Walking (to) Greenham, Again
Activating feminist heritage
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21687625 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Alexandra M Kokoli (0000-0003-3730-8570, corresponding author), Alexandra Kokoli |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 28 |
| Issue | 8 |
| Pages | 34-45 |
| Publication date | 2023-11-17 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Performance Research (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1352-8165 • E-ISSN: 1469-9990 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/13528165.2023.2385237 |
| OpenAlex | W4404270112 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 9 |
This article makes the case for the inclusion of live and performance art in commemorative practice, including specifically the artistic-activist practice of walking, in reference to the complex feminist legacies of the women's peace camp at Greenham Common (1981–2000). Such practices offer alternatives to the impasses of public sculpture, resonate with Greenham's feminist aesthetics and politics and prove adept to the celebration and (re-)activation of women's movements and feminist activism. I focus on practices that seek to disentangle the collective work of activist transmission from the compromised habit of memorialization, showcasing specific performative alternatives to the commissioning of sculptural monuments. Such alternatives operate in a queer time of collectivity and gather momentum through ritual repetition, where remembrance vibrates with the energy of an embodied commitment to continue and expand the work of our chosen feminist foremothers. The practice of Jemima Brown, Elspeth Owen, Anne Robinson, and Nina Wakeford selectively deploys performance across its making and delivery, but mostly (re-)activates a kind of performativity that can never be exhausted in the act of passive spectatorship and demands sustained purchase. At a time when monuments are being toppled, ephemeral interventions prove strangely resilient and efficacious in their responsiveness and their capacity for embodied transmission across the generations and geographies of feminism. The practice of these artists proposes models of heritage-as-activation and transforms the audience into fellow actors, and even activists
Aesthetics · Art · Visual arts · Cultural Heritage Management and Preservation · Geographies of human-animal interactions · History
| Highly cited | No |
|---|