STAND UP! – A Tour
The exhibition "STAND UP! FEMINIST AVANT-GARDE. Works from the VERBUND COLLECTION, Vienna" is dedicated to feminist art of the 1970s. The artists of the Feminist Avant-Garde sharply criticized traditional gender roles and, with their fresh and direct visual language, created complex and new images of the emancipated woman.
In the 1970s, women in Europe and North America demonstrated against discrimination, oppression, and traditional gender roles. Many artists challenged patriarchal power relations through photographs, radical performances, and video productions. The artists used the media of photography and film, which are connoted as free and spontaneous, for their art.
Their art is considered avant-garde because of the collective new female perspective on centuries-old role models for women, the (self-)critical examination of these, and the search for new role models. For the first time, a larger group of women artistically addressed the question of gender equality and their own place in a previously patriarchal society. In 2025, the themes of the women's movement of that time are frighteningly current and highly relevant.
VERBUND COLLECTION, Vienna
The exhibition "STAND UP! FEMINIST AVANT-GARDE" is a collaboration between the Staatsgalerie and the VERBUND COLLECTION, Vienna. VERBUND AG is Austria's leading electricity company and the leading hydroelectric power producer in Europe. The VERBUND COLLECTION was founded in 2004, and Gabriele Schor, the founding director and curator of the exhibition, succeeded in building an outstanding collection with over 1,000 predominantly film and photographic works by around 200 artists.
Gabriele Schor introduced and established the term "feminist avant-garde" in art history to honor the underappreciated pioneering work of these artists in the 1970s.
The Private Sphere is Political
The 1970s were characterised by a spirit of optimism and a desire for change. Women were (finally) publicly fighting for more rights and recognition; a central motto became "The personal is political," suggesting that the living conditions of millions of women should also be decisive for legislation.
According to the conventions of the time, a woman was expected to take care of the household, raise children, and uphold moral principles without pay. The artists addressed these societal expectations with anger and irony. Renate Eisenegger ironed the already immaculate corridor of a high-rise building: a symbol of the oppression and lack of opportunities for women to develop, for whose wishes and dreams there seemed to be no place.
Breaking Out
The lives of many girls and women were predetermined until the 1970s: husband and children were the goal and content of life. Emancipated women were united by a feeling of powerlessness, oppression, being locked up and the desire to escape from this social cage.
The works of the artists of the feminist avant-garde often contain the aesthetically impressive motif of constriction or cage with the resulting liberation.
Annegret Soltau ensnares their faces with tight threads. Her pain is transferred to the viewer and allows us to empathize with the painful experience of patriarchal social structures. The artist's main focus is independent (!) liberation, which Annegret Soltau stages in a powerful way.
Awakening
Although the Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany states that ‘men and women have equal rights’, this principle is still far from applying to the reality of women's lives. Access to numerous male professions has long been difficult or even impossible for them. The artists of the feminist avant-garde disguise themselves, slip into different roles and thus visualise the new freedoms they have gained. The self thus becomes a projection screen for the opportunities and desires of a generation of women. For ‘Art is a criminal action’, Ulrike Rosenbach imitates an iconic work by pop artist Andy Warhol, which shows Elvis Presley, the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll, as a gunslinger with a pistol pointed at us. In an act of self-empowerment, Rosenbach demonstrates her willingness to confront the male-dominated art world with the same ‘weapons’. No other female artist plays with her identity as consistently as Cindy Sherman. She disguises herself beyond recognition - the focus of her works is on the themes and not on her own self. The messages are as complex as they are simple: women can do anything - that was probably the biggest surprise for the patriarchal society of the 1970s. |
My Belly Belongs to Me
Die Vorstellung, wie eine nackte Frau aussehen sollte, wird nicht zuletzt von Männermagazinen, nachhaltig bestimmt. Frauen können nicht selbstbestimmt über ihren Körper entscheiden, so spaltet bis heute der Streit über die Abschaffung des Abtreibungsparagrafen § 218 die Gesellschaft. In den 1970er-Jahren kämpfen Frauen mit prominenter Unterstützung und mit dem Slogan »Mein Bauch gehört mir« um ihr Recht auf Selbstbestimmung.
Die Künstlerinnen der Feministischen Avantgarde fordern mit ihren Werken die Deutungshoheit über den weiblichen Körper ein. Die Frauenbewegung kämpft bewusst auch gegen geltende Schönheitsideale und schafft ein neues Bild von Frauenkörpern. Orshi Drozdik interpretieren traditionelle kunsthistorische Bildformeln neu.
Freedom
The sexual revolution of the 1960s shook conservative sexual morality to its foundations: extramarital sexual intercourse was no longer a reason for social ostracism, new forms of partnership were possible and were discussed in public. Women can actively participate in this revolt, because from 1961 and 1965 the contraceptive pill is available in West- and East-Germany. The contraceptive method enables women to live their sexuality more freely for the first time.
Self-determined sexuality is an essential claim of the artists of the feminist avant-garde. Penny Slinger depicts female sexuality as equal to that of men in a humorous and ironic way. In her photo collage ‘ICU, Eye Sea You, I See You’, she happily shows herself with her legs spread as a bride in a wedding cake and positions a large eye over her vulva, which actively looks at the viewer. Female sexuality no longer remains passive, but is self-determined. Slinger succeeds in conveying a lightness and joy that almost makes us forget the ongoing struggle for women's self-determined sexuality.