HANNOVER.- The Sprengel Museum Hannover is set to open "STAND UP! Feminist Avant-Garde. Works from the SAMMLUNG VERBUND, Vienna," an exhibition showcasing the influential art of feminist pioneers from the 1970s. Running from July 5 to September 28, 2025, the show draws entirely from the acclaimed SAMMLUNG VERBUND collection.

The exhibition features approximately 150 works, including photographs, video art, objects, and drawings. Visitors will see pieces by celebrated artists such as VALIE EXPORT, ORLAN, Martha Rosler, Ulrike Rosenbach, Renate Bertlmann, Birgit Jürgenssen, Annegret Soltau, Cindy Sherman, Judy Chicago, and Penny Slinger, alongside other artists gaining wider recognition.

These works delve into the societal expectations placed on women in the 1970s, challenging stereotypes and clichés. The artists of this "Feminist Avant-Garde" movement were among the first in art history to offer a radical, subversive, and often ironic "image of women" from a distinctly female viewpoint. The themes explored in these works continue to resonate today.

Reinhard Spieler, Director of the Sprengel Museum Hannover, highlighted the exhibition's significance. "This summer, we are placing a special emphasis on the 'STAND UP! Feminist Avant-Garde' exhibition," he stated. "This show honors female artists of the 1970s who, with great determination, questioned and transformed the traditional image of women in art. Their works are provocative, poetic, political, and their relevance remains unbroken to this day." Spieler also praised the SAMMLUNG VERBUND for its role in establishing a benchmark for feminist art through this exhibition and its accompanying catalog.

The exhibition underscores how artists, despite geographical distances and limited personal contact, often explored similar themes. This touring exhibition, previously shown in Rome, Madrid, London, and Stuttgart, is organized into five thematic sections:

• Challenging Traditional Roles: Resistance against the singular assignments of "mother, housewife, and wife."

• Seeking Freedom: The feeling of confinement and the desire for liberation.

• Diverse Identities: The creation of varied female identities through performative "role-playing."

• Resisting Beauty Standards: Opposition to societal "dictates of beauty" and a critical look at the female body.

• Exploring Sexuality: The examination and visualization of "female sexuality."

Gabriele Schor, founding director of SAMMLUNG VERBUND and co-curator of the exhibition with Inka Schube of the Sprengel Museum, noted the artists' shared approaches. "It's fascinating to observe that many artists didn't know each other yet developed similar visual strategies," Schor explained. "In the exhibition, one perceives the necessity that artists felt at the time to create these critical and ironic works. Irony was a weapon for them against the patriarchal mechanisms of oppression."