Womanhouse was a socially engaged collaborative art project run by Judy Chicago and Miriam Shapiro at the California Institute of the Arts that began in 1971. The idea was conceived of by Paula Harper, who joined the faculty of the Feminist Art Program at CalArts, and grew to become an all encompassing project that relied on the teamwork and collaboration of students and faculty of the program. The goals stated for the project were:
“first, to let students confront their problems as women while grappling with the demands of a project rather than undergoing initial extended consciousness-raising; second, to give students the chance to learn many skills and work collaboratively; and last but most important, to force the students to begin pushing their role limitations as women and to test themselves as artists.”
The deserted house that was the location of the project was completely renovated, outfitted and prepared by the women. Not only did the house itself function as an artwork, but the students developed performance pieces based around the domestic experience of women to be performed each week. The house was open to the public for the month of February in 1972, and received thousands of visitors and attention from the media nationwide. It is considered to be one of the first public exhibitions of “feminist art”.
For me, Womanhouse challenges the notion of containing oneself within the home, or containing art to a single piece or space; in this case the entire house is the work of art, it is constructed for and from art, and houses both the pieces of art and the artists themselves. The project also illustrates the power of both collaboration and installation art – the all encompassing effects of incorporating a larger group or a larger space to make an even larger statement.
More info here:
http://womanhouse.refugia.net/
http://www.judychicago.com/educator/