This four-week online course will consider the history of feminist thought in the context of contemporary art from the 1960s to the present. Case studies will include examples drawn from painting, sculpture, installation art, video, photography, and printmaking. At the same time, each week will highlight specific exhibitions, performances, and other initiatives that highlight feminist curatorial practice and more during the past several decades.

Week One, Mar 1

Week One will begin with an overview of the history of legislation connected to feminism in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries in the U.S. Following this, we will look at some key thinkers from disciplines including film theory, literary theory, philosophy, poetry, and psychoanalysis, considering non-Western as well as indigenous and third world critiques of the limits and shortcomings of Western feminism.

Week Two, Mar 8

Week Two will examine early Feminist Art in the 1960s and 1970s with case studies of artists including Marina Abramovic, Lynda Benglis, Louise Bourgeois, Judy Chicago, Mary Beth Edelson, VALIE EXPORT, Nan Goldin, Harmony Hammond, Eva Hesse, Yayoi Kusama, the Lesbian Art Project, Ana Mendieta, Yoko Ono, Howardina Pindell, Faith Ringold, Martha Rosler, May Stevens, Mierle Laderman Ukeles, Faith Wilding, and Hannah Wilke. Exhibitions highlighted include Womanhouse and Gloria: Another Look at Feminist Art of the 1970s.

Week Three, Mar 15

Week Three offers a deeper consideration of the next wave of feminist artists with an emphasis on performativity and community from the 1980s to the present. We will explore case studies through works by Janine Antoni, Rebecca Bellmore, Chakaia Booker, Margarita Cabrera, Sophie Calle, Marion Coleman, Maureen Conner, Tracy Emin, Paz Errázuriz, Andrea Fraser, Coco Fusco, Renee Green, Terri Greeves, Guerilla Girls, Nikki Lee, Sarah Lucas, Wendy Red Star, Jenny Saville, Joyce Scott, Cindy Sherman, Lorna Simpson, Renée Stout, Kara Walker, Mary Weatherford, Carrie Mae Weems. We will also revisit the exhibition Wack! Art and the Feminist Revolution.

Week Four, Mar 22

Week Four will focus on twenty-first century artists whose work represents feminist gestures. This week we will also consider some artists whose work critiques conventional ways of understanding gender. Tanya Aguiñiga, Cassels, Nani Chacon, Theresa Chromati, Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Wendy Cody, Torkwase Dyson, Yishay Garbasz, Sharon Hayes, Kent Monkman, Zanele Muholi, Mickalene Thomas, Ryan Trecartin, Wu Tsang, Juana Valdez, and Marie Watt. Exhibition highlights will include The Queer Voice and Tag: Proposals on Queer Play and the Ways Forward.