Feminism. Art. Capitalism.

Angela Dimitrakaki

• Publisher: Pluto Press
• Year: 2025
• Print ISBN: 9780745351247
• eBook ISBN: 9780745351254
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Art Theory & Criticism
• Index: Social Sciences

‘With extraordinary scope and ambition, this book maps the terrain on which contemporary feminist art discourse is being shaped. Conceptually bold and politically incisive, it is a landmark contribution to a twenty-first-century social history of art’ Dave Beech, author of Art and Labour

‘An intellectual tour-de-force’ Griselda Pollock, Professor Emerita, University of Leeds

‘Offers essential tools to disentangle feminist artistic practices from capitalism’s capture. A much-needed analysis of feminism’s transformative potential, in and beyond art’ Giovanna Zapperi, Professor, University of Geneva

Feminism. Art. Capitalism. calls for a revolutionary rethinking of the feminist struggle and its relation to art.

Championing Marxist feminism and focusing on the layers of capitalist hegemony, the book considers the exploitation of enthusiasm in art’s promise of a self-determined subject, the ideological capture of feminism, modernity’s attachment to technology (and its magic), the historical context and impact of postmodernism, and the question of class and social reproduction.

Provocative and uncompromising, Feminism. Art. Capitalism. offers an indispensable guide for art history, theory, and practice – inviting readers to confront what claiming art and feminism as sites of resistance actually entails.

Angela Dimitrakaki is Professor of Contemporary Art History and Theory at the University of Edinburgh. She is the author of Gender, ArtWork and the Global Imperative and co-editor of ECONOMY: Art, Production and the Subject in the 21st Century, among other scholarly works. She is also an essayist and award-winning fiction writer in her native Greek.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• 1. Feminism Against Capitalism
• 2. Feminism and Ideology
• 3. Feminism in the Contradictions of the Capitalist Art Field
• 4. The Long Modern I: Notes on the Contemporary
• 5. The Long Modern II: Feminist Art Theory, the Contemporary, and the Disaffirmation of Capitalism
• 6. The Technology Question: Feminism, Art, and the Future of Subsumption
• Postscript: Notes on Feminism and (Art) History in the Making
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index