Conversation with Ulrike Müller, New York, 2003

In this video, Ulrike Müller reads aloud from her reflections on engaging with the feminist art movement of the 70s immediately after graduation from art school. She addresses her initial skepticism of what she calls “the theories of universal femininity that I associated with current essentialist popular feminism.” Seeking to gain a closer understanding of the political implications of early feminist art, Müller initiated the letter project, Re-tracing the Feminist Art Program, which is published online. As Müller recounts in this video, The Feminist Art Program was founded in 1970 by Judy Chicago in Fresno, California. In 1971, the program moved to the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), with Miriam Schapiro as co-director. In 1972, The Feminist Art Program presented the exhibition Womanhouse in a dilapidated mansion in Hollywood. Through correspondence with former students of The Feminist Art Program, Müller gained insight into some of the radical practices of the feminist art movement. The program created an atmosphere of “radical consciousness building, engaging with feminist theory and developing new forms of artistic practice” in which “universal claims of modernism were unmasked through women’s perspectives.” Müller’s letter project also highlighted the tension between traditional notions of success and the program’s alternative structures. Many of the participants in the Feminist Art Program felt that they had not been credited for their achievements and had instead faced continuous discrimination while trying to establish themselves within the art world. Müller notes that the correspondences offer a perspective “beyond the small sized slice of biography.” Ultimately, she explains, “for me, the letters open up an exchange with women of another generation as a possibility to reflect on my own position and its references. They tell a lot about life after art school, decisions, and fears, all of which are relevant today within today's historical framework.”