Louise Bourgeois Symposium

Louise Bourgeois Fabric Work symposium 13th November  

Griselda Pollock started the talks off by discussing the emerging possibilities for female artists today. She called for more of an acknowledgement of the history of feminism to be seen as a part of Louise Bourgeois development and success. She stated that feminism should be seen as a field of opportunities and not a solid object in history. 

The next speaker was Meg Harris Williams, who spoke very eloquently of  Bourgeois and her working process in a psychoanalytical way, referring to her childhood and family relationships.  Harris Williams said of bourgeois that her art making was a constant growing and learning experience, one of constant 'becomings'.

Phyllida Barlow was a humerous speaker and connected to the actual 'stuff' of the art work as a pose to the politics or psychoanalysis behind it. She talked of Bourgeois relationship to the theatricality of her work, not just in the arrangement of things but also in the use of materials. Barlow mentions the 'constant future potential' in the gradual unraveling of themes and materials that are rooted in the history of Bourgeois art. She was always able to make the work appear new and full of potential. Barlow also spoke of earliest encounters with Bourgeois work and how the thing that struck her was the scale of it. Barlow's own practice has a great deal to do with the sheer scale of the work, but she said that for her it's not to do with making a grand macho gesture but 'wanting to reach up to the unknown'.