Art, Domestic Labour and Social Reproduction: A Discussion with Silvia Federici and Leopoldina Fortunati

Between the Wage and the Commons: Strategies for a Restructuring of Social Reproduction.

Reflecting on the objectives of the 1970s international campaign or wages or housework, Silvia Federici examines the main changes that have occurred in the organisation of reproductive work during the last four decades and the struggles that women worldwide are making to resist the destruction of their social and ecological environment and to construct a more just and cooperative society.

Silvia Federici is a feminist activist, teacher, writer and Emerita Professor at Hofstra University (Hempstead, New York). She is the author of books and essays on women’s history and feminist theory, political philosophy and education. Her published works include: The New York Wages For Housework Committee: History, Theory, Documents. 1972–1977 (edited with Arlen Austin,20 17); Revolution al Point Zero. Housework, Reproduction, and Feminist Struggle (2012); Caliban and the Witch: Women, the Body and Primitive Accumulation (2004);A Thou· sand Flowers: Social Struggles Against Structural Adjustment in African Universities (coedited, 2000). Enduring Western Civilization: The Construction of Western Civilization and its “Others” (edited, 1994).

On the Traces of Beauty and Art in the Domestic Sphere: a Feminist Perspective

Western culture has often depicted housework as a locus of banal and boring practices. This perspective long had a negative impact on the connection between art and women. In the 1960s and 1970s, however, feminism countered this attitude, highlighting how art informs everyday life. Fortunati will discuss three research projects that she has conducted, developing a critical approach to contemporary art. The first revolves around recipes and will examine them as the blending of three dimensions: work, art and communication. The second topic utilizes the same three-dimensional framework to explore the labour that has silently but effectively reoriented the fashion world and the social sense of beauty in the presentation of the self. The third research focuses on a social movement called urban knitting, which employs knitwear to regenerate degraded urban spaces.

Leopoldina Fortunati is the director of the Research Lab· oratory on New Media NuMe at the University of Udine. She has focused gender studies, communication and information technologies. Fortunati has published extensively and serves as referee for several academic journals. Her publications include: The Arcane of Reproduction: Housework, Prostitution, Labour and Capital (1981,English translation 1995); Mediating the Hu· man Body. Technology, Communication and Fashion (2003) (edited with James E. Katz, Raimonda Riccini); Gli Italiani al telefono (1995) (edited).