“Other Creativity”: The Critical and Informative Debate on Women’s Exhibitions in the Magazine “DATA” (1974-1978)

Abstract

Starting from the article Donne & Arte dedicated by Daniela Palazzoli in the spring of 1974 to the main centers and theories of feminist art in the United States, «DATA» launched an in-depth reflection on female creativity that would develop in several issues of the periodical until its last year of activity. The ample space reserved for women’s art in the pages of «DATA» and which made it the most up-to-date specialized magazine on these issues in Italy at the time, was due to the sensitivity and interests of the co-founder Ciacia Nicastro and the active collaboration of art critics committed to promoting visibility for the work of female artists and photographers who had generally remained on the margins of the art system. The essay intends to offer a first analysis of some of the main contributions on the female visual arts and criticism published by «DATA» between 1974 and 1978, focusing on the group exhibitions dedicated to the creative expressiveness of women. This is a thematic strand that emerges forcefully from the pages of the Milanese periodical but has not yet been explored through an overall framework capable of rereading and reconnecting, with a chronological focus, the different theoretical-critical and informative perspectives on a rich constellation of expositions germinated in years that were decisive for the spread of feminist demands in the Italian social and cultural context.