Community: feminist.bloggers@brooklynmuseum

re.act.feminism: performance art of the 1960s and 70s today just opened at Akademie der Künste in Berlin. Looking back to the 1960’s and 70’s, but also exploring how feminist art has made a resurgence today, this show features a video archive, an exhibition, and live performances by an international group of artists. If you are in the area, make sure to check this one out before it closes February 8th.

(Boryana Rossa and Ultrafuturo, SZ-ZS Performance, 2005. Courtesy of Akademie der Künste.)

Located in the bedroom of artist Blanka Amezkua, Bronx Blue Room Project has shown one artist per month in this non-traditional art space. This month, Jessica Lagunas shows her installation, “Días Especiales” (Special Days), which consists of a full size sheet fitted to Blanka’s bed with a collection of biopsy images of different days in a woman’s menstrual cycle. Menstruation, so often seen as something dirty that is to be hidden, will be represented positively in Amezkua’s bedroom until December 29th.

(Jessica Lagunas, “Días especiales” (Special Days), New York, 2007-8, Print on Fabric: Etching, Image Size: 6.25” x 6”, Full fitted sheet: 54” x 76” x 13”. Courtesy of the artist.)

This Saturday, December 20th, will mark the last day of Geoffrey Chadsey’s solo-exhibition at Jack Shainman Gallery in Manhattan. Chadsey offers up a collection of watercolor and pencil portraits of gay men based on self-portrait photographs he discovered on the internet in this intriguing show. Get on over there before its too late!

(Geoffrey Chadsey, Mirror Barbasol, Watercolor pencil on mylar, 68 x 42 inches. Courtesy of Jack Shainman Gallery.)

Comfort Women Wanted is still up around town in this final weekend before the holidays. This project was launched earlier this month by artist Chang-Jin Lee in an attempt to raise awareness of sexual violence towards women in times of war, and also to honor the memory of the thousands of women who were exploited in Asia during World War II. Keep a lookout for the advertising style posters created by Lee that can still be seen all over the city.

(Chang-Jin Lee, Poster from Comfort Women Wanted, 2008. Courtesy of the artist.)

The legendary Cindy Sherman has a solo-exhibition in its final days at Metro Pictures in Manhattan. This show features Sherman’s most recent work, an exploration of how the self perception and ideas of beauty distort as we age. This exhibition closes December 23rd.

(Cindy Sherman, Untitled, 2008, color photograph, 70 x 63.5 inches (frame). Courtesy of Metro Pictures.)

In her second exhibition at Zach Feuer Gallery, Nathalie Djurberg presents a sculptural installation and a new stop-animation film. The film features a claymation ballerina dancing through a handmade Neo-Baroque tea set in this exploration of racism, sex, and the macabre. Eventually overpowered by the objects themselves, the ballerina drowns tragically in dripping candle wax. This show will be up until January 24th.

(Nathalie Djurberg, Still from I found myself alone, 2008. Clay animation, digital video. Music by Hans Berg. Courtesy of Zach Feuer Gallery.)

OPENING…

Our own The Fertile Goddess, co-curated by Maura Reilly, founding curator of the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art, and Madeleine Cody, Research Associate in Egyptian, Classical, and Ancient Middle Eastern Art, Brooklyn Museum, opened TODAY in the Herstory Gallery! Visit the blog next week for more on this show!

In the autumn of 2008, the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art began an ongoing series on the serious and epidemic issue of sex trafficking and child prostitution throughout the world.

Part 1: “A Global Epidemic: Human Trafficking in Your Neighborhood,” featured a discussion with Sonia Ossorio, President of the New York City chapter of the National Organization for Women (NOW-NYC).

Part 2: “Sex Trafficking and the New Abolitionists,” was moderated by iconic feminist and activist Gloria Steinem, and featured a discussion with panelists Taina Bien-Aimé, Executive Director of Equality Now, and Rachel Lloyd, Executive Director of GEMS, an educational and mentoring service for young women who have been subjected to sexual exploitation and domestic trafficking.

Stay tuned for more video from this ongoing series in the coming weeks!

Behavior, a new solo exhibition by artist Nayland Blake just opened at Location One in Manhattan. This 25 year retrospective of Blake’s work was put together by Maura Reilly, founding curator of the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art. One of Blake’s pieces, Untitled, 2003, is also on view right now as part of Burning Down the House: Building a Feminist Art Collection. This show will be up until February 14th. Don’t miss it!

(Nayland Blake, Heavenly Bunny Suit, 2004. Courtesy of Location One.)

Over Thanksgiving break, I had the opportunity to see Fantastical Fables: Paintings, Drawings, and Prints by Amy Cutler at the Bowdoin Museum of Art in Brunswick, Maine. One of Cutler’s prints was featured in Global Feminisms in 2007 here at the museum, and this new exhibition is a great opportunity to see a large amount of her work. This exhibition is only up until January 11th, but it is definitely worth the trip!

(Amy Cutler, Dinner Party, 2002, Gouache on paper, 44 x 50 1/2 inches. Courtesy of Brown University.)

Brooklyn Block Party opened earlier this month at Ad Hoc Art in Bushwick. This exhibition features carved wood and lino blocks alongside their corresponding prints by artist Swoon, among others. Don’t miss this interesting show, which closes January 4th.

(Promotional Image, Courtesy of Ad Hoc Gallery.)

As part of their Iran: New Voices series, Barbican of London is presenting three short films and a question and answer session with artist Shirin Neshat. Click here for more feminist Iranian film events from this past weekend at Barbican.

(Shirin Neshat, Faezeh, 2008, Film still from a video/sound installation. Courtesy of Barbican.)

The Way Things Go is in its final weeks at the Inglett Gallery in Manhattan. Feminist video and installation artist Mika Rottenberg is among the artists featured in this group show that explores the functioning (and misfunctioning) of constructed mechanisms. Check it out before it closes January 20th.

(Mika Rottenberg, 3 (for W), 2008, C-print. Courtesy of Inglett Gallery.)

Feminist artist Sophie Calle and Felix González-Torres along with Hiraki Sawa, Ange Leccia, Anri Sala, Michal Heiman, Ran Slavin, Marie-Ange Guilleminot, Mark Wallinger, Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook, Duane Michals, Annette Messager, and Melanie Manchot are currently featured in Insomnia at the Petach-Tikva Museum in Israel. The exhibition includes a 151 minute film, Sleeper, alongside Andy Warhol’s Sleep, 1963, as part of this examination of time and the nocturnal. This exhibition will be up until March 7, 2009.

(Mark Wallinger, Sleeper, 2004, Video. Courtesy of Petach Tikva Museum of Art.)

dress for Today opened last week at A.I.R. Gallery. This exhibition features the work of A.I.R.’s fellowship artist Ari Tabei, whose intricate dress constructions sometimes take on a life of their own, consuming the artist to become more than simply a garment. As part of dress for Today, Tabei will be performing Dress for Today #6 from 3-6pm December 6th, 13th and 20th. This exhibition will be up until January 4th.

(Ari Tabei, From dress for Today. Courtesy of A.I.R. Gallery.)

The Empire Trilogy recently opened at Luxe Gallery, featuring the work of artist Heather Bennett. Bennett’s unnerving triumvirate of a fifties-esque housewife, a female lumberjack, and a wicked witch of sorts are presented to the viewer as video portraits accompanied by a droning soundtrack. Definitely not for the faint of heart, this exhibition will be open until December 23rd .

(Heather Bennett, Locks & Hocks, 2008, production still. Courtesy of Luxe Gallery.)

Opening last month at Flomenhaft Gallery, Sonia Benjamin’s solo exhibition, Lilith in the New World is a combination of Indian comics, Persian miniatures, illuminated manuscripts, and lore. Benjamin pulls from multiple faiths to create the contemporary Lilith, a woman asking still for freedom, justice, and equality. This exhibition will be on view until December 6th.

(Siona Benjamin, Directions on How to Wear an Indian Jewish Sari, 2005, etching, aquatint and digital print on paper. Courtesy of Flomenhaft Gallery.)

Following the veil throughout history and it’s various contexts, Union Art Gallery at the University of Milwaukee presents The Veil: Visible and Invisible Spaces. Curated by Jennifer Heath, this group exhibition features the work of twenty-nine different artists and several interesting events. Check it out if you are in the area before it closes December 12th.

(Anita Kunz, Girls Will Be Girls, 2007. Courtesy of Union Art Gallery.)

Ernesto Pujol: Inheriting Salt opened just last week at Ramis Barquet. Influenced by feminist art and theory, Pujol explores themes of loss and brokenness in this current exhibition. Pujol has invited three women artists, Stephanie Diamond, Rosemarie Padovano, and Joy Whalen, to share their photography and video work in conjunction with this exhibition. Inheriting Salt closes December 23rd.

(Ernesto Pujol, from Inheriting Salt exhibition. Courtesy of Ramis Barquet.)

Burning Down the House artist and good friend of the Brooklyn Museum,Joyce Kozloff’s most recent solo exhibition opened last month at Trout Gallery in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Kozloff has been involved in the feminist art movement since the seventies, and this new exhibition, Co+Ordinates, focuses on cartography and borders which serve as a metaphor for other divisions in culture, the mental, and the physical. This show will be on view until January 10th.

(Joyce Kozloff, Targets (detail), 2000, acrylic on canvas over wood. Courtesy of the Trout Gallery.)

The Greenroom: Reconsidering the Documentary and Contemporary Art is CCS Bard Galleries and Hessel Museum of Art in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. This show features a wide variety of feminist artists including such greats as Valie Export, Nan Goldin, Ana Mendieta, Mona Hatoum, Jenny Holzer, Kiki Smith, Cindy Sherman, Martha Rosler, Mary Kelley…the list really goes on and on. Head on over before this gem closes on February 1st.

(Installation view of The Greenroom: Reconsidering the Documentary and Contemporary Art. Courtesy of CSS Bard.)

Zoë Charlton: Family opens November 14th at Connor Contemporary Art in Washington, D.C. Chalton’s large format drawings of her nude Floridian cousins address issues of the body and questions where inspiration is drawn from in the construction of self. This exhibition will be up until January 3rd.

(Zoë Charlton, Weeds, 2007, graphite and goache on paper, 52 x 91 inches. Courtesy of Connor Contemporary Art.)

Catya Plate’s artist book, Clothespin Tarot has been included in a selection of artists books from the collection on the second floor of the Museum. The Queen of Buttons, Queen of Thimbles, and Queen of Hatpins are included amongst Plate’s feminist interpretation of the minor and major arcana. The installation of the books coincided with the recent Contemporary Artist’s Book Conference and will be on display until the end of December, 2008.

(Catya Plate, Queen of Darners from Clothespin Tarot, 2007, artist’s book, 11″ x 7¼”, watercolor and color pencil on paper. Courtesy of the artist.)

Apocalyptic Pop, curated by Kathy Goncharov, opens November 16th at Dorsky Gallery in Long Island City. The show will include works by Jody Culkin, D. Dominick Lombardi, Laura Prnes, TODT, Michael Zansky, and feminist artist Chitra Ganesh. Two of Ganesh’s digital collages will be on view, showing the comic-book inspired segment of this innovative artist’s work. This exhibition will be up until January 25th.

(Chitra Ganesh, Fingerprints, 2007, 40 x 72 inches, digital print, edition of 5. Courtesy of the artist.)

The Dairy in London is opening a new group exhibition on November 10th. demons, yarns & tales: Tapestries by Contemporary Artists should prove to be an exciting show with an all-star line up that includes Kara Walker, Grayson Perry, Beartrz Milhazes, Fred Tomaselli, Ghada Amer & Reza Farkondeh, Gavin Turk, Jaime Gili, avaf, Paul Noble, Julie Verhoeven, Gary Hume, Franchesca Lowe, Shahzia Sikander, and Peter Blake. Amer and Farkondeh recently spoke here at the Center about their collaborative works, and we can’t wait to see what they’ve come up with for this one! This exhibition is curated by BANNERS of PERSUASION and will be only be up until November 22nd. If you are in the area, this show is a must see!

(Kara Walker, A Warm Summer Evening in 1863, tapestry (detail), 2008. 1.68 x 2.5m. Exhibition announcement image.)

My First Love, a solo exhibition of the work of Alessandra Exposito opens November 13th at Mixed Greens. Through the use of domesticated animals and decorative elements, Exposito’s intriguing work is given a feminist take on the stereotypically masculine practice of mounting hunted animal heads on the wall of one’s home. This time, Exposito focuses exclusively on the horse, an animal beloved by both the masculine and feminine among us. Check out My First Love before it closes on December 22nd!

(Alessandra Exposito, Queenie, 2006, 22 x 37 x 28 inches, mixed media on horse skull. Courtesy of Mixed Greens.)

There is a new monograph worthy of note that just came out on the video work of Ursula Biemann from 1998-2008. Ursula Biemann Mission Reports: Artistic Practice in the Field, Video Works 1998-2008, includes feminist readings by Angela Dimitrakaki and Wendy S. Hesford. A complete description of this monograph’s contents can be found here.

(Cover of Ursula Biemann Mission Reports: Artistic Practice in the Field, Video Works 1998-2008. Courtesy of the artist.)

Cindy Sherman, the incomparable feminist photographer will be honored tomorrow as part of the Brooklyn Museum’s annual Women in the Arts Luncheon! Sherman’s work was invaluable to the feminist art movement in the late seventies, forcing viewers to consider the significance of “the gaze” in Western culture. Through the use of costumes and role-play in her self-portraiture, Sherman helped to redefine the notion of gender as something performed rather than innate. Women in the Arts 2008 will celebrate her contributions to feminist art during the awards presentation tomorrow, followed by a reception and luncheon.

This event coincides with the current exhibition here at the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art, Burning Down the House: Building a Feminist Art Collection, which includes Sherman’s Untitled (detail), 1975/2004, an early photograph that precludes Sherman’s famous Untitled Film Stills series by two years and references the gender bending, surrealist photographer Claude Cahun. For information on Women in the Arts 2008, click here.

(Cindy Sherman (American, b. 1954). Untitled (detail), 1975/2004. C-print. Printer Charles Griffin, Inc. Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Linda S. Ferber, 2005.10. Courtesy of the artist and Metro Pictures.)

Introduction didactic to Ghada Amer: Love Has No End with packing boxes. Photo by Sarah Giovanniello

Last week we watched as the deinstallation of Ghada Amer: Love Has No End brought with it many delicious memories from the past run of the show. Included among these were the energy and joy of the installation itself, the wonderful artists’ talks, panel discussions, school groups, and tours that were organized with our colleagues in Education, and the conversations we shared with audiences that traveled from all over the world to the Museum for the exhibition.

Senior Art Handler Michael Allen preps a work by artist Ghada Amer for shipping to the artist’s studio. Photo by Sarah Giovanniello

The artist herself wanted to share a few reflections on the exhibition, and rather than try to paraphrase her in this post, I wanted to include her comments, unedited below!

“I loved the show. It is my first retrospective in a museum! I loved the way [Curator] Maura [Reilly] worked: digging in my cupboards, in my sister’s home where she made a research trip in Paris, France. In the beginning I was surprised, almost annoyed on how close and precise she wanted to be!! But then when I saw the final selection and the lay out I knew it was going to be great and it was great…I liked the way she divided my work in 5 sections, I loved the wall text, the hanging. She managed to make a show that is simple, clear and powerful.”

This is a quick “naughty” drawing of a naked woman that Ghada made for me during the installation that still hangs in my office! The text reads: “I am a feminist. Are you?” and is signed: “Ghada Amer. Feb 14 08. The worst day of the year.”

In keeping with this trend of installing shows around holidays, our newest exhibition Burning Down the House: Building a Feminist Art Collection, co-curated by me and Nicole Caruth (independent curator and former Interpretive Materials Manager of the Brooklyn Museum), opens in the main galleries of the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art today, on Halloween, October 31st! Stay tuned for more on this installation and opening of Burning Down the House on the blog next week!

Offering up a rarely seen side of Hannah Wilke, the Neuberger Museum of Art in Purchase, NY, just opened Hannah Wilke: Gestures. The show covers Wilke’s early sculptural work in ceramics and attempts to show the influence of these early experiments on her later work. This exhibition will be on view until January 25th.

(Hannah Wilke, Fork and Spoon, 1974. Kneaded erasers, metal utensils, 7 3/8 inches, fork, 7 1/4 inches, spoon. Courtesy of Neuberger Museum of Art.)

This Monday, October 27th, feminist artist Chitra Ganesh will be participating in “The Skeptics,” a panel discussion at the New York Theatre Workshop in Manhattan, presented by Full Spectrum. Ganesh, along with the other participating panelists, including writer Faith Adiele, transmedia artist Ebon Fisher, writer/musician Kyle Jarrow, and filmmaker Helen Whitney, and moderator Jennifer Michael Hecht, will be investigating the roles of doubt and faith in the search for meaning.

(Chitra Ganesh, Furious Faze, from Restless Magicians and Forgotten Fugitives installation, 2008, photograph, 14 x 20 inches. Courtesy of the artist.)

Floating World: New Paintings by Duston Spear is in its last week at Sara Tecchia Roma Gallery in Manhattan. Inspired by such greats as Joan Snyder and Lee Krasner in this latest series, Spear embraces both repetition and the decorative in her painted collages which portray the divisiveness of battle. This show closes October 31st.

(Duston Spear, Yasmina, 2008, Oil, collage, spray paint on canvas, 67” X 76”. Courtesy of the artist.)

Women’s Work? Two Exhibitions Looking at Women’s Bodies of/as Work is currently on view at the Berman Museum at Ursinus College. This intriguing exhibition combines the work of 19th century quilt makers with the work of contemporary textile artists Tamar Stone and Christine LoFaso. This exhibition will be up until December 7th.

(Tamar Stone, The Vital System, “Good Sense,” “Little Beauty”, with detail (right), c. 2000. Artist’s book made from doll corset, embroidery. Courtesy of the artist.)

Yoko Ono’s Fly will be closing this Sunday October 26th, at the Centre for Contemporary Art at Ujazdowski Castle in Warsaw. This exhibition includes Fly, 1970, a 25 min film, as well as two new works, Telephone piece for Warsaw, 2008 and Memory Painting, 2008.

(Yoko Ono, still from Fly, 1970, 25 min film. Courtesy of Centre for Contemporary Art at Ujazdowski Castle.)

The Andrea Rosen Gallery opens Willem de Kooning, Lucio Fontana, Eva Hesse this Saturday, October 25th. This show includes some of Eva Hesse’s early paintings from the 1950’s and ‘60s. Don’t miss the chance to see the work of this historic artist!

(Eva Hesse, No title, c. 1962, Oil on canvas, 49.5 x 49.5 inches. Courtesy of Andrea Rosen Gallery.)

Also, be sure to check out “Lesbian Art and Artists in New York City”, the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art’s panel discussion this Saturday, October 25th, featuring artists from the Astraea Lesbian Foundation. For more information, click here!

Thomas Woodruff’s Solar System (The Turning Heads) just opened at P.P.O.W. in Manhattan. I decided to give the artist a call to learn more about his take on this very playful and evocative show. Woodruff was very cordial and sincere, saying, “I’ve always been a sort of outsider to the “highbrow” art world. Even in lowbrow circles, which can sometimes be a bit macho, as a gay male artist, my work wasn’t really accepted. My aesthetic is based on things that have an equation to the feminist, combining knarly tattoo inspired imagery with decorative high art nouveau [a sentiment which is echoed in the combination of both masculine and feminine features on the Heads as well]. In this topsy-turvy age, the idea of looking at issues of gender, race, and country seems so important, and doing so in a nurturing, community oriented way is what I try to do with my work.” The show will be up until November 15th. Don’t miss this one, folks!

(Thomas Woodruff, Venus, The object of affection/ The demon of lust , 2007-2008, acrylic on black silk velvet with motor, 40 x 40 inches. Courtesy of P.P.O.W.)

This Saturday, October 18th, Postmasters Gallery will be opening Summertale, a new video and series of photographs by artist, Katarzyna Kozyra. This exhibition is the last segment of Kozyra’s In Art Dreams Come True project which has combined music, video, photography, and performance in its examination of gender stereotypes and taboos. Check out this exhibition before it closes on November 15th.

(Katarzyna Kozyra, Image from Summertale. Courtesy of Postmasters Gallery.)

Penetralia just opened at Sadie Coles HQ in London. This exhibition features the sculpture of artist Sarah Lucas. Open for viewing until November 15th, Penetralia combines plaster casts of flint and penises, using this marriage to reference stone tools and the origins of power.

(Sarah Lucas, Image from Penetralia. Courtesy of Sadie Coles HQ.)

The Daneyal Mahmood Gallery in Manhattan just opened Meat after Meat Joy, including works by Sheffy Bleier, Lauren Bockow, Adam Brandejs, Tania Bruguera, Nezaket Ekici, Anthony Fisher, Betty Hirst, Zhang Huan, Tamara Kostianovsky, Simone Racheli, David Raymond, Dieter Roth, Carolee Schneemann, Stephen J. Shanabrook, Jana Sterbak, Jenny Walton, and Pinar Yolacan. This exhibition, named after Carolee Schneemann’s 1964 performance, Meat Joy, considers how meat as a medium is perceived by today’s viewer, in today’s world. This exhibition will be open until November 15th.

(Jana Sterbak, Vanitas: Flesh Dress for an Albino Anorectic, 1987-2006. Flank steak, mannequin, salt, thread, color photograph on paper. Dress size: 38. Courtesy of the artist.)

Berlinde De Bruyckere just opened at Yvon Lambert in Manhattan. In this exhibition, Bruyckere’s incredible sculpture is simultaneously beautiful and abject, conveying the essence of bodily form and gender. This is Bruyckere’s first solo exhibition in the United States and it will be on view until November 15th.

(Berlinde De Bruyckere, Pieta, 2008, wax epoxy metal wood. 238 inches high x 64 inches in diameter. Courtesy of Yvon Lambert Gallery.)

As part of our public programs this week, Sonia Ossorio, President of the National Organization of Women, will be giving a talk this Sunday, October 19th. Check out the event info here!

CLOSING this week…
Its your last chance to catch Ghada Amer: Love Has No End in the main galleries of the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art before it closes this Sunday! Stay tuned for some post-exhibition reflections from the artist on the blog next week.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art just opened a new photography exhibition on Tuesday, featuring artist Shigeyuki Kihara. Similarly to artist Yasumasa Morimura, Kihara puts herslf into various roles in her self-porature, often blurring the lines of gender. Kihara was born in Samoa, where it she is considered Fa’a fafine, the official third gender. Fa’a fafine means “in the manner of a woman” in Samoan and is specific to children born male who later take up the gender roles of women. The exhibition, Shigeyuki Kihara: Living Photographs, will be on view at the Met until February 1st.

(Shigeyuki Kihara, Fa’a fafine: In the Manner of a Woman, 2004-05, C-type photograph, edition of, 5, 80 x 60 cm, photograph: coylehall, post production: coylehall & Bronga Rhind Eglese. Courtesy of Sherman Galleries.)
Assemblage opens this Saturday, October 11th, at Galerie Laurent Godin in Paris. The show will feature the work of Scoli Acosta, Lamarche et Ovize, Corinne Marchetti, Vincent Olinet, and Hsia-Fei Chang. Hsia-Fei Chang contributed a performance titled Strawberry Wine to Global Feminisms here at the Brooklyn Museum in 2007. This feminist performance artist also does photography and installation, so if you happen to be around in the next month, Assemblage will be up until November 15th!

(Hsia-Fei Chang, Strawberry Wine, Performance at the Brooklyn Museum, March 25, 2007, for Global Feminisms. Image courtesy of the artist.)

Surface Library in Easthampton, New York, just opened Figuratively Speaking, a group exhibition featuring the work of Abby Abrams, Ann Brandeis, Eunice Golden, Barbara Groot, Richard MacDonald, Jerry Schwabe, and Thomas J. Shelford. This dedicated feminist artist and activist was a founder of Soho20, a women artist-run gallery here in New York in 1973. Her body-landscape painting was quite controversial at that time, shunned by many museums and galleries. This exhibition will be on view until November 2nd.

(Eunice Golden. CRUCIFIXION #1, 1969. Courtesy of the artist.)

MANEATER just opened at Deitch Projects on Grand Street in Manhattan. This solo exhibition by Aurel Schmidt takes some of the more abject elements in nature, as well as society’s waste, and uses them to transform Grecian busts, portraits, and Modernist works. This exhibition will be up until November 1st. Also, at Deitch Projects in Long Island City tonight, there will be a talk with Swoon, Ann Messner and Kiki Smith, moderated by Carlo McCormick. The talk will be from 7-9pm, and will cover Swoon’s current exhibition, Swimming Cities of Switchback Sea and Todd Chandler’s upcoming film FLOOD, shot from Swoon’s sculptural boats.

(Aurel Schmidt, Medusa, 2007, Pencil on paper, 18 x 28 inches. Courtesy of Deitch Projects.)

Paula Wilson’s first solo exhibition in New York opens today at Bellwether Gallery. The Stained Glass Ceiling features Wilson’s work over the past three years, during which time she used printmaking, painting, and collage to question the role of the decorative in the lives of women and art. The Stained Glass Ceiling will be up until November 15th.

(Paula Wilson, Lady, 2008, 120 x 72 inches, Mixed media on paper mounted to canvas with wood slats. Courtesy of Bellwether Galley.)

Don’t forget feminist artist and author Sabra Moore is giving a talk in the Forum this Saturday from 2-4pm! She will be discussing her new book, ON THE MOVE: A Memoir of the Women’s Art Movement, in conjunction with the exhibition, Migrate, that she just organized for Gallery 128 in Manhattan. Click here for more info!