Invisible Labour: Women's Experimental Art in East-Central Europe, 1970-1989

无形的劳动：中东欧女性的实验艺术，1970-1989

• 批准号: 2882025
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Edinburgh
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2023 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2882025
• 关键词: Invisible; Labour; Women; Experimental; Art

'Can there be contemporary art in North Korea?' asks Octavian Esanu (Esanu 2021), contesting the market-oriented logic of 'the contemporary' and the implicit portrayal of non-Western societies with no or limited market economies as 'backward' and in need of modernisation. Attending to East-Central European women artists' experimental work (including performance, participatory practices and visual media) in the late Soviet-influenced context, my project challenges the 'backwardness' thesis that reproduces the centre/periphery paradigm, not least for historically marginalised subjects such as women artists. The histories of women's experimental art in the former East can expand contemporary feminist thinking precisely because they do not anchor the critique of gender inequality to relations dictated by the market.My thesis responds to Polish art historian Piotr Piotrowski's nuanced approach towards the experimental art of East-Central Europe under state socialism (Piotrowski 2009 and 2012). This reassessment of overlooked art scenes is essential to a decolonial modern and contemporary art history, rendering visible more artists from the region and explicating their historical and socio-economic values (Piotrowski 2009 & 2012; Bryzgel 2013 & 2017; Kemp-Welch 2014 & 2018; Esanu 2021). Yet a major weakness in this horizontal art history is its marginalisation of women artists (Jakubowska and Radomska 2022), replicating women's invisibility in western culture. My project addresses this limitation by closely examining the gender divide in artistic labour in East-Central Europe in the period (1970s and 1980s) when the main parameters of 'contemporary art' were established globally.Crucial to my research is the idea that the term 'contemporary art' has not been neutral but has been overtly or covertly defined through a market hegemony - especially so in the 1970s and 1980s when postmodernism became a 'cultural dominant' despite being specific to western 'consumer society' (Jameson 1984 & 1991). This was the period when second-wave feminism in the market-dominated West claimed visibility for women as makers of culture, but it is far less known what strategies women artists deployed in contexts of different priorities and determinants, such as those of East-Central Europe. I will approach women artists' visible and invisible labour as an indicator of the work that matters to the market as well as to state power. 'Visible labour' refers to how women artists needed to 'work harder' to be viewed as producers of culture - e.g. in Polish artistic duo Kwiekulik's performances, Zofia Kulik allowed herself to be physically restricted and mentally humiliated (Jakubowska 2020). 'Invisible labour' refers to a particular form of maintenance work, not connected with domestic labour - planning, producing, documenting, archiving, and promoting art. Unlike the marketing apparatus developed in the West, designed to appeal to curators and buyers, this gendered maintenance work as part of artistic production was essential to women artists' struggle against their marginalisation both by the state (locally) and the market (as an imagined 'international' destination). This generates a different understanding of what women artists' work consisted of, given that so far international art historical scholarship has highlighted western examples of social reproduction activities (e.g. Mierle Laderman Ukeles, Maintenance Manifesto, 1968).Interviews with artists, testimonies, catalogues, and archival material are my primary sources. Besides archives such as the Richard Demarco Archive (Scotland), the Piotr Piotrowski Archive (Poland), the Artpool Archive (Hungary), etc., I will consult online databases run by independent researchers and institutions from East-Central Europe, including Forgotten Heritage, Secondary Archive, ARTLIST, Web umenia etc.

“朝鲜可以有当代艺术吗？”询问Octavian Esanu（Esanu 2021），与“当代”的面向市场逻辑以及对非西方社会的隐性描绘，没有或有限的市场经济为“落后”，并且需要现代化。在晚期苏联影响的环境中，参与东部欧洲女艺术家的实验工作（包括表现，参与式实践和视觉媒体），我的项目挑战了“落后”论文，该论文重现了中心/周边范式，尤其是历史上边缘化的主题，例如女性艺术家。妇女在前东方的实验艺术的历史可以扩大当代女权主义思维，这是因为她们没有将对性别不平等的批判锚定在市场所决定的关系上。我的论文对波兰艺术史学家Piotrowski在国家社会主义下对东方欧洲实验性艺术的细微差别方法做出了回应（Piotrowski 2009和2012年）。对被忽视的艺术场景的重新评估对于非殖民现代和现代艺术史至关重要，使该地区的更多艺术家可见，并阐明了其历史和社会经济价值观（Piotrowski 2009＆2012; Bryzgel 2013＆2013＆2013＆2017; Kemp-Welch 2014＆2014＆2018＆2018＆2018＆2018＆esanu 20221）。然而，在这种横向艺术史上的主要弱点是其对女艺术家的边缘化（Jakubowska和Radomska 2022），复制了女性在西方文化中的隐形性。 My project addresses this limitation by closely examining the gender divide in artistic labour in East-Central Europe in the period (1970s and 1980s) when the main parameters of 'contemporary art' were established globally.Crucial to my research is the idea that the term 'contemporary art' has not been neutral but has been overtly or covertly defined through a market hegemony - especially so in the 1970s and 1980s when postmodernism became a尽管特定于西方的“消费者社会”，但“文化主导”（Jameson 1984＆1991）。在这个时期，以市场为主导的西方的第二波女权主义声称对妇女作为文化创造者的可见性，但鲜为人知的是，女性艺术家在不同优先事项和决定因素（例如东部欧洲的策略）中部署了哪些战略。我将与女艺术家的可见和无形的劳动联系起来，以表明对市场和国家权力重要的工作。 “可见的劳动”是指女性艺术家如何将“努力工作”视为文化的生产者，例如在波兰艺术二人组Kwiekulik的表演中，Zofia Kulik允许自己受到身体上的限制和精神羞辱（Jakubowska 2020）。 “无形的劳动”是指与国内劳动力没有联系的一种特定形式的维护工作 - 计划，生产，记录，归档和促进艺术。与西方开发的营销机构不同，旨在吸引策展人和买家，这项作为艺术生产的性别维护工作对于女性艺术家（当地）和市场（如想象中的“国际”目的地）的边缘化斗争至关重要。鉴于迄今为止，国际艺术历史奖学金强调了西方社会复制活动的例子（例如，Mierle Laderman Ukeles，维护宣言，1968年）。除了理查德·德马科档案馆（Richard Demarco Archive）（苏格兰），Piotr Piotrowski档案（波兰），Artpool Archive（匈牙利）等档案外，我还将咨询由独立研究人员和来自东方欧洲东部的机构运营的在线数据库，包括遗忘的遗产，次要档案，二级档案，Artarist，Artarist，Artarist，Artarist，Artarist，Artarist，Artarist，Artarist，Artarist，Artarist，Web Umenia等。