‘A Feminist Chorus’ by Lucy Reynolds, curated by MAP

Adding a communal voice to Glasgow’s feminist history, ‘A Feminist Chorus’ is created by Lucy Reynolds in collaboration with MAP. Reynolds is interested in the collective power of the Women’s Movement, (with Greenham Common as the subject of her film installation ‘Silo Walk’, 2009) tracing it on this occasion through the spaces, writings and memories of the city.

The full spoken word score for the chorus brings together three connected narratives of women’s histories in Glasgow for a one-off live performance at Glasgow Women’s Library (GWL) in Bridgeton during the launch weekend of Glasgow International. Drawing on the collection of GWL and the city’s archives, it includes personal texts, readings of historic registers from Glasgow School of Art (GSA) and Blythswood Square, and extracts from historic and contemporary writings. Participants have been invited from a wide community across Glasgow. A film of this performance will be sited among the books in the library for the duration of Glasgow International to become thereafter part of the archive, so creating a legacy of the event, which will find new resonances beyond Glasgow, in libraries and women’s resources centres across the UK.

Two separate sound installations are sited within five minutes walk of each other in city centre locations historically connected with working women artists over the past 100 years. The first installation is sited at Glasgow School of Art in the ‘Hen Run’ (reflecting the predominance of women students in the adjacent studios) and is based on the names of women students from the school’s early years in the 1880s, brought forth in the voices of contemporary GSA students. The other installation is sited at 5 Blythswood Square, a luxury office which was from 1882 to 1971 home to the Glasgow Society of Lady Artists. In a telephone booth there—designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh for the Lady artists in the 1890s—the Society’s unique programmes of exhibitions, tableaux and soirees will be remembered in the recitations of current women artists working in Glasgow.

Venue Information

Exhibition and Performance

Glasgow Women’s Library

23 Landressy Street

Glasgow, G40 1BP

Exhibition 4 to 21 April

Mon to Fri, 9.30am to 5pm, Tues 9.30am to 7.30pm

Performance —Sat 5 April, 5pm to 6pm

To book—http://tiny.cc/9es3bx

The Glasgow School of Art, 4 to 21 April

‘Hen Run’

167 Renfrew Street

Glasgow, G3 6RQ

Twenty minute appointments leave daily at 12.15pm and 4.15pm

To book—http://doodle.com/s238yqkig4dqswt6

5 Blythswood Square, 4 to 17 April

Glasgow, G2 4AD

Twenty minute appointments with max 2 people per booking

Mon—Fri 11am to 12pm and 3pm to 4pm

To book—http://doodle.com/t54qbrmdcbbm6fa7

http://glasgowinternational.org/events/a-feminist-chorus-2/

Many thanks to:

Creative Scotland

Central St Martins, University of the Arts London