Wack! Art and the Feminist Revolution at MOCA LA

The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, presented 'Wack! Art and the Feminist Revolution' from March 4 to July 16, 2007. Curated by Cornelia Butler, the exhibition featured 119 artists and aimed to demonstrate that feminist art sought to completely reorganize cultural hierarchies. Butler emphasized the need for an attractive, visually powerful presentation that would be memorable. The show included works that inverted gender roles, such as Louise Bourgeois' 'A Banquet / A Fashion Show of Body Parts' (1978) and Lynda Benglis' advertisement in Artforum (1974). Other pieces addressed the appropriation of male-associated artistic gestures, like Adrian Piper's 'Catalysis III' (1970) and Helena Almeida's 'Pintura habitada' (1975). The exhibition also tackled the objectification of women's bodies, with works by Cosey Fanni Tutti, Barbara T. Smith, Orlan, Marina Abramovic, Suzy Lake, Sanja Ivekovic, Eleanor Antin, and Martha Rosler. Butler acknowledged the heartbreak of selection criteria, noting that many deserving artists like Annie Sprinkle and Nicola L. were excluded. The exhibition consciously echoed Paul Schimmel's 'Out of Action' at MOCA ten years earlier. The United States has not ratified CEDAW, yet feminist art has spurred gender studies there. The Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art at the Brooklyn Museum continues this legacy.