GITTE ØRSKOU INTERVIEWED BY KENNY SCHACHTER
I NEVER LET ANYONE HOLD ME BACK
Photo by Åsa Lundén, Moderna Museet
Gitte Ørskou is Director of Moderna Museet, Stockholm. She was previously Director of Kunsten Museum of Modern Art Aalborg, Denmark.
Opportunities for female artists have expanded more today than at any prior point in history. Nevertheless, levels of institutional exposure have neither kept pace nor changed nearly enough since the 1980s activist works by the likes of Guerilla Girls, who worked hard to depict such disparities. Despite the strides in the marketplace made by female artists over the past decade, glaring shortcomings are still everywhere: for example, none of the 100 highest-priced artworks are by a woman (the auction record remains a painting by Georgia O’Keefe at $44.4 million in 2014). Studies indicate that women’s art simply sells for less simply because it was made by a female artist. In light of such stunning prejudice, a fair like CHART showcasing solely female art is not only warranted but rather, an imperative! Enough is not enough—the time for change is now.
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