'A Question of Readship' (Map, 16, 11/2008)
Q: To what extent is the nostalgia for the early stages of feminism an obstacle to its future? A: It is endangered only in so far as it falls out of curating/institutional trends. Its force lies in its ability to generate questions and debate continually, as opinions and issues evolve or not with their time, in and out of fashion.
Q: Uncertainty over feminism in contemporary art discourse is due to its plural directions and multiple points of reference. Does this mean that feminism, as a term, is rendered inactive, or does it have greater agency by working through diverse networks in a dispersed state? A: It is its very polymorphy that allows me to form an opinion on it now, that allows me to freely associate myself with it if I wish to, which to me, constitutes some form of action, activity, but maybe not always activism.
Q: The recent resurgence of performativity relating to the female body is suggestive of a revisitation to historical concerns of feminism. Are there identifiable characteristics of a feminist heritage in contemporary art – where artists seek to refine old conceptions – or does feminism have more vitality within critical and curatorial rather than art-making practice? A: This question to me seeks to divide a vocabulary or discourses, which essentially means this is to an extent about language (or languages?). I believe what is at stake are ideas, which should permeate and inform both criticism and practice, just as much as terms such as modernism do with their consequences, which I wonder if we question as much …
Q: Do the rights of women have any connection to a contemporary notion of feminism in art? A: Where do we speak from? Who do we speak for? Are you asking whether the dichotomy between theory and practice is also effective on the way we live our lives and the way we form ideas? I am not sure again that I like the way this question is formulated – the way it creates in my mind potential of failure, which in itself is an oxymoron. Has modernism succeeded in making us happier or free-er persons? Again, where do we talk from? Who do we talk for?