Upstream Focus: Alicia Framis

ALICIA FRAMIS Upstream Focus

Glass Ceiling

UPSTREAM FOCUS During the lockdown, while the gallery is closed, Upstream Gallery presents a new series of Upstream Focus. In this series of short exhibitions in our private viewing space, we highlight one (series of) work by one of our artists. Until the gallery reopens this will only take place online.

From February 9 – 16 we present two works by Alicia Framis that deal with the same subject: the glass ceiling.

The United States Federal Glass Ceiling Commission defines the glass ceiling as “the unseen, yet unbreachable barrier that keeps minorities and women from rising to the upper rungs of the corporate ladder, regardless of their qualifications or achievements.”

The Walking Ceiling (2018) is video documentation of a performance that took place during Framis’ solo exhibition Gender Pavillion at Sala Alcalá 31 in Madrid.

Once upon a time there was a woman, 23,000 BC2020 (2020) is a sculpture in which Framis takes a typical representation of femininity and fertility, and portrays it as a symbol of women through out the history of humanity - their power stunted by the glass ceiling above them.⁣

T H E WA L K I N G CEI LI N G (2 018) Video, 3:47 min

What is the future of young women in their twenties? About 60% of university graduates are women, but only 3% will reach managementlevel positions. What are the skills required by these high-responsibility posts that women still do not possess? What is the existing business leadership model that women are seemingly unable to attain? Will we be able to design a form of leadership in which women can compete on equal footing with men? It looks like the role of top executives is designed for men and not for women. This is why I defend a new design of leadership power which will not exclude access to women.

According to the US Federal Glass Ceiling Commission, set up to work towards greater social justice and to improve the country’s economy, at the moment women are obstructed from reaching posts that entail greater responsibility and, at once, greater profits to share out. Another form of inequality, according to the Comisiones Obreras trade union, is that women have to work 109 days more than men to earn the same salary, in other words, three months more per year.

The glass ceiling—an expression used for the first time in 1978—is artificial, it is an invisible barrier in women’s professional careers. The invisible glass curtails and limits women’s aspirations and opportunities.

Now, in 2018, forty years after the coining of the expression Glass Ceiling, what has actually changed for women over the intervening time?

“For Sala Alcalá 31, I would like to carry out a performance that involves the city. Passers-by can join in a silent protest or be mere spectators. The material I am going to use is glass and the reflections it produces, the element par excellence in big cities.

A glass plate, measuring 2 by 3 metres, will be placed over the heads of professional women from Madrid, who I have asked to help me to carry it through the streets of the city. The plate will be supported using a piece of padded cloth or silicone, so that glass does not slip and also to cushion vibrations. The movement of the glass plate through the city, carried by these women, is silent yet also aggressive. The action is part of my search for new, truly feminine ways for women to protest, though without imitating masculine attitudes or symbols.

I believe that, contrary to what it might seem at first sight, silence and the movement of women in step with gloved-covered hands could provoke a liberating effect from latent oppression.

It is worth underscoring my experience when speaking about Glass Ceiling with assistants or students, because they, of course, with the innocence of youth, still do not know what it is and are still unaware of what the future holds in store for them, if we do not change something for them. That is why this performance is aimed at young women, so that they prepare themselves and act in consequence; and also, of course, at older generations, among which I count myself, who would have wished that we could have broken this inequality at work. Right now I can break this ceiling but it keeps coming back like weeds in a garden.”

VIMEO LINK password: upstreamfocus

VIMEO LINK password: upstreamfocus

VIMEO LINK password: upstreamfocus

VIMEO LINK password: upstreamfocus

O N CE UPO N A TI M E T HERE WAS A WO M A N, 23,000 BC-2020 (2020) Resin sculpture, mirror pedestal, glass and nylon Voluminous, naked, apparently pregnant and with large breasts, are the general characteristics of these representations of the feminine, the beginning of patriarchy, and of the role of women, fertility. In gender archeology, which deals with recovering the female half of ancient populations, there is little rigor that implies supposing that women were passive contemplating, making baskets. Now it is known for sure that the cave paintings were made by women.

Framis tries with this sculpture to represent women as they are in the history of humanity, the woman with an invisible glass ceiling where female leadership has been atrophied. Framis, as in many of her works, tries to attract people through humor to denounce the state of women, in search of an egalitarian world for all for us.â Ł

C L I C K H E R E F O R A L I C I A F R A M I S ’ C U R R I C U L U M V I TA E

INTERVIEWS WITH THE ARTIST • Framis in Progress - Retrospective • When I Give, I Give Myself: Alicia Framis, Van Gogh Museum, 05-2015 • Alicia Framis, Oral Memories • Stedelijk Statements: Alicia Framis, Century 22, Stedelijk Museum, 13-01-2017 • Alicia Framis About Prix de Rome, Prix de Rome, Avro Kunstuur, 07-2012 ARTISTS BOOKS • GENDER PAVILLION, authors: Margarita Aizpuru, Bea Espejo, Alicia Framis, Mirjam Westen Designed by: Alex Gifreu 2018.

• WAX & JARDINS, authors: Anders Kreuger, Xander Karskens , Bartomeu Mari, MVRDV, among others. Publisher: Artimo, 2001.

• FRAMIS ALICIA FRAMIS, works from 1995-2003. With contributions by Ole Bouman, Rein Wolfs, among others.Publisher: Artimo.1998 • HIJAS SIN HIJAS, a testament of 100 women without children. Publisher Gemeente Dordrecht.1996 • ANTI-DOG, dresses bullet, fire and dog proof. Publisher Artimo • SECRET STRIKES, publisher Museo de arte contemporáneo Santiago de Compostela.2006 • FRAMIS IN PROGRESS, works from 1995 – 2010. With contributions by Ole Bouman, Rein Wolfs, lilet Breddels among others. 2009 • APUNTES SOBRE EL CIELO, publisher: Ayuntamiento de Huesca.2007 ARTICLES • Feministische reddingsvesten voor de kantoortuin, NRC, 16-01-2019 ARTWORKS IN VIDEO ONLINE • Anti-Dog, Ajax Stadium Amsterdam, 2002 • Lleida, 2015

ALICIA FRAMIS Alicia Framis (1967 Barcelona, Spain) is a multi-disciplinary artist whose practice blends architecture, design, fashion and performance.

Her work is project based and focuses on different aspects of human existence within contemporary urban society. Framis often starts out from actual social dilemmas to develop novel settings and proposed solutions. She develops platforms for creative social interaction, often through interdisciplinary collaboration with other artists and specialists across various fields.

Alicia Framis (Barcelona, 1967) studied at the Barcelona University and the École de Beaux Arts in Paris. She completed two masters programs, one at the Institut d’Hautes Etudes, Paris and another at Rijksakademie Van Beeldende Kunsten, Amsterdam. Framis won Prix Lleida Contemporary Art, Spain (2000) and Prix de Rome, Italy (1997).

Her recent exhibitions include Art Basel Unlimited (2019), Sala Alcala 33, Madrid (2018) Kunsthalle Nurenberg (2017), CREATIVETIME New York (2015), Museum voor Moderne Kunst Arnhem (2013), PERFORMA BIENAL New York, 2011, La Frac Haute-Normandie, Rouen (2012), Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing (2010), MACBA, Barcelona (2008), Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2002), and many more. Framis represented The Netherlands in the Dutch Pavilion at the 50th Venice Biennale (2003) and has had work featured in the 2nd Berlin Biennale (2001), Performa 09 New York (2009), and Manifesta 2 Luxemburg (1998).

Her work is included in numerous permanent collections, including those of Collection FRAC Lorraine (France), Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst (Switzerland), Museum Boijmans van Beuningen (Netherlands), MUSAC de Castilla y Léon (Spain), Rabo Art Collection (Netherlands), Stedelijk Museum Collection (Netherlands), Avalon Park (New York, USA) among others.

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