This work is about the ways in which some women have walked the limits between the domestic and the public space. With this in mind, I chose three historical moments when female collectives raised their voice. The Salonistes (17th and 18th centuries), the Flappers (the 1920s) and the Riot Grrrls (the 1990s) are examples of women collectively deciding to take a step forward, abandoning the domestic space to which they have traditionally been relegated in order to organize themselves and occupy the public space.
Throughout art history many women have used their work to reflect on their own situation in the domestic sphere: women’s centuries-long seclusion in the realm of the private is a key factor that has done much to condition the way women approach their artistic output, because of the roles they have been obliged to act out within this space. My idea with this project is to bring a voice confined to the private space into the public space, unlocking the therapeutic, political potential that resides in the artistic endeavor. The goal is to analyze how the changes unfolding in gender relations, starting from the redefinition of the domestic space, might end up producing a new political subject. For centuries the public sphere has been construed as a distinctly male terrain, and women have been stuck for too long with tired roles and stereotypes: my purpose is to reinterpret that space so they can inhabit it without feeling like intruders or dissidents.
The Salonistes were a group of noblewomen in 17th-century Paris who organized in-depth debates on philosophical, religious and moral issues. The Flappers of the 1920s promoted a female lifestyle that favored short skirts and the discarding of the corset; they were women who drank, smoked, drove cars and danced to jazz. The Riot Grrrls was a feminist music movement that emerged in the 1990s as a reaction to the extreme misogyny of the rock and roll scene. All are examples of female collectives bursting into the public sphere, seeking to transform it by creating new imaginaries.
Video, 26’ 54’’
