Flowers of the Revolution Dineo Seshee Bopape, 2022 Courtesy of the artist & Sfeir-Semler Gallery Beirut/Hamburg
With around 40 works dating from the 1960s through to the 1990s and drawn from the collection of the Kunstmuseum Basel, alongside a selection of more recent pieces by contemporary Swiss and international artists, Fun Feminism looks at the museum collection through a feminist lens, while combatting the stereotype of feminism as humorless with an emphasis on joy, play and irreverence.
Artists, art historians, gallery owners and curators have endeavored to advance feminist perspectives in the visual arts for some 50 years now, thus redefining the portrayal of gender images and roles. In disclosing and exposing patriarchal structures with a nod and a wink, much of the works created in this vein draw on a range of humorous registers, such as irony and self-irony.
Artworks showcasing humor, comedy and satire provide well-suited methods and motifs to a feminist vocabulary. As such, laughter continues to serve as an effective instrument for socially disadvantaged groups in their critical interaction with existing systems of social order.
