Community: feminist.bloggers@brooklynmuseum

On Wednesday everyone basically hit the ground running as we began the load in and installation for our latest exhibition Ghada Amer: Love Has No End. For months prior to the installation, the Museum’s associate exhibition designer, Lance Singletary, and Curator Maura Reilly worked alongside one another developing a layout and floor plan that really gives museumgoers a comprehensive experience of Ghada Amer’s oeuvre. It will be really interesting to see how the exhibition ultimately engages patrons in the space!

Visiting the gallery this week, I had to keep reminding myself that I was at the Museum and not some bohemian artist’s loft in Williamsburg–EVERYONE was lending a hand! Maura was rolling out butcher paper on the floor and escorting many rolls of wallpaper around the space, Lance and some of the art handlers were building a vitrine near one of the entrances, while Ghada busied herself with the configuration for groupings of the smaller works, and kept the staff upbeat with her warmth and good humor. Late in the afternoon yesterday, we received a surprise visit from Dr. Elizabeth Sackler, who stopped by the galleries for a sneak preview of the exhibition! Francesca Ford has documented some of these highlights and others over the past few days–check out her delightful slideshow posted above.

We hope that you will stop by the Museum tomorrow, February 16th, when Ghada Amer: Love Has No End officially opens to the public!

Slideshow created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR. Having trouble seeing the slideshow? Photos are also on Flickr.

A few weeks ago, Maura and I paid a memorable visit to the Conservation lab in the Museum where several of the works from the upcoming exhibition, Ghada Amer: Love Has No End have made a temporary home. Associate Conservator Rachel Danzing and the entire Conservation staff have been working to meticulously restore these pieces to their original condition before the gallery installation later this week. One of the things that Maura and Rachel were looking at on the day of our visit was the wallpaper from The Reign of Terror (2005), an installation that Ghada Amer did at Wellesley College’s Davis Museum and Cultural Center in 2005. The beauty and vibrancy of the color and pattern on this wallpaper is challenged by the definitions of “terror” or “terrorism”, which are printed in different languages over and over again on the paper, so naturally it’s important that none of this crucial text is cut off or missing prior to the final installation.

Curator Maura Reilly and Associate Paper Conservator Rachel Danzing examine the text on the wallpaper from the artist’s Reign of Terror installation. (Photo: Sarah Giovanniello)

Rachel was nice enough to provide me with a quote on what exactly she and Maura were looking for with the wallpaper: “If I remember correctly, each roll of wallpaper is one complete section where the top half is printed continuously with the bottom half, except the bottom half is printed upside down. In the photograph, Maura and I are checking the join where the top and bottom meet to confirm that the sentences do indeed join up where they should. The wallpaper will be cut and the two pieces joined on the wall to make one section.”

Maura and Rachel unroll the wallpaper to the end, and discover that the writing begins exactly where they hoped it would! Thankfully no unnecessary cutting is needed to ensure that the text matches up when it is pasted on the wall in the gallery. (Photo: Sarah Giovanniello)

After the question about the wallpaper was resolved, Maura and I stopped by the area of Conservation where two early works have been getting a lot of attention. Rachel performed some major conservation miracles on the piece, Untitled (1991). Now that the finishing touches have been made in Conservation, the exhibition is ready to be installed. Check back later this week for a preview of the exhibition during load in and installation!

Two early Ghada Amer works, Untitled (1991), and L’Ange (The Angel) (1991) are mounted on large easels in the conservation lab. (Photo: Sarah Giovanniello)

The video of the Guerrilla Girls performing and accepting their award at the Brooklyn Museum’s fifth annual Women in the Arts event on November 9th, 2007 is now posted! Included in the video is a “Q&A” session with the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center’s very own (and an honorary Guerrilla Girl herself) Maura Reilly. Thank you to the Guerrilla Girls for giving such an inspiring and eye opening presentation, and thank you Robert Nardi for making the video available to the public!

Click To Play

Opening…

Helen’s Odyssey, another signature photo series of classical-yet-contemporary pastiche by feminist artist Eleanor Antin, opens February 15th at Ronald Feldman Fine Arts. Antin, “determined to present women without pathos or helplessness” in her work (as she writes in her Feminist Artist Statement), here reaches back into the annals of ancient Greek history to give Helen of Troy her due subjectivity, agency, and r-e-s-p-e-c-t. Antin is also included in the Wack! exhibition opening at P.S.1 (see below!)

(Eleanor Antin, The Tourists, 2007, c-print. Courtesy: Ronald Feldman Fine Arts.)

An extensive retrospective of the artist-duo Gilbert & George opens February 16th at San Francisco’s de Young Museum. Throughout their practice together, Gilbert and George have sought to erase the boundaries between art and life, using their own images and experiences as source material, and, in accordance with their “Art for All” attitude, to relate to audiences beyond the confines of the art world. The work of Gilbert and George integrates concepts and practices often found in explicitly feminist work such as the engagement with performance and the inevitable balance between artistic subjectivity and objectivity problematized by using their own bodies in their work.

(Gilbert & George, England, 1980, © Gilbert & George. Courtesy: de Young and Tate Modern.)

We’re especially excited to announce the opening of WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution at P.S.1 MoMA on February 17th. This comprehensive historical survey of feminist and feminist-inspired works, dating from 1965 through 1980, includes 120 international artists and artist-groups. In a genre that often eludes strict definition, Wack! invites valuable insight into both the common themes and the individual concerns of founding feminist artists. P.S.1 is also hosting a fabulous series of performances and related events through March.

(Magdalena Abakanowicz, Abakan Red, 1969. Courtesy: National Museum in Wroclaw and MIT News.)

Now Open…

Side Effects, new work by artists Elmgreen & Dragset, the pair who brilliantly conceived of and created Prada Marfa, remains on display at Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin of Paris through March 8th. Side Effects, which opened in conjunction with Paris Men’s Fall-Winter 08-09 fashion shows, dresses abstract, yet undeniably anthropomorphic, sculptures in the latest designs. The inanimate works, thus strangely imbued with gender and social status, become bizarre occupants of the gallery space which require the viewer to consider the institutional context.

(Elmgreen & Dragset, installation view of Side Effects, 2008. Courtesy: Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin.)

Boys Are Us, an overview of Maria Friberg’s photo and video work made throughout the past decade, invites a more general interpretation of the artist’s practical concerns. While Friberg often deconstructs traditional symbols of masculinity, such as the suit and tie, this exhibition more broadly conveys the chilling sense of alienation her subjects express. Whether alone or with others, her characters are isolated and divorced from any recognizable time or place. The show is now open at Kulturhuset, in Stockholm, through April 13th.

(Maria Friberg, one of the series Still Lives 2003-2007. Courtesy: Maria Friberg/mariafriberg.com.)

Sure, chocolate covered strawberries and steamy kisses are nice. And I’ll be the first to admit that I’m a sucker for those sugary treats with cute sayings like “Be Mine” and “You’re Sweet.” But this February 14, why not become part of a global movement? V-Day!

Eve Ensler is practically a household name thanks to her V-Day movement, which supports consciousness raising awareness events and workshops that respond to the impact of violence against women worldwide. Beginning in 1998, Ensler sought to raise awareness and money to support women who are victims of violent crimes such as sexual assault, rape and harassment. Now, in 2008, the supporters of the V-Day movement have raised more than 30 million dollars worldwide and educated just as many.

So what does this infamous “V” stand for? Valentine, Victory, and of course Vagina. Three symbols that Ensler embraces with pride. Events on V-Day include the re-staging of Ensler’s ground-breaking, Obie-award winning production The Vagina Monologues. Past Vagina Monologues productions have included many talented artists, activists, and performers such as Kirstie Alley, Linda Ellerby, Claire Danes, Robin Givens and Glenn Close, among others.

The Big Apple is a host to a handful of Vagina Monologues performances taking place at colleges and universities, and The New School and New York University are just two of the many colleges participating in this worthwhile event.

Get involved and don’t miss out on the show this week. For more information on V-day performances, or to find out how to get involved, visit the V-Day website.