An original and thought-provoking art exhibition has recently entered its fourth phase at the Museum of Contemporary Art (The EMST) in Athens, the title of which “What if women ruled the world?” would make anyone reflect on this question, without even seeing any of the artworks on display.
The exhibition, however, attempts to answer this hypothetical question by exhibiting works of art produced only by women, which all have an underlying theme of what the alternative to the current male-dominated scheme of things would look like. The world at present is not in a good place. Many global conflicts are raging at the behest of men. Indeed, what would the world be like if its governance and decision-making were solely in the hands of women? Would there be fewer wars and conflict, more compromise and discussion? This question is answered most directly by Yael Bartana’s antiwar film “Two minutes to midnight” in which one scene shows an all-female leadership symbolically disposing of weapons in a cemetery grave.
Very poignantly this exhibition is taking place in a country where the feminist movement only began to emerge in the 1980s, three decades after Greek women were allowed to vote. It was only in 1983 that family laws were overhauled and equity in marriage was recognised and wedding dowries were officially abolished.
This exhibition is curated by Katerina Gregos who envisaged correcting the cultural and political imbalance between men and women in art by having an all-women program of exhibits. Although other art institutions have focussed on women-only art displays, the current exhibition has been credited with breaking new ground in this context and described as brave and breathtaking.
In the past Greece marginalised and ignored the presence in the midst of superlative women artists such as Leda Papaconstantinou, Chryssa Ramanos and Danai Anesiadou. This is put right here. A series of solo exhibitions by Greek women artists and other international artists conveys what women can produce and shows the world from an artistic perspective what the art world would look like if only women ruled it.
Art should be neutral, transcending gender and race, but unfortunately, it is not. Things have changed a lot in recent years but not by nearly enough and there are still prejudices against women in the art world. The issues of women’s empowerment and gender equality in the arts and all sectors of life are more urgent than ever before. For this reason, an exhibition like this is so important in trying to reset the narrative.
“What if women ruled the world?” “Part 4” is on at the EMST, Athens until the 10th of November this year, 2024
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