GUERRILLA GIRLS. (1985 - 2002)

From October 18th to Decenber 7th 2002.

The peculiar construction that prevails in our societies concerning the categories of art and artists based on the charismatic ideology of art (Méndez, 1995), according to which genius is a masculine attribute, makes it possible that art continues to remain one of those territories that best escape regulations dealing with equal opportunities between men and women.

From the time of it was founded towards the middle of the ‘80’s, the American female artists collective called “Guerrilla Girls” has continued its task of pressuring for an egalitarian society between men and women that feminists, in both theory and practice, have been uninterruptedly waging on different fronts from the 1960’s. With its actions, performances and famous posters, the group has never stopped revindicating the situation of women and other minority collectives in the art worlds. As part of their intervention strategies in art, culture and society, the true names of the participants in the collective are kept secret and, in their place, each member is given the name of dead female artists and writers. In this way, the group pretends to call attention to the slight recognition that has been conceded to women down through history and, more specifically, in the history of art, which deliberately persists in relegating women and other minority groups to second place. In order to do this, the collective has developed a singular, stunning and ironic picture of women covered with gorilla head masks that the group uses not only during their public performances, but also just as imaginatively in their posters and other actions.

The Guerrilla Girls are likewise rooted in a tradition of social art that perceives art as an instrument for criticism and social change. In the group’s own words, the collective was formed after establishing that, after the decade of the ‘60’s, during which it looked like women were beginning to achieve a more relevant presence in the worlds of art, by the middle of the ‘80’s, the situation had not only become bogged down, but had in fact grown a great deal worse, as reflected by the fact that the participation figures of women reflected a lower representation than 20 years before.

Contrary to all predictions, the G.G. have achieved levels of popularity all worldwide and the group already occupies a relevant place in the current contemporary art panorama. Their posters, with their statistics about the participation of women and coloured artists of both sexes in museum and gallery agendas, are experiencing considerable repercussion, a direct consequence of the fact that the question of parity in the art world takes us less by surprise with every passing day. In this way, the G.G. are managing to dynamite the prevailing ideas regarding the worlds of art and question their structures and contents. Additionally, the Guerrilla Girls, aware that art forms part of the entire cultural and social framework, have also applied their ironic criticisms towards other sectors, such as films, the theatre, abortion laws, sexual practices and ethnic questions in the USA and other countries on the planet. In turn, their renowned conferences/performances are now becoming more familiar in university faculties and art centres in the western world that increasing understand that such concerns as sex, gender, sexuality and ethnic groups are crucial matters in social and cultural agendas at the present.

he retrospective we are exhibiting will house a wide selection of the group’s posters printed from 1985 to the present, in addition to the magnificent film documentary titled “Guerrillas in our Midst”, by filmmaker Amy Harrison, which looks at the worlds of art in the city of New York and the foundation and development of the Guerrilla Girls collective.
For the opening of the retrospective exhibition on the 18th October, the Guerrilla Girls gave a performance/conference in the Multi-Purpose Hall of the Bilbao Arte Centre.

Xabier Arakistain, exhibition curator.