley.nl/tendens/diversiteit-big-business
Atangana Bekono, Simone, ‘Tempel Rebelse Trots van Patricia Kaersenhout’, op: Mister Motley
www.mistermotley.nl/art-everyday-life/tempel-rebelse-trots-van-patricia-kaersenhout
Podcast met oa. Patricia Kaersenhout, Simone Zeefuik en Veronique Efomi
studiumgenerale.artez.nl/nl/studies/all/podcast/patricia+kaersenhout+simone+zeefuik+en+veronique+efomi/
Bergman, Sunny, Man Made, documentaire VPRO-2DOC, 2019.
De traditionele rolpatronen zijn veranderd. Is de man in verwarring over zijn rol? Wereldwijd wordt erover gediscussieerd. Door mannen die uit het mannenharnas willen ontsnappen maar ook door mannen die het liefst weer terug willen naar de klassieke conservatieve man/vrouw-verhouding. Zo vinden de fans van de omstreden psycholoog Jordan Peterson dat de maatschappij veel te veel is gefeminiseerd.
In de twintigste eeuw hebben feministen de vrijheid bevochten voor de vrouw, en daarmee haar emancipatie. Is het nu tijd voor mannenemancipatie, voor de bevrijding van de man? Als het aan Bergman ligt wel.
Kijk de documentaire op:
https://www.vpro.nl/programmas/2doc/kijk/2doc-overzicht/2019/man-made.html
Luister naar het nagesprek met Sunny Bergman:
https://studiumgenerale.artez.nl/nl/studies/podcast/nagesprek+vertoning+documentaire+man+made+van+sunny+bergman/
Deze documentaire is ook te zien via mediatheek.artez.nl>databanken>Beeld en Geluid op School
Kho, Yuki, Heske ten Cate. Naakt op een kleedje. VPRO Podcast Naakt op een kleedje.
https://open.spotify.com/show/1HT9MVWQb4UAftXEYFvOBF
Visser, Barbara, ‘Durven We De Geschiedenis Van De Moderne Kunst Te Herschrijven Ten Faveure Van Een Vrouw?’, op: Mister Motley
Durven we de geschiedenis van de moderne kunst te herschrijven ten faveure van een vrouw?
Solnit, Rebecca, ‘City of woman’, in: Nonstop Metropolis: A New York City Atlas, Rebecca Solnit and Joshua Jelly-Schapiro, University of California Press 2018.
Rebecca Solnit: City of Women
Available/aanwezig Mediatheek ArtEZ.