This third episode of the ‘Feminist Art’ series focuses on Paola Ugolini, an independent curator and critic. She has curated the Dior-sponsored “Io dico Io - I say I” at the National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rome, a major exhibition devoted to the work of Italian feminist artists, running from March 24 to June 21, 2020.

Born and based in Rome, Paola Ugolini experienced the turbulent decade of the 1970s in the Italian capital as a teenager. With demonstrations a seemingly daily occurrence, she was exposed to political and, more importantly, feminist activism at a formative moment, which shaped her view of art as a powerful means of expression.

A close friend of Maria Grazia Chiuri, the tradition of feminist theory and art has been an integral part of her work. From her fascination with performance and body art to embroidery and video, the mediums embraced by women to self-represent and make their voices heard have gone from once being highly experimental to now being part of the mainstream. An important part of her role, as she sees it, is to bring such work, and the messages it contains, to a new generation of women, and men.

In an absorbing and enlightening exchange, she chats with Katy Hessel, a writer, curator and art historian, at the Palais de Tokyo contemporary art museum in Paris.

Discover a selection of works:

Feminism in Italian Contemporary Art, exhibition at Richard Saltoun Gallery, October-November 2019 (London) https://www.richardsaltoun.com/exhibitions/78-feminism-in-italian-contemporary-art-silvia-giambrone-and-marinella-senatore/overview/

The Body as Language: Women and Performance, exhibition at Richard Saltoun Gallery, October-November 2015 (London) https://www.richardsaltoun.com/exhibitions/44-the-body-as-language-women-and-performance/overview/

Barbara Kruger, Untitled (Your Body is a Battleground), 1989 https://www.thebroad.org/art/barbara-kruger/untitled-your-body-battleground

Carol Rama (1918-2015) :

https://www.newmuseum.org/exhibitions/view/carol-rama-antibodies

http://www.mam.paris.fr/fr/expositions/exposition-la-passion-selon-carol-rama

Hannah Wilke, S.O.S.- Starfication Object Series, 1974-82 https://www.moma.org/collection/works/102432

Helen Chadwick (1953-1996) https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/helen-chadwick-2253

Ketty La Rocca (1938-1976) https://www.moma.org/artists/65088?locale=en#works

Corpo a corpo, Body to Body, exhibition at Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, June-September 2017 (Rome) https://lagallerianazionale.com/en/mostra/corpo-a-corpo-body-to-body/

Carolee Schneemann, Interior Scroll, 1975 https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/schneemann-interior-scroll-p13282

This episode was recorded at Palais Tokyo (Paris): https://www.palaisdetokyo.com/en

[Feminist Art] Paola Ugolini on the increasing visibility of feminist art