‘Cherchez la Femme’: 1970s Feminist Video by French Collectives

On Wednesday 25 June 2014, as part of the exhibition ‘Cherchez la Femme’ at SPACE, London Alaina Claire Feldman will discuss the pioneering work of 1970s French feminist video collectives with Nicole Fernández Ferrer of the Centre audiovisuel Simone de Beauvoir, Paris.

During the early 1970s in France, several activist collectives composed almost entirely of women, such as Video Out, Vidéa and Les Insoumuses, took up the new portable video camera as an immediate and accessible tool to promote feminism, direct democracy and political action – ideals central to the May 1968 student movements and second-wave feminism. Still rarely addressed, even in France, these politically loaded videos suggest an alternative history of moving image practices.

Organised by Feldman and on display until 13 July 2014, the exhibition ‘Cherchez la Femme’ screens a selection of the videos from the Centre audiovisuel Simone de Beauvoir translated into English by Feldman and Stéphanie Jeanjean. To mark the occasion, we’ve made freely available Stéphanie Jeanjean’s article ‘Disobedient Video in France in the 1970s: Video Production by Women’s Collectives’, published in issue 27 of Afterall journal.

The exhibition will be open from 18.00–19:30 in advance of the discussion between Feldman and Fernández Ferrer. Back copies and the new Summer issue of Afterall journal will be available to purchase on the night.

‘Cherchez la Femme’ – Alaina Claire Feldman in conversation with Nicole Fernández Ferrer
Wednesday 25 June 2014, 19:30

SPACE

129—131 Mare Street
London
E8 3RH

This event is free and but booking is required. For more information and to book a place visit the SPACE website.