WEBVTT 00:00:20.757 --> 00:00:22.140 -["Frida" VO] There's nothing worse than the word 00:00:22.140 --> 00:00:24.000 "art appreciation." 00:00:24.000 --> 00:00:26.700 It implies that you're just there awestruck, 00:00:26.700 --> 00:00:30.000 and whatever you're being fed, you appreciate. 00:00:30.900 --> 00:00:35.089 Art really is about discourse and about discussion. 00:00:35.089 --> 00:00:38.220 -["Frida"] Do you have any ideas what museums could be? 00:00:38.220 --> 00:00:40.260 -Decolonizing museums. 00:00:40.524 --> 00:00:42.540 Like, not having stolen things. 00:00:43.309 --> 00:00:46.847 -If your art is for the public, then the public should have a 00:00:46.847 --> 00:00:49.960 right to express their opinions and views. 00:00:49.960 --> 00:00:52.620 -As a young artist, like, sometimes I see things and, 00:00:52.620 --> 00:00:55.838 like, get so frustrated and feel like nothing has changed. 00:00:55.883 --> 00:01:06.352 ♪♪♪ 00:01:06.352 --> 00:01:07.993 -["Frida" VO] From the very beginning, 00:01:07.993 --> 00:01:10.440 we have been fighting against sexism, 00:01:10.440 --> 00:01:14.640 racism, and the death hold that wealthy people 00:01:14.640 --> 00:01:18.660 and wealthy institutions have on art and culture. 00:01:19.380 --> 00:01:21.480 -40 million dollars, 1-5-0-6. 00:01:22.490 --> 00:01:25.680 -The Guerrilla Girls will complain about anything that 00:01:25.680 --> 00:01:30.396 pisses them off, and they always do it in an unexpected way. 00:01:32.151 --> 00:01:35.100 -[Coco VO] What the artist has to say about things other than 00:01:35.100 --> 00:01:38.580 his or her art has not always been considered that important 00:01:38.580 --> 00:01:40.920 by the arbiters of the art world. 00:01:41.640 --> 00:01:44.940 And the Guerrilla Girls were at the forefront of doing that 00:01:44.940 --> 00:01:46.680 starting in the 1980s. 00:01:47.642 --> 00:01:51.720 -[Frances] The power of the Guerrilla Girls' work was that whenever I 00:01:51.720 --> 00:01:54.180 looked at their material, I felt implicated. 00:01:54.180 --> 00:01:56.580 It wasn't somebody else's problem, it was my problem. 00:01:56.684 --> 00:02:02.631 ♪♪♪ 00:02:05.086 --> 00:02:06.720 -["Frida"] I'm one of the founding members of the 00:02:06.720 --> 00:02:08.880 Guerrilla Girls, and I've been involved in just about 00:02:08.880 --> 00:02:11.940 everything the Guerrilla Girls have done since 1985. 00:02:11.940 --> 00:02:13.380 I'm kind of a lifer. 00:02:13.909 --> 00:02:16.620 But I am, in my real life, an artist. 00:02:17.317 --> 00:02:20.100 -["Käthe"] And I'm also a founder of the Guerrilla Girls 00:02:20.100 --> 00:02:23.640 and also a lifelong political artist. 00:02:23.640 --> 00:02:28.793 ♪elegant orchestral music♪ 00:02:28.793 --> 00:02:32.760 In fall of 1984, the Museum of Modern Art did this exhibition 00:02:32.760 --> 00:02:37.140 – an international survey of painting and sculpture. 00:02:37.140 --> 00:02:40.440 There were 169 artists in the show, 00:02:40.440 --> 00:02:45.360 and only 17 women, and very few artists of color. 00:02:45.360 --> 00:02:48.960 And women artists in New York were really pissed off. 00:02:48.960 --> 00:02:52.967 ♪aggressive rock music♪ 00:02:54.793 --> 00:02:57.660 -["Frida"] We were educated to sort of respect all 00:02:57.660 --> 00:03:01.140 the institutions and the people that were making decisions and 00:03:01.140 --> 00:03:03.769 the people who were writing art history, 00:03:03.769 --> 00:03:07.440 but it dawned on us that it was filled with its own biases and 00:03:07.440 --> 00:03:08.653 limitations. 00:03:10.282 --> 00:03:12.540 -["Käthe"] We're marching in a picket line in front of 00:03:12.540 --> 00:03:17.340 the Museum of Modern Art, and we realize not one person going 00:03:17.340 --> 00:03:19.140 into the museum cares. 00:03:19.140 --> 00:03:22.465 [music slows to a stop] 00:03:22.465 --> 00:03:24.720 And that was the "aha" moment. 00:03:24.720 --> 00:03:29.209 It was so clear that there had to be a better way 00:03:29.209 --> 00:03:33.120 to convince people and make them understand how much 00:03:33.120 --> 00:03:37.620 discrimination there really was – both racism and sexism – 00:03:37.620 --> 00:03:38.751 in the art world. 00:03:38.751 --> 00:03:43.310 ♪moody synth music♪ 00:03:43.310 --> 00:03:46.800 -Most of the women who are doing all the bitching are completely talentless. 00:03:46.800 --> 00:03:49.177 For example, like, the top women artists, 00:03:49.177 --> 00:03:51.900 you don't hear them making these embarrassing feminist pleas. 00:03:51.900 --> 00:03:53.520 -["Frida"] The more we looked at the numbers, 00:03:53.520 --> 00:03:57.600 we realized that there was a systematic elimination of women 00:03:57.600 --> 00:04:02.251 and artists of color from the so-called mainstream of the art world. 00:04:02.251 --> 00:04:05.220 -[Guerrilla Girl] What does it mean that museums are getting 00:04:05.220 --> 00:04:08.668 subsidies and have no obligations to be ethnically diverse? 00:04:08.668 --> 00:04:10.800 -["Frida"] We thought it would be really important to 00:04:10.800 --> 00:04:13.140 just state the facts 00:04:13.140 --> 00:04:16.620 and see what people did with the facts. 00:04:18.120 --> 00:04:22.740 We met at my loft, and we were just a hodgepodge of artists. 00:04:24.181 --> 00:04:27.660 We called ourselves "the Guerrilla Girls" because we had 00:04:27.660 --> 00:04:30.000 to become anonymous to say what was obvious. 00:04:30.000 --> 00:04:31.800 ♪♪♪ 00:04:31.800 --> 00:04:35.437 Kathë and I came up with the two first posters. 00:04:38.514 --> 00:04:42.168 The very first poster was this list of male artists who allowed 00:04:42.168 --> 00:04:45.360 their work to be shown in galleries that showed fewer than 00:04:45.360 --> 00:04:47.220 10 percent women or none at all. 00:04:48.975 --> 00:04:51.084 -[Kathë VO] When one worked, we would do another. 00:04:51.084 --> 00:04:53.167 When another worked, we would do another. 00:04:54.529 --> 00:04:57.660 The facts are a hugely important part of it. 00:04:57.660 --> 00:05:00.420 But also, we had this kind of outrageous, 00:05:00.420 --> 00:05:04.620 in-your-face design and crazy headlines that you couldn't 00:05:04.620 --> 00:05:05.580 totally ignore. 00:05:07.584 --> 00:05:10.141 We passed the hat around to pay for printing. 00:05:10.141 --> 00:05:12.360 We were sneaking around New York in the middle of the night 00:05:12.360 --> 00:05:13.897 putting these things up. 00:05:13.897 --> 00:05:16.680 And people saw them and all hell broke loose. 00:05:17.626 --> 00:05:25.209 ♪energizing electronic music♪ 00:05:25.209 --> 00:05:27.960 We mostly did them in SoHo and the East Village, 00:05:27.960 --> 00:05:31.200 which were the big art neighborhoods of that time. 00:05:31.200 --> 00:05:34.860 So we put these posters up on the gallery windows right below 00:05:34.860 --> 00:05:36.060 the name of the gallery. 00:05:36.060 --> 00:05:43.080 ♪♪♪ 00:05:43.080 --> 00:05:45.120 -["Frida" VO] It was so exciting to go out the next day 00:05:45.120 --> 00:05:48.360 and to see a dialogue being ignited. 00:05:48.360 --> 00:05:53.340 ♪♪♪ 00:05:53.340 --> 00:05:57.000 I remember a gallery director came by with her son, 00:05:57.000 --> 00:05:59.580 and he singsong-edly sang, 00:05:59.580 --> 00:06:01.272 "Mommy, why is your name up there?" 00:06:01.272 --> 00:06:03.540 [laughs] 00:06:03.540 --> 00:06:07.020 -If you look at the art schools, at least half of them are women. 00:06:07.020 --> 00:06:08.520 So what happens to these women? 00:06:08.520 --> 00:06:09.360 Where do they go? 00:06:09.360 --> 00:06:11.940 But that's not the art world discriminating, 00:06:11.940 --> 00:06:13.621 that's their choices. 00:06:18.597 --> 00:06:22.471 ♪ethereal synth music♪ 00:06:22.471 --> 00:06:25.201 -["Frida" VO] The advantages of being a woman artist: 00:06:25.980 --> 00:06:28.260 Working without the pressure of success. 00:06:29.760 --> 00:06:32.160 Not having to be in shows with men. 00:06:33.780 --> 00:06:37.645 Having a relief from the art world with your four freelance jobs. 00:06:38.880 --> 00:06:41.460 Being reassured that whatever work you make, 00:06:41.460 --> 00:06:43.140 it will be labeled "feminine." 00:06:44.460 --> 00:06:47.820 Knowing your career might pick up after you're 80. 00:06:50.640 --> 00:06:54.720 Over the years, about 60 people were in and out of the group. 00:06:55.920 --> 00:06:58.392 Collaboration was wonderful when it worked. 00:06:58.392 --> 00:07:00.408 It was painful when it didn't work. 00:07:00.408 --> 00:07:02.460 We didn't understand where it would go, 00:07:02.460 --> 00:07:04.740 but we knew that what we were saying, 00:07:04.740 --> 00:07:06.240 moment to moment, 00:07:07.200 --> 00:07:09.253 was something that was irrefutable. 00:07:09.253 --> 00:07:14.724 ♪♪♪ 00:07:19.315 --> 00:07:21.510 -I'm kind of new on the scene here but I love it. 00:07:21.510 --> 00:07:23.460 -["Frida"] Well, do you ever think to count how many women, 00:07:23.460 --> 00:07:25.020 how many artists of color? 00:07:25.020 --> 00:07:26.473 -[woman] Oh, absolutely. -["Frida"] Yeah. 00:07:26.473 --> 00:07:29.460 And does that change your attitude or your idea? 00:07:29.460 --> 00:07:31.080 -[woman] It has a lot, and the idea, 00:07:31.080 --> 00:07:33.480 I think that's why maybe my 00:07:33.480 --> 00:07:36.840 mother and grandmother were never really that interested. 00:07:36.840 --> 00:07:40.008 Because they didn't see anything that was done by people that 00:07:40.008 --> 00:07:41.084 looked like them. 00:07:41.084 --> 00:07:46.046 ♪sparse ethereal music♪ 00:07:46.046 --> 00:07:49.440 -["Frida" VO] I always felt distance from the 00:07:49.440 --> 00:07:51.385 socioeconomics in the art world. 00:07:52.680 --> 00:07:55.680 I grew up in Pittsburgh in a working-class family. 00:07:56.760 --> 00:08:00.600 There was a lot of trauma in my family with parents dying 00:08:00.600 --> 00:08:03.420 and getting sick, and I had a lot to take care of, 00:08:03.420 --> 00:08:07.800 so I really never felt the freedom to rebel 00:08:07.800 --> 00:08:08.880 in my adolescence. 00:08:11.717 --> 00:08:13.273 -["Käthe" VO] I grew up in New York City. 00:08:13.273 --> 00:08:14.940 I was an activist in my teens, 00:08:14.940 --> 00:08:18.204 and I got kicked out of college for being in a demonstration, 00:08:18.204 --> 00:08:21.540 and that kind of pushing the envelope 00:08:21.540 --> 00:08:26.220 has always been my life, and it's always been the kind of art 00:08:26.220 --> 00:08:26.820 I do. 00:08:26.820 --> 00:08:30.588 ♪♪♪ 00:08:30.588 --> 00:08:33.000 -["Frida"] I was always uncomfortable with this idea 00:08:33.000 --> 00:08:34.861 that there was a level playing field, 00:08:34.861 --> 00:08:38.653 because it was not my experience in life or in the art world. 00:08:38.653 --> 00:08:41.820 So the minute I felt the freedom to criticize it, 00:08:41.820 --> 00:08:45.120 it was wonderful, it was great, it opened up a whole part of my brain. 00:08:45.120 --> 00:08:49.860 ♪quirky upbeat music♪ 00:08:50.773 --> 00:08:51.900 -["Käthe"] I couldn't stop. 00:08:51.900 --> 00:08:54.240 I can't explain why, but I couldn't stop. 00:08:54.240 --> 00:08:58.632 And it became as important to me as anything else I did in my life. 00:08:58.632 --> 00:09:05.243 ♪♪♪ 00:09:05.243 --> 00:09:07.572 -["Käthe"] Those of us who were unfairly left out of 00:09:07.572 --> 00:09:10.020 the system, it was like a breath of fresh air. 00:09:10.020 --> 00:09:13.477 It was so-- it seemed daring, it seemed exciting, 00:09:13.477 --> 00:09:17.382 and the people on the posters were really pissed off. 00:09:17.382 --> 00:09:19.332 -[Guerrilla Girl] They now feel they have to contend with us as 00:09:19.332 --> 00:09:20.425 a power. 00:09:20.425 --> 00:09:23.640 And it's very bizarre to be at a point where I get more respect 00:09:23.640 --> 00:09:25.847 with a gorilla mask on than I get with it off. 00:09:27.501 --> 00:09:32.088 ♪energetic percussion♪ 00:09:32.088 --> 00:09:35.040 -[Frances VO] In 2006, we had, at The Tate Modern, 00:09:35.040 --> 00:09:38.713 a small room with a group of the Guerrilla Girls' posters. 00:09:39.480 --> 00:09:43.860 But I was put on the back foot by journalists grilling me about 00:09:43.860 --> 00:09:47.220 precisely what the Guerrilla Girls were charging us with – 00:09:47.220 --> 00:09:49.860 lack of representation of women artists, 00:09:49.860 --> 00:09:51.180 lack of diversity – 00:09:51.180 --> 00:09:53.880 and I had no way of responding. 00:09:54.957 --> 00:09:58.920 My inability to respond was published in The Guardian. 00:10:01.380 --> 00:10:05.280 I felt profoundly exposed, profoundly embarrassed. 00:10:05.280 --> 00:10:08.460 And in that moment, the Guerrilla Girls' wonderful pink 00:10:08.460 --> 00:10:12.420 letter really resonated with me -- that idea that I had agency 00:10:12.420 --> 00:10:14.340 in this and I had to take some responsibility. 00:10:15.350 --> 00:10:17.100 -["Frida" VO] [echoing] Dearest art collector, 00:10:17.100 --> 00:10:20.580 it has come to our attention that your collection, 00:10:20.580 --> 00:10:24.660 like most, does not contain enough art by women. 00:10:25.380 --> 00:10:28.500 We know that you feel terrible about this 00:10:28.500 --> 00:10:32.040 and will rectify the situation immediately. 00:10:32.569 --> 00:10:35.725 All our love, Guerrilla Girls. 00:10:36.840 --> 00:10:40.920 -[Frances VO] About a year later, I took over the leadership of building the 00:10:40.920 --> 00:10:45.240 international collection, and I presented a strategy to 00:10:45.240 --> 00:10:49.393 massively broaden the diversity of the collection, 00:10:49.620 --> 00:10:54.000 and to really address the representation of women. 00:10:54.780 --> 00:10:57.937 That moment with the Guerrilla Girls was profoundly influential. 00:10:57.937 --> 00:11:00.000 ♪♪♪ 00:11:00.000 --> 00:11:02.040 -["Frida" VO] There are wonderful individuals on the 00:11:02.040 --> 00:11:03.937 inside trying to change things. 00:11:04.380 --> 00:11:07.957 But there is a corporate, capitalist, 00:11:07.957 --> 00:11:11.820 institutional structure that's connected to much larger forces. 00:11:13.762 --> 00:11:16.320 -["Zubeida"] Right now, art institutions do not get enough 00:11:16.320 --> 00:11:20.400 government funding, and so they're reliant on individuals 00:11:20.400 --> 00:11:23.101 to donate to them to make art exhibitions happen. 00:11:24.180 --> 00:11:27.900 A lot of the people are very wealthy individuals for whom art 00:11:27.900 --> 00:11:31.140 is an investment asset, and so they will support exhibitions 00:11:31.140 --> 00:11:34.440 that raise the value of their art collection. 00:11:34.801 --> 00:11:36.360 I feel like in any other industry, 00:11:36.360 --> 00:11:38.700 that would be considered insider trading or something, 00:11:38.700 --> 00:11:40.140 but it's not. 00:11:42.000 --> 00:11:45.660 -["Frida" VO] [echoing] Guerrilla Girls' Code of Ethics 00:11:45.660 --> 00:11:47.497 for Art Museums: 00:11:47.497 --> 00:11:51.660 Thou shalt not give more than three retrospectives to any 00:11:51.660 --> 00:11:55.464 artist whose dealer is the brother of the chief curator. 00:11:56.400 --> 00:12:00.504 Thou shalt provide lavish funerals for women and artists 00:12:00.504 --> 00:12:05.220 of color, who thou planneth to exhibit only after their death. 00:12:06.000 --> 00:12:08.340 -[Käthe VO] We did a whole series of these posters. 00:12:08.989 --> 00:12:12.540 After many years, we thought it would be great to do an updated 00:12:12.540 --> 00:12:16.177 version and build the actual monument 00:12:16.177 --> 00:12:21.240 and drag it around to every museum we could possibly get to. 00:12:22.851 --> 00:12:25.920 -["Frida" VO] [echoing] Thou shalt honor all thine employees, 00:12:25.920 --> 00:12:28.500 never undermine their efforts to unionize, 00:12:28.500 --> 00:12:30.925 and pay them a living wage. 00:12:31.680 --> 00:12:36.241 Thou shalt banish board members who make the world a worse place. 00:12:38.220 --> 00:12:42.443 If thou exhibiteth super-expensive art bought at 00:12:42.443 --> 00:12:46.500 super-fancy galleries and donated by super-rich collectors 00:12:46.500 --> 00:12:51.060 for super-big tax deductions, thou must renameth thyself 00:12:51.060 --> 00:12:54.600 The Museum of Super-Rich People's Art. 00:12:57.478 --> 00:13:00.540 -[Käthe] Everybody, this is a monument we think 00:13:00.540 --> 00:13:03.360 needs to be outside every single museum. 00:13:03.913 --> 00:13:05.840 So who wants to talk? 00:13:06.729 --> 00:13:08.760 -The public has no say whatsoever; 00:13:08.760 --> 00:13:10.620 they just go and look at the art. 00:13:10.620 --> 00:13:14.160 What these museums are doing is they've basically turned it into 00:13:14.160 --> 00:13:15.200 a business. 00:13:16.330 --> 00:13:19.381 -[Käthe] You are now an honorary Guerrilla Girl. 00:13:19.381 --> 00:13:20.507 -[man] Oh, really? -[Käthe] Yes. 00:13:20.507 --> 00:13:21.060 -Thank you. 00:13:21.060 --> 00:13:23.100 -Now, I think, in a lot of these institutions, 00:13:23.100 --> 00:13:27.240 they've, like, clung onto the fact that it's trendy to be, 00:13:27.240 --> 00:13:31.380 like, putting art out there that is promoting social justice, 00:13:31.380 --> 00:13:33.300 but when you look at what they're actually doing in 00:13:33.300 --> 00:13:35.280 practice, it doesn't support those ideals. 00:13:35.280 --> 00:13:36.660 -["Frida"] Oh, I agree. 00:13:36.660 --> 00:13:40.343 We think that trustees should be chosen who make the world a 00:13:40.343 --> 00:13:41.372 better place. 00:13:43.260 --> 00:13:45.060 What did you see in the museum today? 00:13:45.060 --> 00:13:46.620 -Oh, we didn't go in. -We are yet to go in. 00:13:46.620 --> 00:13:47.533 -We came to meet you first. -["Frida"] [gasps] 00:13:47.533 --> 00:13:48.868 -Yeah. -["Frida"] Oh, that's so great! 00:13:48.868 --> 00:13:49.752 -[woman] Yeah, we saw it on your Instagram! 00:13:49.752 --> 00:13:50.765 -["Frida"] Thank you so much! 00:13:50.876 --> 00:13:53.040 -I consider my art Guerrilla art. 00:13:53.040 --> 00:13:55.920 Well, like, I, like, put a poster up in my city in India 00:13:55.920 --> 00:13:57.180 and stuff like that about mental health. 00:13:57.180 --> 00:13:59.151 -["Frida"] That's wonderful! -["Käthe"] Fantastic. 00:13:59.151 --> 00:13:59.608 -This is great. Oh my gosh. 00:13:59.608 --> 00:14:00.309 -[woman] Thank you, thank you so much! 00:14:00.309 --> 00:14:03.888 -I took, like, 15. -Aw, thank you. 00:14:03.888 --> 00:14:05.940 -["Käthe"] We've been so lucky that people all over the 00:14:05.940 --> 00:14:07.693 world want our work. 00:14:07.693 --> 00:14:12.000 ♪ambient oscillating synths♪ 00:14:12.000 --> 00:14:13.500 -["Zubeida" VO] The Guerrilla Girls' work has always 00:14:13.500 --> 00:14:14.820 been statistics. 00:14:14.820 --> 00:14:17.616 People don't believe you unless you show them the numbers. 00:14:17.616 --> 00:14:23.340 ♪♪♪ 00:14:23.340 --> 00:14:27.300 Without the numbers, you really have a false sense of diversity. 00:14:29.415 --> 00:14:32.004 -["Frida" VO] For the last 20, 25, 30 years, 00:14:32.004 --> 00:14:34.320 we get people saying to us, 00:14:34.320 --> 00:14:36.973 "I never knew this before." 00:14:38.040 --> 00:14:39.878 Our stuff is easy to understand, 00:14:39.878 --> 00:14:42.080 and then you take off with it on your own. 00:14:43.728 --> 00:14:46.045 -I've been teaching now for almost 30 years. 00:14:46.045 --> 00:14:51.126 I make sure that my students are aware of the Guerrilla Girls' contributions. 00:14:51.270 --> 00:14:53.448 They get museum shows in Europe, 00:14:53.448 --> 00:14:55.356 not so much in the United States. 00:14:55.356 --> 00:14:59.340 I think that that's an indication of the resistance 00:14:59.340 --> 00:15:03.900 still to the practice and to the message of the Guerrilla Girls, 00:15:03.900 --> 00:15:06.540 despite the fact that there are probably, you know, 00:15:06.540 --> 00:15:10.020 200 art history majors writing papers on them right now. 00:15:11.078 --> 00:15:13.560 -["Zubeida" VO] One of the most exciting things for me has 00:15:13.560 --> 00:15:17.268 been the shift where the younger generation are learning about 00:15:17.268 --> 00:15:19.800 the Guerrilla Girls earlier and earlier -- in high school, 00:15:19.800 --> 00:15:22.020 or they saw the work on social media. 00:15:22.620 --> 00:15:24.000 It gives me a lot of hope. 00:15:24.000 --> 00:15:25.460 It gives me a lot of hope. 00:15:26.501 --> 00:15:27.600 -["Frida"] Bye-bye! 00:15:27.600 --> 00:15:29.724 And I hope you find things that you love to look at! 00:15:30.662 --> 00:15:33.780 Can't we think about art as not being about 00:15:33.780 --> 00:15:37.320 winners, but about something that we all need in our lives? 00:15:37.334 --> 00:15:40.044 Thank you so much, and good luck with your own work! 00:15:40.044 --> 00:15:41.501 -[man] This is a big moment in my life! 00:15:41.501 --> 00:15:42.712 Yay! 00:15:42.712 --> 00:15:45.240 -["Frida"] There are so many cultural traditions where 00:15:45.240 --> 00:15:48.985 art is collective, and it's done in a community, 00:15:48.985 --> 00:15:50.700 and artists work together. 00:15:50.700 --> 00:15:52.633 They might do individual work, 00:15:52.633 --> 00:15:57.360 but they somehow present a kinder idea of what it means 00:15:57.360 --> 00:15:58.680 to have a creative life. 00:15:58.680 --> 00:16:03.861 ♪♪♪ 00:16:03.861 --> 00:16:05.686 ["Käthe"] Come over! 00:16:15.233 --> 00:16:24.780 ♪ ethereal ambient music ♪