Now You Can Go is a programme of events considering feminist thinking, art and activism, taking place across The Showroom, the ICA, Space Studios and Raven Row (1–13 December 2015).

Juxtaposing historical with contemporary positions, the series explores feminist concepts of generation and genealogy. It asks whether practices of consciousness-raising and collectivity might help us to combat the fragmentation, exhaustion and anxiety that we experience under networked capitalism. The programme draws inspiration from Italian feminisms, including the work of collectives formed in the 1970s: Rivolta Femminile (Female Revolt), Libreria delle Donne di Milano (Milan Women’s Bookstore Collective), and Lotta Femminista (Feminist Struggle).

A touchstone is the work of Carla Lonzi, the writer and cofounder of Rivolta Femminile, and her refusal of power and rejection of masculine creativity that exploits female supportive activity. This process of ‘deculturation’ entailed Lonzi’s withdrawal from her roles as an art critic, as a feminist leader, and from her relationship with her lover, the sculptor Pietro Consagra, which she documented in a dialogue between them called Vai pure (Now You Can Go).

Now You Can Go seminar
Saturday 12 December
11.30am–10pm

Day-long seminar exploring legacies of feminist art, thinking and activism, especially in relation to the challenges of Italian feminisms.

Don’t Think You Have Any Rights: The Challenges of Italian Feminisms with talks by Fulvia Carnevale of Claire Fontaine, art theorist Marina Vishmidt (by Skype), and art theorist and Carla Lonzi specialist Giovanna Zapperi; a response by artist and writer Zach Blas; and discussion with feminist legal theorist Maria Drakopoulou; chaired art historian Francesco Ventrella. With a screening of Alex Martinis Roe’s film A story from Circolo della rosa, 2014, about the Milan Women’s Bookstore Collective.

In or Out?: On Leaving the Art World and Other Systems, a two-part discussion with speakers including artists Carla Cruz; Andrea Francke; Karolin Meunier; Raju Rage; Frances Rifkin; Forum Theatre practitioner Frances Rifkin; curator Karen Di Franco; and pedestrian and environmental activist Caroline Russell. Chaired by art historian Catherine Grant and writer and curator Gabrielle Moser. Followed by A Feminist Chorus for Feminist Revolt by Lucy Reynolds.