[Ewa Partum, "Selfidentification," Warsaw 1980. Photo-montage (from a series of 8 images). Courtesy: The artist.] re.act.feminism #2 — a performing archive: Archive / Exhibitions / Workshops / Performances / Talks / Research :: until September 2013 :: First Venue (until January 2012): Centro Cultural Montehermoso Kulturunea, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain.

re.act.feminism #2 — a performing archive is a continually expanding, mobile and temporary performance archive travelling through six European countries from 2011 to 2013. In its current version, it presents gender-critical, feminist and queer performance art by 125 artists and artists collectives from the 1960s until the beginning of the 1980s, as well as contemporary positions. The research focus is on artworks from Eastern and Western Europe, the Mediterranean and the Middle East, the US and selected countries in Latin America. On its route through Europe this temporary archive will continue to expand through local research and scholarly cooperation. It will also be “animated” through exhibitions, screenings, performances and discussions along the way, which will continuously contribute to the archive.

With this project, the organiser cross links e.V., Berlin and the curators Bettina Knaup and Beatrice Ellen Stammer, draw on the success of the exhibition “re.act.feminism — performance art of the 1960s & 70s today” which was shown to great critical acclaim in the Akademie der Künste, Berlin, Germany, in 2008–2009.

The main goals of the project are to make performance documentation, which is dispersed and often difficult to access, available to a broader public for the first time in such a great volume and variety, and to strengthen cross-generational and trans-cultural dialogue.

The project is based on the idea of a living archive, emphasising the use, appropriation, and re-interpretation of documents: What effect does the performance document have in the moment of its reception, what does it do? What kind of relationship does it create between past and future, between author and recipient?

At Centro Cultural Montehermoso, first venue of the project, the archive will be accompanied by an exhibition presenting 20 artists of different generations, which have been selected from the archive:

EXHIBITION

Oreet Ashery, Pauline Boudry & Renate Lorenz, Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, Regina José Galindo, Mierle Laderman Ukeles, Marta Minujín, Fina Miralles, Lorraine O’Grady, Tanja Ostojić, Letícia Parente, Ewa Partum, Adrian Piper, Ulrike Rosenbach, Raeda Saadeh, Zorka Ságlová, Stefanie Seibold & Teresa María Díaz Nerio, Miriam Sharon, Gabriele Stötzer

ARCHIVE

Helena Almeida, Eleanor Antin, Oreet Ashery, Antonia Baehr, Maja Bajević, Anne Bean, Anat Ben-David, Renate Bertlmann, Pauline Boudry & Renate Lorenz, Nisrine Boukhari, Maris Bustamante, Cabello/Carceller, Graciela Carnevale, Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, Helen Chadwick, Lygia Clark, Colette, Nieves Correa, Laura Cottingham, Lilibeth Cuenca Rasmussen, Disband, Ines Doujak, Orshi Drozdik, Yingmei Duan, Diamela Eltit, VALIE EXPORT, Factory of Found Clothes, Esther Ferrer, Rose Finn-Kelcey, Simone Forti, (e.) Twin Gabriel, Regina José Galindo, Rimma Gerlovina & Valeriy Gerlovin, Patrycja German, Ghazel, Kate Gilmore, Mona Hatoum, Sanja Iveković, Elżbieta Jabłońska, Françoise Janicot, Joan Jonas, Anne Jud, Kirsten Justesen, Kanonklubben/Damebilleder, Line Skywalker Karlström, Tina Keane, Amal Kenawy, Verica Kovacevska, Elena Kovylina, Katarzyna Kozyra, Christina Kubisch, Verena Kyselka, Nicola L, Latifa Laâbissi, Leslie Labowitz, Suzanne Lacy, Katalin Ladik, Sigalit Landau, Klara Lidén, Kalup Linzy, Natalia LL, Manon, María Evelia Marmolejo, Muda Mathis, Dóra Maurer, Mónica Mayer, Ana Mendieta, Marta Minujín, Fina Miralles, Linda Montano, Charlotte Moorman, Teresa Murak, Sands Murray-Wassink, Hannah O’Shea, Itziar Okariz, Yoko Ono, ORLAN, Tanja Ostojić, Letícia Parente, Ewa Partum, Jillian Peña, Performance Saga (Andrea Saemann & Katrin Grögel), Howardena Pindell, Polvo de Gallina Negra, Yvonne Rainer, Egle Rakauskaite, Jytte Rex, Ulrike Rosenbach, Martha Rosler, Boryana Rossa, María Ruido, Estíbaliz Sábada, Andrea Saemann, Christine Schlegel, Cornelia Schleime, Carolee Schneemann, Miriam Sharon, Bonnie Ora Sherk, Barbara T. Smith, Cornelia Sollfrank, Spiderwoman Theater, Annie Sprinkle, Gabriele Stötzer, Melati Suryodarmo, Jinoos Taghizadeh, Milica Tomić, Valie Export Society, Cecilia Vicuña, The Waitresses, Faith Wilding, Hannah Wilke, Martha Wilson, Julita Wójcik, Nil Yalter

A bilingual exhibition catalogue, documenting the entire project, will be published in 2013. The project’s content will also be made accessible on our website, which is intended as a research tool and will grow in sync with the ongoing exhibition and archive programme.

re.act.feminism #2 — a performing archive is a project by cross links e.V., curated by Bettina Knaup and Beatrice Ellen Stammer

Research: Kathrin Becker, Eleanora Fabião

Organised in cooperation with:

Centro Cultural Montehermoso Kulturunea, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain
Instytut Sztuki Wyspa, Gdansk, Poland
Galerija Miroslav Kraljević, Zagreb, Croatia
Museet for Samtidskunst, Roskilde, Denmark
Tallinna Kunstihoone, Tallinn, Estonia
Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona, Spain
Akademie der Künste, Berlin, Germany

The project is funded by the German Federal Cultural Foundation and ERSTE Stiftung. Additional support from cine plus, Neuer Berliner Kunstverein (n.b.k.)