The transformation of the condition of women was one of the greatest achievements of the 20th century. From a limited and superficial social function, women conquered the world of work, then the world of thought and art. In Portugal in the 1970s, in addition to the conquest of democracy with the Revolution of 1974, an unprecedented and remarkable achievement in the art world by women took place, particularly engaged with the Revolution and with the neo-avant-garde movement. The 1980s circled around the phenomenon of postmodernity, a concept originally diffused by French philosopher J.-F. Lyotard. In Portugal, the public debate on postmodernism would be launched with the exhibition “Depois do Modernismo” ("After Modernism", 1983). The 1990s were marked by an artistically cosmopolitan stance, increasingly engaged with the major artistic centers, in the context of the so-called globalization. This presentation purports to bring recognition and theoretical, conceptual and political complexity to the feminist art in contemporary Portuguese art history (1974-2000); to understand the nature, extent and development of the participation of Portuguese women artists in the international neo-avant-garde art movement of the 1970s, in the post-modern movement of the 1980s and in the globalization of the 1990s; and also to understand their connection with the 2nd wave of feminist movements of the 1970s, a period of great activity and debate about the existence of a gendered art, as well as the 3rd wave of feminism, which had its origins in the mid-1980s, and focuses on a more post-structuralist interpretation of gender.

Authors:
Isabel Nogueira, University of Lisboa, Portugal

About the Presenter(s)
Isabel Nogueira is principal researcher at CIEBA/Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Lisbon, professor at National Society of Fine Arts (Lisbon), art critic at contemporanea.pt. She directs the journal Arte e Cultura Visual (Art an Visual Culture).

See this presentation on the full schedule – Tuesday Schedule

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