The Cross Art Projects. FFA.

Future Feminist Archive

Introduction

Future Feminist Archive (FFA) is a year-long project to mark the 40th Anniversary of International Women’s Year, wherein artists and researchers engage with and speculate about feminist histories in archives and collections to create exhibitions, workshops, performances and publishing outcomes. The project comprises nine artist-led projects across NSW to forge connections between diverse community histories and current ideas relating to feminism in response to growing interest in the role of archives.

By this means hidden or neglected information and new knowledge about artists and their communities will ultimately create over two hundred new entries in DAAO (Design and Art Australia Online) with a regional focus.

Contemporary Art and Feminism

Contemporary Art and Feminism is an independent platform for art, scholarship and activism with links to the Contemporary Art and Feminism Research Cluster at Sydney College of the Arts (USYD); the School of Letters, Arts and Media; and the Power Institute at Sydney University. It responds to the groundswell of interest in feminism’s role in the development of contemporary art and its current relevance to art- making and analysis. It is part-funded by ArtsNSW and run by Sydney College of the Arts, Department of Art Theory (USYD) and The Cross Art Projects. See: http://contemporaryartandfeminism.com/

Future Feminist Archive is a project of Contemporary Art and Feminism in collaboration with The Cross Art Projects; Design & Art Australia Online; and Dr Gillian Fuller, UNSW’s National Institute for Experimental Arts (NIEA). Contemporary Art and Feminism is co-convened by Dr Jacqueline Millner, Dr Catriona Moore and Jo Holder. FFA is curated and coordinated by Jo Holder and project managed by artist and educator Catherine Hickson. See: https://www.crossart.com.au/contemporary-art-and-feminism/

 

FFA Symposia & Workshops — DAAO (Design and Art Australia Online)

From March 2015, workshops designed to enable participation and exchange with local artists and archives were held in Sydney (AGNSW), Wollongong, Dubbo, Bathurst and the Blue Mountains. These DAAO How to events were led by artist and academic Dr Gillian Fuller from Art & Design, UNSW, and former research director of the DAAO at University of New South Wales. The DAAO is an open source e-Research tool, freely accessible and scholarly, that presents over 14,000 records on Australian artists, designers and curators, on over 23,000 works and on over 20,000 exhibitions. The DAAO is built upon the foundations of the late Joan Kerr’s Dictionary of Australian Artists (1995) and Vivien Johnson’s Aboriginal Artists of the Western Desert (1994).

 

Creative / Collaborative Visual Art Archives

The use of dedicated spaces for archive exhibitions as catalysts for research, new work and exhibitions is growing. Important examples of visual art archives in Australia include The National Art Archive at the Art Gallery of NSW currently holding the histories of over 220 artists and Roger Butler’s remarkable digital archive at Australian Prints + Printmaking: http://www.printsandprintmaking.gov.au/

Examples of art and feminism archives: Brooklyn Museum, Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art at http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/eascfa/about/index.php. In Australia Women’s Art Register in Melbourne is funded by local government at http://www.womensartregister.org/ celebrating its 40th Anniversary (October 2015) with ASIF Festival at http://womensartregister40years.info/

Artist-initiated feminist activist projects: CoUNTess blog launched by Elvis Richardson in 2008 is now an authoritative source of statistics on gender representation in the Australian visual arts sector and is partnering with Cruthers Art Foundation from University of Western Australia to undertake the first online resource to benchmark gender representation for CAF: http://countesses.blogspot.com.au/; Soda_Jerk (Dan and Dominique Angeloro) have a two-sister archival image practice at http://sodajerk.com.au/

Independent Archives: Asia Art Archive in Hong Kong, established 14 years ago, collects contemporary source material and combines with programs that harness their archives, for example, http://www.aaa.org.hk/PropertyProtestCommons; in Yogjakarta, IVAA Indonesia Visual Arts Archive at www.ivaa-online.org. Many smaller archives exist such as Umbrella Movement Visual Archive and Research Collective in Hong Kong at facebook.com/umbrellaarchive and Whitechapel Gallery Archive at http://archive.whitechapelgallery.org/

Other independent Australian art activist archives include REMIX project: http://www.remix.org.au/ on Brisbane artist initiatives, and Michael Organ’s guerilla blog at the University of Wollongong Archives, which includes the important Mary Callaghan Posters and Graphic Art and Steel City Pictures.

Some activist contemporary art and social history projects: Green Bans Art Walk is now gathering art and architectural documents on the Green Bans and actions to stop the sell-off of public housing in Millers Point, Dawes Point and the Rocks in Sydney: http://www.greenbans.net.au/; Parramatta Female Factory Precinct Project in Sydney engages those who once resided in these institutions. London-based artists Otolith Group created The Radiant for dOCUMENTA (13) in 2012, exploring the aftermath of the March 11, 2011 tsunami killed many thousands and caused the partial meltdown of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan: http://otolithgroup.org/

Digital Artists working with Big Data Archives: Tim Sherrat, digital historian and cultural hacker, manages TROVE (National Library of Australia, http://trove.nla.gov.au), http://discontents.com.au/about-me/ and test works http://wraggelabs.com/; Ben Ennis Butler (University of Canberra) manages the new NGA Prints and Printmaking site at http://beneb.com; Mitchell Whitelaw (University of Canberra) theorises data practice / visualisation with NGA, National Archives of Australia Award for “The Visible Archive: Visualising Archival Collections”.

DAAO (Design and Art Australia Online) Workshops — Information and Presenter Fliers

Download Future Feminist Archive Wollongong Symposium and How to DAAO Workshop 10 May 2015 > Download as pdf

Download Future Feminist Archive Dubbo Symposium and How to DAAO Workshop 18 July 2015 > Download as pdf

Download Future Feminist Archive Bathurst Symposium and How to DAAO Workshop 1 August 2015 > Download as pdf

Jo Holder, Future Feminist Archive AGNSW Symposium and How to DAAO Workshop on 15 June 2015
View all videos from June 15 DAAO Workshop > Full playlist

The Cross Art Projects, CAF.

Wollongong, Symposium/ How to DAAO Workshop #1, Wollongong Art Gallery, 10 May 2015
With artists Alison Alder and Mini Graff, University of Wollongong Archivist Susan Jones and Gillian Fuller (UNSW) and Eric Riddler (AGNSW) and Jo Holderand Catriona Moore (CAF co-convenors).

Sydney, Symposium/How to DAAO Workshop #2, Art Gallery of NSW Art Archive, 15 June 2015
With AGNSW Librarian and Archivist Steven Miller; Jo Holder, CAF; Jesmond Calleja, Collection Systems Manager, AGNSW: Eric Riddler, AGNSW Digital Librarian; Gillian Fuller DAAO, UNSW; Macushla Robinson curator, “See you at the barricades”.
View: http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/exhibitions/see-you-at-the-barricades/

Dubbo, Symposium/ How to DAAO Workshop #3, Western Plains Cultural Centre, 1 August 2015
With artist Fiona MacDonald; Margaret Smith, founder of Arts Out West; BRAG collections manager, Sarah Gurich; Jo Holder, CAF; Eric Riddler, AGNSW; Gillian Fuller DAAO, UNSW.

Bathurst, Symposium/ How to DAAO Workshop #4, Bathurst Regional Art Gallery, 2 August 2015
With artist Fiona MacDonald; Margaret Smith, founder of Arts Out West; BRAG collections manager, Sarah Gurich; Jo Holder, CAF; Eric Riddler, AGNSW; Gillian Fuller DAAO, UNSW.

Lismore, Symposium #5, Southern Cross University Library, 16 August 2015
With artists Leonie Lane and Jan Davis and the SCU Artist Book Collection; Maureen Bezonson and Libby Pownall,  SCU Librarian and assistant to Librarian; Jo Holder and Catriona Moore, CAF; Eric Riddler, AGNSW.

Future Feminist Archive: Projects in Motion

Wollongong
Alison Alder at Future Feminist Archive in Wollongong
Mini Graff at FFA in Wollongong
Guerilla Archives on the Illawarra

Bathurst
Call Out: Full Flight participants, 1980-1983

FFA Project opening at XAP
https://www.crossart.com.au/exhibition-archive/alison-alder-and-mini-graff-some-posters-local-positions-6-march-to-18-april-2015/

The Cross Art Projects, CAF.

40th Anniversary of International Women’s Year March 2015

Download – FFA Symposium
Download – All Future Feminist Archive Events March 2015

Centenary Auditorium, Art Gallery of NSW

Art Gallery Road, Sydney
Friday 6 March 10am to 3.20pm
RSVP by Wednesday 4 March to Jo Holder: info@crossart.com.au

This symposium brings together artists, archivists, filmmakers, curators and art historians to discuss ways to recover lost Feminist archives and to imagine the new. Future Feminist Archive is, therefore, styled as a ‘hypothetical’ question. The grand opening (4 to 10 March) comprises a cluster of exhibitions, a symposium and artist talks in Sydney. A calendar enables all projects to promote their Contemporary Art and Feminism events over this yearlong celebration — from Hobart to Wollongong and beyond. Over the following months Future Feminist Archive and the DAAO (Dictionary of Art and Design Online) begin a series of regional case studies and symposia. In Melbourne the Women’s Art Register commemorates its 40th Anniversary with a festival in October. A Future Feminist Archive report back will contribute to a second symposium in the first week of November. Help investigate the many forms that a Future Feminist Archive might take — real and virtual, activist action!

Download – FFA Symposium

Future Feminist Archive is a yearlong project across Australia, in which artists, archivist and art historians engage with archives and collections of all kinds to create exhibitions, workshops, performances and publishing outcomes. Future Feminist Archive is, therefore, styled as a “hypothetical” question. The project will forge connections between diverse community histories and current ideas relating to feminism in response to growing interest in the role of archives. Help investigate the many forms that a Future Feminist Archive might take — real and virtual, activist action!

Add your IWY project to the Contemporary Art and Feminism Calendar to promote all visual art and related events over the year — from Hobart to Wollongong and beyond.

PROGRAM OF EVENTS: March 2015

Wednesday 4 March 6 pm-7 pm: Tracey Moffatt speaks about her recent work, SCA Auditorium, Sydney College of the Arts, Rozelle.

Wednesday 4 March 7pm-9 pm: opening of the Future Feminist Archive exhibition at SCA Galleries, Sydney College of the Arts, Rozelle. Exhibition includes ‘Daughter Mothers’ (Judy Watson, Sue Pedley, Toni Warburton, Alison Clouston); ‘Artist Archive’ (Jane Polkinghorne and Anne Kay); Women’s Gaze and the Feminist Film Archive (curators Loma Bridge, Margot Nash, Jeni Thornley, co-ordinator Sarah Attfield; and the Parramatta Female Factory Memory Precinct Project. Exhibition dates 5 to 28 March 2015.

Friday 6 March 10 am-3.20 pm: Future Feminist Archive Symposium at Centenary Auditorium, Art Gallery of NSW.
A Symposium on recovering lost archives and imagining the new presented by Contemporary Art and Feminism with the Art Gallery of NSW Library and Archives in honour of Joan Kerr for the 40th Anniversary of International Women’s Year.
Keynote Speaker is Julie Ewington, eminent feminist art historian, writer and broadcaster. Download programme: https://www.crossart.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/01FFASymposium.pdf
Photo: Natasha Harth

Panel 3: Women’s Gaze and the Feminist Film Archive – video recording by AS IF Productions at https://vimeo.com/122498137

Friday 6 March at 6 pm: Julie Ewington opens Alison Alder and Mini Graff, Some Posters / Local Positions at The Cross Art Projects, Kings X. In association with Women in Public Housing. Talks Saturday 21 March at 3pm by Mini Graff and architectural historian Charles Pickett.
Exhibition dates 6 March to 11 April. See https://www.crossart.com.au/exhibition-archive/alison-alder-and-mini-graff-some-posters-local-positions-6-march-to-18-april-2015/

Friday 6 March at 7 pm: Ann Stephen opens Notes to a Future Feminist Archive at The Cross Art + Books / Affiliated Text, Kings X: Some 50 women artists, along with writers and theorists, respond to the theme of future feminist archives, curated by Bronia Iwanczak and Lynn Barwick. Exhibitions dates 6 March to 18 April.

Friday 6 March 6pm-8pm: Opening of Taking Up Space at Articulate Project Space, Leichhardt. Artists responding spatially to an artwork from the Women’s Art Movement. Artists in Taking Up Space include Anka Leśniak, Anke Stäcker, Anne Graham, Barbara Halnan, Che Ritz, Elizabeth Ashburn, Francesca Mataraga, Georgina Brinkman, Hannah Toohey, Helen M Sturgess, India Zegan, Janine Bailey, Janine Clark, Jennie Feyen, Jill Gibson, Katya Petetskaya, Lisa Tolcher, Loma Bridge, Rox de Luca, Sarah Fitzgerald, Susan Buret, Phaptawan Suwannakudt, Veronica Habib, Victoria Lawson & Vivienne Dadour. Exhibition dates 6 to 22 March. Open 11am-5pm Fri, Sat, Sun.

Artist Talks Saturdays 2 to 3pm. See http://articulate497.blogspot.com.au/

Saturday 7 March from 11-1pm: Artists Talks: Daughters Mothers group show (part of Future Feminist Archive) at Sydney College of the Arts Galleries.

Saturday 7 March from 2-4 pm: Artists Talks: Girls at the Tin Sheds: Sydney Feminist Posters 1975–90, Philosophy Room, The Quadrangle with presentations by artists and Ann Stephen, Senior Curator, Sydney University Art Gallery. Sorry Booked out!

Saturday 7 March from 4-6 pm: Opening by Anne Summers of Girls at the Tin Sheds: Sydney Feminist Posters 1975–90 at Verge Gallery, City Road, site of the former Tin Sheds. The exhibition of posters from University Collections by women artists who worked at the Tin Sheds is at the University Art Gallery and Verge Gallery.

Tuesday 10 March, 6-8pm: opening of Técha Noble, Crystal Romeo,UTS Gallery.
An immersive installation that plays with performances of gender, tropes of pop culture and systems of cultural power. A companion to Técha’s new dance work for Day For Night at Performance Space (20 – 22 February). Exhibition dates: 10 March – 2 April.
http://art.uts.edu.au/index.php/exhibitions/crystalromeo/

Saturday & Sunday 28-29 March from 11-5pm: Second Comings at Marrickville Garage, 28 Leofrene Ave Marrickville. Closing event 5-7pm Sunday 29th March. Artists respond to/ rework/ remake iconic feminist art works. Artists include: Elizabeth Pulie, Sally Clarke, Cherine Fahd, Kylie Barnyard, Francesca Mataraga, Mark Shorter, Margaret Mejhju, Sarah Newall, Danica Knezevic, Trevor Fry. http://marrickvillegarage.com/