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Around/Beyond Feminist Aesthetics
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Around/Beyond Feminist Aesthetics

A special issue of Arts (ISSN 2076-0752).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (1 January 2023) | Viewed by 22753

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Katy Deepwell

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Professor of Contemporary Art, Theory and Criticism, Middlesex University, London, UK
Interests: art theory and criticism; feminist art history; criticism and curation

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

‘As feminist thinkers construct feminist theory and practice to guide us into a revolutionary, revitalized feminist future, we need to place aesthetics on our agenda.’

bell hooks Art on My Mind: Visual Politics (1995) p.124

With these words of bell hooks on our minds, this special issue of Arts proposes to re-examine questions in/about/around and beyond feminist aesthetics in relation to contemporary art (post-1970) and how the proposals raised will again place aesthetics on our agenda for feminist futures.

Feminist debates in/around/against/beyond aesthetics have been a recurrent concern in writing about feminist art practices since the late 1960s. There exists a long and complex history in the last 50 years which is all too often reduced to a few key questions about the visibility or representation of women artists or confined to one nation. Attempts have been made at different times and in many geo-political spaces to offer definitions about what is a feminist aesthetic (politically) as opposed to a feminine aesthetic (attributed to gender/sex of maker or artwork or as a practice of writing/language/art-making). However, in their encounters with feminist art practices, many writers from different parts of the world have repeatedly questioned how any proposals to name a singular aesthetic set a limit to what can be identified as “feminist art” and have instead proposed models of reading/interpretation which open out towards generative, plurivocal or transversal possibilities. Black, queer, Chicano, Indigenous, as well as Asian, African and Latin-American feminists have in their aesthetic theories challenged the “whiteness/heteronormativity/Western and Eurocentric” character of many feminist proposals and offered radical alternatives for engagements between politics/aesthetics.

This issue, therefore, calls for papers on contemporary art which rethink questions in/around/against and beyond feminist aesthetics in relation to politics that challenge and rethink different schools in aesthetics and aesthetic theory including (but not exclusively) those that are materialist, analytical, black, Indigenous, deconstructive, anti/decolonial and post-colonial and queer.

Priority will be given to papers which engage with problems in feminist aesthetics but do more than rehearse the many blind spots on race/ class/ gender/ disability/ ethnicity/ religion/ sexuality found in contemporary (male) philosophy or art criticism on contemporary (visual) art.

This special issue therefore welcomes attempts to construct black, Womanist or Afro-futurist feminist aesthetics; feminist materialist/Socialist feminist aesthetics; anti-/de-/post-colonial feminist aesthetics in many parts of the world; Chicano or Indigenous feminist aesthetics, amongst many other branches of feminist thought on epistemology, ontology and aesthetics.

Papers that offer alternative genealogies or histories for feminist thought and trans-national/transgenerational comparative studies are also welcomed.

Prof. Dr. Katy Deepwell
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Arts is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • feminist aesthetics
  • contemporary art
  • feminist art

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Published Papers (8 papers)

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Research

10 pages, 265 KiB  
Article
Towards a Weak Avant-Garde, Re-Shaping the Canon
by Ewa Majewska
Arts 2023, 12(2), 70; https://doi.org/10.3390/arts12020070 - 3 Apr 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1700
Abstract
Feminist discussions in art history usually focus on the exclusion of women artists and the reification of women’s bodies. A growing constellation of queer and feminist theorists today, however, analyse failure and cuteness as aspects of contemporary feminist avant-garde practices, suggesting that alternative [...] Read more.
Feminist discussions in art history usually focus on the exclusion of women artists and the reification of women’s bodies. A growing constellation of queer and feminist theorists today, however, analyse failure and cuteness as aspects of contemporary feminist avant-garde practices, suggesting that alternative currents in art practice and theory are emerging that challenge traditional notions and modes of art production. In my article, I discuss these debates in relation to “weak universalism” and weak messianism in order to reshape our understanding of avant-garde theory and practice from a feminist perspective. I argue that feminist analysis transforms what was previously thematized as conditions of exclusion into an important part of artistic legacy in works made by previously excluded groups. I propose that the concept of a weak avant-garde might help to theorize these shifts. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Around/Beyond Feminist Aesthetics)
13 pages, 621 KiB  
Article
The Politics and Aesthetic Choices of Feminist Art Criticism
by Katy Deepwell
Arts 2023, 12(2), 63; https://doi.org/10.3390/arts12020063 - 23 Mar 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 5700
Abstract
This article explores feminist art criticism from the point of view of aesthetics/politics in global contemporary art. It is based on the author’s experience as an art critic and founding editor of n.paradoxa: international feminist art journal (1998–2017). Reading articles published in the [...] Read more.
This article explores feminist art criticism from the point of view of aesthetics/politics in global contemporary art. It is based on the author’s experience as an art critic and founding editor of n.paradoxa: international feminist art journal (1998–2017). Reading articles published in the previous two decades both for the journal and outside it, it became possible to identify how subjects produce specific objects in art criticism that demonstrate different locations and standpoints in thought and how these align with criticism from broader feminist political theories. This is an exploration of the aesthetics/politics both in, about and beyond feminist art criticism. The methodology presented analyses feminist art criticism using a model of clusters of concepts that draws on Anne Ring Petersen’s examination of identity politics, race and multiculturalism from 2012. Feminist analyses in which this approach has been attempted are discussed: Sue Rosser’s 2005 analysis of cyberfeminism and Tuzyline Jita Allan’s 1995 discussion of black/womanist/African feminisms. The article identifies four types of feminist art criticism: liberal feminism, materialist feminism, feminist cosmopolitan multi-culturalism, and queer post-colonial feminism. The aims, methods and approaches of these tendencies are outlined to demonstrate the differences between them. The article concludes with a discussion about the futures of feminist art criticism. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Around/Beyond Feminist Aesthetics)
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14 pages, 2081 KiB  
Article
Performing Everydayness and Feminist Aesthetics
by Monica Margarita Gontovnik Hobrecht
Arts 2023, 12(2), 49; https://doi.org/10.3390/arts12020049 - 8 Mar 2023
Viewed by 2071
Abstract
As a Colombian scholar and artist, the author of this essay interrogates feminist aesthetics and artistic practice in a choreographic mode; improvising to see where movement takes her. This first impulse creates the space for performing writing and opening the space of creation. [...] Read more.
As a Colombian scholar and artist, the author of this essay interrogates feminist aesthetics and artistic practice in a choreographic mode; improvising to see where movement takes her. This first impulse creates the space for performing writing and opening the space of creation. The movement starts at home, immersed in everydayness, aided by poetry and the analysis of the work of three other contemporary Colombian artists who also start at home in their artistic practice. Here, home is also a reference to all the artists’ (including the author’s) place of birth: Barranquilla, Colombia. The aesthetic philosophical tradition comes into play against the backdrop of the ideas presented by Simone de Beauvoir in her seminal The Second Sex (1949), who urges women in the middle of the twentieth century, to transcend, to fight against immanence. The works of Clara Gaviria, Raisa Galofre and Jessica Sofía Mitrani accompany the author’s journey while she arrives at the realization that it all starts with the need to transcend the quotidian while using, precisely, the apparent banality of such everyday things and tasks. Through the created art objects, the author creates an essay about, around and beyond artistic feminist practice and aesthetics. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Around/Beyond Feminist Aesthetics)
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10 pages, 246 KiB  
Article
Hannah Arendt’s Action Theory, Aesthetics and Feminist Curatorial Praxis
by Neda Mohamadi
Arts 2023, 12(2), 47; https://doi.org/10.3390/arts12020047 - 6 Mar 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2360
Abstract
This article considers the relationship between action (Arendt) and aesthetics in curatorial projects with feminist concepts. I suggest that Hannah Arendt’s theory of action provides the connection between aesthetics and the notion of action in feminist curatorial praxis. The vision of feminism discussed [...] Read more.
This article considers the relationship between action (Arendt) and aesthetics in curatorial projects with feminist concepts. I suggest that Hannah Arendt’s theory of action provides the connection between aesthetics and the notion of action in feminist curatorial praxis. The vision of feminism discussed here refers to the desire to understand matters from the specific point of view of women and considers the distribution of power and potentiality in various levels of life. The feminist theory in this research aims to reveal, show, and transform cultural, historical and social structures. From a broader perspective, living in the neoliberal realities alongside capitalist and patriarchal state structures provides multiple reasons and a rationale for collectively forming a new foundation of resistance. Feminism emerges in and through curatorial actions involving varied artistic expressions of freedom, discontent, etc. Four case studies concerning women as subjects are investigated, whose subject is migration and border-crossing, and both works and exhibitions are compared in terms of their curatorial approach, the level of action and their aesthetics methods. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Around/Beyond Feminist Aesthetics)
13 pages, 338 KiB  
Article
Around Ruins: Some Notes on Feminist and Decolonial Conversations in Aesthetics
by Márcia Oliveira
Arts 2023, 12(2), 43; https://doi.org/10.3390/arts12020043 - 24 Feb 2023
Viewed by 1503
Abstract
Although using different strategies, Portuguese artists Mónica de Miranda and Filipa César make us think about and reflect on the ruins of the Portuguese ‘empire’ but also on the ruins—and the remains—of European colonialism and its patriarchal backbone. Their work opens the possibility [...] Read more.
Although using different strategies, Portuguese artists Mónica de Miranda and Filipa César make us think about and reflect on the ruins of the Portuguese ‘empire’ but also on the ruins—and the remains—of European colonialism and its patriarchal backbone. Their work opens the possibility of discussing aesthetics from feminist and decolonial perspectives, departing from the category of ‘ruins’ and considering the many ways through which these ruins and their multiple inflections contribute to the creation of potential affective geographies and memories. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Around/Beyond Feminist Aesthetics)
9 pages, 228 KiB  
Article
Representation and Identity in Contemporary Women Artists’ Video
by Laura Leuzzi
Arts 2023, 12(2), 42; https://doi.org/10.3390/arts12020042 - 22 Feb 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2393
Abstract
This essay is an initial study that examines selected contemporary video artworks addressing identity and representation by contemporary Italian women artists. The author shows how these women artists seek to avoid the objectification and sanitisation of the traditional iconographies involving women in patriarchal [...] Read more.
This essay is an initial study that examines selected contemporary video artworks addressing identity and representation by contemporary Italian women artists. The author shows how these women artists seek to avoid the objectification and sanitisation of the traditional iconographies involving women in patriarchal Catholic systems. Selected works by Elisabetta Di Sopra, Francesca Fini, and Mariateresa Sartori are discussed by comparing elements from works by earlier generations of feminist video artists, such as Pipilotti Rist, Elaine Shemilt, and Catherine Elwes. Drawing on theories of both video and feminist art, this article examines how the development of a new aesthetic in early women’s video art practice in the 1970s and 1980s is still relevant to the task of critically examining and assessing aesthetics in video today, and how video remains a key tool used to experiment with the remediation of women’s representation and identity. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Around/Beyond Feminist Aesthetics)
12 pages, 1691 KiB  
Article
Intimacy and Darkness: Feminist Sensibility in (Post)socialist Art
by Jana Kukaine
Arts 2023, 12(1), 24; https://doi.org/10.3390/arts12010024 - 29 Jan 2023
Viewed by 2845
Abstract
This article assembles feminist articulations scattered across art histories and theories of Eastern and Central Europe, in order to reveal their potential, not only for foregrounding postsocialist feminist perspectives, but also for enriching the vocabulary and expanding temporal geographies of transnational feminist debates. [...] Read more.
This article assembles feminist articulations scattered across art histories and theories of Eastern and Central Europe, in order to reveal their potential, not only for foregrounding postsocialist feminist perspectives, but also for enriching the vocabulary and expanding temporal geographies of transnational feminist debates. By attending to intuitive, latent, reluctant, proto-, para-, unofficial and soft feminisms, this article establishes a peculiar feminist sensibility that is attuned to Central and Eastern European women artists’ approaches to everyday, embodied and affective experiences via the critical endorsement of intimacy and darkness. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Around/Beyond Feminist Aesthetics)
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9 pages, 251 KiB  
Article
On Feminist Aesthetics and Anti-Propaganda in Russia
by Mila Bredikhina
Arts 2023, 12(1), 6; https://doi.org/10.3390/arts12010006 - 29 Dec 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2052
Abstract
The feminist agenda in Russia experienced a phase of intense aesthetic search in the field of contemporary art and contemporary theater. The split in society, war, increased censorship and state propaganda, and mass emigration stopped this process. Feminist ethics and aesthetics are oriented [...] Read more.
The feminist agenda in Russia experienced a phase of intense aesthetic search in the field of contemporary art and contemporary theater. The split in society, war, increased censorship and state propaganda, and mass emigration stopped this process. Feminist ethics and aesthetics are oriented toward democratic values and the absolute value of human life; it is difficult for them to survive in totalitarian states. Using material from the history of feminism and aesthetic practices in the post-perestroika decades of Russia, this article examines two historical forms of such survival: the Stockholm syndrome and, in more detail, “anti-propaganda”, the popularization of the feminist agenda through aesthetic practices with mandatory feedback and the utmost attention to individual fate and personal trauma. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Around/Beyond Feminist Aesthetics)
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