Feminism and the Moving Image

The 1960s and ’70s were a perfect storm of art, social activism and emerging technologies, with newly accessible media such as video giving a platform to previously unheard voices, and socially progressive artists integrating these new technologies into their work. Feminism, as this exhibition explores, was prominent among the movements that leveraged new moving image media to challenge established social attitudes. Moreover, this dynamic deployment of tech in the battle against lingering sexism continues into the present day.

Nine important works from the National Museum of Modern Art collection are brought together to tell this story, with four ‘key terms’ serving as hints to understand and appreciate them: ‘The Mass Media and Images’, ‘The Personal’, 'The Body and Identity', and ‘Dialogue’.

Highlights include ‘Love Condition’ (2020), a vividly colourful video piece by Mai Endo and Aya Momose, in which the two artists knead clay while discussing the notion of 'ideal genitalia'. Mud, meanwhile, is the material of choice in Shiota Chiharu’s ‘Bathroom’, a 1999 video work which shows the artist covering her body with the substance, in an attempt to reconnect with pure sensation amidst the artificiality of urban life.

The exhibition is closed on Mondays (except November 4) and November 5.