SubText: a Feminist Salon (a honeycomb of the Hive Archive, Providence RI)

#6

2010-03-03T22:38:00.000-08:00

here's the latest subtext "minutes"(not so timely tho-)
notes and thoughts inspired by our January discussion in honor of Mary Daly.

Next subtext in March? some idication of the discussion below.
*Open call to new tour guide to our studies...*

Subtext #6
1/28/10

Alyssa, Robyn, Kath, Monica, Kathy, Christine, Anna

Discussion about Mary Daly.
Monica spoke for a bit about Mary Daly
Kath read a segment from GynEcology
Mother church
Mother country
But it doesn’t hold what we are
Daly as theologan
Church as patriarchy
From the father
Language, deconstructing the language
New church, sphia, shekinah
Power play, didn’t miss it, authoritatively squashed it
Making meaning
Labris, abalisk-womyn’s sword
Since 1980 women outnumber men in colleges and universities
Transgendered
Sex changes how you are respected and compensated

Ideas for the Next session

Mary Daly (ch5), Audre Lorde’s > response, Mary Daly’s (Amazon Grace) response

and...
more...

Burka Discussion
Dgender terrorism
Power of woman to distract man
Power of man to cover women

Culture class (fez) choice
What would Mary daly do?

Web of life, connections, internet
Change was not won through conflict but through the web
Raine Eisler, fem symbols of power
Law of reciprocity vs. self sacrifice

Mother Child
Mother daughter- friends
Mother son-?
Respect for elders

#5

2010-01-07T15:32:00.000-08:00

The next subtext meeting will be 1/28. Most likely at Anna's House.
We have no directive as yet but I would propose reading Mary Daly as she passed away Monday.
washington post article

#5
12/17/09

The last meeting was a cozy pre-holiday gathering.
Robin, Rebecca, Anna, Kassie were present.
We discussed our work and our influences.

Robin:

Elizabeth Murray
Lynda Benglis
Joyce Kozloff
Howardina Pindell
Marimeko
Pattern (Miriam Scapiro)
Craft, Fine Arts
Cellular/Science
Small, intimate, commanding

Sneak up of size (small) instead of the cultural inclination to screaming it large
Small like a thimble

Rebecca:

Pattern, representational
Women’s work
The urge to show and compete
The desire to paint for ones self
Community
Low cost of living
Doing the right thing

-Ben Shahn
Max Beckman
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amrita_Sher-Gil

Transparency
Demographics

Material reuse
Digging for the history, find what you need tofind
Uncoiver the hersory (but is it up to us?)

Kas:
Barbara Hepworth
Louise Bourgeois

Harriet Hosner

Anna:
http://sarahwilson.wordpress.com/2008/12/08/blood-and-beauty-and-controversy-significant-form/

http://cubeme.com/blog/2007/09/28/cal-lane/

http://www.callane.com/works.html#

http://www.ronapondick.com/home.html

http://www.ronapondick.com/home.html

http://www.gregkucera.com/_images/dill/dill_head_dieudonne.jpg

#4

2009-11-05T20:17:00.000-08:00

details for meeting #5 are at the bottom of this posting...

Random Notes from Subtext #3:
This was a curiously strong book for a mere 100 pages.
Below are some fragments of musings during our discussion.
replace doG with God and see what sticks. just for fun.

11-5-09
Reading the Companion Species Manifesto
by Donna Harraway

standard manifesto
language
p. 50 as a turning point
getting all onto the same page with definitions
p.96 asking for other languages
nature culture
where does it unravel to
species
successful achievement- Jeffersonian, Socratic
should be fostered in both species
whose idea, what is the merge, that’s the connection
Puerto Rican dogs – international import of animals
cats- catching mice & birds
purpose of owner- power issues p.27-28
all chaos- evolution, Darwin’s, other
give and take-co-evolution
lost track of the evolution then rediscovering balance
p.50 crux
breeding
training as put down?
Mutuality
Challenge of the dependency of dogs
Independencey of dogs
Crossover in relationship, dog is the signifier
Outer defining the inner
But she does it through dogs
No anthropomorphism of the dog. Beginning defines the boundaries
Why not other domesticated animals
Historical context
Dogs’ ability to connect
Dog eating (?)
Relationship
(Olivia Butler sci fi)
food/ intestinal flora as companion species
she draws the line at subjective- personal
feminist research is phenomenological vs. Socratic
Psychosocial
the ideology of feminism and philosophy as stigma
vs. Socratic as dogma
Is that a matter of canonization over time?
The honor vs. the smackdown
Is this why Harraway writes this manifesto so obtusely? Utilizing the tools?
Did she step it up a notch? (meta)
As cohabitants of the earth we all need to be sensitive
Humane relationship
Dog biting
Cat biting
Owner changes dog, dog changes owner
Trust issue p.61
Assume responsibility for animal
Agility & breed as illustrations
Reciprocity/ownership/reciprocity p.54 reciprocity of otherness
Not obligated to some animals’ emotional suffering
Does training the wild create civilization?

The Veil of Isis, or etc...
Margaret Wheatley or
Negative theology or

all these links were googled. you can too.

Meeting #5 is 12/17/09 7 pm-9 pm
at 532 Kinsley Ave #200 call if you have difficulty locating it. 365-7044

#3

2009-10-14T08:38:00.000-07:00

next reading: A Companion Species Manifesto by Donna Harraway.
next meeting Nov 5, 2009

Discussion 9/24
“Toward a Queer Ecofeminism” by Greta Gaard in Hypatia, Vol 12 Issue1 1997

fragmented notes and ideas inspired by the reading:

deconstructing the (ecofeminist) movement\nature as nature, not gendered
the inclusivity of the third wave
alternate cultures, (beyond east and west)
patriarchy/capitalism
does ecofeminism exist outside of western culture?
Does feminism exist outside of western culture?
Fragmented raindrops of culture-what is in the big pool?
You can’t separate, how do you unbraid it?
What is the fashion? What is the treatment-branding, slaves, military (women?)
Take away gender, as the last marker (of otherness), what creates the other? Do you remove the gap? Are we there yet??
The choices of how nature is treated in other cultures,(i.e. Confucian)
Does that illuminate feminist issues in other cultures?
Cradle of civilization, what are the stories of the world? What writes the story? What about globalism? Bumping into each other- no safe place w/o others. Must look.
“always changing mind” “can’t please em” difference is good.
Cultural discrepancies vs. gender discrepancies
-civil rights
Human rights, civil rights, ecofeminism as a portal
Human/ nature as the global challenge and question

The erotic pushing the boundaries, but then removal of civil rights.
-the sight of gender: butch, femme, color etc…
transgendered- what is the base?
The erotic-What is terrifying about it? Can’t be classified, unknown, not controlled, beyond reason.
Erotic as disempowered, the erotic as strength.
Eroticism as empowering/disempowering
Liberation/oppression.
Erotic landscape- the erotic mind
Emily Dickenson- sensual, intellectual, if you think it/feel it …then the split
Nature (verb) the process of becoming/ Nature as noun
Artisans making things, artists making things
Nature as process, the erotic as feeling, as female, unclassified
Art as nature/ feeling. Knowledge and philosophy
Classic painter/abstract painter echelons of art
You are what you see (the senses)
You do not exist anymore. Can you go beyond that? Do you become something after that? Doing the work, training yourself to allow things to happen through the work.
The aim of sex is to get out of your self
When art gets too sensual- the desire is to categorize.
Singing in front of people as erotic, power as erotic,
The physiological arousal of rage- is that eroticism?
Rap culture, clockwork orange
human eroticism/human nature
Fear- run away, dominate: fight or flight
The erotic as far out as nature, as other, lesser, lower, squelch the erotic to maintain power.

some links:
WCA
Movie1
Movie2
TFAP
ausgang?

art1
art2
art3

#2

2009-09-27T08:31:00.000-07:00

This week Anna will center the discussion around Ecofeminism. You can get started with this reading

#1

2009-08-12T08:34:00.000-07:00

Join us for the inaugural meeting of SubText: a Feminist Art Salon, facilitated by artist Anna Shapiro and sponsored by The Hive Archive.

This week Anna will be referring to two articles as catalysts for our discussion. They are attached for your review. We recognize that time is short, so please still join us even if you do not get through both articles.

One is Not Born a Woman is a provocative essay about gender by 80 year old Monique Wittig.

An Ironic Dream of a Common Language for Women in the Integrated Circuit is an article about cyborgs and the nature culture split dominant in western patriarchal systems is by Donna Harraway.