CPH 29:3
Theater critic at
Berlingske, Jakob Steen Olsen, had an article on February 5th under the
headline: These executive offices are suddenly only occupied by women. Was that
the intention of gender equality?
I couldn’t read the rest of the article… as I don’t have a subscription to
that newspaper (note 1).
But it stated that it was the management of theaters in Copenhagen that the
reviewer had in mind… and that the picture was turned upside down… now it
was the women who outnumbered men in the management of theaters.
My first thought was… how does it look within the area that is my passion…
the visual arts? How far have we come with gender equality?
I decided to attempt a count. What is the gender distribution like within the
visual arts when it comes to the management of art museums and contemporary art
institutions in Greater Copenhagen?
It didn’t take long… I followed Art Guide on the kunsten.nu platform…
hoping to include most institutions. Then I went to the institutions’ websites
to locate the management in the form of directors and leaders. My data can be
seen below (note 2).
My count found that the gender distribution turns out to be very close to
1:10… but namely 10 women for every man. My count found 29 women and 3 men.
I was surprised… because it strongly contradicted my inherited perception…
that women are underrepresented. That’s what I’ve heard for as long as I can
remember… I also remember advocates who have been in favour of introducing
gender quotas… in response to a lack of gender equality.
My small survey… and the result… has stirred up something in me… and the
surprise quickly turned into a challenge: I will make a sculpture! Can you make
a sculpture about something as sexy as the gender distribution in the
management of art museums and galleries in Copenhagen?
After 14 days of consideration with various small tests, I have come to the
conclusion: Yes, you can.
For the first time in over 30 years, I have made a sculpture. The title is CPH
29:3, and it consists of a bag of fence post concrete from Jem & Fix, 32
pieces of branches from the garden, and some kevlar string, coloured in red and
blue respectively.
The sculpture has been created by digging a hole in the garden and then using
the hole as a mold. The end result resembles a sun if it hangs on a wall… and
more like a jellyfish if it lies down… for example, on a table.
Note 1: Link to article in Berlingske: https://www.berlingske.dk/scene/disse-chefkontorer-er-pludselig-kun-besat-af-kvinder-var-det-meningen-med
Note 2: Link to data in my survey: https://janskovgard.dk/pdf/cph29-3-data010324.pdf
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