Editathon Art+Feminism
Event from 07 Mar 2015 to 05 Mar 2017
7 years and 10 months ago
On Wikipedia, less than 15% of contributors identify themselves as women. This disparity reflects the inequalities that pervade not only the largest knowledge platform, but also the internet as a whole, and real life in general.
Art+Feminism is an international campaign to improve the presence of women and the arts on Wikipedia. In Paris, on the initiative of curators Mikaela Assolent and Flora Katz, Lafayette Anticipation got involved in the movement by opening its Hub to nearly one hundred contributors.
The project was initiated in February 2014 at the Eyebeam Art and Technology Center in New York by Siân Evans (Art Libraries Society of North America), Jacqueline Mabey (curator, failed projects), Michael Mandiberg (artist), Laurel Ptak (artist and curator), Dorothy Howard (Metropolitan New York Library Council) and Richard Knipel (Wikimedia New York).
In 2014, over 30 satellite events were simultaneously organised in Australia, Canada, Italy, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States, taking place in various hosting structures (museums, libraries, a private apartment, etc.).
The marathon brought together around 600 participants, making it possible to create 100 new articles about women and the arts. In 2015, new countries like Belgium, France and New Zealand joined the project. The organisers of Art+Feminism were included on Foreign Policy magazine’s list of 100 Leading Global Thinkers for the implementation of the 2014 marathon.
In 2015, around 1500 people created nearly 400 new entries and improved about 500, working at more than 75 sites including MoMA in New York, the Stedeljik Museum in Amsterdam, the University of Georgia in Athens, and even a private apartment in Brooklyn.
When curators Mikaela Assolent and Flora Katz approached Lafayette Anticipations about presenting their Art+Feminism campaign and hosting their Wikipedia publication marathon, the obvious question of the place women occupy in the contemporary art world and its institutions generated many other questions. This is because the very idea behind the Editathon protocol itself as conceived by the movement’s instigators raised questions about Lafayette Anticipation's status with regard to two fundamental issues: 1/ its sharing and publication policy 2/ its engagement on social issues.
Furthermore, the institution not only wanted to lend its support to the project coordinated by Mikaela Assolent and Flora Katz, but it also wished to offer them a genuine critical exchange platform. In collaboration with Lafayette Anticipations they conceived an ambitious programme that included training and online publication sessions, artists performances, long tables and workshop “The Present of Our Knowledge”.
Based on a practical case suggested and presented by an artist, “The Present of Our Knowledge” strengthens everyone’s ability to act on these new platforms, while generating the knowledge that is missing from these spaces.
The Facebook group Art+Feminism / Paris, initiate before the Editathon, continues the discussions.
