(Malmö, Sweden)
“A Voice of One’s Own” is currently on view at Malmö Konstmuseum, featuring works by Carla Zaccagnini.
“A Voice of One’s Own” takes its starting point 100 years ago at the Baltic Exhibition in Malmö, Sweden. 1,700 exhibitors and 850,000 visitors witnessed cultural refinement, technical developments, art exhibitions and athletic feats. There was an air of “everything is possible,” with the war yet to begin. And in the midst of all this, the women’s manifestation and fight for suffrage.
In this summer’s collaboration between Malmö Konstmuseum (Malmö Art Museum) and Moderna Museet Malmö, a number of contemporary artists have looked back in history at the reform work that promoted women’s rights at the beginning of the 20th century. Others have examined current issues relating to the situation for women and their access to the public sphere. The artworks create a storyline of methods used to counter oppression and achieve gender equality, and highlight the importance of constantly rereading and reinterpreting history from different perspectives.
Through Carla Zaccagnini we are able to visit the art galleries attacked by the suffragettes in London and Manchester in 1913–14. She brings back to life one of the most radical statements of the legendary voting rights activists: “Justice is an element of beauty as much as colour and outline on canvas.” Maj Hasager goes in search of the unsung heroines of the international voting rights movement, while Unni Gjertsen recalls the suffragettes’ fearless and rebellious motto “deeds not words” in her installation.
The portraits of Marie Høeg, women’s rights activist and photographer, offer a playful challenge to the sexual stereotypes prevalent in Norway at the turn of the last century. Andrea Geyer features the three women who founded the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and tells their forgotten story through a choreographed performance among the museum’s iconic collection. Petra Bauer reflects the early 20th century’s social reform movements in Sweden by using the poster as a political tool.
Visitors can free themselves from the patriarchy in Minimal Competence’s humorous 12-step program, play a voting rights game from the 1910s, delve into feminist literature in the Grand Domestic Revolution Library, see the award-winning documentary about the Russian feminist collective Pussy Riot, and revisit the women’s manifestation and fight for suffrage at the Baltic Exhibition in 1914.
Featured artists: Petra Bauer, Catti Brandelius, Matthijs De Bruijne, Kajsa Dahlberg, Nathalie Djurberg & Hans Berg, Roxy Farhat, Shaza Albatal, Johanna Friedman, Hanna Stenman, Andrea Geyer, Unni Gjertsen, Grand Domestic Revolution Library/Casco, Design and Theory, Maj Hasager, Marie Høeg, Sofia Hultin, Annica Karlsson Rixon, Anna Konik, Martha Rosler, Fia-Stina Sandlund, Ann-Sofi Sidén, Carla Zaccagnini
Curators: Marika Reuterswärd, Cecilia Widenheim, Joa Ljungberg
“A Voice of One’s Own”, group exhibition with Carla Zaccagnini
On view through 7th September
Malmö Konstmuseum
Malmöhusvägen 6, Malmö
malmokonstmuseum@malmo.se
Tel: 040 34 10 00