Politics of Women-only Exhibitions Today

Agata Jakubowska, Politics of women-only exhibitions today, “European Journal of Women's Studies”, published July 14, 2020 https://doi.org/10.1177/1350506820941249

Recent years have brought enormous growth in the number of women-only art exhibitions. These exhibitions are accompanied by discussions that concentrate on curatorial feminist activism. In this text, I propose a different perspective by taking into consideration all exhibitions where the participants were determined by social category (i.e. women) and which were organized in one country during one year (i.e. in Poland in 2017). This perspective not only allows us to remark on and analyse activities that otherwise remain unnoticed but also encourages us to extend our understanding of politics behind women-only initiatives. These exhibitions are generally intended to increase the capital of women artists, and to shift forces within the art and social fields in favour of women. However, as my analysis demonstrates, the organizers of different exhibitions occupy different places both in the art field and in the social field, and it is their position that determines, to a large extent, what changes they envision, what objectives they – in consequence – have and how they formulate their politics. This text also offers a reflection on whether the objectives behind organizing women-only shows has been constant or if they are a result of the current situation of women (artists).