“These are scores ready for you to do.” This sentence introduces Womens Work, a 1975 publication highlighting experimental art by women artists. It was edited by the artist Alison Knowles and the musician Annea Lockwood, who reached out to friends and collaborators to submit language-based scores and instructions for readers to enact. Often emphasizing collectivity and cooperation, they ranged from improvised dance to writing “spatial poems” to creating theater and musical compositions.
Womens Work invoked the language of the second-wave feminist movement and its critique of the invisibility of labor performed by women. It aimed to bring attention to groundbreaking art produced by women, who were under-recognized both because of misogyny in the art world and because of their defiance of art conventions. This gallery features the titular publication and works by its contributors, which span music, dance, drawing, and performance.
Organized by Danielle Johnson, former Curatorial Associate, Department of Drawings and Prints.
