Though they are not as well known, the Italian first wave feminists were busy fighting the repression of Mussolini and the restrictive, male society of pre war Italy. As usual ahead of the pack were the artists. This rousing declaration by Marinetti who had penned so many of the Futurist tracts only one of many efforts. If you were going to be as fast as a train or a car you better have a woman be out front. Benedetta Cappa an artist and his wife who resented the misogyny of even the fellow futurists said, “I am too free and rebellious…I do not want to be restricted. I only want to be me”.
Kathy Acker at the ICA London
Where was I when Kathy Acker was appropriating text and imagery from Rimbaud and performing at the Kitchen and tattooing her body and raging against sexual conformity? Working at MoMA and Lincoln Center and getting married and having babies. I felt utterly conventional and bougie at this exhibition at the ICA London and yet at the time the artists and filmmakers surrounding me seemed avant-garde. Acker’s art needs to be read carefully as well as seen, and so I have catching up to do.