Join us for a workshop organised by Catherine Grant, Amy Tobin and Rachel Warriner from the Group Work: Contemporary Art and Feminism research network, hosted by Chelsea Space.
In response to the archival traces of Annabel Nicolson’s “Women and Creativity” tapes (1978-80), this workshop will consider the relevance of these recordings for feminist art and writing today. Made by Nicolson in the late 1970s, the tapes document a series of interviews made by women artists, asking them what helped and hindered their creative practice. The recordings were then played in listening sessions, with Nicolson presenting extracts to small audiences.
Following a similar process, the workshop will be split into two sections — the first with presentations from the organisers and the artists Marysia Lewandowska and Rehana Zaman, giving context to the session, including a series of responses to the questions raised by Nicolson in the original recordings.
The second section invites all workshop participants to respond to the questions around women and creativity from their own perspective, with time to work in small groups, and share ideas and experiences.
Further information about the workshop will be sent to participants when they have registered, including texts to read that give more detail on Nicolson’s tapes and the questions which will be discussed in small groups. Numbers are limited due to the participatory nature of this session.
Catherine Grant is Senior Lecturer in the Art and Visual Cultures Departments at Goldsmiths, University of London. She is currently researching the legacies of feminist histories in contemporary art. The project includes the essays “Fans of Feminism: re-writing histories of second-wave feminism” (2011) and “A letter sent, waiting to be received: queer correspondence, feminism and Black British art” (2019). She is the co-editor of Fandom as Methodology with Kate Random Love (2019), as well as the collections Girls! Girls! Girls! (2011) and Creative Writing and Art History (2012).
Marysia Lewandowska is a Polish-born artist based in London. She has been exploring the public functions of archives, museums and exhibitions resulting in projects involving the property of others. Amongst them are the Women’s Audio Archive (2009); Undoing Property? with Laurel Ptak (2013); It’s About Time at the 58th Art Biennale in Venice (2019). The Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw has included the Enthusiasts Archive in their collection.
Rehana Zaman is an artist based in London. Her work speaks to the entanglement of personal experience and social life, where moments of intimacy are framed against bio politics, cultural orthodoxies and state coercion. Cooperative methods underpin her process, structuring how works are initiated, produced and shared. Recent and upcoming exhibitions include Artist Film International Whitechapel, London (2021) British Art Show 9 (2021), Serpentine, London, UK (2021), Liverpool Biennial 2018, Dhaka Art Summit, Bangladesh, Bergen Kunsthall, Norway; Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2018; Oberhausen Film Festival and Bétonsalon Paris. In 2019 she co-edited Tongues with Taylor Le Melle, published by PSS and was shortlisted for the Film London Jarman Award in 2019. Her films are distributed by LUX Moving Image.
Annabel Nicolson is an artist film-maker and performer. From 1969-70 she ran the gallery at the New Arts Lab, London and was cinema programmer at the London Film Maker's Coop in 1974, 1976-77 and 1992/3. She was a founder member of Circles - Women's Film in Distribution (Circles merged with Cinema of Women in 1991 to become Cinenova); editorial contributor for Musics magazine (1976-79); and co-editor and publisher of Readings magazine (1977). Her film works and performances have been seen at museums and galleries including Acme Gallery, Hayward Gallery and the London Musicians Collective, London, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool; and in film retrospectives and festivals internationally. Her solo exhibitions include Norwich School of Art Gallery (1981) and Chelsea College of Art Gallery (1988). Recent group shows include Film in Space, Camden Arts Centre (2013) and Filmaktion, Tate Modern (2012). She has taught at various art colleges including devising the Women in Art Course at Chelsea College of Arts (1987-88).
The Group Work: Contemporary Art and Feminism research network is organised by Catherine Grant (Goldsmiths), Amy Tobin (Cambridge University) and Rachel Warriner (Courtauld Institute of Art), as part of the British Art Network.
Go to: https://groupworkartandfeminism.wordpress.com
This workshop is supported by the Association for Art History and Chelsea Space
Dialogues is a programme of events, talks and screenings that will take place online during 2021, as we navigate the altered world around us. Devised in collaboration between Camberwell, Chelsea and Wimbledon Spaces, Dialogues will be hosted remotely and connected via Chelsea Space and UAL platforms: www.chelseaspace.org | www.arts.ac.uk
