Women in the Visual Arts

Women in the Visual Arts Biennial shows the creative potential of women and the marks it leaves on our state's art system and internationally.

From March to December, the Women in the Visual Arts Biennial brings together initiatives that make women and gender issues a source for reflection, debate and creation.

Women have dominated the field of cultural studies for over thirty-five years, filling the ranks of Fine Art, Art History, Aesthetics, Literature and Film degree programmes and earning the highest honours. Where good practices prevail—transparent selection criteria, blind evaluations and clear benchmarks—the presence of women in positions of cultural leadership is proportionate to their predominance in cultural education. However, when opaque selection criteria come into play, such as direct appointments or arbitrary personal interests, men monopolise the majority of power and decision-making positions thanks to the persistence of outdated models. As a result, not only is our country failing to harness the potential of the most highly qualified women in recent history, but it is also missing a golden opportunity to create democratic legitimacy in the arts.

We want the Women in the Visual Arts Biennial to set an example of good cultural management by promoting a horizontal, collaborative, participatory system in both working processes and team compositions.

The Women in the Visual Arts Biennial produces and provides a platform for initiatives that prioritise the participation of women in the art system. The biennial supports the real, effective equality of men and women in all visual arts arenas, whether public or private, pursuant to Article 26 of the Spanish Equality Act, which proposes actions that empower women and combat gender discrimination in the field of artistic and intellectual production.

This space for reflecting and thinking about feminism, gender and the visual arts is rounded out by the Forum that Mujeres en las Arts Visuales (MAV) organises every other year: FMM2015 in Barcelona and Madrid, FMM2017 in Seville and Madrid, FMM2019 in Vitoria and Madrid.