Feminist Curating of Art Knowledge (2 ETCS)
Course Description:
The legacy of art knowledge, particularly within art history, remains significantly influenced by the patriarchal values entrenched within dominant social structures. This course delves into the ongoing reshaping of art history by the social apparatus through institutional, physical, and administrative mechanisms, alongside traditional forms of knowledge production. Accordingly, lectures focus how the process of valuation, preservation, and production within “authorized art history and its canons” transforms both tangible and intangible aspects of the art legacy, often filtering through lenses of race, ethno-nationality, religion, class, and gender. Further, it analyses how constructions of art knowledge by those in power perpetuate the normalization of oppressive values, the establishment of social hierarchies, and the essentialization of gender, race, ethnicity, religion, and class homogeneity, all while portraying multicultural heterogeneity through anti-discriminatory (so-called ‘washing’) discourses. These dynamics of art knowledge production, which create power relations through well-known binary oppositions such as woman/man, local/global, domestic/foreign, private/public, colonial/anti-colonial, or hegemonic/resistant, among others, will be discussed through art-based archive examples.
Moreover, the course examines the symptomatic relationship between social movements and non-conformist art positions that oppose contemporary neoliberal and patriarchal systems in both art and society. It also critically explores the ongoing commodification and commercialization of art within academia and institutions, which has given rise to many gender-focused art practices, particularly feminist and queer art. Together with students, these practices—emerging as rare socially or politically engaged voices, images, objects, or discourses that still operate outside the dominant mechanisms of knowledge production—will be explored. Instead of following a strict chronological order, the course will focus on the present moment, acknowledging its role in shaping future historical narratives. The intention is to disrupt linear narratives by collaging temporal zones through a cross-referential approach, utilizing a feminist curatorial methodology of the living archive as an alternative, dynamic, and experimental medium for knowledge production.
This course adopts a gender-based approach to the production of art knowledge, aiming to co-create a participatory and experimental environment for relevant discussions. Its objective is to challenge entrenched academic and institutional narratives that have traditionally held narrow legitimacy in shaping and evaluating art discourse. By delving into contemporary social landscapes, it will engage with marginalized and counter-historical perspectives, with a particular emphasis on feminist and queer artistic and curatorial practices.
- Instructor: Jelena Petrovic