Material subversions and transmediterranean dialogues

This presentation will show how the cultural and material specificity of abstract painting was used by the artists associated with Supports/Surfaces to escape from more dominant North European and American traditions. Can this artistic approach, to question abstraction through a politicised practice based on subverting convention and materiality be seen to connect with work by other artists working simultaneously and to similar ends in Italy and North Africa? We will bring questions that arise in these related contexts, in terms of feminism and post-colonisation that enriches our understanding of Supports/ Surfaces, and histories of abstract painting in Europe during this period more generally.

This talk will be in English.