re.act.feminism #2 - a performing archive

re.act.feminism #2 - a performing archive was a continually expanding, temporary and living performance archive that travelled through six European countries from 2011 to 2013.

The core of the project was a mobile archive and workstation with a growing collection of videos, photographs and other documents of feminist, gendercritical and queer performance art. It was a transnational and crossgenerational project featuring works by artists and artist collectives from the 1960s to the beginning of the 1980s, as well as contemporary positions from Eastern and Western Europe, the Mediterranean and Middle East, the US and in Latin America. On its journey through Europe –starting in Spain and continuing through Poland, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia and ending in Germany- this temporary archive continued to expand through local research and cooperation with art institutions, academies and universities. It was also ‘activated’ through exhibitions, screenings, performances and discussions along the way.

re.act.feminism #2 – a performing archive is part of a long-term project. In 2008, we began engaging with feminist, gender-critical and queer performance art from the 1960s to the early ‘80s as well as the ‘return’ of this artistic practice in the form of re-enactments, re-formulations and archival projects.

For the full programme of „re.act.feminism # 1: performance art of the 1960’s and 70’s today“ please click here

The project is also part of the growing interest in performance art in recent years. The abundance of exhibitions, publications and events all testify to this interest, especially on the part of institutions and artists, in the history of performance and its representation. Artists in particular are critically addressing the history of performance using the most diverse methods and formats, while also exploring its current potential for resistance and subversion in continually new and experimental ways. In this way, they were the most important impulse for the re.act.feminism project.

However, despite its recent popularity, the feminist, gender-critical and queer performance practice that has set the tone for this medium from the beginning has seldom been subject to thorough scrutiny in all its international diversity. Against the backdrop of the current trend of institutionalising and historicising performance art, the goal of this project has therefore been
- to explore feminist, gender-critical and queer artistic positions that have played a key role in the development of this form of expression, looking beyond the (primarily Western) canon by stressing the diversity of performance strategies and practices internationally;
- to make documentation and archive materials which are scattered internationally and often difficult to access, available to a broader audience, even if only for a short time;
- to reflect performance’s cross-generational and transnational dimensions, encouraging a dialogue, communication and referencing across borders of time and space;
- and to reflect the complex relationship between live performances, their traces/documents and their reception, and the more general issue of archiving ephemeral and subversive artistic practices.

The works in the archive have been chosen based on their potential and relevance for today’s feminist and queer debates and artistic strategies. They allow us to see the power relations inscribed in the body as well as its potential for resistance and for pleasure, and to discover singular subjectivities and connections between life and art.

The project is based on the idea of a living archive, emphasizing 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 the past and the future, between its author and recipient? What types of references, new relations and future potentials does the archive offer?

The archive was on the road for almost two years, and our partner institutions were not only the hosts of this travelling exhibition, they essentially became co-curators. They chose how to present the exhibition and events at their institutions, and they contributed materials to the archive. Thus, within this collaborative network, the archive grew to include works by more than 180 artists and continued to invite countless visitors and users to be touched, affected and inspired by queer and feminist gestures.

With the publication of the re.act.feminism book the project drew to a close in 2014. On this site you can find information about the range of public activities that took place as part of the project. The archive section is designed as a continuous research tool providing information about all participating artists.

Bettina Knaup and Beatrice E. Stammer, curators
cross links e.V.
A
Ebtisam Abdulaziz
Marina Abramović
Helena Almeida
Eleanor Antin
Arahmaiani
Malin Arnell
Oreet Ashery
Augusta Atla
Margarita Azurdia
B
Antonia Baehr
Maja Bajević
Anne Bean
Anat Ben-David
Renate Bertlmann
Pauline Boudry & Renate Lorenz
Nisrine Boukhari
Marijs Boulogne
Tania Bruguera
Nancy Buchanan
Maris Bustamante
C
Cabello / Carceller
Shirley Cameron/ Monica Ross/ Evelyn Silver
Graciela Carnevale
Theresa Hak Kyung Cha
Ève Gabriel Chabanon
Helen Chadwick
Chicks on Speed
Lygia Clark
Paul Clarke
Mary Coble
Colette
Cooltūristės
Corpus Deleicti
Nieves Correa
Laura Cottingham
Lilibeth Cuenca Rasmussen
D
Katrina Daschner
Vlasta Delimar
Carola Dertnig
Teresa María Díaz Nerio
Disband
Ines Doujak
Orshi Drozdik
Yingmei Duan
Kirsten Dufour
Fabienne Dumont
E
Silvia Eiblmayr
Diamela Eltit
Rose English
VALIE EXPORT
F
F.F.F.F.
Factory of Found Clothes
Esther Ferrer
Les filles Föllen
Rose Finn-Kelcey
Angelika Fojtuch
Simone Forti
Coco Fusco
G
(e.) Twin Gabriel
Regina José Galindo
Anna Bella Geiger
Rimma Gerlovina and Valeriy Gerlovin
Patrycja German
Ghazel
Kate Gilmore
Trine Mee Sook Gleerup
H
Mona Hatoum
Lynn Hershman
High Heel Sisters
María Teresa Hincapié
Nan Hoover
I
Icelandic Love Corporation - Gjörningaklúbburinn
Sanja Iveković
J
Elżbieta Jabłońska
Françoise Janicot
Joan Jonas
Anne Jud
Birgit Jürgenssen
Kirsten Justesen
K
Kanonklubben
Line Skywalker Karlström
Tina Keane
Klonaris / Thomadaki
Bettina Knaup & Beatrice Ellen Stammer
Jakob Lena Knebl
Verica Kovacevska
Elena Kovylina
Katarzyna Kozyra
Christina Kubisch
Kvinder på Værtshus (Women down the pub)
Verena Kyselka
L
Nicola L
Latifa Laâbissi
Leslie Labowitz
Leslie Labowitz & Suzanne Lacy
Suzanne Lacy
Katalin Ladik
Sigalit Landau
Klara Lidén
Kalup Linzy
Natalia LL
Léa Lublin
M
Jumana Manna
Manon
MaraM
María Evelia Marmolejo
Muda Mathis
Dóra Maurer
Mónica Mayer
Ana Mendieta
Marta Minujín
Fina Miralles
Molly and me
Linda Montano
Charlotte Moorman
Teresa Murak
Sands Murray-Wassink
MwangiHutter
N
Narcissister
Rabbya Naseer & Hurmat Ul Ain
Senga Nengudi
Les Nyakes
O
Lorraine O'Grady
Itziar Okariz
Yoko Ono
ORLAN
Tanja Ostojić
Paulina Ołowska & Lucy McKenzie
Funda Özgünaydin
Hannah O’Shea
P
Gina Pane
Letícia Parente
Ewa Partum
Bojana Pejić
Jillian Peña
Performance Saga
Sanja Iveković & Performance Saga
Friederike Pezold
Howardena Pindell
Adrian Piper
Mariuccia Pisani
Polvo de Gallina Negra
Pussy Riot
R
Yvonne Rainer
Eglė Rakauskaitė
Laurence Rassel
Chris Regn
Jytte Rex
Àngels Ribé
La Ribot
Angelika Richter
Jesusa Rodríguez / Liliana Felipe
Ulrike Rosenbach
Martha Rosler
Boryana Rossa
María Ruido
S
Raeda Saadeh
Estíbaliz Sábada
Andrea Saemann
Zorka Ságlová
Les Salonnières and Dr. Soley
Christine Schlegel
Cornelia Schleime
Carolee Schneemann
Rebecca Schneider
Schwarze Schokolade
Stefanie Seibold
Stefanie Seibold & Teresa María Díaz Nerio
Miriam Sharon
Bonnie Ora Sherk
Barbara T. Smith
Cornelia Sollfrank
Antonieta Sosa
Spiderwoman Theater
Annie M. Sprinkle
Sandra Sterle
Gabriele Stötzer
Annika Ström
Melati Suryodarmo
Anna Szwajgier/ Zorka Wollny
T
Jinoos Taghizadeh
Milica Tomić
Mare Tralla
Teresa Tyszkiewicz
U
Mierle Laderman Ukeles
V
Valie Export Society
Cecilia Vicuña
W
The Waitresses
Faith Wilding
Hannah Wilke
Martha Wilson
Julita Wójcik
Y
Nil Yalter
Yeni & Nan