Misogyny
Saturday, May 9, 2026, 2 pm
With Julieta Aranda, Kaity Fox, Keta Gavasheli, Alison M. Gingeras, Juliana Gleeson, Susanne Huber, Talia Kwartler, Christian Liclair, Catherine McCormack, Lucy McKenzie, Nicole Wermers
Concept: Leonie Huber, Anna Sinofzik
Coordination: Krisztina Hunya, Michaela Richter
Misogyny can be understood “as the ‘law enforcement’ branch of a patriarchal order, which has the overall function of policing and enforcing its governing ideology” – explains Kate Manne, moral philosopher and contributor to the current issue of TEXTE ZUR KUNST. Therefore not rooted in the attitudes of individuals, misogyny rather stems from a men’s world that fundamentally constitutes social relations. While it is largely undisputed that the art world has historically been such a male-dominated sphere, it is often assumed today that the feminisms of the past decades have had an impact, and that at least the sectors of contemporary art positioning themselves as left-wing and progressive no longer fit this image. Nevertheless, female and nonbinary artists remain underrepresented in exhibitions and collections, and are less successful in the art market compared to their male peers. Alongside this material inequality, overt discrimination, and misogynistic remarks, sexist mindsets often manifest more subtly within the art field.
While the TEXTE ZUR KUNST issue “Misogyny” examines the fundamental sociopolitical and technological conditions that foster the current antifeminist backlash, the symposium at n.b.k. focuses on the questions of how this manifests in the art world, what its relationship is to earlier misogynistic tendencies and tropes, and which artistic, art-historical, and curatorial strategies can be used to counter it. Projections onto and expectations of the female body serve as the basis for analyzing the material and media conditions of feminist critique.
Program
2 pm
Welcome
Michaela Richter (Head of Communications and Discourse Program, n.b.k.) and Anna Sinofzik (Editor-in-Chief, TEXTE ZUR KUNST)
2:30 pm
Interrupting the Iconography of Misogyny: The Ubiquity of Violence and the Invisibility of Pleasure
Lecture by Catherine McCormack (author, art historian, and independent curator, London)
3:00 pm
Why JK Never Became a Track Runner
Lecture by Juliana Gleeson (writer, comedian, and historian, London)
3:30 pm
Audience discussion, moderated by Christian Liclair (art historian and critic, Berlin)
4:30 pm
More than Daughters, Sisters, Wives, and Muses: Relationship Anxiety, Misogyny, and the Canon
Dialogue between Alison M. Gingeras (curator and author, New York and Warsaw) and Talia Kwartler (curator and art historian, Berlin), followed by an audience discussion
6:30 pm
Feminist Critique and the Female Artist
Panel discussion with Julieta Aranda (artist, Berlin and New York), Lucy McKenzie (artist, Brussels), Nicole Wermers (artist, London); moderated by Susanne Huber (researcher in art history and theory, Bremen), followed by a closing discussion
8:30 pm
Inky Mirror, One Way Echo
Sound performance by Kaity Fox (doula, sound artist, and deep listener, Düsseldorf) and Keta Gavasheli (artist, Düsseldorf)
Participants
Kaity Fox
Kaity Fox (b. in Australia) is a Düsseldorf-based multidisciplinary artist working across sound, performance, and writing.
Keta Gavasheli
Keta Gavasheli is a Tbilisi-born, Düsseldorf-based multidisciplinary artist whose work spans sound-based media, moving image, installation, and performance.
Alison M. Gingeras
Alison M. Gingeras is a curator and writer based in Warsaw. She currently serves as Curator-at-Large at the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw.
Juliana Gleeson
Juliana Gleeson is a writer and editor from West London who now lives in Berlin.
Susanne Huber
Susanne Huber works as a senior researcher in the history and theory of art at the University of Bremen.
Talia Kwartler
Talia Kwartler is a curator and art historian of the early 20th-century avant-garde.
Christian Liclair
Christian Liclair is an art historian and critic.
Catherine McCormack
Catherine McCormack is an academic, art historian and author whose work broadly engages with feminism and visual culture.
Lucy McKenzie
Lucy McKenzie is a visual artist living in Brussels. She works in forms as diverse as painting and sculpture installations, public art, curatorial projects, critical writing and fiction.
Nicole Wermers
Nicole Wermers (b. 1971 in Emsdetten; lives and works in London and Emsdetten) is an artist and professor of sculpture at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Munich.
A project by Neuer Berliner Kunstverein (n.b.k.) and TEXTE ZUR KUNST
Free admission, no registration needed
In English
Accessibility
The event space is located on the ground floor and wheelchair accessible via a side entrance.
The next public transport stations are: Oranienburger Tor (line U6, elevator available, 500 meters to n.b.k.), Oranienburger Strasse (lines S1, S2, S25, S26, elevator available, 800 meters to n.b.k.), Torstr. / U Oranienburger Tor (lines M5, tram 12, 50–500 meters to n.b.k.).
If you are planning a visit and have questions about accessibility, please don't hesitate to call us: +49 (0)30 280 70 20 (n.b.k. office).
Detailed accessibility information can also be found in the following pdf (download):
