Overview

Feminism in art is often portrayed as a success story, but how can that be possible when feminism itself has been shaped within an evolving capitalism where production and reproduction are in conflict? Posing this question enables a rethinking of feminism and art in terms of material and ideological determinations - one of relevance to a broader exploration of how emancipatory politics fare at the intersection of social reality and the art field under capitalist hegemony. Feminism. Art. Capitalism. calls for a revolutionary rethinking of the feminist struggle and its relation to art. Championing Marxist feminism, the book explores the exploitation of enthusiasm in contemporary art as a field that promises a self-determined subject, the ideological capture of feminism, the impact of postmodernism, and the crucial notion of social reproduction. In addressing the contradictions of capitalist modernity, including its technological imaginary, this critique considers a present feminism when the need to oppose capital's world-making, to which art both contributes and questions, is greater than ever. Provocative and uncompromising, the book offers an indispensable guide for art history, criticism, theory, and practice-inviting readers to confront what claiming art and feminism as sites of resistance may actually entail.

Full Product Details

9780745351247

Table of Contents

Reviews

'At this moment of real and perceived impasses, techno-anxieties, and collective exhaustion, Dimitrakaki offers an unflinching and salutary critique of feminist art history and theory and their role in the concealment of labour in the work of art' -- Alexandra Kokoli, Associate Professor, Middlesex University and Senior Research Associate, University of Johannesburg 'Angela Dimitrakaki stands among the foremost Marxist-Feminist art historians of our time. With extraordinary scope and ambition, this book maps the terrain on which contemporary feminist art discourse is being shaped. Conceptually bold, historically grounded and politically incisive, it is essential reading for anyone engaged with art, feminism and anticapitalism. A landmark contribution to a twenty-first century social history of art' -- Dave Beech, author of <i>Art and Labour</i> 'As 'feminist art' has become yet another art historical category with high market value, Dimitrakaki's book offers essential tools to disentangle feminist artistic practices from capitalism's capture. A much-needed analysis of feminism’s transformative potential, in and beyond art' -- Giovanna Zapperi, Professor of Contemporary Art History, University of Geneva 'Applying personal reflection and rigorous investigation, Dimiktrakaki unflinchingly examines the contradictory intersection of contemporary art, politics, and ideology in bold, inspired analysis that positions her as a leading intellectual while delivering a much-needed critical work to facilitate insight and resistance' -- Gregory Sholette, author of <i>The Art of Activism and the Activism of Art</i> 'This book sets out its arguments with shattering clarity. By offering complications instead of banalities, questions rather than endings, it cuts through the bullshit and cracks open the field of feminist art history to new possibilities' -- Victoria Horne, art historian, Northumbria University

'At this moment of real and perceived impasses, techno-anxieties, and collective exhaustion, Dimitrakaki offers an unflinching and salutary critique of feminist art history and theory and their role in the concealment of labour in the work of art' -- Alexandra Kokoli, Associate Professor, Middlesex University and Senior Research Associate, University of Johannesburg 'Angela Dimitrakaki stands among the foremost Marxist-Feminist art historians of our time. With extraordinary scope and ambition, this book maps the terrain on which contemporary feminist art discourse is being shaped. Conceptually bold, historically grounded and politically incisive, it is essential reading for anyone engaged with art, feminism and anticapitalism. A landmark contribution to a twenty-first century social history of art' -- Dave Beech, author of <i>Art and Labour</i>

Author Information

Angela Dimitrakaki is Senior Lecturer in Contemporary Art History and Theory at the University of Edinburgh. She directs the MSc Modern and Contemporary Art and leads The Global Contemporary Research Group to enhance research provision on subjects of relevance to the proposed book. She is the author of Gender, ArtWork and the Global Imperative (MUP 2013) and Art and Globalisation (in Greek, Hestia 2013) and is co-editor of three edited collections. She is also an award-winning novelist, writing in her native Greek.

Tab Content 6

Countries Available