art 324
the body as medium: a look at contemporary feminist art practice
fall 2008
monday 1.00 – 4.00 oakes 110
lecturer: lindsey bonk
office: porter d – 124
office hours: monday/wednesday 11.30 – 12.30 (and by appointment)
phone: 9 – 1916
email: lbonk@ucsc.edu
overview and objectives
this course explores the impact of the feminist movement and feminist theory on the production,
reception and exhibition of work of art made between 1965 and the present. while the
generalized topic of feminism and feminist art is broad, the topics to be investigated in this
course will be seen with a specific focus upon artists that use their bodies as the main of artistic
conveyance. the course will be somewhat rooted in the groundbreaking feminist art movement
of the 1970’s, but will also discuss artists working during the fluxus, conceptual, modern and
post-modern periods. in this way, the artists’ work that is showcased will deal with aspects of
gender and sexual identity, the confluence of race and class, and some methods used to address
issues important in women’s lives. the weekly topics will deal with how the body, as the
medium, is used to invoke certain aspects of women’s issues that have been raised during the
contemporary era through feminist art and rhetoric. the particular issues that will be discussed in
the course include: identity, gender, politics, the pose and the gaze. this course is structured to
allow students to conceptualize how the body is both the locus of performativity and the
structure of identity, performance and political ideology.
the assignments of this course are structured so that students can engage with the material on
both a theoretical and artistic level, as well as thinking about how the body is used in both
feminist art and feminist rhetoric. in this way, an immersive culture around the artwork and
how it can affect change within society will be discussed.
students should have at least an introductory background in art history, art theory or film. the
goal is to further acclimate students to the theories of art history, and in relation to this class, the
theoretical background of the feminist movement and how this is intersected with particular
feminist art practice surrounding the body. in order to familiarize students with this concept,
some theoretical reading will be interspersed with works written by the artists so that the course
reading will be both general enough to provide a sufficient background for further study in both
art history and feminist art, but also provide the artists’ perspective so that particular works that
are focused on will be highlighted through the artist’s own words. in this way, the working
model of an artist can be seen, and it will also help to further the ideas behind why some of them
chose to focus upon the body as medium in order to illustrate the overall conceptual arc of the
work in question.
required texts
Chen, Nancy N. and Helene Moglin, eds. Bodies in the Making: Transgressions and
Transformations. Santa Cruz, CA: New Pacific Press, 2006.
Reckitt, Helena and Peggy Phelan, eds. Art and Feminism. New York: Phaidon Press Inc.,
2001.
Robinson, Hilary, ed. Feminism – Art – Theory: An Anthology 1968 – 2000. Oxford: Blackwell
Publishers Ltd., 2001.
recommended texts
Stiles, Kristine and Peter Selz, eds. Theories and Documents of Contemporary Art: A
Sourcebook of Artists’ Writings. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996.
assignments
a. creative/artistic practice due during the second week of the course. this project will be
the basis of your final paper and, therefore, should be used as a precursor. you will be
required to choose from a list of artists (they are provided below) and research their art
practice and work. you will then be asked to create a collaborative artistic work based
upon your research that can be either an emulation or reworking of one of their works or
a completely original work you conceive of that deals with the same issues that the artists
works with. the medium can be of any choosing (i.e. performance, installation, video,
etc), but must showcase the use of the body as a primary mode of idea conveyance. the
aim is to engage with the material in a physical manner that gives you some insight into
how the artist uses her body as the medium for her work and provide you with a way in
which to connect your own thinking on this subject.
b. 6 – 8 page paper due in the final week of the course that continues on the trajectory of
the first assignment, as your artist will be the same one used previously. the paper will
consist of constructing a dialogue between the work you created for your first assignment
and the work created by the chosen artist. you must include research taken from the
readings and apply it to the larger categorization of both your work and the artist’s work
in the realm of social, political, cultural, etc. you need to apply these categorizations to
the subject at large by looking at how the particular artist is influenced by using the body
as the medium of their work and how you interpreted that in your own project. the aim is
to expand your thinking around the feminist rhetoric of the body and allow you to delve
into why a particular artist has been classified the way that she has.
c. list of artists
Marina Abramovic
Eleanor Antin
Janine Antoni
Claude Cahoun
Judy Chicago
Karen Finley
Coco Fusco
Guerilla Girls
Ann Hamilton
Jenny Holzer
Barbara Kruegar
Trinh T. Minh – Ha
Linda Montano
Ingrid Mwangi
Yoko Ono
Catherine Opie
Orlan
Adrian Piper
Pipilotti Rist
Martha Rosler
Carolee Schneemann
Cindy Sherman
Kiki Smith
Jo Spence
Annie Sprinkle
Ryoko Suzuk
Mierle Laderman Ukeles
Hannah Wilke
schedule
week one: the body as frame
readings

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Linda Nochlin “Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?” (Reckitt and Phelan,
p. 204 – 205)
Helene Cixous “The Laugh of the Medusa” (Robinson p. 627 – 635), selections in
(Reckitt and Phelan p. 205 – 206)
Lynda Nead “Framing the Female Body” (Robinson p. 564 – 569)
recommended: C. Carr “Karen Finley” (Reckitt and Phelan, p. 247)
artworks/artists discussed
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Judy Chicago - “Red Flag” (1971)
Karen Finley – “The Constant State of Desire” (1986)
Linda Montano - “Chicken Dance” (1972)
Annie Sprinkle – “Post-Porn Modernist Show’ (1992)
week two: the body as performance
readings

Laura Mulvey “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema” (selections in Reckitt and Phelan,
p. 209 – 210) and “Afterthoughts on Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema” (selections
in Reckitt and Phelan, p. 230)


Lucy Lippard “The Pains and Pleasure of Rebirth: Women’s Body Art” (Reckitt and
Phelan, 214 – 217)
Orlan “Intervention” (Reckitt and Phelan, 275)
artworks/artists discussed
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Marina Abramovic – “Rhythm O” (1974)
Yoko Ono – “Cut Piece” (1964)
Orlan – “Omnipresence” (1993)
Pipilotti Rist – “Sip My Ocean” (1996)
week three: the body politic
readings
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Luce Irigaray “This Sex Which is Not One” (selections Reckitt and Phelan, p. 217 – 218)
Lisa Tickner “The Body Politic: Female Sexuality and Women Artists Since 1970”
o citation
 Betterton, Rosemary, ed. Looking On: Images of Feminity in the Visual
Arts and Media. London: Pandora Press, 1987, p. 263 – 76).
Mierle Laderman Ukeles “Touch Sanitation” (Robinson, p. 106 – 107)
artworks/artists discussed
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Adrian Piper – “Catalysis III” (1970 – 71), “The Mystic Being: Cruising White Women”
(1975)
Carolee Schneemann – “Eye Body: 36 Transformative Actions’ (1963), “Meat Joy”
(1964), “Interior Scroll” (1975),
Mierle Laderman Ukeles – “ Hartford Wash: Washing, Tracks, Maintenance: Outside”
(1973), “Touch Sanitation’ (1979 – 80)
week four: the body as canvas
readings
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Judith Williamson “’Images of Women’: The Photography of Cindy Sherman”
(Robinson, p. 453 – 458)
N. Katherine Hayles “Embodied Virtuality: Or How to Put Bodies Back into the Picture”
(Reckitt and Phelan, p. 277 – 279)
“The Rhetoric of the Pose: Rethinking Hannah Wilke” (Bodies in the Making:
Transgression and Transformations section 1, chapters 1 – 4, p. 2 – 26)

recommended: Joanna Frueh “Hannah Wilke: The Assertion of the Erotic Will” (Reckitt
and Phelan, p. 267 – 268)
artworks/artists discussed
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Eleanor Antin – “Carving: A Traditional Sculpture” (1973)
Jenny Holzer – “Lustmord” (1993 – 94)
Cindy Sherman – “Untitled Film Stills” (1977 – 1980)
Jo Spence – “How Do I Begin to Take Responsibility for My Body?” (1985)
Hannah Wilke – “S.O.S. Starification Object Series” (1974 – 79), “What Does This
Represent? What Do You Represent?” (1978 – 84), Intra-Venus, Series II” (1993)