What?

In order to explore the question of how we have gone on, how we do go on now, and how we dream/ desire to go on in the future in response to a feminist heritage, this rich and expansive archive of texts, publications, audio/video, film-clips and images offers a range of starting points for feminist lines of flight in art and politics.

Where and when?

The Read Out! Read In! collection is accessible in tangible form at Glasgow Women’s Library and as an online resource here. This material provides departure points for a network of reading groups (advertised in the library and through the website), in Glasgow and beyond. Anyone can add details of their own feminist lines of flight or reading group to this site and we will endeavour to locate any new material and add it to the collection.

Browse the contributed Lines of Flight here.

Share your own Lines of Flight in the comments below.

How?

Read Out! Read In! Feminist Lines of Flight in Art and Politics was initiated by Faith Wilding, Kate Davis (see below for further information on both artists), the Centre for Contemporary Arts, Glasgow and Glasgow Women’s Library. It was developed by Louise Shelley, Hannah Ellul and Alice Andrews in conjunction with Wilding and Davis’ two-woman discursive exhibition project, The Long Loch: How Do We Go On From Here?, which was held at the CCA as part of Glasgow International 2010. Wilding and Davis invited a wide range of international co-inspiritors to select up to three starting points for feminist lines of flight in art and politics for discussion and feasting on. Further information about, and images of, previous Read Out! Read In! reading groups and events can be found on the CCA Lines of Flight website.

Why?

‘Read Out! Read In! Feminist Lines of Flight in Art and Politics’ strives to connect many different points of departure for feminist thinking, discussion and making. By re-launching and establishing the collection at Glasgow Women’s Library we hope to enable this rich archive of freely available inspiration to remain active and continue to grow.

Faith Wilding

Faith Wilding emigrated from Paraguay to the USA in 1961. She studied and worked with Judy Chicago and was part of the Feminist Art Program and Womanhouse in Los Angeles in the early 1970s. To this day, she refuses to limit herself to a single artistic medium, and she continues to expand and develop the formal structures of her art. Her works are textile sculptures, performance, new media and critical discourses that explore social problems and issues.

Faith Wilding is a Professor in the Performance Department of the School of the Art Institute in Chicago, as well as Graduate Faculty of the MFA in Visual Art Program at Vermont College of Fine Arts. Wilding has exhibited and performed widely around the world for the past 40 years, including at: CCA, Glasgow; Bronx Museum of Art, NY; MOCA in Los Angeles; The Whitney Museum of Art; the Armand Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; The Drawing Center, New York; Ars Electronica, Linz; Documenta X, Kassel; the Singapore Art Museum, and other venues.

Wilding co-founded and collaborates with subRosa, a reproducible cyberfeminist cell of cultural researchers using BioArt and tactical performance in the public sphere to explore and critique the intersections of information and biotechnologies in women’s bodies, lives, and work. subRosa produces artworks, performances, workshops, contestational campaigns, publications, media interventions, and public forums. Wilding/subRosa performances/exhibitions include: “Bodies Unlimited”, Bilbao, Spain; “The Interventionists”, MASSMoCA; “BioDifference” Biennial of Electronic Arts, Perth, Australia; Performance International, Mexico City, and Merida, Yucatan; “Cloning Cultures,” National University, Singapore; Welcome to the Revolution, Zurich; Art of Maintenance, Kunstakademie, Vienna.

Kate Davis

Kate Davis was born in New Zealand and now lives and works in Glasgow where she also teaches at Glasgow School of Art. Informed by successive waves of feminist art and theory Davis’ art practice centres on the fragile re-calibration of representation through twentieth century art and literature. Revisiting biographical as well as art historical moments, Davis has worked across a range of media (including installation, drawing, printmaking, bookworks, photography, sculpture, video and film) to question how she could ‘re-vision’ the fallibility of historical memory through her activities as a female artist today.

Referring to specific artworks and texts by a range of twentieth century artists, writers and performers (such as Kaethe Kollwitz, Carl Andre, Katherine Mansfield, Franz Gertsch, Joan Jonas, Willem De Kooning and Yvonne Rainer amongst others), she is attempting to both imagine a past that could have happened differently from the way it actually did, and delineate alternative ways to move forward. Davis has presented solo shows at Museo de la Ciudad and La Galeria de Comercio, Mexico; Kunsthalle, Basel; Galerie Kamm, Berlin and was selected for Art Now, Tate Britain, London in 2007. Recent group shows include: ‘Art Sheffield 10’ (collaborative commission with Jimmy Robert); ‘Better living with…’ (Museum Ludwig, Cologne); ‘Das Gespinst’ (Stadtisches Museum Abteiberg, Monchengladbach) and ‘The End of the Line’ (various UK venues and organised by Hayward Touring). Davis has been awarded residencies at Cove Park, in Argyll and Bute, Scotland; Banff Arts Center, Canada and Camden Arts Centre, London.

Further information on and images of all her work can be found here.

Tell us your own Lines of Flight

Inspired? Share your own Lines of Flight in the comments.

Started in 2009, World Book Night, is an opportunity for our community to share some of our favourite books.

We have 5 titles to give away and are celebrating with an afternoon of discussion, debate and fun!

Saturday 5 March 2011, 3pm to 5pm
Please note the change of time – due to unforeseen circumstances we have had to move this event forward to 3pm.

Come along and receive free books, whilst chatting with women from across Scotland, including some of our up and coming and established authors. If you are a world book night giver, and your books are written by women, bring along your titles to share with other women.

The titles we have are:

Beloved by Toni Morrison, published by Vintage
The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood, published by Virago
Fingersmith by Sarah Waters, published by Virago
Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, published by Harper Perennial
The World’s Wife by Carol Ann Duffy, published by Picador

If you would like any more information, please contact us online or call 0141 248 9969.

Avoid disappointment and register now!

This event is free and women only. Click here for more information on our new streamlined booking system and to join the library.

Saturday 9 October, 12pm

Saturday 9th October, 12:00: Feelings are Facts: A Life with Yvonne Rainer

In association with Tramway, the legendary Yvonne Rainer will be at the library to
give a reading and sign her book, Feelings are Facts: A Life. Don’t miss out on this
fantastic opportunity to hear the work of one of the most important feminist,
avant-garde artists working today.

Yvonne Rainer: Dance and Film (5 – 10 Oct) at Tramway.

Yvonne Rainer: Dance and Film is curated by Jason E. Bowman in association with
Tramway.

Yvonne Rainer Copyright: Jack Mitchell

Feelings are Facts: A Life
A memoir by the avant-garde dancer, choreographer, and film-maker recounting her childhood years, sexual misadventures, and artistic explorations. In this memoir, dancer, choreographer, and film-maker Yvonne Rainer traces her personal and artistic coming of age.

The mosaic-like construction of “Feelings Are Facts” recalls the composition-by-juxtaposition of Rainer’s work in film and dance, displaying prismatic variations from what she calls her “reckless past” for our amazement and appreciation.

Booking is essential. For more information or to book your place click here to send us an email or you can call us on 0141 248 9969.

Please contact Laura M if you have any questions.

This book reminds me about the events in my life where I let my self talk take over my life and stop me from doing the things I was good at. I will always carry on reading now. That is one of my dreams which has come true thanks to the GWL and the books they have given me through the couple of years I have been here. I now can dream about other things.

I count 216 novels (I’m hoping I didn’t miss any pseudonyms – I started googling all the names I couldn’t recognise…). Depressingly, I was almost expecting fewer – the equivalent list of 1000 films to see before you die has absurdly few films by women. But that’s mostly due to the film industry itself – there just aren’t that many women directors. Is it true that little more than 20% of authors are women?

Of course, I have to admit I’ve read hardly any of them, and while I’ve heard of most, there are a few names that are new to me. Some of the books are already in our GWL Recommends section on the main website, but we’d love to know if you’ve read any of these and recommend them.

And are there any novels by women that should be on the list? Maybe we can get to 500 books by women that everyone should read…

Those novels by women (Taken from the Guardian website, so the slightly random order comes from their seven sections – Comedy, Crime; Family and Self; Love; Science fiction and fantasy; State of the nation and War & Travel):

1. The Bottle Factory Outing by Beryl Bainbridge
2. According to Queeney by Beryl Bainbridge
3. No Bed for Bacon by Caryl Brahms and SJ Simon
4. The Hearing Trumpet by Leonora Carrington
5. Mister Johnson by Joyce Cary
6. The Horse’s Mouth by Joyce Cary
7. The Provincial Lady by EM Delafield
8. Ennui by Maria Edgeworth
9. Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding
10. Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons
11. The Towers of Trebizond by Rose Macaulay
12. Under the Net by Iris Murdoch
13. A Time to be Born by Dawn Powell
14. Excellent Women by Barbara Pym
15. Less Than Angels by Barbara Pym
16. Moo by Jane Smiley
17. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark
18. The Girls of Slender Means by Muriel Spark
19. The Driver’s Seat by Muriel Spark
20. Loitering with Intent by Muriel Spark
21. A Far Cry from Kensington by Muriel Spark
22. Before Lunch by Angela Thirkell
23. The Life and Loves of a She-Devil by Fay Weldon
24. Lady Audley’s Secret by Mary E Braddon
25. And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
26. The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie
27. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie
28. The Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie
29. The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie
30. Postmortem by Patricia Cornwell
31. Poetic Justice by Amanda Cross
32. My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier
33. Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith
34. The Talented Mr Ripley by Patricia Highsmith
35. Cover Her Face by PD James
36. A Taste for Death by PD James
37. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
38. Toxic Shock by Sara Paretsky
39. Blacklist by Sara Paretsky
40. Judgment in Stone by Ruth Rendell
41. Live Flesh by Ruth Rendell
42. Whose Body? by Dorothy L Sayers
43. Murder Must Advertise by Dorothy Le Sayers
44. The Secret History by Donna Tartt
45. The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey
46. A Dark-Adapted Eye by Barbara Vine
47. A Fatal inversion by Barbara Vine
48. King Solomon’s Carpet by Barbara Vine
49. Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
50. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
51. Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson
52. Cat’s Eye by Margaret Atwood
53. The L Shaped Room by Lynne Reid Banks
54. Fun Home by Alison Bechdel
55. A Legacy by Sybille Bedford
56. Two Serious Ladies by Jane Bowles
57. Evelina by Fanny Burney
58. Wise Children by Angela Carter
59. The Professor’s House by Willa Cather
60. The Awakening by Kate Chopin
61. The Vagabond by Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette
62. Manservant and Maidservant by Ivy Compton-Burnett
63. The Mandarins by Simone de Beauvoir
64. My New York Diary by Julie Doucet
65. The Millstone by Margaret Drabble
66. The Gathering by Anne Enright
67. Hideous Kinky by Esther Freud
68. Mary Barton by Elizabeth Gaskell
69. The Tortoise and the Hare by Elizabeth Jenkins
70. Good Behaviour by Molly Keane
71. Invitation to the Waltz by Rosamond Lehmann
72. The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing
73. The Rector’s Daughter by FM Mayor
74. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
75. Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
76. Who Do You Think You Are? by Alice Munro
77. The Black Prince by Iris Murdoch
78. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
79. The Shipping News by E Annie Proulx
80. Pointed Roofs by Dorothy Richardson
81. Alberta and Jacob by Cora Sandel
82. Unless by Carol Shields
83. We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver
84. The Three Sisters by May Sinclair
85. A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley
86. On Beauty by Zadie Smith
87. The Man Who Loved Children by Christina Stead
88. Angel by Elizabeth Taylor
89. Lark Rise to Candleford by Flora Thompson
90. The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 3/4 by Sue Townsend
91. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
92. The Fountain Overflows by Rebecca West
93. Frost in May by Antonia White
94. Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson
95. To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
96. Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
97. Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
98. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
99. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
100. Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
101. Emma by Jane Austen
102. Persuasion by Jane Austen
103. Nightwood by Djuna Barnes
104. The Death of the Heart by Elizabeth Bowen
105. The Heat of the Day by Elizabeth Bowen
106. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
107. Vilette by Charlotte Bronte
108. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
109. Look At Me by Anita Brookner
110. Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown
111. Possession by AS Byatt
112. My Antonia by Willa Cather
113. A Lost Lady by Willa Cather
114. Claudine a l’ecole by Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette
115. Cheri by Sidonie-Gabrielle Collette
116. The Princess of Cleves by Madame de Lafayette
117. The Parasites by Daphne du Maurier
118. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
119. The Lover by Marguerite Duras
120. Adam Bede by George Eliot
121. Daniel Deronda by George Eliot
122. The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot
123. The Blue Flower by Penelope Fitzgerald
124. Ruth by Elizabeth Gaskell
125. The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall
126. The Transit of Venus by Shirley Hazzard
127. The Infamous Army by Georgette Heyer
128. Regency Buck by Georgette Heyer
129. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
130. The Piano Teacher by Elfriede Jelinek
131. The Far Pavillions by Mary Margaret Kaye
132. Moon over Africa by Pamela Kent
133. The Echoing Grove by Rosamond Lehmann
134. The Weather in the Streets by Rosamond Lehmann
135. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes by Anita Loos
136. Zami by Audre Lorde
137. Foreign Affairs by Alison Lurie
138. The Silent Duchess by Dacia Maraini
139. Patience and Sarah by Isabel Miller
140. Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
141. The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford
142. Love in a Cold Climate by Nancy Mitford
143. Arturo’s Island by Elsa Morante
144. Delta of Venus by Anais Nin
145. Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
146. Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
147. Bonjour Tristesse by Francoise Sagan
148. The Reluctant Orphan by Sara Seale
149. At Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept by Elizabeth Smart
150. I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
151. The Map of Love by Ahdaf Soueif
152. Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann
153. Music and Silence by Rose Tremain
154. Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler
155. The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler
156. The Night Watch by Sarah Waters
157. The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
158. The Passion by Jeanette Winterson
159. East Lynne by Ellen Wood
160. The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood
161. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
162. Darkmans by Nicola Barker
163. Lost Souls by Poppy Z Brite
164. Kindred by Octavia Butler
165. Nights at the Circus by Angela Carter
166. The Passion of New Eve by Angela Carter
167. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
168. Pig Tales by Marie Darrieussecq
169. Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
170. The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
171. The Children of Men by PD James
172. Bold as Love by Gwyneth Jones
173. The Victorian Chaise-longue by Marghanita Laski
174. The Earthsea Series by Ursula Le Guin
175. The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin
176. Memoirs of a Survivor by Doris Lessing
177. Beyond Black by Hilary Mantel
178. Beloved by Toni Morrison
179. The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
180. The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe
181. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by JK Rowling
182. The Female Man by Joanna Russ
183. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
184. Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner
185. Affinity by Sarah Waters
186. Orlando by Virginia Woolf
187. Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
188. Oroonoko, or The Royal Slave by Aphra Behn
189. The Last September by Elizabeth Bowen
190. Shirley by Charlotte Bronte
191. The Virgin in the Garden by AS Byatt
192. Play It As It Lays by Joan Didion
193. Castle Rackrent by Maria Edgeworth
194. Middlemarch by George Eliot
195. Silas Marner by George Eliot
196. Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell
197. North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
198. July’s People by Nadine Gordimer
199. South Riding by Winifred Holtby
200. Passing by Nella Larsen
201. The Grass is Singing by Doris Lessing
202. The Group by Mary McCarthy
203. Novel on Yellow Paper by Stevie Smith
204. White Teeth by Zadie Smith
205. The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West
206. The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton
207. Master Georgie by Beryl Bainbridge
208. Regeneration by Pat Barker
209. Carrie’s War by Nina Bawden
210. One of Ours by Willa Cather
211. Day by AL Kennedy
212. Fortunes of War by Olivia Manning
213. History by Elsa Morante
214. Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky
215. The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy
216. Black Beauty by Anna Sewell

Better start reading :)

We Swap Books Site

They have a huge selection of categories, from academic to comedy, If anyone uses it then let me know what you think! Happy swapping.

We’ve now got a book-swapping shelf in the library for, yes, you guessed it, women to swap books with each other. As well as being a great way to save money and discover new authors, book swapping can also help us to make a positive change in terms of our environmental impact.

In 2003, Greenpeace produced evidence that the UK publishing industry was inadvertently fuelling the destruction of ancient forests in Finland and Canada. It found that one Canadian spruce produces just 24 books, which means that if you read one book every two weeks, your habits destroy almost one large tree every year. Scary stuff. In contrast, swapping books means that each book is maximised.

So if you’re popping into GWL, why not bring some books that you’re finished with that you think other women might enjoy? Swapping books with others is a great way to widen your reading horizons, and it’s good to know that it’s also helping to save a few trees into the bargain.

Just ask a staff member to show you where the shelf is. It’s looking a bit empty and unloved at the moment, so please fill it up with gorgeous books that will inspire, entertain and enlighten!

To find out more about book swapping, you can check out these websites:

http://www.readitswapit.co.uk/

http://bookmooch.com/

http://www.bookhopper.com/