Guerrilla Girls Survey Exposes Gender and Ethnic Bias in European Museums

The Guerrilla Girls, an American feminist art collective founded in 1984, have launched a survey targeting 383 European institutions to assess diversity in their collections and staff. The results, presented in the exhibition 'Guerrilla Girls: Is it even worse in Europe?' at Whitechapel Gallery in London (1 October 2016 – 5 March 2017), reveal that only 101 museums responded. Among Italian participants were Museo di Villa Croce (Genoa), MAXXI, and MAMBo, while notable absentees include MADRE, MART, Centro Pecci, MACRO, GNAM, GAM, Fondazione Prada, and Palazzo Grassi. The exhibition features ironic posters, copies of completed questionnaires, and archival materials. Simultaneously, collective members are present at Tate Modern's Switch House until 9 October for the 'Tate Exchange' project, hosting 'The Complaint Department' where visitors can leave messages. A member using the pseudonym Käthe Kollwitz noted that while museums claim to value women artists, only 12% of works in their collections from 1861 to today are by women.