Publications by Amy Tobin
Art History, 2023
This essay focuses on the work of New York-based artist and poet Candace Hill-Montgomery. In 1979... more This essay focuses on the work of New York-based artist and poet Candace Hill-Montgomery. In 1979, Hill-Montgomery described her work as changing ‘the containment we all live within’, pointing both to the social and political investments of her practice, and to her formal transition from making art in her studio to making installations in public, often from found materials and detritus. Her desire for recognition and understanding across difference at a moment of rising neo-conservatism was an investment in social and subjective repair. I trace this impulse across ‘environmental sculptures’, collages and artist's books made between 1979 and 1983, articulating a general impetus to be against containment that, I argue, is also instructive as an art-historical method.
Women: A Cultural Review, 2019
In the 1970s magazines, journals and periodicals constituted an alternative public sphere for sec... more In the 1970s magazines, journals and periodicals constituted an alternative public sphere for second wave feminism. These publications provide an index—and at times the only documentation—of the activities of the women’s art movement as well as its many iterations and divisions. This article addresses this imbalance, arguing thatHeresies: A FeministPublication on Art and Politics(1977–1992) was exemplar of the radical political challenge feminism posed to the art world and culture more broadly. Launched in 1977by the Heresies mother collective, which included Joan Braderman, Mary Beth Edelson, Lucy R. Lippard, Harmony Hammond and May Stevens among others, the magazine had thematic issues edited by different collectives and was comprised of material from an open call. Content ranged from poetry, to academic essays, to artworks both original and reproduced. This article considers the collaborative process of producing the magazine, which attempted to be inclusive, but in fact came to mirror the divisions—as well as political investments—of the broader women’s movement, alongside the dissensus the publication provoked and attempted to confront
Published by Raven Row gallery, London in April 2017 this book brings together archival fragments... more Published by Raven Row gallery, London in April 2017 this book brings together archival fragments relating to 'A Woman's Place' (1974). This exhibition-installation was temporary, on display for a month, and the terrace house which was also the South London Women's Centre, was demolished later in the decade by Lambeth council. The publication traces the history of this artwork, the artists involved, as well as the women's centre, the street and Lesbian Feminism in London.
It was edited in collaboration with Amy Budd and Naomi Pearce.
The book is available from the gallery by email request.
Feminist Review 107, 2014, 75-83
An open space article published in Feminist Review about collaboration and group work in feminist... more An open space article published in Feminist Review about collaboration and group work in feminist art history from the 1970s to today.
London Art Worlds: Mobile, Contingent, and Ephemeral Networks, 1960–1980, 2018
Published by Pennsylvania State University Press.
This article traces the intersections and overlaps between women working in art, avant- garde fil... more This article traces the intersections and overlaps between women working in art, avant- garde film and cinema in the 1970s. I argue that the context of second-wave feminism connected individuals working in diverse practices through shared interrogations of form and content as well as the interdisciplinary infrastructure of the women’s movement. However, I also consider the impact of different contexts, communities and media on artwork, film and video by women artists to trace a complex field of political aesthetic practices influenced by feminism. My overarching argument is that collaboration, broadly conceived, provides a way to think through the formation of this alternative cultural scene.
The Moving Image Review & Art Journal (MIRAJ), 2015
This article traces the intersections and overlaps between women working in art, avantgarde film ... more This article traces the intersections and overlaps between women working in art, avantgarde film and cinema in the 1970s. I argue that the context of second-wave feminism connected individuals working in diverse practices through shared interrogations of form and content as well as the interdisciplinary infrastructure of the women's movement. However, I also consider the impact of different contexts, communities and media on artwork, film and video by women artists to trace a complex field of political aesthetic practices influenced by feminism. My overarching argument is that collaboration, broadly conceived, provides a way to think through the formation of this alternative cultural scene.
This paper discusses two feminist-influenced collaborative art projects: London/LA Lab 1981 and P... more This paper discusses two feminist-influenced collaborative art projects: London/LA Lab 1981 and Postal Art Event 1975–7. It reflects on how these art projects related to feminist politics and the organisation of the Women’s Liberation Movement in Britain and North America, specifically in relation to consciousness-raising.
Collaboration and Its (Dis)Contents, edited by Meredith A. Brown and Michelle Millar Fisher
In the 1970s, collaboration gained traction as a strategy for making and displaying
art outside ... more In the 1970s, collaboration gained traction as a strategy for making and displaying
art outside institutional spaces as well as a political tactic to oppose the isolation of the
artist and commodification of the artwork. Collective artists’ organisations such as Collaborative Projects Inc. (Colab) and Group Material in New York, and the Women’s Free Arts Alliance, the Women’s Workshop of the Artists’ Union, and the Woman Artists’
collective in London utilised collaboration as a catalyst for action and as a basis for both
professional and intimate support. These activities increasingly took place within neglected or abandoned urban sites, in which relationships between group members acted like bonds securing them in a meaningful space, while their collective energy provided a vital creative environment. Consequently, collaborative spaces such as these have been viewed as alternatives to the more concrete support of commercial galleries and museums. This line of thinking follows a simplistic definition of ‘alternatives’ as existing outside established institutions and therefore as inherently critical of them. Yet in what sense did being outside the museum or gallery space engender critique beyond an oppositional position? In this essay we destabilise the association of collaboration with ‘alternative’ or countercultural forms and challenge the perceived synonymity between the ‘alternative’ and the politically oppositional, in order to investigate the distinct reasons artists worked together in London and New York.
in 'Collaboration and Its (Dis)Contents', Courtauld Books Online, 2017.
'Jo Spence: The Final Project', Sep 2013
Other Cinemas: Poltics, Culture and Experimental Film in the 1970s, 2017
A book chapter on the film 'Rapunzel, Let Down Your Hair' (1978), directed by Susan Shapiro, Esth... more A book chapter on the film 'Rapunzel, Let Down Your Hair' (1978), directed by Susan Shapiro, Esther Ronay and Francine Winham. Commissioned by Laura Mulvey and Sue Clayton for 'Other Cinemas'.
I am Consultant Editor for this book, which shows how the feminist movement, since its inception ... more I am Consultant Editor for this book, which shows how the feminist movement, since its inception in the 19th century, has harnessed the power of images to transmit messages of social change. From highlighting the posters of the Suffrage Atelier, through the radical art of second wave feminist art movement, to recent emphases on global and intersectional responses to misogynist culture, this international survey traces the way feminist have shaped visual culture. In three sections edited by the art historians and researchers Luci Gosling (suffrage movement), Amy Tobin (second wave) and Hilary Robinson (1990s - present), the book features more than 350 works of art, illustration, photography, performance, and graphic design—along with essays examining the legacy of this radical legacy. With forewords by Xabier Arakistain (Director del Centro Cultural Montehermoso Kulturunea, Bilbao, Spain) and Maria Balshaw (Director, Tate, UK).
The Moving Image Review & Art Journal (MIRAJ)
A text commissioned by Lux on the occasion of Kate Davis' exhibition Charity in September-October... more A text commissioned by Lux on the occasion of Kate Davis' exhibition Charity in September-October 2017.
Published online in the first issue of British Art Studies, the journal of the Paul Mellon Center.
Exhibition Catalogues and Essays by Amy Tobin
Howardena Pindell: A New Language, 2022
In a photograph accompanying a 1980 feature article in the popular feminist magazine Ms., Howarde... more In a photograph accompanying a 1980 feature article in the popular feminist magazine Ms., Howardena Pindell sits at work. Behind her is a crowd of cardboard tubes, drafting paper, plastic sheets, grid plans and spray-paint remnants, evidence of the various processes that animate Pindell’s work. On her lap rests something between a blanket and a net. Articulated but draping, it covers and extends from her body out and down, with canvas squares bending and stitched gutters folding. Pindell’s eyes are turned to the task of stitching, her hands occupied, pinching a needle and extending a thread. At the same time, she seems to be talking, engaging with the photographer or someone else in the studio. This photograph, of the artist working and speaking, situates the Ms article as part of an ongoing conversation between Pindell and the author, the art historian Judith Wilson. It also places her work in a broader field of feminist practice, in which craft-related, femininised processes were claimed for art-making as a political gesture.
Linderism was the first U.K. solo exhibition of the British artist Linder. Born in 1954, Linder b... more Linderism was the first U.K. solo exhibition of the British artist Linder. Born in 1954, Linder began making artworks in the 1970s while involved in the punk subculture of Manchester. Linderism was the first show to bring the diversity of Linder's five decades of practice together, including new commissions engaging with the Kettle's Yard House, and a new performance realised with New Hall Art Collection, Murray Edwards College. Linderism used the galleries to give an account of Linder's work through chronological and medium-specific displays, but works were also installed across site, paralleling the multi-disciplinary, itinerant spirit of her work. While Linderism gave the first historical account of Linder's work, it was also a meditation on historicisation and Linder's relationship to the site of Kettle's Yard. It employed a feminist methodology, sensitive to Linder's politics.
Projects by Amy Tobin
This is a conversation between members of the Feminist Duration Reading Group, which has met in L... more This is a conversation between members of the Feminist Duration Reading Group, which has met in London, UK, since March 2015 to explore under-known feminisms from outside the mainstream Anglo- American feminist canon. Starting with and often returning to an emphasis on Italian feminisms, monthly meetings have encompassed various other regional and national feminisms, as well as radical aesthetic and political positions that aim to challenge the conservative appropriation and dilution of feminism under late capitalism. The discussion considers the tactics that the group has adopted, including of reading aloud together; of juxtaposing historical with current feminist texts and urgencies; and of highlighting feminisms outside the mainstream canon. It touches on questions including the rise of reading and research groups outside academia; embodied citation as a feminist practice; relationships that groups like this have with host institutions, especially in an art context when they can ...
Chronicle Books, 2018
Consultant Editor for this popular trade book which shows how the feminist movement, since its in... more Consultant Editor for this popular trade book which shows how the feminist movement, since its inception in the 19th century, has harnessed the power of images to transmit messages of social change. From highlighting the posters of the Suffrage Atelier, through the radical art of second wave feminist art movement, to recent emphases on global and intersectional responses to misogynist culture, this international survey traces the way feminist have shaped visual culture. In three sections edited by the art historians and researchers Luci Gosling (suffrage movement), Amy Tobin (second wave) and Hilary Robinson (1990s - present), the book features more than 350 works of fine art, visual culture, and graphic activism—along with short essays examining the legacy of this radical legacy. With forewords by Xabier Arakistain (Director del Centro Cultural Montehermoso Kulturunea, Bilbao, Spain) and Maria Balshaw (Director, Tate, UK).
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Publications by Amy Tobin
It was edited in collaboration with Amy Budd and Naomi Pearce.
The book is available from the gallery by email request.
art outside institutional spaces as well as a political tactic to oppose the isolation of the
artist and commodification of the artwork. Collective artists’ organisations such as Collaborative Projects Inc. (Colab) and Group Material in New York, and the Women’s Free Arts Alliance, the Women’s Workshop of the Artists’ Union, and the Woman Artists’
collective in London utilised collaboration as a catalyst for action and as a basis for both
professional and intimate support. These activities increasingly took place within neglected or abandoned urban sites, in which relationships between group members acted like bonds securing them in a meaningful space, while their collective energy provided a vital creative environment. Consequently, collaborative spaces such as these have been viewed as alternatives to the more concrete support of commercial galleries and museums. This line of thinking follows a simplistic definition of ‘alternatives’ as existing outside established institutions and therefore as inherently critical of them. Yet in what sense did being outside the museum or gallery space engender critique beyond an oppositional position? In this essay we destabilise the association of collaboration with ‘alternative’ or countercultural forms and challenge the perceived synonymity between the ‘alternative’ and the politically oppositional, in order to investigate the distinct reasons artists worked together in London and New York.
in 'Collaboration and Its (Dis)Contents', Courtauld Books Online, 2017.
Exhibition Catalogues and Essays by Amy Tobin
Projects by Amy Tobin
It was edited in collaboration with Amy Budd and Naomi Pearce.
The book is available from the gallery by email request.
art outside institutional spaces as well as a political tactic to oppose the isolation of the
artist and commodification of the artwork. Collective artists’ organisations such as Collaborative Projects Inc. (Colab) and Group Material in New York, and the Women’s Free Arts Alliance, the Women’s Workshop of the Artists’ Union, and the Woman Artists’
collective in London utilised collaboration as a catalyst for action and as a basis for both
professional and intimate support. These activities increasingly took place within neglected or abandoned urban sites, in which relationships between group members acted like bonds securing them in a meaningful space, while their collective energy provided a vital creative environment. Consequently, collaborative spaces such as these have been viewed as alternatives to the more concrete support of commercial galleries and museums. This line of thinking follows a simplistic definition of ‘alternatives’ as existing outside established institutions and therefore as inherently critical of them. Yet in what sense did being outside the museum or gallery space engender critique beyond an oppositional position? In this essay we destabilise the association of collaboration with ‘alternative’ or countercultural forms and challenge the perceived synonymity between the ‘alternative’ and the politically oppositional, in order to investigate the distinct reasons artists worked together in London and New York.
in 'Collaboration and Its (Dis)Contents', Courtauld Books Online, 2017.
This session focuses on collaborations mediated by communication channels and technologies. The speakers complicate assumptions that collaboration foregrounds immediacy, presence and duration to consider the politics of working together. How might feminist, queer and post-colonial perspectives on space and time inform understandings of the media involved in collaboration? How have communication channels from television and the radio through to mail networks and the internet impacted on the relations or relationships constituted through artistic collaboration?
The papers in this session consider these questions from a variety of perspectives, encompassing video art, web-based technologies, interdisciplinary collaborations and social art practice. Together they map out moments in the complex histories of collaboration and its media that embrace their recursive, retrogressive and heterogeneous potentialities.
This workshop event gathers together five papers concerned with excessive, wasted, intransigent and sticky materialities in art and literature. Leading on from 'Forms of Excess' held at University of York in the Spring term, this event takes a closer look at how matter and materiality offer a different perspective on cultural production. Papers will consider new approaches to ecology and the ontology of materials, as well as relationships between different species. The workshop aims to test these ideas and to foster an environment for discussion and debate. It is open to all students and faculty members and we encourage attendance for either the whole or part of the event.
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