gender check catalogue milevska

8/13/2019 Gender Check Catalogue Milevska

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Suzana Milevska

The Silkworm Cocoon

Gender Difference and the Impact of Visual Culture on Contemporar !rt in the

"alkans

Thedeconstructionist phrase silkworm cocoon was used # $ac%ues Derrida as a

metaphor for the interpretation of multilaered and am#i&uous truth that has to #e

endlessl unraveled'()(*or me+ this phrase was useful while e,aminin&+ from #oth a

&ender and a feminist perspective+ the manifold connotations and the latent awareness of

feminist ar&uments concealed in contemporar art from the "alkans' I particularl wish

to address the %uestion of feminism in art in the "alkans+ the possi#le differences #etween

the crisis in representation in art theor and practice in -ast and .est+ and the

specificit of the reciprocal influence of art and visual culture in the -ast'

/e&emonial *eminism0

At the ver #e&innin& I wish to emphasize that I assume that the ma1or impact of the

()(Gender Check()( pro1ect will derive from the attempt to answer the %uestion whether

art and visual culture in the former -ast differed so si&nificantl from the works andima&es found in the former .est' Therefore I %uestion the common o#1ection raised #

various critics that it would #e wron& when interpretin& the &ender issues within specific

cultural conte,ts to use feminist ar&uments #orrowed from so called .estern+

he&emonial+ or colonial feminism'(2(

In line with aconstructionist understandin& that &ender difference is defined throu&h

culturall determined conte,ts+ I completel a&ree that &ender issues in the former -ast

and former .est differ+ need to #e culturall distin&uished with ri&or+ and should #e

translated with reference to the societal+ political+ and reli&ious differences #etween the

two sociopolitical sstems' /owever the %uestion remains whether there can #e a uni%ue

and distinct methodolo& and theor that specificall tackles &endered art and cultural

phenomena from the -ast' It mi&ht even #e ar&ued that an call for an isolated and

radicall different set of theories would resonate as et another essentialist detour that

assumes that women in the -ast are radicall different'

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4oo-ing at comparisons both between 1950s and 1990s feminist art and across different

national socio6economic structures' #eepwell located the differences mostly between the

European and Anglo6American reception of women7s art2 8er main point was that recent body

and performance art and its revival could offer a possible site for gendering art as opposed to

the neutralied art of previous women artists2 The danger' according to #eepwell /revo-ing

4ucy 4ippard7s arguments and phraseology from the 1950s is that the reception of most

women7s art dealing with the body is caught up in the vicious circle of being both narcissistic

and e$hibitionist' given that it is seen as arising from %a neurotic dissatisfaction with self

/4ippard7s phrase2*:* The -ey ;uestion in this debate became whether the art of women is

able to escape the patriarchal structures of interpretation and whether it can offer any

possibilities for liberation2

A criti;ue of representation and stereotypes of femininity turned out to be very relevant andprovocative2 After publishing "aty #eepwell7s te$t' ,-.Siksi,-. magaine received several

articles2 The most stri-ing was the te$t by "ristine &tiles' who testified that her essay about

how women7s art is perceived by others had been cut from the catalogue of the ,-.Body as

Membrane,-. e$hibition2**According to &tiles the reason that her article was censored /or


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both mothers and as the central pivot of education' and the governments of the new states were

clever enough to use these strategies as the best way to raise a new generation2

In my view the problem with this -ind of differentiation of the power of representation in East

and est does not address the fact that there was no real change in the chain of signification

and the semiotic order' as this ran much deeper than the new images and visions2 As Edit

,s.Andrs,s.has stated in her te$t %Bender Minefield)C %&ocialism and its welfare policies

did cut bac- gender6based economic discrimination' but this happened at the cost of the state

appropriating the so called Dwomen7s ;uestion7 and degrading it to an economic one2 In the

fight of the opposition too' any -ind of division was subordinated to the shared struggle2)*9*

hat' then' about the need to readdress the ;uestion of semiotics and the way signs were

interpreted is this not what we should be doing when researching our past( hile laws and

social policies favored a new image of women who were not only seen as mothers and wivesbut also as e;ual creators of a new society' the images spo-e a different language2 In the East'

women artists were among the main victims of the dissimulating power of this economic

deliberation' as they mostly believed that there was no need for reflection on gender difference

and its representations2 The symbolic simulation of social and economic e;uality through

proliferated images of women wor-ers' scientists' and leaders overwrote the need for a critical

approach toward more comple$ gender issues2*10*

It seems that the arguments offered in Fudith !utler7s ,-.The Psychic Life of Power,-. may

shed some light on this non6decipherable pule2*11* !utler e$amined how it was possible

that' even though the power of representation was placed into their own hands' it turned into a

prison for women2 &he considers the thesis that for the constitution of the sub


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As opposed to !elgrade and Lagreb' where declared feminists /,s.arana,s.,s.NapiK,s.'

ada ,s.Ive-oviK,s.' #un


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was' of course' &an


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each of the historical events cuts a hole through the body of the sub


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that signified the blood of the victims of the Hugoslav partisan revolution in orld ar II2

Nerhaps this was ,s.AbramoviK7s,s. first e$plicit homage to her recent ma-ing up with her

mother /according to our conversation in 1995 after they fell out before herleaving

Hugoslavia2 8ence the title of the whole pro


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The pro


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In 199 4il


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A year after the publication of the pro


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#@#!o>W902

#:#Ibid2' >92

##"ristine &tiles' %The Empty &logan of &elf6epresentation') ,-.Siksi(k)3no2 1 /spring

1995C >>W902

#5#Ibid2' 902#>#Tania =rum' %Xishy !odies and ?losed Minds') ,-.Siksi(k)' no2 3' /summer 1995C >92

*9* Edit Andrs' %Bender MinefieldC The 8eritage of the Nast') ,-.n9'arado:a,-.' issue 11

/1999C httpCUUweb2u-online2co2u-Un2parado$aUandras2htm/accessed Fuly 39' 30092

*10* A photograph of a Macedonian woman published in the newspaper ,-.4o%a

Makedoni;a,-. in 19+: shows the wor-er !laga Netrova on a bulldoer2 The caption readsC

%!laga Netrova' village woman wor-er on bulldoer' ?rna e-a building site' three times

awarded for accomplishing a high normC %8eroini i buldoer-i) /8eroines and !ulldoeromen' ,-.;asnesum;as*blogs'ot*com,-.C httpCUU


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*1:* Marina ,s.AbramoviK,s.' ,-.Most>The Bridge,-.' brochure' The Museum of the ?ity

of &-op* %#angerous supplement) is a deconstructionist phrase borrowed from Fac;ues #errida7s

,-.


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*33* ,-.Violeta @a'o%ska,-.' e$h2 cat2' te$t by &uana Milevs-a /&-op' 30092

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gender check catalogue milevska

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