Guerrilla Girls formed in 1985 in response to an exhibition in New York that was meant to collate the most important contemporary art works in the world, but featured — as a famous GG artwork exposed — just 4% of work by women. Since then, the collective has continued to challenge and expose the entrenched sexist attitudes of the art world. They’ve spent the last 30 years organizing protests, creating information campaigns, and undertaking research into the discrimination faced by women, and women of color in particular, trying to work within the art world.
It’s indicative of the group’s success that many of the institutions that it once spoke out against now own work by the collective. The Tate Modern has its first female director, and the recent rehang and unveiling of its new building, Switch House, contains an even split of works by male and female artists — though it did draw criticism for including the work of Carl Andre, a minimalist sculptor who was accused of killing his wife and fellow artist Ana Mendieta. Though found innocent, many doubt the verdict, and the fact that his work still hangs in many galleries across the world, and Ana’s doesn’t, shows how far we still have to go.
So its timely that London’s Whitechapel Gallery has commissioned the group, in its first European show, to investigate the gender diversity and sexism of the European art world. Its work at the Whitechapel Gallery will include banners, public presentations, and archives of past work. Guerrilla Girls will also head over to the Tate Modern, as part of Tate Exchange, to lead a public project. In a statement, the group says it wants to pose the question: “Are museums today presenting a diverse history of contemporary art or the history of money and power?”
The Guerrilla Girls show, titled Is It Even Worse in Europe?, will run from October 1, 2016 – March 5, 2017.
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Text Felix Petty