We Are Anti-Capiphallists: Feminist Art Practices In Dialogue

Practice in Dialogue present a discussion of feminist art practice and challenges it faces in the current climate of neoliberal ideology. This discussion, chaired by Helena Reckitt, seeks to explore the methods by which feminist artworks contest the status quo and resist recuperation by the dominant patriarchal system.

Practice in Dialogue aim to create a space where artists can talk and think critically about the current challenges to feminism in a climate where the backlash against it combines with neoliberal ideology, to reduce the political agenda of feminism to a set of fragmented rights and personal choices that neatly dovetail with capitalism. In this situation behaviours are divorced from the gendered circumstances within which they have been generated and are recast as feminist. Here feminism becomes about infiltration of the very structures that are responsible for women’s subordination in the first place, rather than a practice that seeks to circumnavigate them and create alternatives. This discussion will consider the way in which artists have responded to these circumstances.

The discussion will foreground the importance of art and feminism as lived practices that have the potential to unsettle hegemonic patriarchal structures. Avoiding the pitfalls of dominant heteronormative culture is not easy and, as such, the emphasis of the discussion will be on feminist art practices as an ongoing work-in-progress that calls for continual self-reflection and critical analysis.

A thorough and interrogative conversation is essential if feminism is to retain its potency and Practice In Dialogue invite the audience to contribute to this open discussion.

Practice in Dialogue is a small working group of feminist artists dedicated to examining the formal structures and strategies of historical feminist art alongside their own art practices. Founded by Catherine Long and Rose Gibbs, Practice in Dialogue evolved out of a need to create a space in which to think critically about feminist art practices. Participating artists are: Miriam Austin, Alison Ballance and Abigail Smith, Ingrid Berthon-Moine, Cécile Emmanuelle Borra, Rose Gibbs, Lora Hristova, Catherine Long, Lauren Schnieder, and Nicola Thomas.

Feminist Practices in Dialogue presents an exhibition and a programme of video works, performances, sound pieces and discussions on the challenges facing contemporary feminism.