Women House

Book excerpt: Two notions intersect in the 'Women House' exhibition: a gender (female) and a space (the domestic sphere). Architecture and public space have traditionally been male preserves, whereas domestic space has been that of women; this historic fact is not, however, inevitable, as the exhibition demonstrates. Is the 'woman-house' a refuge or a prison, or can it become a space for creativity? The exhibition and accompanying catalogue reflect the complexity of possible points of view on the subject, which are not only feminist but also poetic and nostalgic. Women artists turn the house inside out: a symbol of isolation becomes a symbol of the construction of identity, the intimate becomes political, private space becomes public space, and the body turns into a piece of architecture. According to different cultural contexts and generations of artists, the house becomes a body-house, a homeland-house, or even a world-house.