Construction sites have been transformed into feminist talking points by Austrian artist Katharina Cibulka in towns in France, Austria, Germany, Italy, Slovenia, and Morocco. Her creations have now made it to American shores.
She and her group covered the north front of the National Museum of Women in the Arts, which has been undergoing renovations since 2021, with a 7,000 square foot mesh installation this morning. The piece, which is made of white mesh and bright pink tulle embroidery, is inscribed with the phrase "As long as generations change but our challenges remain the same, I shall be a feminist."
The "Lookout" project, which has been using the museum's construction scaffolding as a canvas for artwork while it is being refurbishment, is in its second instalment. The exterior of the building sported a four-story MISS CHELOVE mural since March.
“The [scaffolding] presented the perfect opportunity and backdrop for the museum to continue its mission to champion women artists, even while the interior galleries are temporarily closed,” wrote Hannah Shambroom, NMWA exhibition coordinator, over email. Financial assistance for the project has been provided by the Share Fund and NMWA members.
This is Cibulka's 27th instalment of her four-year-old project "Solange," which is short for "as long as," which is how all of the installations' snappy sentences begin. According to Cibulka, she adapts the sentences to the worries of the ladies in the locations where they are hung.
In France, her installation reads, “As long as my anatomy determines my autonomy, I will be a feminist.” In Italy: “As long as it takes balls to get to the top, I will be a feminist.” In Austria: “As long as he makes the cash while I work for change, I will be a feminist.”
70 locals offered proposals for the DC term in the spring of last year. Numerous issues came up, including, but not limited to, eliminating the pay gap, offering sufficient parental leave, embracing female sexuality, and, of course, safeguarding bodily autonomy. In the end, Cibulka decided on a blanket declaration:“As long as generations change but our struggles stay the same, I will be a feminist.”
Her enormous installations are purposely hung over building sites, where various themes are at play, and they take about 10 days to embroider using tulle as the thread. Having embroidery work—a historically feminine craft—in very public but sometimes male-dominated venues is one thing Cibulka appreciates. In addition, the symbolic significance of being in a work-in-progress location felt too strong to ignore.
Cibulka explains, “So as long as something is wrong, something has to change.” “The construction site is in process. And society is under construction too, so it’s a nice canvas.”
Naturally, there would be a range of responses in such open settings.
“A lot of people are really impressed and also very happy to see a feminist claim,” says Cibulka. “But then there are people who think we should take it down; they think women have already achieved everything, maybe even more than they should, and that we are equal already. And then a lot of people have a problem with the word ‘feminist."
But in Cibulka's opinion, recent female-led protests in Iran and the overturning of Roe v. Wade prove the opposite.
“Sadly, [these events] show how topical our work still is,” says Cibulka. “What we want is people discussing; we want to invite everybody to join the conversation. … When they asked me one year ago if I wanted to do this work two blocks away from the White House, I thought, ‘Oh my god, now we are really close to the heart of power.”
