Feminist transversal politics through art in public space: Notes on three future-oriented art projects in Copenhagen

Activity: Talk or presentation typesLecture and oral contribution

Anne Ring Petersen - Other

The categories of monuments and art in public space have rarely been considered from a feminist perspective. Although works in public space by women artists have obviously been included in art historical surveys and monographic studies of the artists, the question of how women artists and feminism have contributed to the historical development of new languages and visions for art in public space is rarely asked. Routinely categorized as ’public art’ instead of ’feminist art’, these achievements have been hidden in plain sight, so to speak, in public space. This paper seeks to bring into the field of vision remarkable and courageous feminist contributions to the transformation of public art. The aim is to deduce some general points from a consideration of three Copenhagen-based projects from the period 2015 to 2020 by Jeannette Ehlers and La Vaughn Belle, Katrine Dirckinck-Holmfeld and Anonymous Visual Artists, and Maja Nydal Eriksen and Metropolis. In Denmark, and Europe, this immediate past has been characterised by clashes between pro- and anti-refugee sentiment in the wake of the 2015 ‘refugee crisis’, coinciding with decolonizing struggles over the narratives of national identity and history, as well as anti-racism protests spreading like wildfire. The paper proposes that the artists in question all respond to this socio-political conjuncture by seeking to develop new and much needed languages of postmigrant solidarity and decolonial critique for public art; and that they do so by grounding their work in feminist transversal politics.
17 Nov 202118 Nov 2021

Event (Conference)

TitleFast Forward! Women in European Art, 1970-Present
Date17/11/202118/11/2021
LocationLouisiana Museum of Modern Art
CityHumlebæk
Country/TerritoryDenmark
Degree of recognitionInternational event

    Research areas

  • feminism, art in public spaces, participation, solidarity, racism, art and politics, female artists

ID: 285319531