“Non Toccare La Donna Bianca”

Loosely based on Italian director Marco Ferreri’s 1974 film of the same name, “Non Toccare la donna Bianca” (Don’t Touch the White Woman) brings together an international roster of nineteen female artists in a reflection, explains curator Francesco Bonami, “on the freedom that a woman artist must assert in a society modeled on male priorities.” The curator conflates the struggle for gender parity with a broader range of political and social issues—all serving as inspiration for works in a variety of media—but pays particular attention to the parallels between sexism and neocolonialism. Belgian artist Berlinde de Bruyckere cuts to the metaphorical chase with her sculpture of a headless woman, while South Korean artist Koo Jeong-a, who explores sensuality in all its permutations, hides her work—a small house covered with powdered sugar, framed writings hanging on the wall—in a corridor near the center of the exhibition space. Shirin Neshat, Mona Hatoum, Maja Bajevic, Marlene Dumas, and Micol Assaël also feature prominently in an exhibition that presents a concise survey of “women’s issues”—East and West—in 2004.

Translated from Italian by Marguerite Shore.