8th of November~ The Whitechapel's Guerrilla Girls: Is it even worse in Europe?

Exhibition: Guerrilla Girls: Is it even worse in Europe?

(Image: http://www.guerrillagirls.com/exhibitions/)

            The exhibition ‘Guerrilla Girls: Is it even worse in Europe?’ discuss the problem of diversity in art institutions around Europe and present relevant data to this matter that have been collected through surveys. The exhibition is being held at the Whitechapel gallery until March of 2017.

            At the beginning of the exhibition, next to the door that leads to the room where it is taking place, there is a screen that shows some videos of the Guerrillas Girls and a board with some information about them. For me it felt very exciting, and this feeling of excitement accompanied me during my entire visit. The exhibition is rather small, only one room, and consequently very direct, however very strong and honest in the way it delivers a message.

As previously mentioned, the exhibition was based on a survey conducted by the Guerrilla Girls, a group of feminist activist artists and it presented the answer of 383 directors about their exhibition programme and collections. It was all very visual. They had a big copy of the questionnaire they sent to the directors displayed on one wall; a list of the 101 institutions that did answered them; copies of some of the answered forms, boards with commented answer and, on the floor – to be stepped on, a list of the 282 institutions that did not answer them.

Overall, the space was designed in a way that passed a strong and opinionated message. The language was irreverent and easy to understand. Despite the fact that the exhibition was smaller than the ones I have been before I felt like the message was received. In fact, now that I think about the layout of the space I cannot stop thinking that it was a little uncomfortable to stand there in the centre of the room, look at the data and think about the problem it exposes. And I believe that this was the ultimate propose of this exhibition: to make people uncomfortable, to make us aware of the problem of diversity in all the different areas and places it happen and open our eyes to the fact that it will not change if it does not get talked about.

On my previous post I have mentioned the ‘culture of non-confrontation’ that I learned about during my visit to the Barbican’s ‘The Vulgar’ exhibition (see review on previous post). After I left the Guerrilla Girls, I started thinking how sometimes we vulgarize people who challenge the social setting we live at. It's almost like we become so defensive and afraid of being changed, or being wrong or questioning our own position in the society – which might be privileged – that we can only vulgarize, in a way of ignoring and muting, those responsible for the questions and the uncomfort. Futhermore, this exhibition made me think that, as a designer, a woman and a South American I want to feel represented not only in the art industry but in all the other industries.

Photography was allowed in the exhibition, so most of the pictures in this post were taken with my phone. However, you can find more - and perhaps better - pictures, as more information about the Guerrilla Girls, here: http://www.guerrillagirls.com/exhibitions/