Künstlerinnen International (1877-1977): a ghost exhibition in the German feminist historical memory

Abstract

On 9 March 1977, 'Künstlerinnen International (1877-1977)' opened in Charlottenburg, Berlin, a survey of international women's art over the last hundred years, inspired by the 1976 exhibition in Los Angeles.  

The political, social and economic situation in West Germany in these years was very complex, both because of the still looming presence of the Wall, and because of social struggles, urban guerrilla warfare and the terrorism of the Rote Armee Fraktion In this complex climate, women were once again demanding the right to abortion, a law that had been passed in 1974 only to be declared unconstitutional again in 1975.  

In this context, one understands the importance of an exhibition such as Künstlerinnen International which, as the catalogue states, 'would not have come about without feminist struggles'. For the first time in the history of German criticism and curating, the exhibition was curated by a collective of feminist artists together with literary critic Silvia Bovenschen.  

The aim of this contribution is not only to investigate the figure of Silvia Bovenschen, especially in relation to the staging of the exhibition Künstlerinnen International, but also to analyse the international significance of the exhibition for feminist art in those years. In particular, an attempt will be made to understand the reasons that, paradoxically, led this exhibition and Boveschen's work to be forgotten after a short time by official German historiography.  

What is the role of Künstlerinnen International for collective and feminist historical memory in Germany? What consequences did the exhibition have for contemporary Italian feminist art, considering that both Mirella Bentivoglio (an artist invited to the Berlin exhibition in 1977 and curator of "Materializzazione del Linguaggio" at the 1978 Biennale) and Lea Vergine ("L'Altra metá dell'Avanguardia") were aware of Bovenschen's intellectual and critical work? What were the artistic relations between Italy and Germany following the Berlin exhibition of 1977?