Art and Engagement // Art and Gender

  • Mary Beth Edelson, Death of Patriarchy/A.I.R 1976 afische
  • Series of public lectures by Mirjam Westen (Netherlands)

    The lectures were provided with simultaneous translation (English-Armenian)
    The event is initiated by ACSL and funded by the ‘Mondriaan’ Foundation (Netherlands)

    The Club, Tumanyan 40, Yerevan
    June 5, 2014

The entire body of lectures consisted of two independent parts with the following topics:
Art & Engagement and Art & Gender

The topic ‘Art & Engagement’ discussed works by international artists that deal with political and social issues through temporary interventions in public space and/or through long term projects in neighborhoods. The focus will be on artists who exploit the autonomy of art in order to create a new space that is literally “rooted”, interwoven, with the social here and now.

The ‘Art & Gender’ explored how artists deal with the issue of gender on the one hand, and on the other hand it will analyse how the feminist art movement has influenced art institutions in their exhibition policies.

Mirjam Westen is a curator, critic and editor in the field of contemporary art, gender and global art. Her essays and reviews have been published in journals, art magazines and catalogues. She recently curated Prospects & Concepts with work by 90 young artists (Van Nelle, Rotterdam), the international group show Threads and a solo presentation of Esiri Erheriene-Essi, titled Don’t Support the Greedy. She organized Female Power (Arnhem 2013), rebelle. Art & Feminism 1969-2009. (Arnhem 2009) and was co-curator of A chacun sa grace. Femmes Artistes en Belgique et aux Pays-Bas 1500-1950 (Antwerp 1999-Arnhem 2000).
Working as a senior curator of contemporary art in the Museum of Modern Art Arnhem (NL), she has curated numerous exhibitions from 1991 to the present day, amongst others, Kara Walker (2002), Emily Jacir (2003), Lida Abdul (2006), Regina Galindo (2007), Berni Searle (2011), Heidi Sincuba (2011) and Alicia Framis (2013). In addition to her curatorial and writing activities, she gives lectures. She is member of AICA and of the International Association of Curators of Contemporary Art (IKT). Mirjam Westen is based in the Netherlands.