Between Cradles and Barricades: Feminist Methodology and Artistic Research Methods

blended course

Whether one agrees that feminist art is a stage in art history, a movement, a discourse or a complete shift in ways of doing things it is clear that it embraces a different way of making art and comprehending art. In three different interlinked sessions (presentations followed by reading sessions and workshops) prof. Suzana Milevska will present the basic feminist research methods and their application in art practices.

Starting from deconstruction as the major interpretative methodology and including some more recent arguments and ideas from post- Marxism, postcolonial and institutional critique, ecofeminism, cyber-feminism, transversality and intersectionality the course will address the potentiality of the theoretical arguments for different modesof feminist artistic research and activist art. Thus this short course of feminist methodology and research methods is not addressing only feminist art, but will offer a feminist grid of thinking that is already embedded in feminist art history.

The course argues that the analysis of knowledge of history and theory of feminist art is shaped as a counterpart to existing art structures and systems as a “discursive formation on the axis of power institutionalised in museums and academia” (G. Pollock). More precisely how it goes beyond its determination by general social-political contexts and economic conditions (which produced the long traditional hegemony of Western patriarchy-determined art history). This calls for interlacing art and its histories with feminist politics and different disciplinary and cross-disciplinary research layers. Although feminist research itself is considered as a methodology there aren’t specific feminist research methods so feminism uses many existing research methods, but by asking new research questions. The major general research questions addressed during the course will be the common questions feminists ask about epistemology and knowledge construction. The emphasis thus will be put on the positioning of the researcher within the process of research and within theorizing and on the intended purpose of the produced knowledge (e.g. the aims to understand why inequality between women and men still exists and to investigate the main reasons for male domination).The seminal debate about the difference between essentialism and constructivism will be addressed through different artistic examples.

Course leader

Suzana Milevska is a curator and a visual culture theorist. Her curatorial interests span from postcolonial and feminist critique of representational regimes of hegemonic power to collaborative and participatory art projects in marginalised communities.

Target group

Young professionals and students of fine art, art history, visual cultures, memory studies, gender studies, family studies, visual anthropology, philosophy, pedagogy, sociology, psychology, journalism, and anyone with a keen interest in the subject area.

Course aim

Some of the topics to be discussed and rehearsed through the close reading sessions and workshops will focus on deconstructive reading of famous artistic styles, directions and masterpieces by male artists from a feminist art history perspective, and exhaustive research of lesser known, but misinterpreted and/or underestimated female artists. Some of the additional questions to be discussed as relevant to the differentiation between male dominated art history and feminist art history methodology concern how the female gaze differs from the male gaze, and how these gazes intersect in public space. The course will enable the participants to continue independent research along these lines of thinking and art production in the realm of public space.

Credits info

2 EC
At the conclusion of each course, registered participants will be issued a certificate stating their equivalency of The European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) credits from Stacion - Center for Contemporary Art Prishtina, Kosovo and the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts de Lyon, France.

Fee info

EUR 300: The participation fee is due in full after you have successfully enrolled in the course via written confirmation from SSAS. The fee covers tuition, proceedings and certificates. This fee does not cover the cost of individually necessary materials, personal equipment, further excursions, accommodation or travel expenses.
EUR 30: Students who wish to obtain an ECTS certificate must pay an additional supplement to the registration fee, calculated as 10% of the annual fee, corresponding to the administrative treatment of the ECTS certificate established by the Ensba-Lyon. Only participants registered in a higher education institution, and who explicitly request it at the time of registration, will be able to validate ECTS credits in accordance with European regulations.

Scholarships

Scholarships are available for participants from Kosovo. A limited number of scholarships that cover the participation fee are available for international participants.