Until April 21st, 2013, the Musée d’Art moderne de la ville de Paris will present the first retrospective in France of the artist Linder Sterling, featuring two hundred of her works. Born Linda Mulvey in Liverpool in 1954, she chose to go by the German-sounding name, “in the same provocative spirit as the punks of the time who were making references to Nazis.” Sterling is a protean artist, having worked since 1976 in the visual arts, music, fashion and video.

All of this can be seen in the exhibition, with a heavy focus on photomontage and collage, but also photographs, lightboxes, works on paper, costumes, videos, sound, performances and retransmissions of performances, including the 1981 concert during which she wore a dress made of raw meat.

Art historians have struggled to make sense of the 1970s punk movement, a label the artist has rejected since the 1970s, even if her work reflects its sensibilities, and Fabienne Dumont, in the exhibition catalog, explores how the Manchester punk became an artist, feminist and animal rights activist.

The title of the exhibition, Femme/Objet, highlights the feminist stance of the artist and her work. However, as curator Emmanuelle de l’Écotais underlines, “Femme/Objet, women/object, woman or object? The question keeps coming up in the artist’s work because, despite decades of feminist struggle, the question is still worth asking.”

Bernard Perrine

Read the full article on the French version of Le Journal.

Exhibition
Linder "Femme/Objet"
Until Paril 21st, 2013.
Curator : Emmanuelle de l'Écotais
Musée d'Art moderne de la ville de Paris
11 Avenue du président Wilson
75116 Paris
France
+ 33 (0)1 53 67 40 00
Tuesday - Sunday 10am - 6pm
Thrusday 10am - 10pm

Book
Linder "Femme/Objet"
Text by Fabienne Dumont
Interview with Linder and Morissey
Musée d'art moderne de la ville de Paris/Arc
Paris Musées