Feminism, art and ethics in neo-liberal times

This post forms part of our series in showcasing abstracts of presentations featured at our annual postgraduate interdisciplinary conference on refugee and forced migration research, hosted in November 2018 at The University of Melbourne.

JACQUELINE MILLNER

Care critically explores how care in its many forms represents an alternative ethics to neo-liberalism. It will connect and explore researchers and artists working with care in a number of ways; Care as Relational, Care as Political Labour, Care as Moral Theory, Caring for earth/Country, Art practice as care – Care as Art Practice. The project aims to produce a conference, exhibition and scholarly publication which integrates knowledge produced through non-traditional research outputs. Care will take an interdisciplinary approach, including perspectives not only of artists, art theorists and curators, but also from the many fields in which care is of central concern, including political science, philosophy, the law and health sciences, providing opportunities to build cross-disciplinary links.

The project will also highlight Regional artists and communities in both Victoria and New South Wales. The next stage in the research is to set up a Care Research Network, which will enable small group discussions, leading to the conference in late 2019. The Care Project will extend the research activities of the research cluster co-founded by Dr Millner at University of Sydney, Contemporary Art and Feminism (CAF). CAF was set up in response to the groundswell in engagement with feminism’s role in the development of contemporary art and its current relevance to art-making and analysis. CAF facilitates collaboration and communication while producing high quality research on the connections between feminism and art practice, and their contribution to current political challenges.

Jacqueline Millner is a writer and educator widely published in the history and theory of contemporary art. Her interests include Australian art; installation, video and performance; social practice and new forms of institutional critique; contemporary art and feminism. She is Deputy Head of School of Humanities and Social Sciences (partnerships and connectivity) at La Trobe University.