Q&A with Evelin Stermitz, founder of ArtFem.TV
by Jess McCabe // 28 July 2010, 10:44
Video has always been a rich vein for feminist artists; we are in the YouTube age, but still access to much of this material is limited. Evelin Stermitz's ArtFem.TV seeks to change that.
Why did you decide to launch ArtFem.TV?
I launched ArtFem.TV in the year 2008 to spread women’s video art works and women’s issues in this field. The idea was to create an international online screen for the merits of women artists in various genres, articulated through online video. In my opinion, the public consciousness about women in the arts, their topics and emphases, has to be raised much more. Through this online media platform various works are accessible globally to a wider audience. It was the vision to make space for women’s topics and gender related issues to be perceived through video on an online platform. Also it has to do with the idea of creating an artistic online television (ITV), as a subversion of commercialised TV systems and structures.
Do you think feminist - or women’s - video art needs a wider audience?
Yes indeed, for example it is hard to research gender related video art, or women’s video works on female issues, if you do not know the names of the women artists. There are many women artists working in different fields, but also creating video works, and sometimes the works are difficult to find, if not available on their website or on popular 2.0 video sites. In general, for women’s issues like gender related works, sometimes these issues are left out of the still male art system and these women’s works are hidden and do not come to the surface of a wider audience or engaging a public discourse. But these works always have been there, not only since the 1970s.
Can you tell us a bit about yourself?
I am working in the field of media and new media art with a gendered emphasis, while doing also research work on women artists in these fields. For more details on my works please go to my personal website www.evelinstermitz.net.
What are your future plans for ArtFem.TV?
Future plans are widely spread, first of all to work constantly on the research on works... to expand the site, and also later to make improvements on the site, but this has to do with the programming surface and we will see how it will take shape in the future. There are many plans!
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Quiet Riot Girl // Posted 28 July 2010 at 16:55
This looks an interesting project. But I can't find any written info on the website, e.g. giving a perspective on what 'gender issues' are in this context. also the interviewee says 'female' (I know she isnt English) which suggests an exclusion of trans women.
Evelin // Posted 29 July 2010 at 15:37
Please find further contextual information on the project here:
http://artfem.tv/ArtFem_TV/
Of course trans women are not excluded. I guess, they have many interesting gender related issues to articulate in a way to expand the odd literally binary terms ‘female’ and ‘male’ also in an own and new perception, leading away from any biological sex toward the socially constructed sex.