Mobilizing women+’s art: bildwechsel, a global archive

Abstract

bildwechsel ( http://bildwechsel.org ) is one of the most prolific and longstanding video collectives established in Europe within the framework of the women’s movement. Founded in 1979 by students of the Hamburg College of Fine Arts, in 1986 the group became an umbrella organization with activities and agents spread all over Europe and the world sharing a common infrastructure. The purpose of bildwechsel (‘image change’) is to strengthen women’s presence in the audiovisual media and to advance feminist and queer art. The group has been pursuing its mandate initially through local workshops and exhibitions, then through archival practices and programming activities promoted on the organization’s website. This article examines bildwechsel as an example of women’s ability to maintain a niche presence within the European and the world art scene since the late 1970s via grassroots globalized practices, from within a theoretical framework drawing on transnational feminism and new media theory.

The power of vulnerability: mobilising affect in feminist, queer and anti-racist media cultures

“…Among them are collections from the feminist film festival Feminale in Cologne (1999Cologne ( -2006, the West Berlin queer art space Pelze Multimedia (1986-90) or the lesbian television show Lesben in Sicht, broadcast on Hamburg's Open Channel (1994-98). Other works include film and videos donated by the artists themselves and productions by the Bildwechsel collective, such as travelogues, documentations of queer/ feminist events or interviews with female artists from Martha Rosler to Pipilotti Rist (Brunow, 2015: 118-25;Maule, 2016). In 2015, Bildwechsel launched its website Videoschloss [Video Castle] as a streaming device for selected videos from the archival collections.…”

Naming, shaming, framing?

“…Among them are collections from the feminist film festival Feminale in Cologne (1999)(2000)(2001)(2002)(2003)(2004)(2005)(2006), the West Berlin queer art space Pelze Multimedia or the lesbian television show Lesben in Sicht, broadcast on Hamburg's Open Channel . Other works include film and videos donated by the artists themselves and productions by the Bildwechsel collective, such as travelogues, documentations of queer/ feminist events or interviews with female artists from Martha Rosler to Pipilotti Rist (Brunow, 2015: 118-25;Maule, 2016). In 2015, Bildwechsel launched its website Videoschloss [Video Castle] as a streaming device for selected videos from the archival collections.…”