What should I do now?
Start your 10 lessons by reading: Using the internet. It will give you an introduction to how the course considers the internet as a resource.
There are two ways to navigate the course structure.
The first, is by using the menu bar for “Lessons”, and moving through the lesson material. Each lesson has different 3-4 parts to it. Only Lesson 4 has one page.
The second way of navigating the course is to go to “My Profile/Courses” and “Start Course”. This interface allows you to mark off units as complete, and you can view your progress on the dashboard.
Feedback is encouraged. You can post feedback on a particular lesson or ask a general question. And each lesson asks you to post to particular forums.
As you progress through the course, there are opportunities to earn badges. These are awarded for completing different tasks and assignments. You can see these achievements in your profile.
Allow yourself time to do this course.
Please work through this material at your own pace, but it is estimated you will need an hour to read and absorb each lesson. Please follow the links to read all of the pages of each lesson. It will take longer than this to complete a lesson, if you click on the many external links, watch all the suggested videos and if you give yourself time to reflect and prepare a detailed response to each task.
Do not try to read two or three lessons at one sitting. Use the menu bar “lessons” to move between them or look at the overview of all lessons.
Leave yourself some time to consider each lesson before posting responses.
Each Lesson ask you to consider a question
by posting a reply to the Forum
The first request is outside the lessons and the task is to write a short statement about the “most memorable book or exhibition catalogue you have read (so far) on art and feminism“. Please include the author’s name, the title of the book and describe why you found it important and memorable to you. This post need only be a few lines or you can write more, if you are ready to do so.
As everyone who joins this course receives the same invitation, we hope you might also enjoy reading other people’s responses to this question as well as adding your own. There is no obligation to post this first response immediately but this first post will enable you to win a “participant” badge, which is the first stage in progression through the course.
What can I find online? asks you to post information about websites you find interesting about feminist art – i.e. feminism AND contemporary art. Share what you know or has not been referred to on this course.
Lesson 1 looks at how feminism is popularly (and sometimes negatively) identified with feminists. Feminism is not an identity-based movement but a political movement. The simple answer may be feminism is about achieving “equality”. What would equality look like in the visual arts? As the lesson points out feminism is a political movement for ending discrimination and an area of study. The lesson also outlines different movements and branches of feminism. What does feminism mean to you? Which area of feminist work, do you identify with politically? What is your model for change?
Lesson 2 – asks you to question your assumptions by answering a questionnaire and comparing your answers to the many studies of the situation of women artists since the 1970s. Are familiar with these statistics? Is it different where you live and work?
Lesson 3 ask you to think about definitions of feminist art. Is it a label or a category in art? Is it possible to reach a shared consensus on feminist art as a definition? Or are there only working assumptions, embedded in different people’s attempts? Do you have a useful definition, share your answer in Defining feminist art
Lesson 4 refers you to the feminist-art-topics project which lists many artworks and topics discussed under the rubric of “feminist art”. Take an example from these lists and try and think through What is a feminist artwork?. Maybe sharing and exchanging answers about particular artworks will help define more clearly what is feminist art.
There are more forums set up in relation to other lessons, this is just an introduction to see if you want to engage with the course material through these forums.
Please remember your posts will be visible to everyone taking part in the course.
If you are struggling with some of the language used, or do not recognise certain terms, look up terms and definitions online in a free English language dictionary: e.g. Cambridge Dictionary or Oxford Dictionary. You can use search engines to look for further links on individual women named in this course. You might find this PDF glossary of Women’s Studies terms useful or this online resource of feminist criticism terms. Visit the Resources page for other sources.
Please note: this course was prepared without any references to Wikipedia.
n.paradoxa’s MOOC was written by the editor of n.paradoxa: international feminist art journal and links to the resources part of this separate website at https://www.ktpress.co.uk are also part of the course.
Katy Deepwell
