Talk – Taking Up Space: Women Only Shows with the East London Fawcett Group

Taking Up Space: Women Only Shows – A discussion. An East London Fawcett Group Talk in partnership with the Contemporary Art Society and Central Saint Martins. Curated and chaired by artist Rose Gibbs at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London, Granary Building, 1 Granary Square, London N1C 4AA on 30 September 2014. Photo: Joe Plommer

Taking Up Space: Women Only Shows – A discussion. An East London Fawcett Group Talk in partnership with the Contemporary Art Society and Central Saint Martins. Curated and chaired by artist Rose Gibbs at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London, Granary Building, 1 Granary Square, London N1C 4AA on 30 September 2014. Photo: Joe Plommer

Taking Up Space: Women Only Shows – A discussion. An East London Fawcett Group Talk in partnership with the Contemporary Art Society and Central Saint Martins. Curated and chaired by artist Rose Gibbs at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London, Granary Building, 1 Granary Square, London N1C 4AA on 30 September 2014. Photo: Joe Plommer

Taking Up Space: Women Only Shows – A discussion. An East London Fawcett Group Talk in partnership with the Contemporary Art Society and Central Saint Martins. Curated and chaired by artist Rose Gibbs at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London, Granary Building, 1 Granary Square, London N1C 4AA on 30 September 2014. Photo: Joe Plommer

Taking Up Space: Women Only Shows – A discussion. An East London Fawcett Group Talk in partnership with the Contemporary Art Society and Central Saint Martins. Curated and chaired by artist Rose Gibbs at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London, Granary Building, 1 Granary Square, London N1C 4AA on 30 September 2014. Photo: Joe Plommer

Taking Up Space: Women Only Shows – A discussion. An East London Fawcett Group Talk in partnership with the Contemporary Art Society and Central Saint Martins. Curated and chaired by artist Rose Gibbs at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London, Granary Building, 1 Granary Square, London N1C 4AA on 30 September 2014. Photo: Joe Plommer

Taking Up Space: Women Only Shows – A discussion. An East London Fawcett Group Talk in partnership with the Contemporary Art Society and Central Saint Martins. Curated and chaired by artist Rose Gibbs at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London, Granary Building, 1 Granary Square, London N1C 4AA on 30 September 2014. Photo: Joe Plommer

Taking Up Space: Women Only Shows – A discussion. An East London Fawcett Group Talk in partnership with the Contemporary Art Society and Central Saint Martins. Curated and chaired by artist Rose Gibbs at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London, Granary Building, 1 Granary Square, London N1C 4AA on 30 September 2014. Photo: Joe Plommer

Taking Up Space: Women Only Shows – A discussion. An East London Fawcett Group Talk in partnership with the Contemporary Art Society and Central Saint Martins. Curated and chaired by artist Rose Gibbs at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London, Granary Building, 1 Granary Square, London N1C 4AA on 30 September 2014. Photo: Joe Plommer

Taking Up Space: Women Only Shows – A discussion. An East London Fawcett Group Talk in partnership with the Contemporary Art Society and Central Saint Martins. Curated and chaired by artist Rose Gibbs at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London, Granary Building, 1 Granary Square, London N1C 4AA on 30 September 2014. Photo: Joe Plommer

Taking Up Space: Women Only Shows – A discussion. An East London Fawcett Group Talk in partnership with the Contemporary Art Society and Central Saint Martins. Curated and chaired by artist Rose Gibbs at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London, Granary Building, 1 Granary Square, London N1C 4AA on 30 September 2014. Photo: Joe Plommer

Taking Up Space: Women Only Shows – A discussion. An East London Fawcett Group Talk in partnership with the Contemporary Art Society and Central Saint Martins. Curated and chaired by artist Rose Gibbs at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London, Granary Building, 1 Granary Square, London N1C 4AA on 30 September 2014. Photo: Joe Plommer

Sonia Boyce, Missionary Position II, 1985. © Sonia Boyce

Map of Central Saint Martin's at King's Cross, London

Due to an overwhelming positive response this talk took place in the LVMH Lecture Theatre E002  at Central Saint Martins in Kings Cross (on the ground floor beyond the main barriers).

The East London Fawcett Group’s latest audit found that though women make up 60% of art graduates they only account for 31% of gallery represented artists. With this in mind what are the cultural benefits of women only shows and alternative types of affirmative action? How does this type of approach impact artists? Do they affect them positively or negatively? Are potential fears of a backlash justified? Or would affirmative action in fact solve many of the current discriminatory practices in the art world? This panel will debate these questions, bringing together the voices of artists, curators and critics and open up a space for a dialogical rather than conclusive exchange.

Speakers: Iwona Blazwick – Director, The Whitechapel Gallery; Sonia Boyce – Artist; Caroline Douglas – Director, Contemporary Art Society; Ann Gallagher – Curator and Head of Collections, Tate; Professor Hilary Robinson – Dean of Art and Design, Middlesex University and author of Feminist-Art-Theory: An Anthology 1968-2000; Vanessa Jackson – Artist, former Senior Tutor at The Royal Academy Schools; Elizabeth Neilson – Director of The Zabludowicz Collection and Jennifer Thatcher – Art Critic.

Curated and chaired by artist and activist, Rose Gibbs, on behalf of the East London Fawcett Group.

The East London Fawcett Group is a voluntary, self-organising group that seeks to promote gender equality. For more on its art programme please visit the website www.elf-audit.com, and for its other campaigns please see www.eastlondonfawcett.org.uk

This event was free and open to all but space was limited.