Faith Wilding
Encyclopedia
Faith Wilding is a Paraguay
an-American
multidisciplinary artist, writer and educator, widely known for her contribution to the progressive development of feminist art.
Faith Wilding immigrated to the United States from Paraguay
in 1961. She holds a degree in English
from the University of Iowa
and a Master of Fine Arts
degree in Performance/Installation/Feminist Art from California Institute of the Arts
. Wilding first became involved in art making through her participation in the Feminist Art Program Judy Chicago
founded at California State University, Fresno
, in 1970. Wilding had a demonstrated interest in feminist issues and activism, but little art training prior to her involvement with the Feminist Art Program. When Chicago teamed with fellow artist Miriam Schapiro
and moved the Feminist Art Program to Cal Arts in Valencia,CA the following year, Wilding remained in the relocated program as a graduate student. While there, she created work for the month-long, ground-breaking feminist exhibition Womanhouse
, held in an empty house in Los Angeles
in 1972. Wilding's work Waiting, performed at Womanhouse, was an important contribution to feminist performance.
Wilding's work within the Feminist Art Movement
in Southern California
is chronicled in her book By Our Own Hands (Los Angeles, 1976). For thirty years, Wilding has exhibited in solo and group shows worldwide, and her work has been widely recognized.. Her work addresses the recombinant and distributed bio-tech body in various media including 2-D, video, digital media
, installations, and performances. Her work has been exhibited widely, including at the Bronx Museum of the Arts
, the Whitney Museum of Art, and the Drawing Center
, all in New York City; in Los Angeles at the Museum of Contemporary Art
and the Hammer Museum
; the Riverside
Art Museum; Ars Electronica Center
, Linz; documenta X, Kassel; and The Next Five Minutes Festival, Amsterdam. Her audio work has been commissioned and broadcast by RIAS
Berlin; WDR Cologne; and National Public Radio.
Wilding has been the Chair of Performance at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago since 2003.
Wilding has also been Research Fellow at the Studio for Creative Inquiry at Carnegie Mellon University
, and a faculty member of the Master of Fine Arts in Visual Art Program at Vermont College, Norwich University
.
She has received several grants and awards in art, including a 2009 Guggenheim Fellowship
.
Wilding founded and collaborates with subRosa, a reproducible cyberfeminist cell of cultural researchers using BioArt and tactical performance in the public sphere to explore and critique the intersections of information and biotechnologies in women’s bodies, lives, and work. SubRosa produces artworks, performances, workshops, contestational campaigns, publications, media interventions and public forums, including in Berlin; at Syracuse University; in the important Interventionists exhibition at MASSMoCA ; in Perth, Australia (Biennial of Electronic Arts); in Mexico City, and Mérida, Yucatán; Mainz; National University, Singapore; Zurich; and Vienna.
Paraguay
Paraguay , officially the Republic of Paraguay , is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to the east and northeast, and Bolivia to the northwest. Paraguay lies on both banks of the Paraguay River, which runs through the center of the...
an-American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
multidisciplinary artist, writer and educator, widely known for her contribution to the progressive development of feminist art.
Faith Wilding immigrated to the United States from Paraguay
Paraguay
Paraguay , officially the Republic of Paraguay , is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to the east and northeast, and Bolivia to the northwest. Paraguay lies on both banks of the Paraguay River, which runs through the center of the...
in 1961. She holds a degree in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
from the University of Iowa
University of Iowa
The University of Iowa is a public state-supported research university located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It is the oldest public university in the state. The university is organized into eleven colleges granting undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees...
and a Master of Fine Arts
Master of Fine Arts
A Master of Fine Arts is a graduate degree typically requiring 2–3 years of postgraduate study beyond the bachelor's degree , although the term of study will vary by country or by university. The MFA is usually awarded in visual arts, creative writing, filmmaking, dance, or theatre/performing arts...
degree in Performance/Installation/Feminist Art from California Institute of the Arts
California Institute of the Arts
The California Institute of the Arts, commonly referred to as CalArts, is located in Valencia, in Los Angeles County, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the United States created specifically for students of both the visual and the...
. Wilding first became involved in art making through her participation in the Feminist Art Program Judy Chicago
Judy Chicago
Judy Chicago is a feminist artist, author, and educator.Chicago has been creating artwork since the mid 1960s. Her earliest forays into the art world coincided with the rise of Minimalism, which she eventually abandoned in favor of art she believed to have greater content and relevance...
founded at California State University, Fresno
California State University, Fresno
California State University, Fresno, often referred to as Fresno State University and synonymously known in athletics as Fresno State , is one of the leading campuses of the California State University system, located at the northeast edge of Fresno, California, USA.The campus sits at the foot of...
, in 1970. Wilding had a demonstrated interest in feminist issues and activism, but little art training prior to her involvement with the Feminist Art Program. When Chicago teamed with fellow artist Miriam Schapiro
Miriam Schapiro
Miriam Schapiro is a Canadian-born artist based in America. She is a pioneer of feminist art. She is also considered part of the Pattern and Decoration art movement....
and moved the Feminist Art Program to Cal Arts in Valencia,CA the following year, Wilding remained in the relocated program as a graduate student. While there, she created work for the month-long, ground-breaking feminist exhibition Womanhouse
Womanhouse
Womanhouse was a feminist art installation and performance space organized by Judy Chicago and Miriam Schapiro, co-founders of the California Institute of the Arts Feminist Art Program. Chicago, Schapiro, their students and women artists from the local community participated...
, held in an empty house in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
in 1972. Wilding's work Waiting, performed at Womanhouse, was an important contribution to feminist performance.
Wilding's work within the Feminist Art Movement
Feminist art movement
The feminist art movement refers to the efforts and accomplishments of feminists internationally to make art that reflects women's lives and experiences, as well as to change the foundation for the production and reception of contemporary art. It also sought to bring more visibility to women within...
in Southern California
Southern California
Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...
is chronicled in her book By Our Own Hands (Los Angeles, 1976). For thirty years, Wilding has exhibited in solo and group shows worldwide, and her work has been widely recognized.. Her work addresses the recombinant and distributed bio-tech body in various media including 2-D, video, digital media
Digital media
Digital media is a form of electronic media where data is stored in digital form. It can refer to the technical aspect of storage and transmission Digital media is a form of electronic media where data is stored in digital (as opposed to analog) form. It can refer to the technical aspect of...
, installations, and performances. Her work has been exhibited widely, including at the Bronx Museum of the Arts
Bronx Museum of the Arts
The Bronx Museum of the Arts is a cultural institution located in the New York City borough of The Bronx. The museum focuses on contemporary and 20th century works created by American artists, and it has hosted exhibitions of art and design from Latin America, Africa and Asia...
, the Whitney Museum of Art, and the Drawing Center
Drawing Center
The Drawing Center is a SoHo museum and the only nonprofit exhibition space in the United States to focus solely on the exhibition of drawings, both historical and contemporary.- Location and activities :...
, all in New York City; in Los Angeles at the Museum of Contemporary Art
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles is a contemporary art museum with three locations in greater Los Angeles, California. The main branch is located on Grand Avenue in Downtown Los Angeles, near Walt Disney Concert Hall...
and the Hammer Museum
Hammer Museum
The Armand Hammer Museum of Art and Culture Center, or the Hammer Museum as it is more commonly known, is an art museum in the Westwood district of Los Angeles, California...
; the Riverside
Riverside, California
Riverside is a city in Riverside County, California, United States, and the county seat of the eponymous county. Named for its location beside the Santa Ana River, it is the largest city in the Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario metropolitan area of Southern California, 4th largest inland California...
Art Museum; Ars Electronica Center
Ars Electronica Center
The Ars Electronica Center is a center for electronic arts run by Ars Electronica situated in Linz, Austria, at the northern side of the Danube opposite the city hall of Linz. It has been built on the right side of the Nibelungenbrücke....
, Linz; documenta X, Kassel; and The Next Five Minutes Festival, Amsterdam. Her audio work has been commissioned and broadcast by RIAS
RIAS
RIAS can stand for one of the following:*Rias, the plural of Ria, a lower river valley submerged by the sea*"Research Institute for Advanced Study", the former research facility created by the Glenn L...
Berlin; WDR Cologne; and National Public Radio.
Wilding has been the Chair of Performance at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago since 2003.
Wilding has also been Research Fellow at the Studio for Creative Inquiry at Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States....
, and a faculty member of the Master of Fine Arts in Visual Art Program at Vermont College, Norwich University
Norwich University
Norwich University is a private university located in Northfield, Vermont . The university was founded in 1819 at Norwich, Vermont, as the American Literary, Scientific and Military Academy. It is the oldest of six Senior Military Colleges, and is recognized by the United States Department of...
.
She has received several grants and awards in art, including a 2009 Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowships are American grants that have been awarded annually since 1925 by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts." Each year, the foundation makes...
.
Wilding founded and collaborates with subRosa, a reproducible cyberfeminist cell of cultural researchers using BioArt and tactical performance in the public sphere to explore and critique the intersections of information and biotechnologies in women’s bodies, lives, and work. SubRosa produces artworks, performances, workshops, contestational campaigns, publications, media interventions and public forums, including in Berlin; at Syracuse University; in the important Interventionists exhibition at MASSMoCA ; in Perth, Australia (Biennial of Electronic Arts); in Mexico City, and Mérida, Yucatán; Mainz; National University, Singapore; Zurich; and Vienna.
Publications
- Domain Errors! Cyberfeminist Practices. Autonomedia, 2003
- The Power of Feminist Art, Abrams,1995.
- Knowing Bodies - Feminist issues in health care, medicine, and biotechnology
- Stolen Rhetoric: The Appropriation of Choice by ART Industries
External links
- Interview with Faith Wilding and Brett Stalbaum from M/E/A/N/I/N/G