Resetting the Table: A Symposium on Feminist Art and Herstory at SACI’s Palazzo dei Cartelloni focuses on the role of female artists in society and the knowledge to be gained from the ground-breaking work of the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art at the Brooklyn Museum. The symposium will also highlight the presence of women in art and art criticism in the city of Florence, linking past and present, theory and practice, in the hope of giving a different legibility to the environments in which we live.
Photo: Elizabeth A. Sackler, PhD, Founder of the Sackler Center for Feminist Art at the Brooklyn Museum, ph. Jürgen Frank
Dr. Elizabeth Sackler, a public historian and arts matron, is founder of the Sackler Center for Feminist Art, which was inaugurated in 2007 with the permanent placement in the Brooklyn Museum of Judy Chicago’s iconic Dinner Party. It is from this piece that the symposium derives its title—change and progress are contingent upon evolution and adaptation, therefore it is imperative to revisit, revise and reset the proverbial table at which everyone deserves a place.
Catherine Morris, senior curator for the Sackler Center for Feminist Art, brings her enlightening scholarship and expertise to a lecture on curating a contemporary feminist space. Her recent exhibition, entitled We Wanted a Revolution, featured a critical gathering of works by radical black women artists and activists working in the United States from 1965 to 1985, and highlighted issues that resonate throughout current political movements.
Dr. Helen Watterson, Dr. Maria Antonia Rinaldi and Dr. Mary Beckinsale will each offer fresh insights into the rich layers of the Italian Renaissance with emphasis on the roles, functions, attitudes and social concerns that surrounded the creation of many famous works of art that are now in Florence. It is in acknowledgment of the female reading applied to these subjects that the word “herstory” is used. Molly Di Grazia, an Italian-American artist whose work is on view in the SACI Gallery, will offer a personal perspective on the role of feminism in her practice.
The symposium, which is co-sponsored by NYU in Florence, centers on two themes: the challenge that confronts contemporary female artists in their struggle for recognition and respect, and how feminism can inform and illuminate a study of the past.
The symposium is scheduled for Monday, October 9. Learn more at www.saci-florence.edu
