Marcia Tanner - Where the Girls Are: Women Artists, Science, and Tech March 30, 2009

Feminist critiques of scientific culture have expanded the discourse around scientific history, practice, and theory since the 1960s, while offering new possibilities for artistic investigation. Discussions include how male-gendered language has dominated descriptions of scientific processes, and whether there are sexual differences in approaches to the study of living organisms and systems. Tanner is interested in the ways contemporary female artists employ digital and electronic technology to explore scientific themes and issues. Her talk explores the ways that women artists employ interactivity and humor, interpret "relational aesthetics," and morph traditional feminist concerns into often subtle yet powerful critiques of patriarchal structures and established assumptions in technology and science. Tanner presents the practices of artists Kathy High, Nina Katchadourian, Rachel Mayeri, Patricia Piccinnini, Sabrina Raaf, Gail Wight, Diane Willow, and others whose work focuses on scientific process and history to illustrate her presentation.

Marcia Tanner is an independent curator and writer based in Berkeley, California. Former director of the San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art, Tanner most recently organized We Interrupt Your Program at Mills College Art Museum in 2008. Her previous exhibitions include Brides of Frankenstein at the San Jose Museum of Art (2005), Bad Girls West, UCLA Wight Art Gallery (1994); Shadow Play and Location Location, San Jose ICA; We Look and See, Berkeley Art Museum; Tom Marioni: Trees and Birds, Mills College, Oakland; Mi Casa es Su Casa, Noga Gallery, Tel Aviv, Israel; Aural Sex and Lineaments of Gratified Desire, Catharine Clark Gallery, San Francisco.

Free.

Official Website: http://bcnm.berkeley.edu