ff-female takeover


' Kunst Raum Goethestraße Kunst Raum Goethestraße

Big f, little f. One is a political label; the other is a state of mind, a personal philosophy by which to live.

Airlie Bussell: Talking Up, p. 133

In “Generation f: Sex, Power & the Young Feminist,” Virginia Trioli eloquently captures the impact of feminism on many dimensions of young women’s lives today. She examines the significance of the 1994 AGB McNair telephone poll in which 70% of young women polled in Sydney and Melbourne said they would not call themselves feminist. Trioli highlighted the paradox implicit in these numbers. Of course they believe in equal pay, a fair justice system, harassment-free workplaces and sexual freedom. This then raises several questions. What do the 70% call these beliefs, if not feminism? And amongst the 30% who “identify” themselves as feminists, what else (if anything) do they see as feminist?

Rosamunde Else-Mitchell & Naomi Flutter:
Talking Up. Young Women’s Take On Feminism


The methods used by young artists of this generation—in comparison to those of the ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s—also invite a similarly ambivalent discussion. So-called “girl culture” makes use of the entertainment industry to draw attention to itself with “sex, fun & style” (Baldauf). Generation f rehashes, slices ‘n’ dices, copies and remixes the “found footage” of mainstream culture in order to thus render the Zeitgeist in an intensified and exaggerated form. Its members are appropriating and redefining terms, or recontextualizing familiar labels and categories. The results permit us to visualize in ways that are often bizarre, odd, droll or even ridiculous the extent to which our society and our social environment are constructs. The origin of cyberfeminism, however, is also an example of such an artificial construct: “... female artists, activists and theoreticians (...) use the potential of the concept of cyberfeminism, which is the result of its contradictory nature and lack of clarity. (...) An important strategy of cyberfeminism in this sense is the use of irony. Irony deals in humor and earnest play. Only by means of irony can irreconcilable stances and points of departure be maintained. All of these irreconcilable points of view are necessary and important, and generate a frightful tension. Thus, cyberfeminism is not only a rhetorical strategy but also a political method. There is an urgent need for a new concept of politics. Models from previous decades are no longer getting the job done. This expanded concept of politics must embrace the possibility of being paradoxical and utopian. It is oppositional, can argue from different standpoints simultaneously, and nevertheless makes sensible political action possible. A concept of politics that simulates politics and is at the same time politically effective. With such a concept of politics, we are returning once again to the proximity of art.” (C. Sollfrank in: netz.kunst (net.art), Yearbook 98/99‚ netz.kunst, published by the Institute for Modern Art, Nürnberg, p. 78).

Feminists of the second wave women’s movement, on the other hand, regard being a part of the subcultural milieu as a prerequisite for critique and social change. For example, in the moo xxero Panel Room recently, Nova complained that being freed from the burden of the labor of reproduction did not represent the fulfillment of the 1970s feminists’ dream. After all, they had never called for a freedom that is dependent on multinational conglomerates. It is the power of capitalism that robs the people of their utopias and dreams by making the dreams come true and selling them back to those same people at a high price.

Young female artists, though, create utopias just like they used to. They construe themselves from scratch and create new social entities that they themselves—and perhaps society too—would like to have, since the masquerade and the switching back and forth between genders and systems makes traditional roles become blurred. Media (video and computer) have always assumed an important role here; within these realms, experiments can be carried out without encountering conventional patriarchic structures.

Nevertheless, processes of transformation are underway, and these make it unavoidable to confront the changed demands of communication technologies, means of assuring ones ongoing ability to survive professionally and make a living, as well as a society that is redefining its structures. These circumstances create new patterns of behavior: in the area of capabilities/fields of expertise and methodological approaches, analyses of the culture of everyday life and social interrelationships.

It has been said over and over again that women use the Internet differently. The new Generation f does not primarily utilize women’s networks as networks by and for women, but rather as a mechanism to exchange ideas with each other and to meet one another. That the network itself becomes the object of an artistic strategy has to do with the focus of those who are the driving forces behind it. In going about this, so-called patchwork biographies are part of the strategies in the artistic field: adaptation of production methods and approaches to work from the worlds of business and social services as well as the mechanisms of a Fun Culture make for a smooth transition from production, services and the representation of social interconnections.

In Projectkk ff, seven female artists and groups of female artists working under pseudonyms treat the cluster of so-called female strategies to link together the non-material world of the WWW and the material world of real life. They will confront the methods of the feminist practice of net art (in which Kathy Rae Huffman, Faith Wilding, Cornelia Sollfrank, Victoria Vesna and many others are regarded as pioneers who have made a name for themselves with important, trend-setting works in the WWW) and the strategies of younger female artists (Nine Budde, Snergurtuschka, Lina Hoshino, Cue P Doll, N.N.) who discuss purportedly feminist issues in generalizable, more open, and often ironic forms. To get things started: What would be appropriate strategies towards feminism if one proceeds under the assumption that Generation f wishes to distance itself from this concept? And: does the brief half-life of works, issues, positions and debates necessitate more flexible networks in contrast to longer-term concepts?