Feminism, Art, Contradictions

The article, of c. 8,000 words, offers a critical analysis of the contradictions faced by feminism in the art field, as the latter developed entwined with neoliberalism since the 1970s, first in the West but from the 1990s on everywhere. The analysis focuses on three contradictions in particular: a) Dependency and Autonomy, b) Reform and Revolution, c) Work and Non-Work. The argument combines feminist institutional critique with an examination of the choices made, or even forced upon, feminist artists and curators in their efforts to claim visibility, and constitutes an attempt to review feminism's complex history in art and beyond, all the way to the present. In doing so, the argument prioritises the concerns of feminists in the contemporary art field, in light of the emergence of new feminist movements beyond the art world, the demands of which appear to be incompatible with art-world feminism's attachment to art institutions that sustain the neoliberal project in various ways.