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Unspeakable Acts

Women, Art, and Sexual Violence in the 1970s
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( 64 ratings, 12 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Unspeakable Acts explores the 1970s, a decade marked by social unrest and newfound freedoms, focusing on how women artists and activists confronted the epidemic of sexual violence. Nancy Princenthal highlights influential figures such as Yoko Ono and Marina Abramovic, who used performance art to provoke a vital conversation about sexual violence, linking art with activism to challenge societal norms and inspire change that resonates to this day.
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Format: Hardback
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

This book is ideal for readers interested in arts and culture, feminist history, and the intersection of activism and artistic expression. It appeals to those who appreciate in-depth studies of performance art shaped by social and political movements.

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A groundbreaking exploration of how women artists of the 1970s combined art and protest to make sexual violence visible, creating a new kind of art in the process.

A groundbreaking exploration of how women artists of the 1970s combined art and protest to make sexual violence visible, creating a new kind of art in the presence

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

The 1970s was a time of deep division and newfound freedoms. Galvanized by The Second Sex and The Feminine Mystique, the civil rights movement and the March on Washington, a new generation put their bodies on the line to protest injustice. Still, even in the heart of certain resistance movements, sexual violence against women had reached epidemic levels. Initially, it went largely unacknowledged.

But some bold women artists and activists, including Yoko Ono, Ana Mendieta, Marina Abramovic, Adrian Piper, Suzanne Lacy, Nancy Spero and Jenny Holzer, fired up by women's experiences and the climate of revolution, started a conversation about sexual violence that continues today. Some worked unannounced and unheralded, using the street as their theatre. Others managed to draw support from the highest levels of municipal power. Along the way, they changed the course of art, pioneering a form that came to be called simply performance.

Award-winning author Nancy Princenthal takes on these enduring issues and weaves together a new history of performance in Unspeakable Acts, challenging us to re-examine the relationship between art and activism, and how we can apply the lessons of that turbulent era to today.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Siri Hustvedt praises the book as an important and urgent exploration of radical representations of sexual violence in 1970s art, applauding its honest and complex approach that captivates readers. The International New York Times commends Princenthal for weaving a tangled history into an elegant and coherent narrative.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780500023051

Publisher: Thames & Hudson Ltd

Format: Hardback

Date Published: 26 September 2019

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Thames & Hudson Ltd

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Width: 152.0mm

Height: 229.0mm

Weight: 630g

Pages: 304

About the Author

Nancy Princenthal is a New York-based writer. A former senior editor of Art in America, where she remains a contributing editor, she has also written for the New York Times, Parkett, the Village Voice, and many other publications. She is currently on the faculty of the MFA art writing program at the School of Visual Arts. Her previous book, Agnes Martin, won 2016 PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld award for biography.

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