Art labor, sex politics : feminist effects in 1970s British art and performance / Siona Wilson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Wilson, Siona, 1970- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Sex differences in art.

Sex role in art.

Women and the arts--Great Britain--History--20th century.

Women and the arts.

Arts and society--Great Britain--History--20th century.

Arts and society.

History.

Great Britain.

Physical Description:

xxix, 288 pages ; 21 cm

Place of Publication:

Minneapolis, MN : University of Minnesota Press, [2015]

Summary:

In Art Labor, Sex Politics Siona Wilson investigates the charged relationship of sex and labor politics as it played out in the making of feminist art in 1970s Britain. Her sustained exploration of works of experimental film* installation, performance, and photography maps the intersection of feminist and leftist projects in the artistic practices of this heady period. Collective practice, grassroots activism, and iconoclastic challenges to society's sexual norms are all fundamental elements of this theoretically informed history. The book presents fresh assessments of key feminist figures and introduces readers to less widely known artists such as Jo Spence and controversial groups like COUM Transmissions. Wilson's interpretations of two of the best-known (and infamous) exhibitions of feminist art-Mary Kelly's Post-Partum Document and COUH Transmissions' Prostitution-supply a historical context that reveals these works anew. How-and how much-do sexual politics transform our approach to aesthetic debates? What effect do the tropes of sexual difference and labor have on the conception of the political within cultural practice? These questions animate Art Labor, Sex Politics as it illuminates an intense and influential decade of intellectual and artistic experimentation. Book jacket.

Contents:

Introduction: Sex-Politics

Nightcleaners: The Ambiguities of Activism and the Limits of Production

The Spectator as Reproducer: Mary Kelly's Early Films

Prostitution and the Problem of Feminist Art: The Emergent Queer Aesthetic of COUM Transmissions

Revolting Photographs: Proletarian Amateurism in Jo Spence and Terry Dennett's Photography Workshop.

Notes:

Outgrowth of the author's thesis (Ph. D.--Columbia University, 2005).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780816685738

0816685738

9780816685752

0816685754

OCLC:

884961954