Feminist Art Manifestos and Feminist Manifestos
A chronological list of feminist art manifestos and feminist manifestos which have had an impact on the women's art movement and feminist art.
This list was initially researched in preparation for the Feminist Art Seminars at the ICA on 30 March 2011, organised by Katy Deepwell as a collaboration between the ICA and n.paradoxa. Links are given, where known, to websites where the material is directly available. This list has been added to and corrected several times.(Last update: May 2021)
(And with thanks to Daisy Grove-Lafarge for her assistance in July 2014)
Any comments or suggestions to add to this list: ktpress@ktpress.co.uk
 |
Katy Deepwell (ed) 50 Feminist Art Manifestos republishes 50 feminist art manifestos by contemporary women artists. This is a print book from KT press (Available Jan 2022). A revised epub is also available. All texts marked # below are included in 50 Feminist Art Manifestos... Those marked * were in the first ebook, Feminist Art Manifestos: An Anthology (KT press, 2014) which had 35 manifestos. |
|---|
 |
If you want to learn more about feminist art manifestos and feminisms: try n.paradoxa's MOOC's 6 lesson online course on Feminist Art Manifestos |
|---|
Valentine de Saint Point The Manifesto of Futurist Woman (Response to F. T. Marinetti) (1912)
Valentine de Saint Point ‘Futurist Manifesto of Lust’ (11 Jan 1913)
Mina Loy ‘Feminist Manifesto’ (1914) unfinished and not published til 1982 in Mina Loy The Lost Lunar Baedeker. Sequel to her ‘Aphorisms for the Future’ (1914) in Bonnie Kime Scott (ed) The Gender of Modernism (1990)
# Yvonne Rainer ‘No Manifesto’ (1965) reproduced in her book Feelings are Facts: A Life (MIT press, 2006). Or consult this website to read it. (see also her revised 2008 response, available in KT press' new book.
Casey Hayden and Mary King 'Sex and Caste: A Kind of Memo' (1965)
Valerie Solanas SCUM Manifesto (1969). Extract available in linka>, but published in several different editions as a book.
* # Nancy Spero ‘Feminist Manifesto’ (1970-1971) from R. Arkesteijn (ed) CODEX SPERO: Nancy Spero, selected writings and interviews 1950-2008 (Roma Publications, 2008)
Third World Women's Alliance Black Women's Manifesto (1970) (published as a pamphlet in New York, available through Duke University Library's, documents from the women's movement archive online)
Monique Wittig, Gilles Wittig, Marcia Rothenberg and Margaret Stephenson ‘Combat pour la liberation del a femme’ (L’Idiot International (Paris) May 1970 pp.12-16) p.184 precedes Monique Wittig’s Les Guerrilleres. Passages translated in English in Janet Lyon Manifestoes: Provocations of the Modern (Cornell University Press, 1999).
The Radical Women Manifesto: Socialist Feminist Theory, Program, and Organizational Structure (1967) available from Red Letter Press
* # Mierle Ladermann Ukeles ‘Manifesto for Maintenance Art 1969: Proposal for an exhibition “CARE”’ - available in several Manifestos books, including KT press
Redstockings Manifesto (1969/1970). 'The Redstockings Manifesto' was written by an unknown author, and used by the Women’s Liberation Party in 1969
* # Agnes Denes A MANIFESTO (1970)
* # 'Manifesto of Women Students and Artists for Black Liberation' (WSABAL) (1970) written by Faith Ringgold and Michele Wallace. A legible picture of the original typescript of this manifesto can be found in Carey Lovelace's online essay 'Making it Together'.(download as PDF)
Jo Freeman The BITCH Manifesto (1968, published 1970): An analysis of how strong independent women are viewed in our society. Also Archived on Chicago Women's Liberation Union archive website.
Chicago Anarcho-Feminists 'Anarcho-Feminism: Two Statements' (from Siren, 1971)' Who we are: An Anarcho-Feminist Manifesto' and 'Blood Of The Flower: An Anarchist-Feminist Statement'
Demands from the National Women's Liberation Movement conferences (1971-1978) (UK). Archived on the Feminist Archive North website
Manifesto of Rivolta Femminile (1970)(download as PDF) and Carla Lonzi's Let's Spit on Hegel (English and Italian Original)
* # Monica Sjoo and Anne Berg ‘Towards a Revolutionary Art’ (1971-2). A copy of this rare pamphlet is in the British Library. It is republished in n.paradoxa volume 28 pp.64-67. Available in print only.
* # Valie EXPORT ‘Women, Art: A Manifesto’ (1972) reproduced in Kristine Stiles and Peter Selz (eds) Theories and Documents of Contemporary Art (1996) and in Helena Reckitt (ed) Feminism and Art (Phaidon)
*# Rita Mae Brown ‘A Manifesto for the Feminist Artist’ From The Furies, Lesbian/Feminist Monthly, Volume 1, issue 5, June-July 1972 (See collection Women's Liberation Movement Print Culture, in Duke University Archives, https://repository.duke.edu/dc/wlmpc)
The Artists’ Union: ‘Women’s Workshop Manifesto’ (Almost Free Theatre, London 1973)
* # Carolee Schneemann ‘Woman in the Year 2000’ (1974) reproduced in Kristine Stiles and Peter Selz (eds) Theories and Documents of Contemporary Art (1996).
Jenny Holzer ‘Truisms’ (1980-1990)
* # 'The Manifesto of Women Artists of Pakistan' (1983) reproduced in Salima Hashmi Unveiling the Visible: Lives and Works of Women Artists of Pakistan (2002)
Mierle Ukeles ‘Sanitation Manifesto’ (1984), also reproduced in Kristine Stiles and Peter Selz (eds) Theories and Documents of Contemporary Art (1996)
Donna Haraway ‘Manifesto for Cyborgs’ (1985) First published in Socialist Review No 80 1985. Reprinted in Linda Nicholson (ed) Feminism/Postmodernism (Routledge, 1991). Republished in Amelia Jones (ed) The Feminism and Visual Culture Reader (London: Routledge, 2003)
Combahee River Collective (1986) The Combahee River Collective Statement: Black Feminist Organizing In The Seventies and Eighties. Kitchen Table/Women of Color
# Gisela Breitling Feministisches Manifest November(1989). German text, written following a discussion with the working group "Rat der Frauen". Volume 9, issue S1https://doi.org/10.1515/fs-1991-s124
Veronica Vera, Candida Royale, Annie Sprinkle ‘Post-Porn Manifesto’ (1989). published in Annie Sprinkle: Post-Porn Modernist: My 25 Years as a Multi-media Whore. (San Francisco: Cleis Press, 1998). Available at De Gruyter, University of California Press, 2014 Hear on Soundcloud a recording
Lesbian Avengers of New York Civil Organising Project ‘Out Against Right: The Dyke Manifesto: basic principles’ (1992-1994)
Beatriz Preciado Manifeste contrasexuel/Contrasexual Manifesto
Also known as Manifiesto contra-sexual/Kontrasexuelles Manifest (Paris: Editions Ballard, 2000) – see discussion in G.Ankele ‘Post-Porn Politics’ n.paradoxa volume 25 (Pleasure) 2010
* # THE MANIFESTO: Eva and Co. (c. 1992)
# RIOT GRRRL MANIFESTO. The Riot Grrrl Movement began in the early 1990s by Washington State band Bikini Kill and lead singer Kathleen Hanna.
'East German Feminists: Lila Manifesto' republished in English in Feminist Studies v.16 (Fall 1990) pp.621-634
VNS Matrix A Cyberfeminist Manifesto for the 21st Century (1991)
* # VNS Matrix ‘Bitch Mutant Manifesto’ (c.1994) reproduced in n.paradoxa issue 4 online issue 4, n.paradoxa: international feminist art journal August 1997, republished, January 2010
* # Fabrika Nadyonii Odezhdii, FNO (The Factory of Found Clothes) Natalya Pershina-Yakimanskaya and Olga Egorova, respectively known as Gluklya and Tsaplya Manifesto of Factory of Found Clothes. c. 1995
* # Violetta Liagatchev ‘Constitution Intempestive de la République Internationale des Artistes Femme’ issue 3, n.paradoxa: international feminist art journal May 1997/Jan 2010.
Natasha Vita-More ‘Extropic Art Manifesto of Transhumanist Arts’ (1997)
* # Senga Nengudi aka Lily Bea Moors 'Lilies of the Valley Unite! Or Not' (1998) first published in ‘Double Consciousness: Black Conceptual Art since 1970’ curated by Valerie Cassel Oliver (Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, 2005).
* # Old Boys Network 100 anti-theses on cyberfeminism (download of text file)
* # Dora García 100 Impossible Artworks (2001) (reproduced in a press release for a 2010 show at MUSAC Collection, León.)
* # subRosa refugia: manifesto for becoming autonomous zones (BAZ) (2002)(download as PDF)
* # Rhani Lee Remedes SCUB Manifesto first published in LTTR vol 1 Sept 2002
* # Orlan ‘Carnal Art Manifesto’ reproduced in n.paradoxa vol 12 (Out of order) 2003 p.44
Meike Schmidt-Gleim and Mieke Verloo 'ONE MORE FEMINIST MANIFESTO OF THE POLITICAL' IWM Working Paper No. 2/2003 Vienna 2003 (download as PDF)
* # ARCO Manifesto (2005) Published in Spanish at ARCO, IFEMA, Madrid (Xabier Arakistain)
* # Yes! Association (2005) Equal Opportunities Agreement (#1, 2005)
MANIFESTO FEMLINK-ART (2005). This manifesto was also published in FemLink-Art's Book on its first 10 years, available online FEMLINK_ART.
Lida Sherafatmand ‘Humanitarian Art Manifesto’ (2004-2010) (published online, 30 Sept 2010, Kimpavitapress)
* # Mette Ingvartsen ‘Yes Manifesto (2006)reproduced in Astrid Peterle ‘The Performances of Mette Ingvartsen the pleasures of depersonalized bodies, bouncing trampolines and evaporated landscapes’ n.paradoxa vol 25 (Pleasure) 2010 p.37
Manifesto of the Pan-Canadian Young Feminist Gathering Toujours 'RebELLEs / Waves of Resistance', Montreal, October 13, 2008. Reproduced in Penny Weiss Feminist Manifestos: A Global Documentary Reader (New York University Press, 2018)
Working Artists and the Greater Economy (WAGE) Wo/Manifesto (2008)(download as PDF)
* # Arahmaiani 'Manifesto of the Sceptic' and 'Letter to Marinetti' (2009)
Lindsey German 'A Feminist Manifesto for the 21st Century'(2010)
* # Guerrilla Girls 'SCHOOL OF THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS MAY 22 2010 and Guerrilla Girls Guide to Behaving Badly' (2010)
* # Lucia Tkacova and Aneta Mona Chisa (2011) 80:20 Statement on the Romanian Pavillion walls in Venice Giardini for the Venice Biennale. Tkacova and Chisa also produced a video work Manifesto of Futurist Woman (Let's Conclude) (2008).
# Lenka Clayton - An Artists Residency in Motherhood Manifesto (2011-2012) available from Artists Residency in Motherhood
Legacy Russell 'Digital Dualism and the Glitch Manifesto' (2012), published on The Society Pages.org. Article on Rhizome, 2013. (Book, Glitch Feminism: A Manifesto, Penguin, 2020).
* Martine Syms 'The Mundane Afro-futurist Manifesto' (2013) on Rhizome.org (17 Dec 2013) and Martine Syms own website
Anohni - Kembra Pfahler - Johanna Constantine - Bianca Casady - Sierra Casady the-13-tenets-of-future-feminism (2014-2017)
# Alexandra Pirici and Raluca Voinea (2015, Bucharest, Bologna) Manifesto for the Gynecene - Sketch of a New Geological Era (download as PDF)
Laboria Cuboniks (a collective of six) Xeno-Feminism: A Politics for Alienation (2015) (download as PDF) - also on the group's website in several languages.
Laura Bear, Karen Ho, Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing, and Sylvia Yanagisako Gens: A Feminist Manifesto for the Study of Capitalism (2015). Published in Cultural Anthropology
Miriam E. David A Feminist Manifesto for Education (Wiley, 2016)
# Gluklya / Natalia Pershina-Yakimanskaya -‘Manifesto of the Utopian Union of
Unemployed People’ (2017) Available at Gluklya's website.
Lena Šimic ‘Manifesto for Maternal Performance (Art) 2016!’ Performance research. Vol. 22/ 4 (2017), pp 131-139
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Dear Ijeawele, or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions (Penguin, Random House, 2017)
Sara Ahmed 'A Killjoy Manifesto' in Living a Feminist Life (Duke University Press, 2017).
# Not Surprised, an open letter (2017) - this version is on Artists' Newsletter's website, signed by 5,000 women artists and curators and writers, rather than strictly a manifesto, this is one response to sexual harassment in the art world. Second version on NewsArtNet.
# Representatives of Prague Art Institutions - Feminist (art) Institution: Code of Practice(2017). Manifesto arising from a series of seminars at Transit, Prague, Czech Republic, in 2017
# Declaration of Commitment to Feminist Practices in Art: Permanent Assembly of Women Art Workers (2017) (Argentina) Also available in Spanish, Portuguese and French on the website
Neysa Page-Lieberman, Melissa Hilliard Potter "Feminist Social Practice: A Manifesto" ASPA Journal (John Hopkins Unversity Press) Vol. 3, no. 2, May 2018 pp.335-351
Jana Astanov has written an astrofeminist manifesto (2018) https://creatrixmag.com/astro-feminist-manifesto/
# Feminist Art and Architecture Collective - To Manifest (2018) published in Harvard Design Magazine, No 46, No Sweat, 2018
Frigga Haug - 13 Theses of Marxism-Feminism (2018)
More Resources
Michelle Moravec did a digital humanities analysis of the content of this list and the anthology at CAA 2015 'A Digital Analysis of Feminist Art Manifestos' talk given at College Art Association, February 4, 2015, for panel Mapping Feminist Art Networks available online at: Click here to find this. Now published as a full article in ARTL@SBULLETIN, Vol.6, Issue3 (Fall 2017) (download as PDF)
|
If you want to learn more about feminist art manifestos and feminisms: try n.paradoxa's MOOC's 6 lesson online course on Feminist Art Manifestos. Written by Katy Deepwell. |
|---|
Anthologies of feminist manifestos:
Katy Deepwell (ed) 50 Feminist Art Manifestos (KT press, 2022)
Feminist Art Manifestos: An Anthology (KT press, ebook, 2014)
(see also her essay 'Feminist Art Manifestos/Feminist Politics' Cambridge Literary Review, Issue 11, Manifestos, Michelmas, 2018)
Breanne Fahs (ed) Burn It Down! Feminist Manifestos for the Revolution (London: Verso, 2020)
Penny A. Weiss (ed) Feminist Manifestos: A Global Documentary Reader (New York: NYU Press, 2018)
and Carlota Subirós dir. GRRRLS!!! Manifestos feministes del segle XX i XXI (20th And 21st Century Feminist Manifestos) (a film, 2019).
Any comments or suggestions to add to this list or give sources where known to other feminist art manifestos, please contact: ktpress@ktpress.co.uk