WE ARE! New Women’s Movement and Feminist Art

Mar 29, 2022

Exhibition at the Frauenmuseum Bonn: WE ARE! New Women's Movement and Feminist Art

Exhibition at the Frauenmuseum Bonn: WE ARE! New Women’s Movement and Feminist Art

From March 6th to October 30th, 2022 the Women’s Museum in Bonn, Germany, is showing the exhibition “WE ARE! New Women’s Movement and Feminist Art”.

With the interdisciplinary exhibition WIR SIND! the women’s museum presents the success story of feminist movements in society and art. Starting in the 1970s until the end of the 1980s, the exhibition shows new beginnings, turning points and lasting changes.

The contemporary history section of the exhibition shows that women were particularly involved in the upheavals after 1968. Under the slogan “The private is political!” they set about creating their own women’s spaces and a women’s public sphere. From 1971, the fight for abortion mobilised wide circles. The issue of violence against women became less taboo. Lesbian groups were founded, autonomous women’s centres and much more. In the 1980s, the focus was no longer on autonomy and self-determination, but on work in projects and a fiercely debated march into the institutions. The women’s movement differentiated in West and East Germany, migrant women and Afro-Germans raised their voices.

The exhibition sheds light on themes, structures and collective strategies that show the ways in which women artists highlights themes, structures and collective strategies that show how artists staged the feminist appropriation of the New Women’s Movement. With the intention of subverting prevailing gender relations, they founded action groups and wrote manifestos. They took art to the streets and organised protest. They sought out women in art history and curated pioneering exhibitions. In this context the women’s museum was founded in Bonn in 1981.

Please find the flyer of the exhibition here.

Mit der interdisziplinären Ausstellung WIR SIND! präsentiert das Frauenmuseum die Erfolgsgeschichte feministischer Bewegungen in Gesellschaft und Kunst. Ausgehend von den 70ern bis zum Ende der 1980er Jahre werden Aufbrüche, Wendepunkte und nachhaltige Veränderungen aufgezeigt.

Der zeithistorische Ausstellungsteil präsentiert, dass Frauen an den Umbrüchen nach 1968 in besonderer Weise beteiligt waren. Unter der Losung „Das Private ist politisch!“ gingen sie daran, eigene Frauenräume und eine Frauenöffentlichkeit zu schaffen. Ab 1971 mobilisierte der Kampf gegen §218 weite Kreise. Das Thema Gewalt gegen Frauen wurde enttabuisiert. Lesben-Gruppen gründeten sich, autonome Frauenzentren und vieles mehr.

In den 1980er Jahren standen nicht mehr Autonomie und Selbstbestimmung im Vordergrund, sondern die Arbeit in Projekten und ein heftig diskutierter Marsch in die Institutionen. Die Frauenbewegung differenzierte sich im Westen wie Osten Deutschlands, Migrantinnen und Afrodeutsche erhoben ihre Stimme.

Die Ausstellung wirft Schlaglichter auf Themen, Strukturen und kollektive Strate-
gien, die zeigen, auf welche Weise Künstlerinnen die feministische Aneignung des Kunstraumes in Szene setzten. In der Absicht, vorherrschende Geschlechterverhältnisse zu unterwandern, gründeten sie Aktionsgemeinschaften und verfassten Manifeste. Sie brachten Kunst auf die Straße und organisierten Protest. Sie suchten die Frauen in der Kunstgeschichte und kuratierten wegweisende Ausstellungen. In diesem Kontext wurde 1981 das erste Frauenmuseum in Bonn gegründet.

Bitte finden Sie den Flyer zur Ausstellung hier.

Latest News

Webinar for General Assembly

Webinar for General Assembly In preparation for our General Assembly in August 2025, we warmly invite you to a 90-minute online seminar to present and discuss amendments to the IAWM Statutes. Given the limited time and the extensive agenda of the upcoming General...

read more

2025 IAWM Pre-Conference Workshop

Cartographies of interruption and influence: Feminist educational and institutional strategies in museums in response to gender-based violence When: August 24-27 Despite decades of activism, the United Nations (UN) notes that gender-based violence remains staggeringly...

read more

IAWM Conference- Call for Posters

CFP- The Diversity of Women's and Gender Museums Worldwide Proposed exhibition at the Women's Museum Meran Opening: August 2025 Call for posters: The Women's Museum Meran is offering the opportunity to members of the IAWM to contribute to a poster exhibition on the...

read more

Petition “FREE REZA KHANDAN”

IAWM stands with Nasrin Sotoudeh in her tireless fight for human rights. Because of her activism, her husband and son have been beaten, and her husband, Reza Khandan, is now unjustly imprisoned for supporting women's rights in Iran. Support the fight for justice—sign...

read more
Share This