Feminist perspectives at the table: #4 Women’s movement

Feminist perspectives at the table

In a series of morning sessions, Evelien Pieters (PAF) enters into conversation with feminist voices from the 1980s–1990s as well as with contemporary designers, researchers, and activists. The discussions start from archival materials, experiences, and practices. Rather than looking back, they extend feminist thinking and doing in architecture and the built environment. The roundtable discussions are moments of encounter and reflection, serving as a way to build a living memory on which new design practices can continue to grow.

#4 Women's movement

The final roundtable zooms out to consider the women’s movement as a broader context. We begin with feminist networks and collectives from the 1970s to the 1990s, and Gerd Van Limbergen, who became involved in the 1984 study day Wonen en woonomgeving vanuit vrouwen bekeken [Housing and the living environment from a women’s perspective] through the Groep Rooie Vrouwen (GROV) [Group of Red Women] and the Elcker-Ik adult education centre in Antwerp.

From there, we establish connections with contemporary movements and organizations. Bieke Purnelle (journalist and director of RoSa, an expertise centre for information on women’s rights, gender and feminism in Flanders) brings a broader, cross-temporal perspective from the knowledge centre. Uschi Cop (writer) joins the discussion as one of the women involved in reviving the Dolle Mina [Mad Mina] movement in Belgium. Together, we reflect on continuity and change, on collective organization, social imagination, and the role of architecture and space in the feminist struggle.

At the table