The Times is warming up for the Sackler Center's March 23rd opening with an article about Judy Chicago:

[Chicago] decided her art would address the scarcity of historical information about women. “Women’s history was neglected or added on, as opposed to integrated into the full history of the human species,” she said. “Both implicitly and explicitly the message that is communicated is that what women did wasn’t important.”

The article also quotes Roberta Smith writing about "The Dinner Party" in 2002, when she said that it was “almost as much a part of American culture as Norman Rockwell, Walt Disney, W.P.A. murals and the AIDS quilt.” Whatever you think about its content, "The Dinner Party" is an impressive piece of work, and I'm interested to see how its themes (and indirectly, Chicago's artistic priorities) will influence the Center. Not to mention how having the iconic feminist artwork as a centerpiece will shape ideas about what constitutes feminist art.

It's encouraging to see that the inaugural show "Global Feminisms" will focus on contemporary work from around the world, much of which looks...let's say, "challenging" (in a positive sense). There'll also be an exhibit called "Pharoahs, Queens and Goddesses: Feminism's Impact on Egyptology," which I guess starts to answer the question about "The Dinner Party" influence. I admit to having a knee-jerk reaction whenever feminism is used in connection with goddess-y type stuff, though it's undoubtably a good thing if the existence of the Sackler Center encourages curators at the Brooklyn to look at the museum's permanent collection with fresh eyes, and organize shows that consider classic work a little differently. With these two exhibits starting things off, it seems like the Center will be conscious about balancing its looks forward and back.

Noted: Currently on view at the Rhonda Schaller Studio, "Access: A Feminist Perpective" is a show of contemporary feminist art from around the country. It closes on February 10th. The following Saturday (2/17) at the expansive (and generally expensive) College Art Association conference, the Feminist Art Project is presenting a full day of free panels (scroll down to Saturday).

And hey, how about Julie Atlas Muz's "titillation with an edge"?

In one number a fake bloody hand, shackled to her own, has its way with her, to the tune of Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’s “I Put a Spell on You.” In another, she escapes from a truss as Lesley Gore sings “You Don’t Own Me.” In one subterranean bar Ms. Muz was bludgeoned as Italian opera played. She emerged from the piece nude and covered in fake blood. It’s one of her favorites.

Intended as a reflection on suicide, terrorism and fear, [her piece "Exquisite Corpse"] offers a sly meditation on the power of femininity in the face of aging and death. At one moment, Ms. Muz is unhappily examining her few lumpy bits in an enormous mirror; at another, she is shoving a naked baby doll in the freezer, pouring a shot of (real) tequila and handling a (fake) AK-47 with the panache of a sexy villain. It’s not just a tease; it’s a kiss-off.