COMING TO THE TABLE AT ANGEL'S GATE CULTURAL CENTER
Melanie Mack with a painting by Lili Bernard from Coming to the Table.
Coming to the Table, a group show of contemporary art curated by the Association of Hysteric Curators in collaboration with Angel’s Gate Cultural Center. The AHC is a fluid trans-generational group of women dedicated to cultural discussions around contemporary feminist issues in a non-hierarchical structure based on dialogue and exchange. Coming to the Table presents a diverse range of voices that consider gender in dialogue with issues of memory, place, community, intimacy, race, labor, sexuality, autonomy, and the future of feminism.
Parallel to the goal of the AHC, this exhibition considers manifestations of the female narrative and traces on-going dialogues passed between, and through generations of women. Throughout Western history, patriarchy has been firmly seated at the head of the cultural table and has dictated the forms, content, and conversations around cultural production. First wave feminism unearthed the voices of our creative fore mothers and revealed a rich and vital legacy. In order to visualize this inversion of power structures each room throughout the exhibition will feature a table that is both integral to the workshops and performances that take place and independently sites for art. These tables will act as markers signaling the change from a paradigm of boardroom table decision making within curatorial practice to a living room table model as a dynamic site of communal sharing, making and conversation. The visual art will coexist with the tables creating a salon feel to each room an invitation to visitors to exchange with the artists.
In the thirty-five years since Linda Nochlin published her seminal essay "Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?” we continue to raise questions about gender equity and subvert the role that patriarchy plays in shaping the rules of the art and culture to create new and playful structures that disrupt traditional notions of organization and culture making.
The exhibit will be accompanied by a series of workshops to be held in the gallery spaces throughout the run of the exhibition.