KQmnaB__—— “Peggy Phelan Insite the ci ight nd antiwar movererts nthe United Stats, potet gaint rary dctatorshipin South Amer, stdentrevoltion in Westen Europe, and politcal unten Eaten Europe, emit art emerged nevenly but pester in various Intemational location uring the 960525 pltcal and aesthatc movement simultane cut? White the or was oe ofthe most end decades for art innovation twas then ‘hatMinimal, Pop, Conceptual, and Land tall appeared—feministarists were exp Inspired by poli activism ad saw thee art acontribtlons othe advancement ofthat activism. Feminist art emerged roma politically inflected reading ofthe history ofart anda lesr-eyed ambition totrarsform tha history byraicaly questioning ts fundamental organiing princes. Theinfluence of feinismon te histor of art ar theory shuld not be underestimated, lthough almost away ern crtcl and creative workhas been response fr the ‘mos far ceachingtranslormationsin bth at-king ad ar-witing ove the as four decades. Art theory without some awareness ofthe cas, ae, and gender implications of fobaliztion within and beyond the art market as ells the diflring vectors of power at workin an array of ural contents, now seen as arom, nothopsessl nave Inthe pas forty yar, eins art and theory have gone wall beyond exposing the particulates of the role of sexism inthe ongeinghstory of art toprobe the estorting nd spots of Western sithiston/s dsnteresti, or colonialist anpropriions the arf age portions ofthe werd’ population. ‘And yt, great art compels cause tcanat be educedt poi slogan, nomatterhow rgtzous Reusingto confirm simple polit oradaslongthe ines of “voyeurs is sex- ls therefore we must gve itp. the aimscf the best feminist ar imate the oan ambivalent lationship we have tothe dsincionBetaeen what we now andhow we eel, parclariyin regard biinal desir, "WACKIAr¢ andthe Fern Revolton” ler an opportunty to examine richer, mote uanceéor about feminist art anditslegacies than he one usualy tl Wie iste sald we areng na post emis age description that paradowicaly ug este that feminism both passé because ithasbeen uly asimiated and somehow Ielevancbecause thas faled to eradicate sexirn, wehave not gun toassesfuly the par- tia force and shape of the feminist art overeat, especialy werk that wascreatedn Places other than the United States England, at ofthe filo reting this assess- ‘mentcomesfrom the fact that the feminist ar movement lft ote untouched. Indeed, one ofthe most evolutionary legacies feminist artconers the pstemalgial contours of touch tat, ‘tatoo Patera,“ as” Sancriegepmhetangate: hastened dace ‘Suton cece, Sean oon [fomacujopapasntatindcex yrds anal Ecnarteanpicno foie Comervowy nt snteniob Tarek Sevtatersuunsctomecoret Swope Sonepat apn say“Touching Touch Tothinkoftouch epstemelogally requires that we put the sentient body athe center knowing. While New Age ilosophers, massage therapists, cancers, and yogapracttoners (among others have ng recognized the centrality af the sensuous bodyinwaysof knowing, Intlectuals and ot er so-alled sophisticated thinkers have often ignored or undervalued the bodyasa source of knowledge, utia the wake of World War I, a the horiicimpica- tions ofthe Helcast an he atom bomb began to reverberate within wrk coneclousess, new nterestin the human body a¢ 8 medium frat emerge, Called varousy Body a, lve action, or performance, their fis work is ret inked to ferns at although its ‘oat too hdd blr that movernenthad a name. In Japa artists of Ue Gta movement respondedtothe United States’ usef the atom bombin their country by staging events that used the earth's grand andthe at's body as primary mela, For example, Kaauo Shag ‘ceateda sclpture.a performance, a photograph, and an environmental workin oe gestre ted Chalengig Mud (3). In anther performance, si artists wiped the pavement and ‘manhole covers of Tokyo neighborhood to rng attention to caring forthe tox ground (Hi Red Center, Movement to Promote the Clap of the Metropotian Avex (Cea) 964)*One ofthe few women rembersof te Guta group, Atsuko Tanaka created the important 956 piece lec Oes Composed entirely of ightbalbs covering the art's bay rom hea to toe (er face was umdorned but when the rss was turned on her wsage was obscured by lit), cre resswas simultaneously sculpture and perfoemance and wasinstrumentalin {forging the radtior of wearable ar that would becomes staple of feminist a “Tara's pice prescently suggested thatthe bod na post-nuear age would be overtaken by thetechnoigl The traditional Japanese association between cates and were, what Lz Dalby succinct escbed as "merger suggest the intent fhe interelationship ‘between extemal enironmentandinner landscape that inspired many postwar Iapanese at ‘sts. Anyone whoworeTanala’s dress would be impossible totouchand posse tognore Justa the nla om gpted force that expressed itsal a rmense visible ight, 000 (Tara show us body perpetually expoedto the etrningillorination ofthat gt. A Prompt historians and scienists not to forget, Elta also undetnsthe often hid don gender politcsat workin these elds. In place of the drapery of the feminine mono, then, Tanaka covered her body with hal lightbulb anda shower of lactrial cords Tobe “tuned-on heteroseual woman, then, came a the pce fhe: transformation nto an object that laminates thephalic domain. invar, after decade of song feminist ar andthe, Louse Bourgeois cata alatex"dess* tha Seemed to render the artista breast. With ‘characteris it, Bourgeois’ wearable suite reminds us that simply eversing the tropes ‘ofthe mascute pric bulb wath he feminine breast wl take us ofan ating the compat poticol embodiment. SeSibeta toate eon nye ne tig ‘nha yn none ane sor ein es Se