TRENT, ITALY.- The feminine universe and its position within contemporary society are the dominant themes of the upcoming exhibition at the Galleria Civica di Arte Contemporanea of Trento. The Power of Women presents three different positions on the “feminine question”, with an equal number of curators - Luca Beatrice, Caroline Bourgeois and Francesca Pasini – who, for history, culture and gender, express different visions on the implications of the role assumed by women today. The exhibition unravels in a moment of renewed socio-political debate on women, retracing the evolution of her role in contemporary art in western society and opening burning questions, among which the participation of women in managing power and their access to politics, the recognition of the fundamental role of women in social processes, or rather the resistances still active with respect to the will of self-determination and selfrepresentation of today’s woman.

Beginning from a masculine point of view, Luca Beatrice interprets the position where women are still viewed as objects of desire and sex symbols. Here one finds the elegant femininity represented in celebrated photographs of Helmut Newton, the vision of flourishing femininity of old magazines by John Currin, up until the position of late movie director Russ Meyer, whose films were once considered trivial and second-rate. Without forgetting the voice of these same women, who in this first section are those who playfully disturb the tranquillity of men with strong and provocative images, such as the work Pissing Women by Sophy Rickett.

Francesca Pasini’s position, instead, aims to resume the threads of a feminine way of making art. With examples that range from Eva Hesse, from Kiki Smith to Vanessa Beecroft, it exemplifies a path that not only examines the rise in the percentage of feminine presence in the world of art, but also insinuates with pride of “weak” methods, of a typically feminine decorative and quotidian sensibility, which have also gradually influenced images created by men.

One must also not forget the most extreme wing of the theme – the wing from which the roots of Seventies’ Feminism has made the body and femininity instruments of provocation, of weaponry to flaunt in order to express their natural weaknesses to men. Caroline Bourgeois heads this section, following the road of feminism in art by examining works by artists such as Joan Jonas, Valie Export or Annette Messager, as well as young artist Regina José Galindo. Winner of the Leone d’Oro at the 2005 Venice Biennial, Galindo’s actions set the problem of women’s self-determination in those countries of the world that still maintain authoritarian and maschilist culture and legislation.

Lastly, a core of documentation (books, pamphlets, video, artists’ books) can be found inside of the exhibition, furnished by the Franklin Furnace Center in New York. Directed by Martha Wilson, the Franklin Furnace Center has, from the Sixties, has compiled ample work in promotion and divulgation of feminine themes.

With this exhibition La Galleria Civica di Arte Contemporanea of Trento continues to follow its line of research aimed at analyzing not only the artistic situation, but also the social one. Art, as in many cases, becomes a receptor that indicates an active change: this environment of investigation can suggest future developments of the question, also at a more general level. If in society one speaks of the need to guarantee adequate spaces in managerial positions, in the world of art, in fact, women have continually risen to directorial positions in some of the world’s most prestigious international institutions. Does this mean that we can expect a society continually more dominated by women? Are masculine privileges really coming to an end? Do women contribute to the creation of a characteristic and “alternative” power? Are we neither arriving at parity nor equality, but at the uniformity of the sexes?

Throughout the course of the exhibition, there will also be a round-table series between representatives of art and of society, attempting to respond to these questions. Issue number 15 of “Work. Art in progress”, the Galleria Civica’s quarterly magazine, will serve as an exhibition catalogue, proposing ample investigations with texts by the three curators.