The Temporary Separatists (Rose Gibbs and Sofia Landström) present a panel discussion as part of ICA Talks series Artists, what is your value? Chaired by The Temporary Separatists, speakers include Angela Dimitrakaki, Catherine Elwes, Margaret Harrison and Johanna Gustavsson.

With a focus on collectives that are rooted both in gender (eg. women) as distinct from biological sex (eg. female) and in place, this discussion considers whether women’s artist collectives can provide a resistance to the atomising individualism of neoliberal capitalism that is at the heart of current global art markets.

The panel rethink what artistic practice is and can be, where women’s collectives make a space not to recreate or infiltrate patriarchal hierarchies, but circumnavigate them.

With an emphasis on active engagement with others, on process rather than product, the panel look to collective art practices where its value relates to communities rather than commodities.

The panel consider feminism’s dual program: where it is both a method to recognise gendered group treatment and also an attempt to find a route to autonomy and liberation from such categorisation. In the light of these seemingly contradictory aims, speakers reflect upon the use of separatism in women’s only collectives.

Can these short-term strategies, that lay bare the painful aspects of society where gender continues to shape lives and dominate both economic and cultural spheres, prove to be effective strategies for achieving long-term goals?

This discussion brings together a range of voices to create a space for dialogue, elliptical associations and learning between generations.
https://www.ica.org.uk/whats-on/women-working-collectively-what-your-value