FORTHCOMING EVENTS:

Read Out! Read In! Feminist Lines of Flight in Art and Politics’ Reading Group
18th May 5-7pm, CCA Glasgow (CHANGE OF DATE)

This Reading Group session will be discussing the line of flight, Sylvia Plath’s poem, ‘Kindness‘ (1963), available here.

The session is free and all are welcome to attend but reading of Plath’s ‘Kindness’ prior to the session is recommended. Contact the CCA by email at boxoffice@cca-glasgow.com, or by phone on 0141 3524900.

Firebrand Women and the F Word – Gems from the women’s library film archive
Friday 28th May, 7pm, CCA Glasgow

Glasgow Women’s Library will be screening, for the first time in Glasgow, a sample of filmed testimonies by women involved in the birth of the feminist movement in Scotland. Funny, moving and inspiring, this archive project has been developed in partnership with Women’s Library, London and is funded by The Leverhume Trust. This will be followed by a screening of the F Word, a film made by Pilton Video in partnership with GWL. Made by a culturally diverse girls’ group with wit and wisdom, it seeks to answer the questions, ‘what impact has feminism had on young women’s lives? And, what relevance has it for them today?’ This event is free but spaces are limited. Please contact the CCA to book.

Open Doors Day at Glasgow Women’s Library
Friday 28th May, 10-3pm (pop in), Glasgow Women’s Library, 81 Parnie Street, Glasgow

Glasgow Women’s Library is a unique resource in Scotland. A flavour of its magnificent collection can be experienced in the resource room during the Long Loch exhibition… but there is much more to discover on a visit. During the day the Library staff will be unveiling remarkable artefacts from our archive, showing how you can become a women’s history detective, revealing our plans for the ultimate auction of pleasures and screening more from the second wave feminist testimonies collection. (see above)

Garnethill Women’s Heritage Walk
Saturday May 29th, 10am (one and half hour walk), CCA Glasgow (meeting point)

Due to popular demand Glasgow Women’s Library’s Women Make History project will be offering a further Women’s Heritage Walk to coincide with the Long Loch exhibition. Starting at the Read Out! Read In! Feminist Lines of Flight in Art and Politics reading room, this walking tour within Garnethill’s confined boundaries will spotlight the women who pioneered European art movements, designed the banners for suffragette processions, created the first women’s library in Scotland and made Garnethill into the most exciting cultural and multicultural hotspot in Glasgow.

The walk will include some steep inclines and unfortunately will not be readily accessible to wheelchair users. Walking shoes are recommended. Please meet in the ‘Read Out! Read In! Feminist Lines of Flight in Art and Politics’ reading room, CCA Glasgow. The tour is free and all are very welcome to attend.

Please contact Glasgow Women’s Library for further details and to book a place.

Reading into the Future: Visions of a new home for women, art, feminism and reading in Glasgow
Saturday May 29th, 2.30-4pm (pop-in), CCA Clubroom

This event is inspired by the question How Do We Go On From Here? and by the Read Out Read In reading lists and reading groups. Reading into the future will be an opportunity to expand this list of books, articles and films to include your own favourite and inspiring reading and writing, and to advise the Library’s staff about what materials the future women’s library should contain.

Glasgow Women’s Library staff will also be facilitating workshops throughout the afternoon that take this visioning of a women’s library of the future further… what will the new space look like, what facilities should it contain and what reading, making, performing, learning and researching could take place there? And finally…

Swap a book and make a kite
We are also looking for women to share books in a special book swap to mark the end of the Long Loch exhibition. Please wrap up a book and bring it to swap on the day.

The suggestions and visions generated on the day and those gathered at CCA and GWL during the exhibition will be used in the construction of an end of the Long Loch kite. Come and make sure your visions for on women and feminism and reading take flight.

PAST EVENTS:

Garnethill Women’s Heritage Walk
24th April, 2pm, CCA Glasgow (starting point)

Glasgow Women’s Library brings its acclaimed ‘Women’s Heritage Walks’ to the CCA with a tour focusing on Garnethill and starting at the ‘Read Out! Read In! Feminist Lines of Flight in Art and Politics’ reading room. This walk takes in Garnethill’s grand tenements, painted gables, miniature park, synagogue and world acclaimed architectural triumphs. These and other fascinating landmarks help us to tell the stories of some of the most remarkable achievements of women in Glasgow history. Within Garnethill’s confined boundaries this walking tour will spotlight the women who pioneered European art movements, designed the banners for suffragette processions, created the first Women’s Library in Scotland and made Garnethill into the most exciting cultural and multicultural hotspot in Glasgow.

Due to popular demand, there will be a second tour on Saturday May 29th – see above for details.

Reading and Wading through the Long Loch
30th April, 5-6.30pm, CCA Glasgow

Faith Wilding and Kate Davis gave a reading of letters which they have written and exchanged regularly in the twelve months leading up to the exhibition. This was followed by an informal walking tour through their exhibition, ‘The Long Loch: How Do We Go On From Here?’.

‘How We Go On Now’ Symposium
1st May, 11-6pm, CCA Glasgow

‘How We Go On Now’ drew together a range of international feminist voices to question how we dream and desire to go on in the future in relation to a feminist heritage. Using Beckett’s mantra, “ I can’t go on, I’ll go on” as a focus, the day included presentations by guest speakers Dr Irina Aristarkhova (US) and Elizabeth Zvonar (CAN) as well as a selection of short international feminist films, a round table discussion with Faith Wilding, Kate Davis, Irina Aristarkhova, Elizabeth Zvonar and Alexandra Kokoli discussing the possibilities of political love and radical hospitality in a feminist landscape, and live performance.

Read Out! Read In! Feminist Lines of Flight in Art and Politics Reading Group
9th March, 7-9pm, CCA Glasgow

This Reading Group focused on two lines of flight suggested by Sarah Smith and Karen Boyle which provide a feminist context for discussing postfeminist culture and, in particular, what is often referred to as the ‘pornographication’ of visual culture.

1. Yvonne Tasker & Diane Negra, ‘Introduction: Feminist Politics and Postfeminist Culture,’ in Yvonne Tasker & Diane Negra (eds.), Interrogating Postfeminism: Gender and the Politics of Popular Culture (Durham NC: Duke University Press, 2007), pp.1-25

2. Ariel Levy, ‘Introduction‘ and ‘Chapter 1: Raunch Culture‘ in Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture (London: Pocket Books, 2006), pp.1-5 and pp.7-45

Read Out! Read In! Feminist Lines of Flight in Art and Politics Reading Group

Some photographs from our first reading group, held at the Women’s Library, Glasgow, on 24 November 2009. We read Jane Goldman’s Lines of Flight, Virginia Woolf’s Thoughts on Peace in an Air Raid and Room of One’s Own.