Looking for something to do while practicing social distancing? Our Artpace Team has compiled a list of book recommendations to get you through the next few weeks. We’ll be releasing a new recommendation every week on our social media channels and we will be actively updating this list.
Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?
by Linda Nochlin
First up is the essay for our next Reading Red Book Club, Linda Nochlin’s “Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?”
The essay coincides with our Hudson Showroom exhibition: Visibilities: Intrepid Women of Artpace. Originally published in the January 1971 issue of ARTNews, Nochlin explores institutional obstacles that have prevented women in the West from succeeding in the arts.
Download the essay here and sign up for our virtual book club meeting on April 25th here.
Nothing is Neutral
by Andrea Bowers (2006 Resident Artist)
Recommended by our Visitor Relations Associate, Olivia Hinojosa
“Nothing is Neutral is the exhibition catalogue for Bowers’ two project exhibition of the same name. Her Artpace project in 2006 stemmed from the first iteration of the exhibition, a solo show at the gallery at REDCAT,” says Olivia. “It’s a collection of writings and drawings that were featured in the show that focus on various women in history (mostly in the women’s health rights movement.) It’s so good.” ⠀
This book is available in the Shop at Artpace. Click here to purchase!
Learn more about Andrea Bowers’ Artpace exhibition, Nothing is Neutral, here.
TASK
by Oliver Herring (2004 Resident Artist)
Recommended by our Education Coordinator, Ashley Mireles
Ashley: “Two years ago I received a copy of TASK from Taylor Bates, our past Director of Programs and Exhibitions and my former supervisor, and I read right through it dreaming about what an Artpace TASK party might look like—I’m still holding out for one. TASK parties are collaborative art making events held all over the world in classrooms, institutions, college campuses, and other public spaces. Created by Oliver Herring in London in 2002 with just a group of 10, Oliver asks participants to write a task and complete a task such as “become invisible” or “start a revolution”, and the lucky person that draws the task is charged with deciding on what that means and how to do it. The book provides background, documented parties, and simple How-To TASK outlines for different settings/group sizes. I love the idea of TASK because it’s a fun way to break social barriers and push creativity.”
Learn more about Oliver Herring’s Artpace exhibition here.
Feminism Is for Everybody
by bell hooks
Recommended by our Director of Residencies and Exhibitions, Erin Murphy
“A poignant, foundational book by race, gender, class critic bell hooks that still resonates twenty years (!) after its publication. In her intelligent, but accessible style, she looks at feminism’s history highlighting its flaws and potential for improvement,” said Murphy. “Her book prophetically introduced the idea of intersectional feminism well before it gained momentum in the mid-2010s. Serves as a great companion to the Visibilities: Intrepid Women of Artpace exhibition.”
We Should All Be Feminists
by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Recommended by our Director of Residencies and Exhibitions, Erin Murphy
Murphy: “This is a 2014 adaptation of Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s 2012 TEDx talk of the same name. It is quick and rousing read offering an updated approach to feminism in the 21st century emphasizing inclusion. Also a great complement to Visibilities: Intrepid Women of Artpace.”
Curatorial Activism: Towards and Ethics of Curating
by Maura Reilly
Recommended by our Communications Manager, Casie Lomeli
“Art world statistics show that the fight for gender and race equality in the art world is still entirely real. As this book states, only 16% of the 2018 Venice Biennale artists were female; only 14% of the work displayed at MoMA in 2016 was by nonwhite artists”, said Lomeli. “I really enjoyed this book because it examines and challenges the traditional art historical canon. It analyzes different approaches to inclusive curation while questioning the issues within those approaches. The book also discusses Linda Nochlin’s exhibition, Women Artists, which connects back to our Reading Red Book Club essay for April, ‘Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists.”
The Canción Cannibal Cabaret and Other Songs
by Amalia Ortiz
Recommended by our Membership & Donor Management Associate, Leticia Rocha-Zivadinovic
“This book– part poetry book, part songbook– is award-winning Xicana author and performance poet Amalia Ortiz’s latest work. In texts and songs both original and ‘cannibalized’ (where the author took an existing song and changed the lyrics to tell the story), she paints a dystopian tale in a not-so-distant future: a refugee, La Madre Valiente, studies in secret and spreads the revolutionary fire in her belly through bands of roving bards. It’s an exciting read, with plenty of brilliant phrasing. One of my favorite lines is, ‘Tongue tired of tasting her own blood, she fashioned it, finally, into a fist and began to fight back.’ There’s also pieces in this book that aren’t included in the live show version, so even if you’ve seen it several times, you’ll find new things here.”
