Event Information
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Thu22Nov2018
Turning the tables: Inaugural Lecture of the Goldsmiths Feminist Research Centre
6pm-8pm (Doors open 5.30pm)George Wood Theatre,
25 Laurie Grove,
London
SE14 6NL
Map of Goldsmiths Campus
This explosive performative lecture by Bird la Bird will explore the moment in 1914 when suffragette Margaret Gibb smuggled an axe into the National Portrait Gallery and attacked a portrait of Thomas Carlyle.Carlyle was a towering intellectual and celebrity of the Victorian era and a notorious racist who wanted to bring back slavery just a few years after abolition. Margaret Gibb claimed her choice of portrait was a mere co-incidence. But given that Carlyle believed in the destiny of great men (there were no great women in his book), Bird begs the question: Was this supposedly random act one of feminist fate?
Bird la Bird will pick up the where Margaret left off and explore the dangerous legacy of Thomas Carlyle including his part in the history of racism, his wilful act of writing women out of history and his desire to return to feudalism. Bird will bring the Carlyle story bang up to date by exploring his ongoing presence and influence not only in the museum but in his new incarnation as a meme.
Through this performative lecture, Bird la Bird will speak to themes of memory, museums, archives, histories, feminist resistance, and more.
Director and Dramaturg – Jan Willem Van BoschLaurie Grove. The George Wood Theatre
Doors open at 5.30pm get there early