About

The Feminist Duration Reading Group (FDRG) focuses on under-represented feminist texts, movements and struggles from outside the Anglo-American canon. The group has developed a practice of reading out loud, together, one paragraph at a time, with the aim of creating a sense of connection and intimacy during meetings.

The group was established in March 2015 by Helena Reckitt, at Goldsmiths, University of London, to explore texts from the Italian feminist movement of the 1970s and 1980s. Later in 2015 it relocated to SPACE in Hackney, East London where it was hosted by Persilia Caton until April 2019. From June 2019 to February 2020 the group was in residence at the South London Gallery, where it focused on intersectional feminisms in the UK context (a planned year-long programme that was moved online due to COVID-19).

In 2023 we were one of several groups selected for the eighteen month Residents programme at Goldsmiths CCA, London.

From 2023-2024 FDRG partnered with Cell Project Space developing CEED (Central East European and Diaspora) Feminisms, funded by the British Art Network, with Cell Project Space.

FDRG sessions have been organised with Emilia-Amalia at Art Metropole in Toronto; Kunstverein Harburger Bahnhof and HFBK Hamburg, Germany; in London with the Advocacy Academy, Artangel, Barbican Art Gallery, Cell Project Space, Chelsea Space, Chisenhale Gallery, the Drawing Room, Flat Time House, Goldsmiths CCA, Mimosa House, Mosaic Rooms, The Showroom, South Kiosk, Studio Voltaire, Tate Modern, in collaboration with AntiUniversity and the Department of Feminist Conversations, and as part of The Table at the Swiss Church. Elsewhere in the UK we have been hosted by Grand Union and Eastside Projects, Birmingham, esea, Manchester, De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill-on-Sea, and Hypatia Trust, Penzance.  A sister group, NW FDRG, was set up in Liverpool by Kezia Davies in 2019.        

Six members of the FDRG - Giulia Casalini, Diana Georgiou, Laura Guy, Helena Reckitt, Irene Revell, and Amy Tobin - organised the two-week long events programme, ‘Now Can Go,’ focused on legacies of Italian feminism, across the ICA, The Showroom, SPACE, and Raven Row, in December 2015.  

The group usually meets once a month, in art spaces and community venues as well as non-institutional venues such as private homes or gardens.

The FDRG aims to create an inclusive trans-positive space. We welcome feminists of all genders and generations to explore the legacy and resonance of art, thinking and collective practice from earlier periods of feminism, in dialogue with contemporary practices and movements.

Working Group

FDRG sessions are initiated by a Working Group. Current members are Beth Bramich, Sabrina Fuller, Taey Iohe, Helena Reckitt, and Dot Zhihan.

Support Group

FDRG activities are supported by a Support Group comprising former Working Group members Lina Džuverović, Mariana Lemos, Katrin Lock, and Ehryn Torrell.

Other former Working Group members are Giulia Antonioli, Angelica Bollettinari, Lily Evans-Hill, Félicie Kertudo, Ceren Özpinar, Sara Paiola, Justin Seng, and Fiona Townend.

Working with the FDRG: A Note for Institutions

The FDRG is run by members of the voluntary Working and Support Groups. We regularly partner with community and arts organizations to offer free events to the public.

The reading group is our collective practice that we enjoy and like sharing with others. Facilitating sessions does of course involve considerable time and effort. We also have running costs for web hosting and communication, invited speaker fees etc.

We understand financial constraints within the cultural sector, but appreciate any contributions that support our efforts.

The FDRG operates an ‘Honesty Box,’ and asks funded organisations to pay what they can.

For organisations who can access funding, we suggest a fee of £300 - £600 per session, depending on the scope of work entailed.  This roughly follows the a-n artist payment guidelines for 1-1.5 days for an artist with seven years professional experience (the FDRG was set up in 2015).

Collaborators and Partners

FDRG sessions have been led by Adomas Narkevicius, Ximena Alarcón-Díaz, Giulia Antonioli, Diana Baker Smith, Fari Bradley, Beth Bramich, Giulia Casalini, Laura Castagnini, Catherine Cho, Leah Clements, Morgane Conti, Lauren Craig, Cinzia Cremona, Galit Criden, Giulia Damiani, Oana Damir, Kezia Davies, Department of Feminist Conversations, Flora Dunster, Lina Džuverović, Lily Evans-Hall, Lucia Farinati, Lynne Friedli, Sabrina Fuller, Diana Georgiou, Rose Gibbs, Valeria Graziano, Laura Guy, Haley Ha, Nora Heidorn, Minna Henriksson, Jacqueline Hoàng Nguyễn, Yurika Imaseki, Taey Iohe, Félicie Kertudo, Alexandra Kokoli, Jessie Krish, Mariana Lemos, Mai Ling, Jet Moon, Gabby Moser, Roisin O’Sullivan, Ceren Özpinar, Frances Painter Fleming, Grace Eunhye Park, Sara Paiola, Raju Rage, Helena Reckitt, Irene Revell, Lidia Salvatori, Elif Sarican, Justin Seng, Something Other, Cecilia Sosa, Amy Tobin, Ehryn Torrell, and Dot Zhihan.

Artists, Writers & Collectives

Sessions have been dedicated to texts and artworks including those by Naadje Al-Aali, Joan Anim-Addo, Floya Anthias and Nira Yuval-Davis, Gloria Anzaldua, Jenn Ashworth, Margot Badran, Khairani Barokka, Chiai Bonfiglioli, Anne Boyer, Brixton Black Women’s Group, adrienne maree brown, Wilmette Brown, Octavia Butler, Sakine Cansiz, Hazel V Carby, Adriana Cavarero, Teresa Hak Kyung Cha, Anne Anlin Cheng, Catherine Cho, Barbara Christian, Lia Cigarini, Eli Clare, Leah Clements, Lauren Craig, Galit Criden, Mariarosa Dalla Costa and Selma James, Maria Puig De La Bellacasa, Leah Clements, Silvia Federici, Leta Hong Fincher, Shulamith Firestone, Lauren Fournier, Ruth Frankenberg, Olivia Guaraldo, Johanna Hedva, bell hooks, Sanja Iveković, Juliet Jacques, Marie Elizabeth Johnson, Jane Jin Kaisen, Jasleen Kaur, AE Kings, Larissa Lai, Teresa de Lauretis, Clarice Lispector, Carla Lonzi, Fereil Ben Mahoud, Alex Martinis Roe, Lea Melandri, Fatema Mernissi, Milan Women’s Bookshop Collective, Trinh T Minh-ha, Adriana Monti, Jet Moon, Antonella Nappi, Astrida Neimanis, Jacqueline Hoàng Nguyen, Abdullah Ocalan, Lola Olufemi, Sue O’Sullivan, Tanja Ostojić, Cecilia Palmeiro, Queer Beograd, Darija Radaković, Raju Rage, Claudia Rankine, Tabita Rezaire, Rivolta Femminile, Lucia Egana Rojas, Sasha Roseneil, Gail Rubin, Suzanne Santoro, Selma Selman, Christina Sharpe, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Rhea Storr, Latif Tas, Miriam Ticktin, Tiqqun, Iris Uurto, Nafu Wang, Kyla Wazana Tompkins, Katri Vala, Vron Ware, Wages Due Lesbians, Wages for Housework, Linda Zerilli.

Contact us

If you would like to join the reading group mailing list or propose a focus for a session, or invite us to lead a meeting, please contact: feministduration@gmail.com 

Website Design by Angelica Bollettinari

Now You Can Go

Now You Can Go

Feminist Duration
2015
Don't Believe You Have Any Rights, seminar, The Showroom, London, as part of Now You Can Go, December 2015. Photo Helena Reckitt.

Juxtaposing historical with contemporary positions, Now You Can Go is a thirteen-day events programme exploring feminist concepts of generation and genealogy. It asks whether practices of consciousness-raising and collectivity might help us to combat the fragmentation, exhaustion and anxiety that we experience under networked capitalism. The programme draws inspiration from Italian feminisms, including the work of collectives formed in the 1970s: Rivolta Femminile (Female Revolt), Libreria delle Donne di Milano (Milan Women’s Bookstore Collective), and Lotta Femminista (Feminist Struggle).

A touchstone is the work of Carla Lonzi, the writer and cofounder of Rivolta Femminile, and her refusal of power and rejection of masculine creativity that exploits female supportive activity. This process of ‘deculturation’ entailed Lonzi’s withdrawal from her roles as an art critic, as a feminist leader, and from her relationship with her lover, the sculptor Pietro Consagra, which she documented in a dialogue between them called Vai pure (Now You Can Go).

Now You Can Go grows out of the Feminist Duration Reading Group which meets monthly at SPACE in London. The programme is developed by participants in the FDRG: Angelica Bollettenari, Giulia Casalini, Diana Georgiou, Laura Guy, Helena Reckitt, Irene Revell and Amy Tobin.

Supported by the Arts Council of England, Grants for the Arts.

With additional support by Goldsmiths’ Annual Fund, Goldsmiths’ Art Department, and the Women’s Art Library at Goldsmiths, University of London; EWVA European Women’s Video Art in the 70s and 80s’ (DJCAD, University of Dundee); IASPIS; and Electra.

for full details see http://nowyoucango.tumblr.com/about

Video Documentation http://nowyoucango.tumblr.com/documentation

Programme

Tuesday 1 December
7pm - 9pm, SPACE 
Feminist Duration Reading Group: Translation as a feminist practice
led by Laura Guy

Kajsa Dahlberg, A Room of One’s Own, a Thousand Diaries

Kajsa Dahlberg, A Room of One’s Own, a Thousand Diaries

Saturday 5 December
11.30pm – 1.30pm, ICA Cinema 1
Panel Discussion: On Social Reproduction
co-founders of Plan C, Camille Barbagallo and Nicholas Beuret (by Skype); Justice for Domestic Workers Chair Marissa Begonia; Guardian journalist Dawn Foster; art historian Larne Abse Gogarty; artist Pablo Pakula. Chaired by academic Emma Dowling.

Pablo Pakula, Emma Dowling, Dawn Foster, Larne Abse Gogarty, and Marissa Begonia as part of On Social Reproduction, ICA, London, as part of Now You Can Go. Photo Christian Luebbert.

Pablo Pakula, Emma Dowling, Dawn Foster, Larne Abse Gogarty, and Marissa Begonia as part of On Social Reproduction, ICA, London, as part of Now You Can Go. Photo Christian Luebbert.

Saturday 5 December
2pm, ICA Cinema 1
Film Screening: Marinella Pirelli
Curated by Lucia Aspesi with Irene Revell (Electra Productions)

Marinella Pirelli_Sole in mano.jpg


Sunday 6 December and Tuesday 8 December
7.15pm - 9.15pm, Raven Row
Feeling Backwards
Two night lecture and workshop with Nina Wakeford
Participants should expect to generate some material in relation to the workshop theme between sessions.

Nina Wakeford with participants in Feeling Backwards, Raven Row, London, as part of Now You Can Go. Photo Christian Luebbert.

Nina Wakeford with participants in Feeling Backwards, Raven Row, London, as part of Now You Can Go. Photo Christian Luebbert.

Wednesday 9 December
6.30pm, ICA Cinema 1
Rescue Missions: Women’s Art Recovered, Re-enacted, and Recuperated
Artist Sonia Boyce, director of the Live Art Development Agency, Lois Keidan, arts collector and supporter Valeria Napoleone and co-director of HollyBush Gardens, Lisa Panting. Chaired by art historian Amy Tobin.

Amy Tobin, Valeria Napoleone, Lisa Panting, Sonia Boyce, and Lois Keidan, Rescue Missions, ICA London, as part of Now You Can Go. Photo: Ehryn Torrell.

Amy Tobin, Valeria Napoleone, Lisa Panting, Sonia Boyce, and Lois Keidan, Rescue Missions, ICA London, as part of Now You Can Go. Photo: Ehryn Torrell.

Thursday 10 December
7.15pm – 9.15pm, Raven Row
Carla Lonzi Teach-In
Led by art historian Teresa Kittler

Carla Lonzi’s Autoritratto as part of Carla Lonzo Teach-In led by Teresa Kittler, Raven Row, London. As part of Now You Can Go. Photo: Christian Luebbert.

Carla Lonzi’s Autoritratto as part of Carla Lonzo Teach-In led by Teresa Kittler, Raven Row, London. As part of Now You Can Go. Photo: Christian Luebbert.

Thursday 10 and Friday 11 December 2015
10.30am–5pm, The Showroom
Our Future Network 
Two-day workshop led by Alex Martinis Roe
If you would like to participate, please send a brief description of your motivations and await a response/further instructions.

AlexMartinisRoe_Our+Future+Network_2015jpg.jpg


Friday 11 December
7–9pm, The Showroom
Film Screening: Autoritratti 
Curated by Laura Leuzzi and Giulia Casalini

Anna Valeria Borsari, Cinzia Cremona, Catherine Elwes, Tina Keane, Ketty La Rocca, Federica Marangoni, Maria Teresa Sartori, Elaine Shemilt, Elisabetta di Sopra. Readings by Diana Georgiou.

Ketty La Rocca Appendice per una supplica.jpg



Saturday 12 December
11.30am – 9.30pm
Now You Can Go Seminar

The Showroom
Zach Blas, Fulvia Carnevale of Claire Fontaine, Carla Cruz, Karen Di Franco, Maria Drakopoulou, Andrea Francke, Catherine Grant, Karolin Meunier, Gabrielle Moser, Raju Rage, Helena Reckitt, Lucy Reynolds, Frances Rifkin, Caroline Russell, Francesco Ventrella, Marina Vishmidt (by Skype), Giovanna Zapperi.

Maria Drakopoulou, Fulvia Carnevale of Claire Fontaine, and Giovanna Zapperi, Don’t Believe You Have Any Rights panel discussion, The Showroom, London, as part of Now You Can Go, December 2015

Maria Drakopoulou, Fulvia Carnevale of Claire Fontaine, and Giovanna Zapperi, Don’t Believe You Have Any Rights panel discussion, The Showroom, London, as part of Now You Can Go, December 2015

Raju Rage, Karen di Franco, Caroline Meunier, and Frances Rifkin, In or Out? On Leaving the Art World and Other Systems, The Showroom, London, as part of Now You Can Go, December 2015
Catherine Grant, Andrea Francke, Carla Cruz, Caroline Russell, In or Out? panel, The Showroom, London, as part of Now You Can Go. Photo Helena Reckitt

Sunday 13 December 2015
10am – 1pm
Intimate Acts: A feminist workshop
Half-day workshop on translation as a feminist practice led by Kajsa Dahlberg and Laura Guy

Writing exercise as part of Intimate Acts workshop led by Kajsa Dahlberg and Laura Guy, The Showroom, London, as part of Now You Can Go, December 2015. Photo: Helena Reckitt

Writing exercise as part of Intimate Acts workshop led by Kajsa Dahlberg and Laura Guy, The Showroom, London, as part of Now You Can Go, December 2015. Photo: Helena Reckitt

Sunday 13 December 2015
1pm - 5pm, The Showroom
Justice for Domestic Workers Annual Event

All welcome - no booking necessary

Marisa Begonia, Justice for Domestic Workers, On Social Reproduction panel, ICA, London, as part of Now You Can Go, December 2015

Marisa Begonia, Justice for Domestic Workers, On Social Reproduction panel, ICA, London, as part of Now You Can Go, December 2015

Sunday 13 December
6pm – 8.30pm, The Showroom
Herstories from Italy 

Case studies on feminist artistic and militant collectives in Italy by art historian Katia Almerini (Cooperativa Beato Angelico), writer, researcher and curator Giulia Damiani (Le Nemesiache collective) and an exposition of contemporary feminist artistic collectives by Giulia Casalini on behalf of ArchivioQueerItalia.com. Followed by keynote talk by philosopher Olivia Guaraldo on polyvocality and sexual difference and the work of Adriana Cavarero, who is joined in conversation by cultural critic Angie Voela.

Diana Georgiou, Giulia Casalini, Oliva Guaraldo, Kaia Almerini, Angie Voela, and Giulia Damiani, Herstories from Italy, The Showroom, London, as part of Now You Can Go, December 2015

Diana Georgiou, Giulia Casalini, Oliva Guaraldo, Kaia Almerini, Angie Voela, and Giulia Damiani, Herstories from Italy, The Showroom, London, as part of Now You Can Go, December 2015














Feminist Duration Reading Group, where to next?

Feminist Duration Reading Group, where to next?
Translation as a Feminist Practice

Translation as a Feminist Practice