Eleanor Antin Reflects on Lucy Lippard's 'c.7,500' and Early Conceptual Art

In a 2008 email to Alexandra Schwartz, published by Afterall in 2012, Eleanor Antin discusses her inclusion in Lucy Lippard's 'numbers shows,' specifically 'c.7,500' (1973) and '2,972,453' (1970). Antin, a North American artist working in performance, video, film, drawing, and writing, began her first Conceptual artwork, Blood of a Poet Box (1965–1968), in homage to Jean Cocteau's film. She recalls feeling excluded from earlier Lippard shows, which she perceived as a 'boys' club' of conceptual artists traveling in Europe. Antin notes that her work in 'c.7,500' was Domestic Peace (1971–72), not the piece she initially guessed. She also participated in '2,972,453' at Centro de Arte y Comunicación in Buenos Aires, curated by Jorge Glusberg, with Portraits of Some New York Women (1970), featuring Yvonne Rainer, Carolee Schneemann, Ruth Moss, and Margaret Mead. Antin describes her experience as a West Coast feminist and the difficulties of her early career. She helped organize the first all-woman exhibition in San Diego at Love Library in 1971.